How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency in India

Being an Agency owner or an Entrepreneur, you’ll have to face many challenges which includes not only handling clients, but you’ll you need to keep a check on the process of hiring, accounting, payroll, account management, and marketing. In this duration, you’ll have to change your mindset completely ‘job seeker’ to ‘job provider’ as you become responsible for growth ofyour clients and team members. Digital Marketing is a very competitive filed, and hence you can expect an endless list of competitors, all striving to reach on the top. But success doesn’t come easy, you’ll have to have high level of expertise in the field and have to put in a lot of efforts in the initial level of your start-up. Internet users are growing fast in India as well as across the Globe and so is Digital Marketing and agencies that offers these services to clients in order to reach out to masses on a grand level. Based on the report published ‘Digital Advertising in India’, it is said that firms are spending about 12% of total marketing budget on Digital Marketing. CMO claims that some brands spend up-to 50-55%. Some even go as high as spending 75-80% of the budget on digital marketing.

While we are at it, it is necessary to know that, even if there is a lot of competition in the area of digital marketing, no one can recreate your services or the quality of work which becomes your greatest strength. You can always start with small simple ways and eventually adapt to more complex ways later, while maintaining the quality of your work.

Internet connectivity through desktop and computers is growing rapidly. It is assumed that about 30% of Indian population is likely to access Internet via laptops and desktops. This means the current market will possibly grow 5x in next few years. There many business in the country which lack a proper digital marketing strategies to acquire customers. So, here’s what you can do to start your own agencies to help such businesses out!

1. Choosing the Brand Name

This is obviously the most mandatory first step, as your business is a separate entity and is treated like one. You need to choose a brand name very carefully because this is what you will carry with you everywhere. It is advisable to choose a name that is not easy to remember but also convey your vision to the people.

2. Choosing a Domain Name

Website is a very important part of your business and hence it is important to choose the right domain. If your business is going to bring in a lot traffic i.e. if your website is expected to perform ‘Business to Customer’ (B2C) transactions then .com is preferable on the other hand if it’s a site performing ‘Business to Business’ (B2B) transactions then .in is preferable.

3.Logo Designs and Business Cards

After you’ve decided the name of the company and have finalized the domain name; it’s time to advertise your business.Visualising is the best way to remember something and this can be used to make an impression on the people you meet. Logos and business cards are the best methods of offline promotion. It is advised to put a good amount of thought in creating a logo that speaks and represent your business for what it is.

4. Get a Partner or Go solo

Starting up  and running a business is a huge and tiring process, you have to manage a lot of things and spend those extra hours working, in order to get your things done on time before you’re finally in a state of hiring people who can do all that work for you. You can either choose to go solo or get a partner who’s willing to help you out.

5. Partnership Deed

Partnership deed is a legal contract that explains the rights, responsibilities, duties, assets and liabilities of you and your partner in the business. This is usually made to prevent any disputes between the partner(s).  This partnership deed is written by Charted Accountant (CA) for which a fee is charged.

6. Taxation and Accounting.

As it is a business, there will surely be a cash flow and to maintain it, you’ll need a Charted Accountant to guide you. There are 3 major taxes you should know of :

(I) Direct Tax Or Income tax
This is the tax charged on the income you’ll be earning. In a situation where you’re broke no income is generated, you are not liable to pay the tax. To pay Income tax, you’re required to have a PAN card. Also, you have to register yourself as an employee in your own company, in order to pay taxes as a normal tax payer. You can also pay yourself a salary.

(II) Indirect Tax (Tax on spending- GST)
This is the tax, you pay on sales. Every time you buy something for the company you have to pay sales tax on it.

(III)  Tax deduction at source
Tax deduction at source requires you to take 10% off of your employee’s salary and deposit it against their PAN number for which you’re required to have a TAN number.

For the better and proper understanding of taxes and the legal contracts, it is important to take a help of a professional.