You’re about to learn:
- What a Facebook ad agency does, from finding clients to creating and running ads
- The types of clients you can help
- How much Facebook ad agencies charge
- The skills you need to start a Facebook ad agency
- How to find clients and get them to hire you
- How to scale your digital ad agency
What does a Facebook ad agency really do?
Let’s start with a simple explanation before we dig in –
a Facebook ad agency is a digital marketing agency that drives sales for their clients by leveraging Facebook’s HUGE reach.
A Facebook ad agency does the above by doing the following things:
- Finding clients who need these services
- Creating and running compelling and effective ads for those clients
Finding clients
Because we’re going to talk even more about this later on, let’s keep it simple here. Most Facebook ad agencies, especially new ones, should focus on specific kinds of clients. For example, you could focus on local restaurants, booksellers, gyms, salons, online services, etc.
Each of those niches is going to have a different kind of ad system that works well — you can’t sell gym memberships in the same way you sell books. Therefore, it’s recommended that you “niche down.”
While you’re waiting to read more about finding clients, start marinating on what kinds of clients would you like to work with. Is there a service, field, product that you know a lot about already? Or, are you just particularly interested in working with certain clients?
Creating the ads
The way you start creating your ads is by finding out what your client’s goals are. And these objectives will help you with the development and targeting phases of your ad campaigns.
Here are the different objectives you might be aiming for:
- Brand awareness: This is when you use a very strategic approach to getting a specific message out about a company, service, etc.
- Reach: This is trying to show your brand to lots of different people.
- Traffic: In this objective, you are trying to move people towards clicking on ads and landing on a client’s website. Traffic objectives work well if you have an offer and something specific you want people to do on your client’s website, like sign up for an email list.
- Engagement: Here, you are working hard to get likes, comments, and shares — you’re not worried about sales.
- Video views: Pretty self-explanatory as this objective is to get more people to watch a video.
- Conversions: These ads are making big moves to get clients to make a purchase.
A couple of things you need with any objective are quality images and compelling copy — your client’s ads need to stand out.
The second part of this section is
targeting your client’s ads for them. That’s defined as finding the right people to show your client’s ads to.
Here are a few things to consider:
- Location: May matter less for online clients, but super important for restaurants, salons, gyms, etc.
- Age range: Who is more likely to sign up for a hip new cross fit gym, a 32-year-old or a 70-year old?
- Gender: I am all for breaking gender norms, but often choosing male or female will apply to running ads.
- More targeting options: These are really cool and can nail down your client’s target audience even more with options like used apps, liked pages, the types of ads they click on, etc. But, be careful here so you’re not wasting your client’s money with an ad campaign that is too narrow.
Once you’ve developed an ad and know who you’re targeting, it’s time to start
running the ads. Most people who start a Facebook ad agency are going to need to do a little testing before landing on the perfect ad.
So, keep an eye on
how the ad is doing. If your ad isn’t working, make a change (just one at a time) and see if that does the trick.
While I know all of that sounds like a lot of work, most digital marketers spend anywhere from 3-7 hours a week per client.
Learn more at The 1-2-3 Guide on How to Start a Social Media Marketing Agency
What kind of clients can I help?
Small business owners are honestly the best kind of clients to focus on. See, while big businesses have been leveraging Facebook’s massive reach and have entire marketing departments dedicated to this work, small business owners lack the resources and expertise.
Business owners understand the value of their time, and finding someone to run their Facebook ads allows them to focus on things they are better suited to do.
Now, what kinds of small businesses? Here are just a few ideas…
Preschools, craft stores, barbershops, salons, bars, real estate agents, auto detailing services, authors, book stores, carpet cleaning services, clothing stores, gyms, music venues, online protection services, lawyers, lawn care services, etc., etc., etc.
Again, finding a niche and staying there is incredibly advantageous to both you and your clients. You’ll get even better at defining and using objectives, creating the ads, and targeting potential clients.
What do Facebook advertising agencies charge?
When you start a Facebook ad agency, we recommend that you work on retainer for your clients for an entire month. This gives you time to get the entire ad creation and testing process right. It also gives your clients time to see that you’re worth the money.
What you charge your customers is a little dependent on the value of customers and conversions you’re bringing in. But it’s safe to say that
one client is worth between $1,000-$1,500 a month.
Because each client only takes around 3-7 hours of work a week (ads basically run on autopilot once you’ve created the ads and do any retargeting) it’s
very possible to run ads for more than one client at a time.
Just think about what you could do with an extra $2,000-$3,000 a month or more.
Read more at How to Make Money on Facebook: 5 Fairly Easy Ways
What skills do I need to learn to start a Facebook ad agency?
If that last section got you thinking a little harder about learning how to start a Facebook ad agency, good!
Learning how to use the Facebook ad platform is honestly one of the most useful things you should do.
This will involve learning about two very important things:
That’s where most of the magic happens. Learning some
copywriting skills, how to create a
sales funnel, and even things like the
right ad size are going to be beneficial too.
You can dig through the internet and learn a lot about how to run Facebook ads. We actually have a lot of information here on Laptop Empires (those links above are for some of our articles).
But, you should also know about the
Facebook Side Hustle Course.
This course covers the essentials of running Facebook ads, how to find clients, and includes one month in our stellar Facebook support group where you can get personal advice from the course creators.
Click over to see how the
Facebook Side Hustle Course will teach you the skills you need for success.
How do I find potential clients and get them to say “yes” to hiring me?
We cover this extensively in our course, because part of learning how to start a Facebook ad agency is just finding clients…
you’re not going to be a successful digital marketer without clients.
Here are a few tips for finding clients:
- Build your communication skills. This is knowing how to talk to different types of people, being a good listener, speaking confidently, and sometimes it helps to practice your pitch on friends or family.
- Reach out to business owners you know, mention your services to friends and family, or put your boots to the ground and visit some places and meet new people.
- Be willing to hear NO. You’re going to get some people who just don’t want your services — that’s okay! Don’t let it crush your spirit and motivation because there are plenty more clients out there.
- Develop testimonials. When you first start a Facebook ad agency, you may want to offer your services for free in return for a testimonial. The client will still pay for the ad spend, and while you’re not earning cash, you get experience and a testimonial. Now, if this first client finds value in your services, you may have earned long-term (and now paying) clients.
How do I scale my Facebook agency?
This is the goal, right?
Once you’ve developed a system that works well for your niche and you’re seeing results, ideally you’re going to work towards retaining clients and growing your roster.
One of the best things you can do to grow your Facebook ad agency is to
always offer your clients valuable services. This means:
- Running an effective ad campaign that sees real results
- Building trust
- Being responsive to their needs
Doing those things will help you earn some repeat customers. You can use those happy clients to do some written or video testimonials and to pass along referrals.
After you get some leads, learn as much as you can about their business before deciding that they’re a good fit. If they are, reach out with a call. The next steps are:
- Walking them through your process
- Tell them how you can help
- Give them a chance to ask questions or express objections
- Follow up with a personalized email, give them a call, or drop in
And, you can always generate business leads with your Facebook ads!
Once you’ve started adding clients, keep yourself as organized as possible with work-flow management software like
Asana.
- Step 1: Get really good at running Facebook ads
- Step 2: Identify your niche
- Step 3: Determine your pricing
- Step 4: Find your first client
- Step 5: Start scaling your Facebook ad agency
- Step 6: Work on the day-to-day management of your agency
Here’s how to create a Facebook ad agency in 6 steps
Step 1: Get really good at running Facebook ads
If you’ve searched for an article about how to start an ad agency, you may have already learned how to run Facebook ads – so you’re a step ahead, and that’s awesome. But what will separate you from the rest of the ad managers out there is being able to offer additional services so your clients get the most out of their ad spend.
Being that learning
how to run Facebook ads is the most important, let’s walk through that one…
Facebook ads start with a
marketing objective, which is what the goal is of your ads.
This can be:
- Awareness: You’re generating interest
- Consideration: Get people to start thinking about your business and interested in learning more
- Conversion: You are pushing people closer towards buying your products and services
After you’ve identified your objective, you will start
targeting the audience. You can base this on location (especially important for brick-and-mortar businesses), demographic information, and their interests.
Targeting the right audience is understanding your client’s customer base. Who is their typical customer? What do they like? How old are they? Do your research, but also talk to your client if you have any questions.
Then comes the ad.
Creating a Facebook ad involves compelling copy, high-quality images, the business name and social information, and a call to action (CTA). Here’s an example:
Setting the budget for your ad is the next step, and this is going to involve your client a bit. Some businesses can spend more than others, some can spend the money but don’t want to, and it’s your job to offer guidance.
The reality is that the more you spend, the more people will see these ads. Your clients should spend no less than $15/day. Anything less is a waste of time and money.
And finally, a good Facebook ad agency will be able to
optimize ads to make them more effective. Find one thing about your client’s ad to change – maybe the image, copy, the offer, etc. Change only that one thing, and then split your ad budget between the original ad and the edited ad.
Pay attention to
Ads Manager to see which one has the lowest CPC (cost per click), and that’s usually the winner. You can keep testing different variations until you feel like you’ve got it right, but only change one thing at a time.
The next step is to start reading up on
creating landing pages and
building sales funnels. This helps your Facebook ad clients use their new leads.
Pro tip: To get really good at running Facebook ads, check out the Facebook Side Hustle Course. It’s an in-depth course on how to run ads for clients, plus you will learn how to fund clients and get them to say “yes” to your services.
The Facebook Side Hustle Course is everything you need to know about how to create a Facebook ad agency, all packaged up in one comprehensive course.
Step 2: Identify your niche
You’re going to want to focus on small businesses over big ones. Big businesses already have marketing teams, and if they don’t, they might outsource to a large, well-established agency. Not trying to minimize the awesome agency you’re creating, but you’re just not there yet.
So, you’re going after small business owners, but what kind?
There are so many different kinds of businesses that can benefit from Facebook ads. Gyms, bookstores, home improvement companies, restaurants, markets, clothing stores, service-based businesses, salons,
real estate agents, and more.
You can pick a niche based on your interests, professional experience, education, etc. Understanding the lingo, the kinds of customers you’re targeting, and simply knowing people in an industry can be a huge help as you grow your agency.
But here’s the other thing… getting married to one niche only, especially in the beginning, has the potential to restrict your growth.
You may really want to work with massage studios only. But are there enough massage studios out there to build a Facebook ad agency? Probably not. You could expand that to business in health and wellness – natural food stores, yoga studios, wellness coaches, acupuncturists, wellness retreats, spas, juice bars, etc.
Being hyper-focused in the beginning prevents you from seeing the potential around you, and it also puts you at risk if something happens to one industry you’ve built your business around. An example of this is how hard the tourism business was hit by COVID.
Being able to run ads for a diverse set of small businesses can help you stay in business.
Step 3: Determine your pricing
You can realistically charge your clients between $1,000-$2,000/month, with the average amount being $1,500/month. People who charge on the higher end generally have more experience, or they’re more comfortable asking for what the service is really worth. Yes, it’s actually worth $2,000/month, but brand new ads managers might not feel confident asking for that much.
You can charge more than $2,000/month if you’re doing more work for your clients, like email marketing, copywriting, or social media management.
Step 4: Find your first client
All you need to start is one client. Sure, you’re going to go big and expand beyond this one, but the reality is that all it takes is one to get you started. So how do you find that first client?
Here’s where you should start:
- Your inner circle: These are people you have personal connections with. Maybe old work contacts, people you know from college, your friends, family, and their friends and family. Reach out to people and let them know that you’re starting to run ads and that you’d love some referrals.
- Local Chamber of Commerce: A chamber of commerce is an organization designed to promote businesses in a community. As a small business owner yourself, you can get involved and network with other businesses in your area.
- Reach out to businesses in your niche. If there is a business owner in your niche that you’d love to work with – your favorite restaurant, the gym you work out at, where you get your haircut – send them an email and explain how you can help them grow their business with Facebook ads. Don’t forget to follow up a week or so later with another email.
But I’m just starting out, will anyone really pay me to run Facebook ads?
Yes, definitely!
Sure, it is scary to put yourself out there knowing you might hear a “no,” but that’s a reality you’re going to have to get comfortable with. Not every business will want to pay someone to run ads, but spend some time listening to them and find out why. It helps you get better at selling yourself and your services.
Here’s a comment from one of our
Facebook Side Hustle Course students. It’s a powerful reminder to trust the process, whether you’re on client 1, 2, 3, or 10.
Step 5: Start scaling your Facebook ad agency
There are three things you need to focus on now. They don’t need to be done all at once, but they’re equally important, so spend an hour or two each day working on these.
1. Ask your first client for a testimonial
As long as you’ve been an attentive ads manager and have brought in leads, your client should be willing to share their experience. Plus, word of mouth is a powerful thing when you’re growing your business, and your client realizes that.
You can ask for a video testimonial, filmed on a smartphone, or a written testimonial. If they do a written one, try to get a photo of the business owner. Putting a face with that voice can help potential clients build a connection.
2. Start a website
This link will take you to an article that teaches you how to start a blog for only $2.95/month. You can use a blog-type site for your business without actually blogging, but it gives you the flexibility to blog in the future if you want.
Your website doesn’t have to be anything fancy,
but it should include:
- A little bit about who you are
- How you can help business owners through the services you offer
- Your contact information
3. Start an email list
A WordPress site (suggested in the link above) has a free plug-in contact form. Potential clients can fill this form out, an email is sent to you, and you capture their email address. Be sure to save that email address, even if they don’t end up working with you.
You also want to find an email service provider (ESP), which has list management tools that help you collect and send emails out to anyone on your list.
