How To Offer New Services In Your Agency (What Worked For Us)

Offering new services is one of the best ways to grow your agency.

It helps you meet the evolving needs of your existing clients and attract new ones.

If we had never moved beyond our original 4-5 services, we would have stagnated. Instead, we now offer over 20 and regularly add new services.

But, adding a new service comes with (many) challenges.

You need to make sure you don’t stretch your resources too thin. And that there’s genuine demand for the service.

In this guide, we’ll reveal how to offer new services the right way – using lessons we’ve learned ourselves when offering new services.

Learn from both our successes and our failures:

• How to identify the demand for new services
• How to implement new services efficiently

 

Prefer a visual version? Our video of this blog post has got you covered!

Identify the Demand

The first step is to know what your clients actually need. That’s how you ensure your new service offerings will be helpful for them and profitable for your agency.

Conduct Market Research

Start with the big trends in digital marketing. These could be broad trends like AI and video marketing or more specific trends within a niche.

The goal is to find a problem clients face that you could solve with a new service.

Marketing 101:

– Find people with a problem (Market)
– Understand the problem (Market research)
– Find or create a solution (Service/product)
– Find a way to put the solution in front of your market (traffic)
– Sell the benefits, not the solution ($)

Stop overcomplicating it. pic.twitter.com/8ISL6Ez2Zk

— Chase Dimond | Email Marketing Nerd 📧 (@ecomchasedimond) September 15, 2023

What services and marketing strategies are gaining popularity?

Are there any new technologies that you could adopt?

Industry reports can be helpful for spotting these trends. For example, you can look at annual reports like The CMO Survey and The State of SEO to see changes in the market and client behaviors.

Google Trends can be a useful tool for validating interest in a potential service or technology. Enter a related keyword, and you’ll be able to see if interest in the topic is increasing or decreasing over time.

Image Source

This helps you identify if demand is growing or winding down. It can help you make more informed decisions about which new services to offer.

– Waiting long enough to ensure client demand is more than a fad is great, but wait too long and you’ll be playing catch up to competitors that have already established themselves in the space.

Ask Your Current Client Base

Your current client base will be the primary market for your new service. The chances of selling to existing customers are 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to new customers is 5-20%.

So, understanding what your existing clients need is the best way to identify new services to add to your agency.

The simple way to do this is by talking to them.

Ask your clients directly what they need help with and what’s missing from your current service list.

You can also use surveys to collect feedback. This can be a good way to identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

For example, a recent survey by Setup found that 58% of agency clients were looking for more help with content creation in 2023 – a 15% year-over-year increase:

If you sell ecommerce SEO services, adding content creation could be a good way to enhance your service package. It helps your client achieve better results and provides an opportunity to increase your agency’s revenue.

You don’t even always need to directly ask them!

Monitor your customer support channels to see what potential customers are asking if you offer or what current customers are wishing you’d add next.

– These opportunities are great; you know there is already demand and that customers already have you in mind for it.

Monitor Competitors

Your competitors can also be a good source of information on the demand for new services.

This isn’t about copying them. It’s about understanding market demand and staying competitive.

Start by visiting competitors’ websites. Look at their service pages to see what they offer that you don’t.

Pay attention to the pricing and how they describe their services. And take note of the unique selling proposition they are aiming for. This can help you position your new service and identify ways to stand out.

You should also keep track of your competitors on their social media channels and email campaigns… They might be running polls and sharing service updates that give clues as to what services or products they are thinking of offering next.

How to Implement New Services

Adding new services requires careful planning and execution. Here’s how to do it:

Assess Your Capabilities

The first step is to evaluate your current capabilities. You need to know if you have the resources and skills to deliver a high-quality service to your clients.

Start by evaluating your current team’s skills. You should already have a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses.

If the new service involves tasks outside their experience and skill set, you’ll need to address the knowledge gap.

You also need to assess your current resources. This includes software, tools, and equipment you’ll need to deliver the new service.

For example, if you’re adding a video marketing service,you don’t just need to take on video editors and voice talent – you’ll also need all the equipment they require too.

If you’re planning to offer social media marketing services, you’ll need social management and content creation tools.

Understand the Costs

Once you’ve got a good understanding of what’s needed, make a list of the costs involved. This includes training, hiring, and acquiring new resources.

In the majority of cases, it’s going to be much more affordable to outsource the new service deliverables. This allows you to test the demand without spending a big chunk of your budget.

