Tools to Start a Digital Marketing Agency | Free & Paid

Summary

In this video, Mike Mancini, a Google Ads agency owner, shares essential insights on starting a digital agency. He emphasizes the importance of not spending on tools until you have clients and outlines the necessary free and paid tools for managing campaigns. Mancini discusses the initial tools needed, such as a computer, phone, and internet connection, and then moves on to free tools like Google Ads Editor and Google Data Studio for reporting. He also covers paid tools like Callrail for tracking and Landing for creating landing pages, and optional tools for agency growth, including ClickUp for organization and communication.

Takeaways

• 💡 Starting a digital agency doesn't require many tools initially; focus on acquiring clients first.
• 💻 Essential tools for starting include a computer, phone, and internet connection.
• 📈 Free tools like Google Ads software and Google Ads Editor are crucial once you have clients.
• 📊 Google Data Studio offers a free and customizable reporting solution for client campaigns.
• 📞 Paid tools like Callrail for phone call tracking are necessary once you have paying clients.
• 📝 Landing page software is essential for creating client-specific landing pages post-client acquisition.
• 🔧 Optional paid tools like ClickUp can improve internal communication and organization.
• 🌐 Having a website is not mandatory for a digital agency, but if you have one, keep it minimal and informative.
• 📈 The speaker emphasizes the importance of not overspending on tools until they are needed and can be justified by client payments.
• 🛠️ Tools are categorized into essential, free, paid, and optional, with guidance on when to consider each.
• 📚 A three-page cheat sheet and training called 'Ads Agency Unlocked' are available for further guidance on tools and scaling an agency.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video transcript?

The main topic of the video transcript is discussing the tools needed to start a digital agency, including both free and paid tools for different stages of the agency's growth.

Who is the speaker in the video transcript?

The speaker in the video transcript is Mike Mancini, a Google Ads agency owner with nine years of experience.

What is the first piece of advice given by Mike about starting a digital agency?

The first piece of advice given by Mike is not to purchase too many tools before having a digital agency, as it can lead to financial strain and delay success.

What are the three essential tools mentioned by Mike that are needed to start a digital agency?

The three essential tools mentioned by Mike are a computer (desktop or laptop), a phone, and an internet connection.

Why does Mike emphasize the importance of getting clients before investing in tools?

Mike emphasizes the importance of getting clients first because it ensures that the investment in tools is justified and that the agency has a steady income stream to cover the costs.

What is the Google Ads platform used for in the context of the video?

In the context of the video, the Google Ads platform is used to set up and manage Google Ads campaigns for clients.

What is the purpose of the Google Ads Editor according to the transcript?

The purpose of the Google Ads Editor is to build and manage campaigns more efficiently, as it can be downloaded and used directly on the computer.

What is the name of the free reporting software recommended by Mike for clients to see campaign progress?

The free reporting software recommended by Mike is Google Data Studio.

What is the first paid tool that Mike suggests for a digital agency after securing clients?

The first paid tool that Mike suggests is phone call tracking software, specifically mentioning Callrail as an example.

What is the purpose of the landing page software in a digital agency's toolkit?

The purpose of the landing page software is to build landing pages for clients, which is crucial for effective ad campaigns and conversions.

What is the role of ClickUp in Mike's agency, and why is it considered a robust tool?

ClickUp is used in Mike's agency for internal communication, project management, and organization. It is considered robust due to its comprehensive features and effectiveness in keeping the team organized and informed.

Why does Mike consider a website to be optional for a digital agency?

Mike considers a website to be optional because he has encountered instances where agency owners secured significant clients without a website. He suggests that the bare minimum of a website is sufficient for a digital agency.

What is the name of the training program Mike offers for aspiring agency owners or those looking to scale their agency?

The name of the training program Mike offers is 'Ads Agency Unlocked'.

Outlines

00:00

🛠 Essential Tools for Starting a Digital Agency

Mike Mancini, a Google Ads agency owner, discusses the necessity of having the right tools when starting a digital agency. He emphasizes the importance of not overspending on tools before securing clients, as it can lead to financial strain. The video provides advice on the essential free and paid tools needed at different stages of agency growth. Mancini shares his experience and the tools he uses, including Google Ads software, Google Ads Editor, and Google Data Studio for reporting, which are free until clients are secured. He also mentions the importance of having a computer, phone, and internet connection as the bare minimum to start an agency.

05:02

📈 Post-Client Acquisition: Free and Paid Tools for Digital Agencies

After securing clients, the script outlines the transition to using certain free tools specific to the type of digital agency, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads Manager. It also introduces the concept of paid tools that become necessary to manage and optimize campaigns efficiently. Mancini highlights the use of Callrail for phone call tracking and Landing for creating landing pages, which are essential for client interaction and service offerings. Additionally, he touches on optional tools like ClickUp for internal communication and organization, and the minimal requirements for a website, stressing that a website is not a prerequisite for a successful digital agency.

