How Do I Get My First SMMA Client?

Starting a social media marketing agency (SMMA) can be a thrilling and rewarding experience, but it’s also a challenging one. Getting their first client is one of the biggest hurdles new and aspiring SMMA owners face. Without testimonials or a network of contacts, it can seem like an impossible task. However, with the right strategy and mindset, it’s achievable. You’re not the only one starting out. In this blog post, we’ll explore some tips and tricks on how to get your first SMMA client, even if you’re just starting out. These are built from my personal experience, building my own agency, and helping friends to start SMMA.

Define Your Niche

The first step to getting your first SMMA client is to define your niche. What type of clients do you want to target? What industries are you interested in, experienced in, or have a passion for? Focusing on a niche is essential for several reasons. Firstly, it enables you to become an expert in that area, which makes you more valuable to potential clients. Secondly, it helps you stand out from the competition by offering a specialized service. And thirdly, it makes it easier to market your services and find clients, as you can tailor your messaging and outreach to a specific audience.

To define your niche, consider the following factors:

• Your interests and passions: What industries or topics do you enjoy learning about, following on social media, or engaging with online? Your passion can be infectious and help you attract clients who share your enthusiasm.
• Your experience and skills: What industries have you worked in or have transferable skills from? Do you have a background in e-commerce, hospitality, healthcare, or another field that you can leverage to offer specialized SMMA services?
• Market demand: What industries or niches have a high demand for social media marketing services? Are there any gaps or underserved segments that you can target?

Here are some niches to take as an inspiration. The higher the difficulty, the longer it may take you to get a client, but the higher paying it is:

Once you’ve defined your niche, you can start researching potential clients in that area and crafting your messaging and services around their needs.

Build a Strong Online Presence

As an SMMA owner, your online presence is your shop window. It’s the first thing potential clients will see when they search for your services, so you need to make sure it’s professional, informative, and engaging. Here are some tips for building a strong online presence:

Create a Professional Website

No matter what some YouTubers say, your website should be the hub of your online presence. It should showcase your services, your expertise, your pricing, and your portfolio. It should also make it easy for potential clients to contact you, either through a contact form, an email address, or a phone number. When creating your website, consider the following elements:

• Design: Your website should look professional and visually appealing. Use high-quality images, consistent branding, and clear typography to create a cohesive look and feel that fits your target niche.
• Content: Your website should have clear and concise copy that explains your services, your niche, your value proposition, and your pricing. Use bullet points, headings, and short paragraphs to make it easy to scan and read (I got that from this book, and I can recommend that for anyone needing to write copy).
• Portfolio: Your portfolio should showcase your best work and demonstrate your results. Use case studies, testimonials, and before-and-after examples to illustrate your impact.
  Don’t have any testimonials? Continue reading for the solution.
• Contact information: Make it easy for potential clients to contact you by including your email address, phone number, and social media links. A contact form with many anchor links to it is essential for an easy contacting method. If you’re using WordPress, you can use this plugin.

Using paid ads

If you’ve already reached the point where you can test out methods that cost money, it’s worth checking out paid ads. Once you’ve spent enough, you’ll know what works for your business and what doesn’t. This leaves you with a relatively cheap method to acquire new clients, given you have the money to test your ads.

If you’re starting out without money, don’t bother to keep reading for other tips to accelerate the start of your SMMA.

Offer a Free Service

One of the best ways to get your first SMMA client is to offer a free service. This might seem counterintuitive, but it can be a powerful way to demonstrate your value, build relationships, and get referrals. Here are some ideas for free services you could offer:

• Social media audit: Offer a free social media audit to potential clients to identify areas for improvement and make recommendations for optimizing their profiles and content.
• Consultation: Offer a free consultation to potential clients to discuss their social media goals, pain points, and budget and provide recommendations for a strategy that meets their needs.
• Content creation: Offer to create a piece of social media content for a potential client for free, such as an infographic, a video, or a blog post, to showcase your creativity and expertise.
• SEO: This depends hardly on your niche. If its audience is smaller, you can quickly get traffic to your client’s page. The best part is: SEO is completely free!

When offering a free service, make sure you set clear expectations and boundaries to avoid being taken advantage of. Clearly state the scope of the service, the timeline, and any limitations or restrictions.

Not just that, you’ll also learn a lot about how to handle clients, their accounts, and communication, which you can’t really learn in a blog post or video.

Network and Collaborate

Did you already ask all of your family members if they know anyone who may be interested in marketing or owns a business? That’s an easy way to start. But be careful since you may meet this person multiple times in your life 🙂 Networking and collaborating with other people and businesses in your niche can be a powerful way to get your first SMMA client. Here are some ideas for networking and collaborating:

• Join online communities: Join online communities, such as Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, Reddit communities, or especially Discord servers related to your niche, and engage with members to build relationships and demonstrate your expertise. Keep in mind that your profile must indicate that you do something they can profit from. Otherwise, they won’t contact you.
• Offer guest posts: Offer to write a guest post for a relevant blog or podcast to showcase your knowledge and reach a wider audience. Neil Patel has a great blog post on how to get started with guest posting.

When networking and collaborating, make sure you focus on building genuine relationships and adding value to others rather than just trying to get clients.

Conclusion

Getting your first SMMA client can be a challenging and intimidating task, but it’s definitely achievable. By defining your niche, building a strong online presence, offering a free service, and networking and collaborating, you can increase your chances of landing your first client. Remember, building a successful SMMA takes time, effort, and persistence, but the rewards are worth it. Good luck on your journey!

Want to ask any questions? Go ahead: https://twitter.com/TimWitzdam