ConvertKit has really strong features, and it’s free for lists under 1,000 subscribers.
MailChimp is another option, and the biggest draw is that it’s free if you have under 2,000 subscribers.
Once you have your ESP, set up an opt-in form on your site that encourages people to sign up for your email list. You’ll have more success if you present them with an offer, which can be as simple as “10 Reasons Facebook Ads Will Work for Your Business.”
This email opt-in from
Millennial Money Man isn’t even offering a freebie, but it does promise future emails about a specific topic.
Not everyone who signs up for
your email list will turn into a client, but it can help you grow your client roster because you’re reminding people of who you are and what your Facebook ad agency can do for their business.
To do this, get on a schedule of sending emails out every week or two.
You can share all kinds of things in your emails:
- An ad that did really well for one of your clients
- A new digital marketing tip you learned and can’t wait to share
- Mistakes that turned into successes
Catch them with a
great email subject line, be genuine, and engage with your list.
Don’t forget to check out the Facebook Side Hustle Course and see how it can help you start your Facebook ad agency. We have a number of students who have grown their agencies to bring in an extra $5,000/month. There’s even a small handful who’ve hit $10,000/month!
One of the things our students love most about the course is our online coaching and support community. There are weekly coaching calls and hot seats with the course creators, plus lots of love and support from other Facebook marketers.
Step 6: Work on the day-to-day management of your agency
The final part of learning how to create a Facebook ad agency is keeping up with it. Sure, this is a no-brainer, but if you’re new to entrepreneurship, there is a bit of a learning curve. You’re used to being told what to do, and now you’re on your own.
Find tools that help you run your business
Asana is a project management tool that we use to run this business. It’s great for teams or individuals, and you can use it to create a schedule and build out ads for your clients.
Here are a few more options:
- Trello is another really popular project management tool
- Dropbox is good for storing files
- Loom is something we use for recording videos – sometimes helpful when you’re trying to explain something to one of your Facebook ad clients
- CloudApp does screen recordings, screengrabs, and more
- Slack is a way for teams to keep in touch with one another – keep this in mind as your agency grows
What’s nice is that many of these tools are free for the purposes you’re using them for, and if they’re not free, some have free trials, so you can test them out before you decide which you want to use.
Create a system that can be duplicated
Okay, this one is huge, and it can take a little time to nail down. See, as you begin taking on more clients and creating more ads, you’ll want to figure out a system that you can use over and over again. This not only increases your efficiency, but it will also help when you’re ready to outsource work (more on this in a second).
Here’s how you’re going to create a system for your Facebook ad agency:
- Identify all the things you do to run your business. This is how you find clients, your onboarding process, creating ads, billing clients, answering emails, handling your business taxes, etc.
- Break each activity down. What software are you using for each task? Is there anyone else involved? What are the exact steps you take to complete each activity?
- Find the friction and eliminate it. Are you wasting time on something? Are you using the right tools? Are there unnecessary steps? Are your strategies bringing in results? You are taking a critical look at what you’re doing and whether or not it’s working. Make some theories about what is and isn’t working, and then brainstorm ways to improve your system.
- Test your new system. Spend some time trying your new system – give it a good chance – and keep track of how you’re doing. Remember it takes time to get used to something new.
- Evaluate and improve. Did your new system meet your expectations? Are you being more productive? Has it increased your leads? Are your Facebook ad clients seeing better results? If it’s not working, then tweak it and try again.
Once you’ve found something that works, you’re going to work smarter.
Outsource when it’s time
Every new entrepreneur goes through this period where they need to outsource, but they’re afraid to for a variety of reasons. Mainly, it’s about the cost and the fact that you think that no one can do your job as well as you can.
This is why your system is so important – you’ve created something that can be replicated.
But outsourcing, more often than not, helps you focus your energy on what you do best, which is running Facebook ads! Hire a virtual assistant to handle your billing and do inbox management. Hire an accountant to do your taxes. And when you’re ready, hire someone else to run ads with you.
You can even hire experts in different areas to do things you’re just not good at. For example, that’s exactly why we’ve got a web designer, SEO guy, and copywriter that we outsource too. They’re better than us, and it helps us create a more valuable business overall.
The final word on how to create a Facebook ad agency
You’ve just learned how you go from the basics – learning how to run Facebook ads – and then growing from there. You’re expanding your knowledge, finding clients, expanding your client list, and then maybe your team and the services you offer.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen overnight, but because it only takes 2-3 hours a week to run Facebook ads for one client, you can realistically grow your agency outside of your full-time job or other responsibilities.
You’ve got to put in a little work every day to make it happen, but the fact is that it
can happen.
and right on time!
