In Episode #267, Eric and Neil discuss how to start a marketing agency. Tune in to learn how to scale yourself up from zero to a million as well as how to create an effective marketing tactic when you’re just starting out. It’ll get you those clients and perhaps a date on Tinder, too! Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Start a Marketing Agency 00:40 – Neil shares why he named his first agency ACS 00:44 – ACS stands for Advantage Consulting Services 00:47 – Neil and his co-founder thought of the name 01:07 – ACS was created 16 years ago 01:30 – Neil is starting a new marketing agency 02:03 – Neil wanted a website like iProspect’s, which is one of the biggest marketing agencies 02:14 – When starting a website, have your own unique angle 02:20 – Keep it simple 02:22 – Go on Crunchbase, find companies that are recently funded, email them their flaws in a full detailed document 02:49 – From there, you can get clients and start having your own agency 03:05 – If you want to start a marketing agency, you have to be confident in marketing 03:11 – You have to do business development 03:28 – If you’re starting out, use Mixmax’s sequences 03:30 – Set up sequences and reach out to people like a cold outreach 03:57 – Going from 0 to 1M, it all starts with you 04:12 – Eric got a client from Quora by answering a question for SEO 04:21 – Think about where your people are hanging out 04:30 – Eric has a friend who currently makes money from Instagram 04:50 – Neil asks Eric the one thing he would do if he’s just starting 04:59 – "Give free advice every single day” 05:24 – People will eventually respond to you 05:33 – Eric even sent Neil a couple of emails before responding to Neil’s blog 05:45 – “You got to show value first and then, from there, you can scale up” 05:50 – Neil will also do the same thing as Eric if he’s just starting out 06:00 – Neil will send an email with the name and a catchy sentence about the person’s business 06:39 – Use tools like Mixmax, Outreach and ZenProspect to make sure you have a CSV of the company names for the outreach 06:47 – Marketing is a numbers game 07:02 – Eric used to take videos to get clients 07:22 – Start to build up your portfolio and do some work for free to get referrals 07:33 – It’s going to be tough at first 07:39 – Neil has a reader who used his marketing funnels to get dates on Tinder 07:50 – Funnels is compared to the act of swiping 07:58 – The more people you email, the more opens you’re going to get 08:20 – In Tinder, there’s a feature called “super like” 08:49 – A “super like” is when a person made you a favorite 09:00 – If you have a good headline, people will click through 09:20 – Make sure you have a good image, just like in Tinder 10:00 – “Do good work and then things will start to happen” 10:05 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Confidence is important, but being an excellent marketer is fundamental—people will know if you are an expert or are just trying to be one. There’s no elevator to success. Reach out to people as often as possible and offer free work if needed. Create a plan and research how you will develop your business. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu