As a modern-day agency owner, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle of what other agencies are doing; running Facebook ads, making videos, blogging, email marketing, direct response marketing — it feels like the options are endless.
The truth is, you can’t do it all. You have to choose the channels which are best for your clients, otherwise, they’ll find someone who will.
There is one emerging force dominating the marketing landscape, which can help you streamline your own process: Chat Marketing. How do we know this? Because we’re on all the chat apps, every day: Messenger, SMS, email, Live Chat. And your clients and customers are doing the same.
What does it mean to sell Chat Marketing services?
Marketing agencies should sell Chat Marketing services to their clients. Here’s what it looks like:
- You create a Messenger bot for your clients with SMS and email capabilities.
- You set a price for setting up the Chat Marketing ecosystem.
- You charge a monthly fee for maintenance and optimization.
Let’s say that one of your marketing clients is an e-commerce store. You’ve been running Facebook ads for them. They’ve built an email list and had some decent success.
But what if they were using Messenger, SMS, and email automation? What if they were using Chat Marketing?
They could build omnichannel communication with customers, segment audiences, recover abandoned carts, send fulfillment messages, get more repeat sales, and increase revenue — all with the power of chat.
If you’re on the fence about adding Chat Marketing to your agency services, here are five reasons to convince you to dive in.
5 reasons to add Chat Marketing as an agency service
1. Your clients’ customers are on chat apps
Agencies are always competing for the next best way to get results. First it was Facebook, then Instagram. Messenger, and now Chat. While these channels have good ROI, it can be difficult to stand out.
By 2022, over 3 billion people will be using messaging apps on their phones. There are over 1.3 billion Facebook Messenger users, with 47% of people saying they use Facebook Messenger daily. On top of that, 71% of customers find text messaging effective for communicating with brands. Considering this, you want to find a way to get your clients heard over all the noise.
Chat Marketing helps you carve out a space in prospects’ minds. It involves using a mix of popular channels that customers use everyday, and are projected to use more in the future.
2. You can build systems and processes that scale
One reason agencies fail is that they don’t have systems and processes in place to handle two things: attracting the right type of clients and handling growth.
In the early stages, agency owners tend to bring on the wrong clients because they feel they need to say yes to everything. You have to pay your bills, you have to pay your team. But taking on work that’s unscalable hurts both your value as an agency and your productivity. It also affects growth and business development.
If you take on clients you can solve a problem with confidence (and gain results) for, it’s easy to attract them and win new accounts. When you put good systems in place, new team members can follow them clearly, which makes scaling that much easier while keeping everyone on the same page.
When you add Chat Marketing as an agency service, you can hone in on solving one specific problem for one specific type of client. You can build templates for lead generation, retention programs, and set a standard for communication, measurement, and commerce between you and clients. Without them, you have to rebuild your process every time, for every client.
Ready to add Chat Marketing as an agency service? Go Pro with ManyChat today.
3. You can get more recurring revenue
Building a recurring revenue stream for agencies is harder than it looks. You have to offer the right services, at the right time, and have remarkable client relationship management in order to convince clients to pay you a monthly retainer fee. But getting this type of regular agency income improves cash flow, lets you pay employees on time, and helps you scale.
“One of the reasons why I always recommend that agencies add Chat Marketing is for recurring revenue. You can add it as a service to offer your clients, then set a monthly fee for maintenance and optimization so both parties know what to expect. It’s an excellent way to generate cash flow,” says Angela Allan, Award-Winning Chat Marketing Agency Owner.
Chat Marketing gives agencies the perfect opportunity to get clients on retainer. The work needed to maintain a Messenger bot and multi-channel subscriber list is constant. It’s a lot easier to sell clients on monthly Chat Marketing service packages than it is for others like building a bot and designing one campaign.
4. You can differentiate your agency
Every agency owner knows they need to stand out from the competition. Showing off what makes you different can help attract and retain clients. Since Chat Marketing is an emerging field, most marketing agencies do not yet offer the suite of packages possible — and therefore, all look and feel the same.
“Offering Chat Marketing can differentiate your agency overnight. Very few agencies offer Messenger bots that get results, so you’d already be ahead of the competition. It also shows you understand and invest in new technology that helps businesses grow,” says Angela.
Chat Marketing helps you define a unique position in an increasingly crowded market. This also makes it easier to build a distinct brand — from positioning to personality and service offerings — which makes you more recognizable when prospects engage with you for the first time.
5. You can reduce client churn
Low churn rates are the foundation of any successful agency. It makes sense then to do what it takes to deliver a ton of value to clients and keep them satisfied. Otherwise, they’ll go find another agency who will.
“Marketing, just like every other discipline, needs to evolve over time. As the years pass, what we consider innovation becomes the new normal, meaning we need to step up our game in order to innovate again and provide a better service.
Before, a marketing specialist could read an excel table and create campaigns based on those conclusions and the needed profit. Today, if your marketing does not include the customer support factor in a world that requires chat in order to purchase, then you’re part of the old normal,” says Trilce Jiron, Founder of TBS Marketing
One of the best things about offering Chat Marketing is that you don’t just specialize in Messenger or SMS or email, you specialize in all three. This gives your client an edge over competitors and can make a bigger impact, faster. When you offer Chat Marketing, both you and your clients win, and they stick around longer.
Final thoughts
As someone who runs an agency, you know all too well it’s never-ending, hard work. You may already offer Messenger Marketing or paid social, but with Chat Marketing, you can offer better results for a fraction of the time and energy. Our hope is that this information will help kickstart a Chat Marketing program in your business that brings about long-term growth and a sustainable flow of high-paying clients for your business.
