When the pandemic hit in early 2020, the focus was on how we could ensure the protection of public health. While there were countless questions on how it would affect other things, the priority was avoiding human catastrophe. As time passed, though, those other questions began to be asked, and, in time, answers started to emerge.
The main question over how it affected business was whether the current way of doing things could survive such seismic change. The answer that seems to be emerging is “Maybe it could, but maybe it shouldn’t.” The increase in digital business ventures appears to back that up.
The digital transformation
Not every job can be done from home, but those that could largely move online in the spring of 2020. While there was a general sense that they would move back, that hasn’t uniformly been the case. And it has suited people to try to retain the improved work-life balance that has resulted. The pandemic also gave people time to think.
While the move to the digital realm was out of necessity, it turned out that there was plenty of appetite. Individuals wanted to retain the focus on broadening an audience, increasing accessibility, and future-proofing against eventualities that included any future pandemic.
As businesses become more and more aware of the need to put their focus online, they have also been mindful of the necessity to increase their visibility. As a consequence, one of the boom industries has been starting a marketing agency.
Experts in the industry have clarified that no path to future prosperity doesn’t at least pass through a solid digital marketing strategy. And, for many of us, there is the considerable benefit that we’ve already engaged to some extent with digital marketing. If you’ve ever read a review on a blog or clicked on a company’s tweet, you’ve already dipped a toe in the waters.
The rise of new business ventures
Through one thing and another — with some employees placed on leave and others finding their job to no longer be viable – the pandemic was when people started to think seriously about where their future lay.
For many, it was time to consider making their own moves into the business world. They had the time and they had the incentive. The pandemic was a time during which many people made big decisions. In many ways, it was the perfect storm of opportunity and need. And they do say that necessity is the mother of invention.
A home-based, digitally-driven period of change
While some people went toward becoming personal trainers or Zoom tutors, plenty saw the home-based, digitally-driven period of change as the chance to become online business experts.
Digital marketing has always attracted people keen to work from home because it has always been possible to run such a business from one chair in front of one computer in one location.
This is a fact that something close to twice as many laptops are sold these days as desktop computers; it’s even possible to run such a business from your garden, a cafe, or a co-working space for a change of scenery.
Starting a digital marketing business
We know all about the background to the increase in digital marketing agencies – and an increase there has been. But it is worth digging deeper to understand the landscape, especially if you consider joining this revolution.
What makes it so easy (in theory) to launch a digital marketing agency in the current climate? For one thing, it’s something we can all understand. We’re a digital generation, and that “we” can apply to people born much longer ago than most people realize; people in their sixties and seventies and older are increasingly tech-savvy.
For another, where you are in the world doesn’t matter when launching a digital marketing agency. There are more than 1,000 agencies currently operating in India.
A high level of spoken and written English, allied to lower costs of business operations, makes it a fertile ground to grow such a business.
That said, it’s still a viable business if you’re in the UK and want to catch customers in the USA, and vice versa.
Add in Canada, Ireland, Australia, and many other Anglophone countries. The customer base for digital marketing agencies is almost unlimited.
Standing out from the crowd
When we said in the last section that launching a digital marketing agency was easy, we placed the words “in theory” in some significant brackets.
Why did we do that? Well, because many people have started digital marketing agencies before, during, and since the lockdowns and furlough were a thing.
So it’s easy to pull together the strands of starting an agency, but what about making it fly?
The success of a business venture started during the pandemic
Making a success of a business venture started during the pandemic is contingent upon realizing that it needs to survive in a world where there isn’t a pandemic. So, you need to think about who it is going to appeal to and how it is going to do that.
This will usually mean picking out a niche because the market for general digital marketing and SEO agencies is pretty saturated. Do you have a particular area of expertise? Do you innately understand healthcare and how it differs across national borders? Have you got years of experience in construction?
Enthusiasm for a subject, and an ability to speak in its shorthand, is essential to running a digital marketing agency devoted to it.
Conclusion
They say that with crisis comes opportunity, and that was certainly true of the pandemic to some extent. With so many new business ventures having started in the last few years, there is always going to be space for a business mind with an eye for promotion to help them reach their potential, and in so doing, make great strides to reach their own.
Feature Image Credit: Unsplash; Thank you!