Keywords

💡Digital Agency

A digital agency is a business that provides services related to digital marketing, such as online advertising, social media management, and web design. In the video, the main theme revolves around starting and growing a digital agency, emphasizing the tools necessary for its operation and expansion.

💡Free Tools

Free tools refer to software or platforms that can be used at no cost. The video mentions utilizing free tools once clients are acquired, highlighting that they are essential for campaign setup and management without incurring expenses until revenue is generated.

💡Paid Tools

Paid tools are those that require a financial investment to use. The script discusses the importance of only investing in paid tools after securing clients, suggesting that they enhance campaign optimization and efficiency, and are justified by the income from clients.

💡Google Ads

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, allowing businesses to display ads on Google's search engine and across the web. The video's speaker is a Google Ads agency owner, making it a central concept as he discusses tools specific to running Google Ads campaigns.

💡Campaigns

In the context of the video, campaigns refer to the advertising projects managed by the digital agency. The script emphasizes the need for tools to set up, run, and optimize these campaigns effectively once clients are secured.

💡Google Ads Editor

Google Ads Editor is a free tool provided by Google that allows users to manage and build Google Ads campaigns offline. The script mentions it as an essential tool for efficiency in campaign management post-client acquisition.

💡Reporting Software

Reporting software is used to generate reports that provide insights into the performance of advertising campaigns. The video mentions Google Data Studio as a free tool for creating comprehensive reports for clients, showcasing campaign performance.

💡Callrail

Callrail is a call tracking software mentioned in the script, which is used to track phone calls generated by ads, allowing clients to measure the effectiveness of their advertising spend. It is an example of a paid tool needed for campaign management.

💡Landing Page Software

Landing page software is used to create dedicated pages for marketing campaigns, aiming to increase conversions. The video recommends 'Landing' as a paid tool for building landing pages for clients, illustrating the investment in tools to enhance service offerings.

💡Click Up

Click Up is a project management and team collaboration tool mentioned as an optional paid tool. It is used internally for organization and communication within the digital agency, highlighting its role in agency growth and efficiency.

💡Website

A website is a collection of related web pages, including multimedia content, typically identified with a common domain name. While traditionally seen as essential, the video suggests that a website is optional for a digital agency, emphasizing that client acquisition and service delivery are more critical.

Highlights

Starting a digital agency requires careful selection of tools to avoid unnecessary expenses.

Free tools are sufficient until you secure clients for your digital agency.

A computer, phone, and internet connection are the basic necessities to begin a digital agency.

Google Ads software and platform are essential free tools for setting up campaigns.

Google Ads Editor is a free tool for building and managing campaigns more efficiently.

Google Data Studio offers free reporting software to show clients campaign progress.

Paid tools should only be considered once you have paying clients.

Call tracking software like Callrail is necessary for tracking client calls from ads.

Landing page software is crucial for building client-specific landing pages.

Optional paid tools like ClickUp can improve internal communication and organization.

A website is not a mandatory requirement for a digital agency at the outset.

A basic website with essential pages is sufficient for a digital agency.

The speaker provides a three-page cheat sheet and links to all mentioned tools.

The speaker offers training called 'Ads Agency Unlocked' for aspiring agency owners.

The training covers starting from scratch, getting new clients, and scaling the agency.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of not spending money on tools until they are needed.

The speaker shares personal experiences and lessons learned from running a digital agency for nine years.

The video includes a call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and enable notifications for new content.

Transcripts

okay today i'm going to be talking about

what tools you need to start a digital

agency i'm not only going to be talking

about the free tools that you can use

until you get clients but i'm also going

to be talking about the paid tools that

you'll want to use once you have clients

and then the paid tools that you may

want to use down the road to help grow

your agency further all right let's get

started

[Music]

hi i'm mike mancini and i'm a google ads

agency owner for the last nine years

when you're starting a digital agency

there can be way too many tools that

you'll be tempted to purchase

and get to know before you even have a

digital agency and if you start to

purchase all of those believe me you can

go broke very quickly i can't even tell

you how many tools i purchased before i

ever even really got started thinking i

just want to get to know him i want to

understand him i want to know what i

need

and i almost went broke doing it and let

me tell you i would have been successful

much sooner if i would have had this

advice back then you see i teach people

that you don't need paid tools until you

have clients then once you have paying

clients you can go out and pay for the

tools that you need to set the campaigns

up to run the campaigns optimize them

and so on so don't spend the money if

you don't have to until you have it

coming in and everything that i'm

talking about today is also available in

this three page cheat sheet that you can

get if you click the link in the

description area below now i'm not sure

coding this at all

this is truly and i promise you this is

all you need to get started number one

you need a computer you'll need a

desktop or a laptop computer and you'll

need this because when you're setting up

campaigns a lot of the interfaces that

you use just don't work as well on

mobile and some of them aren't even

available to work on tablet so you need

a desktop or a laptop computer either

one is fine you will also need a phone

and you can use this to speak directly

to clients they will have questions they

will want to talk to you they will want

to know you are a real person you can

use zoom as well but sometimes just

trying to get somebody on the phone is

easier to do so you will need a phone

you will also need an internet

connection and if you're watching this

video you probably already have all

three a computer a phone and an internet

connection and that is truly all you

need to get started and the reason why i

tell you you only need those three

things is because you just need to go

out and get clients

after you get clients you can learn

about the tools as you go through them

you can learn how to set up the

campaigns you can learn how to optimize

you can do all of that later you have

your agency you need to have clients and

you need to get those first now the

second category is free tools that you

need but you don't need these until you

have clients but again these are still

free tools in my agency specifically we

run google ads for clients and the one

tool we absolutely must use is the

google ads software or platform we need

this to set up our google ads campaigns

and now the software is a hundred

percent free you don't ever have to pay

for this tool and in our agency training

which i'll talk about later we actually

show you exactly how to use the software

the second thing you're going to need

but not until you have clients is the

google ads editor we use this to build

and manage our campaigns and with this

tool it's much more efficient it is a

hundred percent free and you actually

can download it to your computer now if

you're starting a facebook agency you

obviously will have to have the facebook

ads manager same thing just two

different software now another free tool

that we use with our clients is

reporting software you want this to show

your clients what is happening inside

the campaigns as you're doing your job

now we used to pay 150 a month for a

tool like this but since then we found a

much better option and it's called

google data studio and with any gmail or

google account this is also 100 free the

best thing about this is you can

customize it however you want but in our

agency we give our students a template

that they can use and it will pull all

the information 24 hours a day seven

days a week put it on a nice beautiful

report and this is what we share with

our clients it gives them more

information than they will ever need

regarding their campaigns and it's the

most comprehensive report that we've

ever seen we spent a lot of time putting

a template like this together and since

this is a template when we're getting

ready to give it to our clients it takes

us about five minutes to customize it

the third category that we have are paid

tools but you don't need these until you

have paying clients what happens is you

land a paying client they give you a

setup fee to set the account up that is

money that you use then to pay for these

tools now with some of these paying

tools you have to get a package or you

know a minimum amount but on average it

costs us about twenty dollars in tools a

month per client that we have and if you

think about it if somebody's paying you

a thousand dollars a month and it costs

you twenty dollars to run that campaign

it's obviously well worth it the first

paid tool that you will need is some

kind of phone call tracking software

when we're running ads for our clients

our clients want people to call them to

schedule appointments to find out

information about the services that they

offer to get pricing etc the platform

that we personally use is called

callrail and the starter package runs

about 45 a month and with that package i

believe you get 10 phone numbers and as

you expand as you get more clients you

will need more phone numbers but those

phone numbers only run about two dollars

a month each the second paid tool that

you will need is landing page software

we use this to build landing pages for

our clients one software that i highly

recommend is called landing and it

actually starts at 29 a month now that's

for a small package and as you get

bigger you want a bigger package but

that's some place that you can start and

as with all the other tools we show you

inside our agency training how to use

this and also provide you templates now

the fourth category is for paid tools

that you may want down the road these

paid tools can help you with

organization communication and even

getting more clients but let me know

these tools are totally optional in fact

i didn't even use these tools until a

couple of years into my agency so one of

the paid tools that we use is called

click up this is a tool that we use

internally to communicate with our staff

about projects and about campaigns it

helps keep us organized know what's

going on helps us with scheduling and so

on and this is by far the most robust

tool that i have found and i've tried a

lot and it only costs about nine dollars

a month per user the next thing that is

totally optional is a website and i

can't give you pricing because that's

obviously all over the board and you're

probably thinking what do you mean a

website is optional don't you absolutely

have to have a website to have a digital

agency and my answer is absolutely not i

know instances of agency owners when

they got started they went out and got

hundreds of thousands of dollars on

clients without even having a website i

can't even tell you how many times i

talk to clients where they've never even

seen my website but if you do have a

website all you need is the bare minimum

you need a home page which talks

specifically about what you do

maybe a services page if you offer more

than one service

you will need an about us page talk

about you and your story and you want a

contact us page and a frequently asked

questions page people believe that they

have to have a thousand pages on a

website

on my website personally i don't think

i've updated it for two years and we

have just the bare minimum now these are

just the tools that we use in our agency

and they allow us to run and grow as

fast as we want there are no limits in

terms of what you can do with these

tools and we can even handle

hundreds of clients and these are also

what we've used to help scale our agency

over the last nine years so remember all

of these tools are located in this cheat

sheet which you can download in the

description area below and i've also

listed a link to all the tools that i

talked about today in the video so you

can go to those and check those out and

if you're an aspiring agency owner or

you already have your own agency and you

want to scale it check out my training

below called ads agency unlocked where i

show you how i got started how i've done

everything in the last nine years to get

to this point from starting my agency

from scratch from getting new clients

how to use all the tools that we talk

about and more how to optimize how to

scale i show you everything i'm an open

book and if you got some great value out

of this video please do me a favor hit

that like button subscribe and that

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every week and over to the right hand

side you will see some more related

videos thanks so much for watching i

really do appreciate the support and

i'll see you next time