The only agency model that scales:

Insource:
👉 Sales
👉 Strategy
👉 Technical
👉 Reporting

Outsource:
👉 Link Building
👉 Content
👉 Video
👉 Design

— Joe Davies (@fatjoedavies) June 24, 2024

Outsourcing is a cost-effective way to expand your offerings. You can test whether the new service is viable without buying expensive tools or hiring new staff.

Choose the Right Outsourcing Partner

Next, you need to work out which parts of the new service can be outsourced.

Think about tasks that require specialist expertise or equipment. You should look to outsource these tasks.

For example, if you’re planning to offer link building services, you might outsource the outreach and content creation.

Look for digital marketing agencies and freelancers that offer these services. Customer reviews and portfolios are the best ways to identify the right partner.

It’s not a good idea to outsource everything. Keep core tasks like strategy and reporting in-house. You also want to make sure your team remains the primary point of contact for clients.

Integrate Outsourced Services with Your Team

You need your new service to work seamlessly with the rest of your agency operations.

Communication is key here.

Set up clear communication channels with your outsourcing partner from the start. That could involve email, video calls, messaging apps, or project management tools.

Here at FATJOE, we provide an easy-to-use dashboard for you to keep track of your projects. You can view the status, due dates, and other important information in the same place.

Establish clear goals and expectations. Provide a detailed brief that includes deadlines, quality standards, and any specific client requirements. This helps to reduce the risk of any misunderstandings.

Your outsourced services need to meet the standard of work your agency usually provides. So, make sure you have quality control processes in place. Have an in-house employee review work before you send it on to the client.

Test the Service

Before you launch your new service, run a test project. This will help you identify any issues and make sure it meets the standards you expect.

Start with a smaller project. This lets you evaluate your outsourcing partner’s performance without committing to a long-term contract. You can see how they work and the quality of their output.

You can run a test project with a client willing to try the new service at a discounted rate. Ask the client to provide feedback on the deliverables and overall service. This will give you real-world insights into how the service performs.

It’s also a good idea to consult your internal team. Ask for feedback and suggestions on how to improve the workflow and service delivery.

Alternatively, you could run a test project for your agency. For example, if you’re adding video digital marketing services, have your outsourcing provider create a video announcing the new service. This lets you fine-tune the process and gives you great marketing material for the official launch.

Make sure you’re happy with everything before you go live.

– This has rescued multiple services for us before they have even be launched. Small-scale beta testing is ideal for making sure your processes will be able to scale.

Extra tip: don’t over explain the service to your testers. Let them explain what they expect from the service just from its name and see how you align with expectations.

Market Your New Services

The next step is to let your clients and prospects know about your new service.

Start with a big announcement to generate buzz. Use all your marketing channels to get the word out. That could include:

• Creating a service page on your website
• Social media posts
• Email newsletters
• Blog posts
• Paid ads

Your marketing messaging should focus on the problem that your service solves. Highlight the benefits.

For example, if your new service is content marketing, discuss how it can address specific pain points related to website traffic and lead generation.

❌ I sell strategy
✅ I sell brand authority & high conversions

❌ I sell marketing
✅ I sell more leads & better conversions

❌ I sell design
✅ I sell brand visibility & memorability

❌ I sell sales
✅ I sell money in your pocket faster

Selling the results is how you win.

— Sana 👹 (@sanathemonster) November 7, 2022

Consider offering a discount initially to get more clients to try the new service. This could be a bundled service package or a time-limited promotion.

You can collect testimonials from these first clients to strengthen the social proof of your new service offering. Positive reviews can be a powerful way to build trust and credibility.

Be Flexible

This is the most vital tip of all. Not every service will be a winner right out of the gates – especially if you want to launch into a cold market (so as not to give the game away to your competitors)!

This is perfectly fine, but you must be able to adapt. 

Many of our most popular services have undergone quite a bit of growth and evolution. Hold firm at first, but over time compile data to ensure that you’re really offering clients what they actually want – not just what you think they want.

Check for client complaints that indicate misaligned expectations. Ask your support staff if there is any confusion when discussing the product. Check search data to see what terms your clients are inputting when they find the product.

Use all this to refine and redesign your products where needed.

Our Blogger Outreach service is still the same core service we launch over. decade ago, but it’s safe to say it has still changed a lot to keep up with industry trends, shifting client demands, and our own maturity as a brand and as a business… (We’ve ditched the packages based on UK soap-opera characters, so that can only be a plus.)

Grow Your Agency with New Services

Adding new services can be a smart way to scale your digital agency. It allows you to meet your clients’ changing needs and stay competitive.

A new service offering can increase revenue, boost customer retention, and enhance your value proposition.

You can build stronger client relationships and set up your marketing agency for long-term success.