Planning to start an advertising agency in Pune? Great! It seems you have the creative spark, strategic vision, and capabilities to turn ideas into opportunities for your clients.
Besides, you’ve chosen just the right time to venture out into the world of advertising.
The Indian economy is growing unprecedentedly. It is also about to become the world’s third-largest one, surpassing some of the largest nations.
However, while the opportunities are countless and the time is right, starting an advertising agency in Pune or anywhere in India is no joke. It requires extensive planning and the right strategy that lets you not just survive but thrive.
To help you navigate these challenges and journey, here’s some expert guidance.
Strategic Advice to Start an Advertising Agency in Pune
To embark on this path, consider these key strategies for starting an advertising agency in India, from identifying your niche to staying adaptable.
- Define Your Niche and USP
Advertising is a competitive space with thousands of well-established players. Many of them are gargantuan! Amidst the competition and clamor, you don’t want to be just another agency, do you? Thus, you must identify your niche and what sets you apart. Take that as the base and work out to highlight it. Nevertheless, your USP or niche must be something that the world wants today. You cannot offer something that’s aging or dying. So, to ensure you give what people want, here are some key steps.
- Researching: Companies need you to address their advertising needs. So, explore what’s trending and what is it that companies want. Understand the existing gaps in client expectations and vendor services. Identify where you fit in and leverage it to present yourself as a player who addresses the rift.
- Identifying Your Strengths: Discover your strengths and align them with the needs of your prospects. For instance, determine whether you are great at content creation, marketing, branding, or core advertising. People will look at you as experts. So, you must ensure you are one to deliver value.
- Crafting a Clear USP: Identify what makes you different or how you do something differently. Ensure you offer something very few agencies offer. It will help you stand out amidst the clutter and competition.
- Prepare a Realistic Business Plan
This is your business’s blueprint that helps you have clear goals, identify potential challenges, and map out a way to tackle them. Besides, a robust business plan will help you secure funding for your agency if you are looking for external funding.
Some key elements of your business include;
- Agency Mission and Vision: These comprise the holistic vision you want to achieve and the difference you wish to make to your clients.
- Market Research: Researching involves understanding competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and identifying points that can help you differentiate. Besides, it will involve determining the demand for the services you offer in a particular market.
- Financial Projections: This includes estimating your operating costs and desired revenue streams. Additionally, it will involve determining how you price your services while ensuring they are competitive enough.
- Marketing Strategy: This covers a report of your strategies to generate leads and convert them into clients. The strategy will also encompass the various channels you intend to use while spreading the word about your work.
Nevertheless, ensure you are realistic – to yourself as well as to your stakeholders. Making unrealistic commitments will land you nowhere. Besides, people can make out the difference between realistic and unrealistic commitments. So, be rational while avoiding being overambitious. Follow the SMART goals principle!
- Start Building a Team
Strategies and technologies matter. But it is people who drive the show in every business. Accordingly, you must identify the right people for various positions and have the right team in place. Initially, you may begin with freelancers. However, once you build a substantial financial muscle, you must begin hiring full-time employees.
Some roles to consider in an advertising agency include creative directors, account managers, social media specialists or digital marketers, copywriters, graphic designers, project manager, marketing executives and more.
Have the right blend of people in terms of experience. It will help you leverage wisdom as well as fresh perspective. A team with the right mix can enrich strategic perspectives and lead your company to better and more fruitful outcomes.
- Complete Administrative and Legal Formalities
Registering your firm legally is necessary.
Seek help from a professional to identify the right form of entity and business structure. For instance, you can choose to register as a proprietorship firm, private limited company, partnership or LLC (Limited Liability Company). Each has its pros and cons you must consider to make an informed choice.
Besides, obtain the necessary licenses, open a bank account, and establish an accounting system.
Legal and administrative compliance is a must to keep penalties and legal troubles at bay. Also, having these compliances can help you focus on growing your business.
- Build a Brand Identity
As an ad agency, you will help businesses become brands. However, before onboarding you as an advertising partner, companies will assess how well you’ve branded yourself. Accordingly, your brand must be impeccable, signify the quality of work you’ll offer your clients. Some steps to follow include,
- Creating a logo and brand colors denotes your agency’s persona
- Building a portfolio that highlights your best work
- As a beginner, if you don’t have any clients yet, designing mock-up campaigns or collaborating with local businesses to do pro-bono work can also help
- Ensuring a consistent brand voice that resonates with your target audience
- Leverage Your Network and Weave a New One
Referrals and personal connections play a crucial role in the ad industry. Initially, you may not have an extensive marketing budget. Or you may want to use the money to run your business. Hence, you must leverage your personal network and contacts to spread the word. However, merely relying on the existing network doesn’t suffice. You must stitch a new one by;
- Designing and running social media campaigns
- Becoming members of local business chapters
- Attending industry events like conferences, workshops, and webinars
- Talking about your business wherever you go
- Offering freebies and discounts to drive people closer to your business
- Invest in Marketing and Adapt to Changes
Scale your marketing efforts once you get a few clients. You must advertise your services as effectively as those of your clients. Some steps can include;
- Creating a professional website
- Optimizing your content for search engines
- Crafting valuable and resonating content on social media platforms
- Using paid ads to drive instant visibility
- Participating in internet forums and answering questions
While doing the above, you must remember that the ad industry evolves at a breakneck speed. Trends that look new and fresh today may turn redundant tomorrow. As an advertising specialist, you must adapt to these changes as quickly as others do to deliver what’s trending.
Final Thoughts!
Running and thriving as an advertising agency is a journey just like every other business. Challenges are inevitable. However, you can overcome them with the right strategy, people, creativity, and vision. You will have your moments of learning. Hence, you must ensure you make the most from them, evolve, and strive to achieve a steady growth rate. Hope to see you transforming businesses into brands!