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How to Start a Marketing Agency in Singapore in 7 Simple Steps

Written by
Marissa Saini
Published on
September 15, 2020

Starting a marketing agency now in Singapore is nothing like 20 years before. When laws were enforced to eradicate monopolization in an industry, entrepreneurs and business owners alike had to go head-to-head competing to stand out from the crowd. That’s exactly when originality and exclusivity became a predominant element everyone should look into.

Understanding How A Marketing Agency Works

Marketing agencies can be translated as marketing firms or marketing companies. Ultimately, what it does is to help clients to achieve their business goals strategically through a course of integrated solutions that fits the criteria and requirements.


Here’s what you can expect from a marketing agency in Singapore:

  • Identify, plan, and execute marketing strategies
  • Monitoring the campaign movement
The concept of marketing in setting up a marketing agency. CC: Cacaroot on Adobe Stock

7 Steps to Kickstart Your Marketing Agency in Singapore

1. Define the Purpose and Set A Strategic Business Goal

The results of doing something with a purpose and without is distinctively different. As opposed to starting a business without a purpose, it gives you a sense of direction and a goal motivates and strengthens your desire to move towards it.


With well-defined goals, you’re granted the access to decide, prioritize, and make reinforcement in a more decisive approach.

Regardless if you’re starting an e-commerce business or a marketing agency in Singapore, here’s what you need:

  • Be Specific of your goal
  • Make a realistic and measurable goal
  • Determination is the key

2. Find Your Niche

When there’s a demand, there will be supply. Naturally, the competition in the marketing industry will be intense. So to combat this issue effectively, first, do a thorough competitor analysis. Explore your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, try your best to figure out their marketing strategies. For example, find out who these digital marketing agencies in Singapore, then decide on the type of digital marketing services you’re ready to commit to.

Focus on your smaller niche of audience first. Once you get the momentum, seize the opportunity to expand into a full-fledged digital marketing agency that offers a range of services including search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), influencer marketing, and more. The key is to make sure you don’t overstretch your resources and emphasize on quality without compromising the quantity.



3. Identify Your Target Audience

The biggest mistake when starting up a business is when you failed to identify your target audience. To put it in a scenario, imagine your company is set up and ready to go, but the problem is you do not know where to monetize your business. In fact, around 79% of marketing agencies struggle to get a hold of their target audiences and to end up unbearable overhead costs.


It would be wise to first filter for the ideal target industry and clients that best fit your business model. Once you’re done, make modifications accordingly to protrude your strengths. While there are plenty of ways to gather these resources and data, try investing in big data and other analytic tools to study consumer behavior and interest.

Guide to success in marketing business growth


4. Physical or Remote Office

Get your budget and accounting right from the start. This will determine whether you’re capable to sustain your business in the long-run. Some marketing agencies in Singapore find it efficient to have a physical office, while others disagree. Ultimately, it all boils down to your business capital, expansion costs, the ideal work culture, the services you’re providing, and more.


Though going remote can provide you with flexibility and probably saves you some office overheads, it does come with drawbacks. It takes commitment and dedication to communicate with the team and most importantly trust to make sure everyone plays their part to make things work.



5: Build the Correct Team

You might be talented but you simply can’t do everything on your own. That’s when you need to gather a team of experts to run a marketing agency. As a start-up, it’s best to hire a small team of employees that are proficient and passionate about the job.


Always be upfront and honest by letting the candidates know what they’re signing up for. That’s to make sure that he or she is fully committed to the job. That way you can eradicate any possible turnover cost and train new employees constantly.


Start by identifying the core jobs every marketing agency needs. It can be a data analyst, strategist, marketer, web designer, and individuals that are dedicated to performing specific tasks or services. For example, you’ll be needing an SEO specialist to optimize your web rankings or a content writer to fulfill your clients’ needs.



6. Find Clients

Setting up a solid foundation is crucial but it’s equally important to find clients to sustain your business. To generate sales, first, you need to generate leads.


No doubt it’s difficult ways to find these leads, not to mention, to grow your client base. But, there are several ways to tackle these problems. Here’s how:


I. Building brand awareness

Some of the common ways of establishing brand awareness include developing a consistent brand voice, taking part in brand partnerships, content marketing, SEO-optimization, and participation in social media presence. These approaches are proven to work but it takes time and consistent effort.


However, some marketing agencies choose to raise brand awareness through free-trial subscription services or using native advertising. Yes, these methods may be costly at first, but it’s far more engaging and more fruitful if you’re in hope for fast results in a short period. Learn how to earn cashback on native ads with Aspire save on your digital spend.


II. Driving qualified leads

Lead quality is as important as the quantity. You may have increased your web traffic but it won’t translate into measurable quality leads (MQL) without a sense of clarity and focus. Start by setting a benchmark of the MQL then conceptualize your marketing efforts with the sales team to make conversion happen.

Marketers brainstorming for a marketing plan.



7. Customer Retention

The ultimate goal for a marketing agency is to have customer retention and recurring sales. To do so, you’ll need to understand consumer behavior.


Assuming your target market is in Singapore, and the consumer emphasizes on quality and customer service when making a purchasing decision and to stay loyal to a brand. So to retain your customer, you’ll need to take the precise steps proactively to fulfill the demand.


I. Business Credibility and Professionalism

Boosting your business credibility and range from brand endorsement to even the tiny details like setting up a business account. Consumers nowadays are smarter than ever and the last thing you want is to have your customer have a second thought about your business credibility. For example, having a business invoice looks much more reliable as compared to a hand-written copy.


When it comes to B2B, you want to project a professional impression of your corporation with separate business checks or credit cards rather than to your personal account.


II. Customer Services

Customer service possesses a great reflection on customer satisfaction. So, are you willing to go far and beyond to satisfy your customer needs? Will you consider 24 hours live chat services to resolve any issues that arise or take the extra miles to make the customer experience a priority?


These extra perks might not mean the most to you, but when a customer feels they’re valued, the chances of retention is higher.

What’s Next?

Once the pillar is set up, you’re almost there. The real question is, how can you grow more? Growing a marketing agency in Singapore requires skills and effort.

Register for your marketing agency empire legally in Singapore can be done online!


Aspire Kickstart offers the first same-day online incorporation and business account opening in Singapore from anywhere in the world. Say goodbye to long waits and hefty paperwork. Aspire Kickstart cuts through the stress and confusion that comes with incorporating a company and opening a business account in Singapore.

You can save money and incorporate and open a business account on the same day with Aspire Kickstart - packages start as low as S$280! That’s 11% cheaper than if you incorporated by yourself!


Nothing is ever easy. So, start away, you’re just a few steps away from establishing your empire.

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About the author
Marissa Saini
is a seasoned writer and an avid trendspotter across business finance, personal finance, travel and lifestyle industries. With writing history at SingSaver, INK, and ohmyhome, Marissa leverages her broad range of experiences to simplify finance and make readers financially savvy.
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