Article of the Week

What’s The Perfect, Most Profitable Market For YOUR Agency?

I remember back in 1997 when I first started selling websites in my little agency (we called it a “website development company” back then). I was a one-man show, taking on the roles of salesperson, website designer, graphic designer, and copywriter all by myself. It was a lot of work, but I was determined to make it in the world of web design.

To sell more websites, I instinctively decided to target my native market: real estate agents and mortgage brokers. I spoke their language and understood exactly what they were trying to accomplish in their businesses, so selling to them came naturally to me.

I began doing live seminars for groups and associations, and the response was incredible. We sold a whole lot of websites, and I was thrilled to see my hard work paying off.

But, I quickly learned that…

Once You Sell It… You Gotta Fulfill It!

However, a problem arose when we sold too many websites. Suddenly, I found myself overwhelmed with the task of fulfilling all the orders.

I was working 18-hour days (getting up at 4:00 a.m.), trying to write, design, post, and deliver all the websites we sold.

What seemed like a lot of money up front turned into “not much” when you broke it down hourly. The workload was simply too much for one person, and I found myself unable to keep up.

We ended up shutting down the business… not because I couldn’t sell the services, but because I couldn’t keep up when fulfilling what we sold following that business model!

I Learned a VERY Valuable Lesson

It was a double-edged sword: my success in selling websites led to the downfall of my business. I learned a valuable business lesson about the importance of production AND delivery (in addition to sales).

I realized that running an agency required more than just making sales – it also required the ability to fulfill those sales efficiently and cost-effectively.

That lesson has stayed with me for almost 3 decades now and served me well as we later built up agency services in a number of different areas very successfully, including copywriting and publishing services.

In fact, here is a list of the things we’ve offered as services to others over the years to make a LOT of money:

• Website creation
• Desktop publishing services
• Copywriting
• Book writing
• Brochures / Flyers
• PowerPoint presentations / slide design
• Video production
• Curriculum creation
• Custom training packages (live / video)
• Editing / proofreading
• Critiquing
• Offer creation

However, despite “figuring it out” later in life, those early lessons still sting and remind me to NEVER make those same mistakes again!

Now…

How Does This Apply To You In Today’s World?

When it comes to starting or growing your own agency, it’s important to always consider your perfect native market FIRST.

“Native market” refers to the past or present business, niche, or profession you’ve been involved in, and the potential customers within those lines of business you can target with your initial agency offerings.

Identifying the perfect native market means analyzing industries or professions in which you have experience or connections, AND where there is a demand for the services your agency can provide.

From my experience, all of us typically have multiple native markets we could go after… but it’s important to choose the one that offers the highest likelihood of success (and quick customers).

Several Factors To Consider When Choosing Your Native Market

There are several factors to consider when choosing which native market for your agency. These include:

• The size of the market;
• The level of competition;
• The potential for growth;
• The ease of reaching potential clients.

Your native market provides you with a deep understanding of the needs and preferences of your target audience, as you are familiar with the challenges and pain points they face within their industry.

Starting in the right native market can give you a competitive advantage, as you also probably already have an existing network and connections you can leverage.  I know those connections were a lifesaver in the real estate world in Williamsburg, VA in the late 1990s.

Your existing connections can lead to quicker sales and easier access to potential clients (and referrals), as well as the ability to easily build trust and establish credibility within the market.

However, once you have a stream of customers, it’s critical to…

Create A Strong System For Fulfillment Right From The Start

Selling customers is one thing. Fulfilling the orders is another.

You MUST establish systems up front for how you will get their orders fulfilled without YOU having to do all the manual work yourself.

Ask any agency owner and they’ll tell you the Achille’s heel in their business is the TIME it takes to MAKE and DELIVER the things they sell! (Hey, if it was easy customers would do it themselves!)

Previously, fulfillment meant one or a combination of the following:

1. Suck it up and do it yourself (NO TV for you tonight!)
2. Hire an employee (YUCK! They want benefits!)
3. Outsourcing to other people on Fiverr.com and elsewhere (Crapshoot!)

Increasingly, however, fulfillment can mean using the right AI tools to do that work instead. In the same amount of time it would take you to explain to someone else the job you want done, you can use AI to just DO IT FOR YOU!

Yep, it’s that simple.

With the right AI tools, you can get the entire job done in the same time it would take to explain and delegate it to someone else!

And that’s exactly what we do at CopyAndContent.AI