Expand your business by adding a new line of service

When I founded Rareview® agency in 2002, our primary service offering centered on website design and development. This choice was a natural one, given my experience and interest in crafting websites and digital products. In our initial years, we attracted clients primarily through word-of-mouth referrals and my personal network. As we successfully completed more creative projects, we began building a robust portfolio that enabled us to compete for larger projects with household brands.

A decade later, it became evident that to continue evolving in the direction we aspired to, we needed to diversify our service offerings. While website design had been our forte, it was clear that our clients required more comprehensive support in establishing and nurturing their digital brands.

Our previous approach had been to design and build websites, and then move on, leaving clients to navigate the digital landscape on their own. This approach wasn’t beneficial for our clients or our business. Many clients asked, “What’s next?” We recognized that the “build it and they will come” philosophy didn’t align with our values, and we saw an opportunity to not only assist businesses but also increase our revenue.

Before delving into how we expanded our services to include marketing, it’s important to acknowledge that many successful businesses thrive by specializing in a single area. Numerous agencies, for instance, excel in providing one service, such as development.

In our case, though, we saw the potential to offer more. We didn’t want to be limited to just one aspect of digital presence. We wanted to provide a complete package.

Identifying the need and filling the gap

The decision to diversify our services wasn’t driven by a single “aha” moment but rather a gradual realization over time. Clients had been asking about digital marketing for years, but my personal experiences with SEO and marketing agencies hadn’t been particularly positive. Many engagements resulted in mediocre outcomes, leading clients to terminate contracts and start the search anew. At the time, I wasn’t enthusiastic about online marketing in general.

During this period, my brother Rob was making strides in his corporate career, eventually reaching the position of Vice President in Marketing. Our conversations often revolved around his unconventional marketing approach, which intrigued me and offered a contrast to my past experiences.

Then, a project opportunity arose that I was genuinely excited about. It involved providing various marketing services, including digital marketing strategy, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, email marketing, and content marketing. If we were ever going to venture into digital marketing, this was the perfect opportunity to test the waters.

I brought Rob on board as a consultant for this project. It swiftly became apparent that his expertise would be invaluable in expanding our agency’s services into digital marketing. The project was an unqualified success, and the client was thrilled with the results. As a pilot project, it proved our capability.

This experience taught us a valuable lesson: you don’t have to dive headfirst into uncharted waters. You can wade into the shallow end, gradually getting comfortable before embarking on the longer swim.

Bringing in a leader

We introduced our new service by starting a pilot project with a consultant. This approach offered a low barrier to entry. We did not commit the time and resources to hiring a W2 employee from the onset and if the project had failed or the consultant hadn’t met expectations, the resulting setback would have been manageable.

In our case though, things worked out. We appointed Rob as our Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and entrusted him with building a marketing department.

How to establish a new department

After the successful pilot project and the addition of our CMO, we faced the challenge of building a full-fledged marketing department without compromising our existing business. Here’s how we navigated this transition:

Define your services: Determine the specific services you want to offer. For us, it included SEO, PPC, social media marketing, content writing, email marketing, and marketing strategy.

Hire the right talent: Assess your current team’s skills and identify gaps. Lean on leadership to hire new team members and do most of the heavy lifting in the interim. Initially, our CMO handled each account until the new team was in place.

Create a portfolio: Building a competitive portfolio can be extremely challenging initially. We went through the same process from when we started the agency. We drew on our personal experiences and projects completed in prior roles. Over time, the projects we completed at Rareview® helped us construct a strong, competitive portfolio.

Pricing strategy: Determine your pricing strategy for the new services. Research competitors and industry pricing methods, then calculate what works for your business. We crafted pricing matrices for small businesses and larger enterprises to offer different packages for various sized businesses.

Update marketing materials: Revise all materials to reflect your new services, including your website, pitch deck, and messaging. Clearly communicate the expanded scope of your offerings.

It’s crucial to consider how you communicate your services. In the past, we used to describe ourselves as a “website design agency.” However, we recognized the need to change our positioning and modified our identity—we started saying, “a design and marketing agency.”

Leverage existing clients: Cross-promote your new services among your current client base. This involved sending emails, engaging in discussions, and actively spreading the word. To entice early adoption, we extended reduced pricing for the initial months while we demonstrated our value. This strategy proved highly effective.

After a successful (3) month period of generating revenue for the client, we transitioned to our standard pricing plan. In cases where the partnership didn’t yield the expected results, clients had the option to discontinue our services.

This approach proved mutually beneficial, aiding us in building an early portfolio. Furthermore, we discovered the significant impact of simply “asking” for opportunities and recommendations. Many businesses responded positively, either by giving us a chance or by connecting us with other potential clients.

Don’t underestimate the power of intention. Steve Jobs talks about the remarkable power of simply asking for what you want in one of his recorded talks.

 

“Now, I’ve actually always found something to be very true, which is most people don’t get those experiences because they never ask. I’ve never found anybody who didn’t want to help me when I’ve asked them for help.”

- Steve Jobs

Network: Attend workshops, industry events, and conferences related to your new services. Build relationships and explore partnerships to expand your client base.

Content creation: Create content related to your new services and share it on various platforms, including your website and social media channels. Over the years, content creation has proved invaluable. This is an area of emphasis we continue to preach to our staff today.

Continuous improvement: Monitor performance, solicit feedback, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and make improvements to stay competitive and meet client needs. Adapt your strategies and offerings as required to remain relevant in the digital age.

This is an area of emphasis for Rareview®. We vigilantly track performance across all facets of our business and personnel, continually working towards improvement. The process of reinventing both yourself and your business is no small task. Prioritizing improvement is what keeps you relevant, motivated, and open to wonderful new discoveries. Remember to adapt your strategies to attain your intended results.

Don’t give up

Adding an entirely new product line to your business is not a simple endeavor. It often involves a learning curve and trial and error. For us, it took years to determine what services to offer, figure out how to market them, build a team, and provide the quality of service we aimed for.

Bringing in an experienced executive expedited the growth of our new service line and brought fresh perspectives. In hindsight, the outcome was undeniably successful. Reflecting on it now, I fully appreciate the significance of that decision and its enduring influence on our business a decade later. Expanding our service portfolio not only led to substantial agency growth and increased revenue but also enabled us to offer more comprehensive services to our clients. It has been a fulfilling journey that has augmented our agency’s capabilities and solidified our market position.

Adding a new service line can be a strategic move to elevate your business and better serve your clientele. While it may not happen instantaneously, the choice to broaden your offerings can yield significant benefits relatively quickly.

Published: September 14, 2023

Tagged: Writing