Megaphone is Australia’s multi-award-winning #1 digital marketing agency. Their super-fast growth is every startup’s dream. But overnight success doesn’t come easy; it’s taken a lot of hard graft to get there.
Wondering how Megaphone got to where they are today and why their clients love them so much?
To learn more about the secrets of a successful agency who have scaled more than 20 brands to $10 million in revenue, we caught up with Sarah, Megaphone’s Head of Operations.
Want to watch the full interview (17mins)? Watch it on YouTube 👇
On standing out from the crowd 🙌
Let’s get started, shall we? Say hi to Sarah!
If you want to gain the trust of your clients, you need to build an authentic relationship with them from the get-go.
Sarah reflects that authenticity is the fundamental thing behind the successful relationships her team builds with clients. The team wants clients to succeed and will do anything they can to make sure the clients get there!
Because the agency grew very quickly in a short time, they needed to take a step back and reflect on the processes that served them as a small agency. Realizing those processes no longer cut it and implementing new ways of doing things is one of the keys to their success.
The team always pushes their clients' businesses for growth and ensures they’re on track to meet their next goal. They do this by constantly analyzing the data to decide what it will take to get there. Another key to being authentic is honesty; they will always tell clients when goals aren’t realistic.
Another critical aspect of maintaining integrity is ensuring the client understands the data you share with them. If they just see the bottom line and don’t understand what’s been put into getting there, they may not think it's worth working with your agency.
On growth 🏒
Having teams with different focuses is crucial to the agency’s rapid growth.
Megaphone works with both E-Commerce and service clients, so they created specialized teams within the business that are E-Commerce strategy-focused and service focused. Being able to give specific industry expertise is crucial for getting results.
Ideal clients are those looking to grow but are realistic and know it’s not going to happen overnight.
Remember - growth needs to be sustainable.
How does Megaphone get so much success growing their clients’ businesses? By diving deep into the data. They can put together a really effective growth strategy by looking at the average order value and how much a client is willing to spend.
The elephant in the room 🐘
Every agency's worst nightmare - especially when they onboard dozens of new clients per month.
Getting access to client accounts.
Getting the right access to the clients’ accounts while making it easy for the them is challenging, especially with platforms changing constantly.
After an initial conversation with potential clients to find out what service they need and their goals, the Megaphone team will put together a tailored strategy.
To create this strategy, they need to run an audit first. They will take a look at the data from the ads the client has already been running. If they have never run ads, they will look at the client’s Google Analytics and backend website data to do the audit.
"Access" is one of those topics that always comes with an asterisk because it's not as easy as people think it is. And it's constantly changing.”
Smooth onboarding is critical for the client experience 🔐
Building a new client relationship is never easy and getting it right from the get go is critical for client retention.
Megaphone doesn't lock clients in for the long term when they start working together, they want to make sure the relationship works for both parties. But when they provide an exceptional onboarding experience, it starts the relationship strongly, clients are impressed and are more likely to ask for a six or twelve month retainer.
If it’s a new relationship, you need to manage expectations correctly and ensure everyone is on the same page. Listen to your client and ensure everything in the strategy reflects where the business wants to go. Mutual understanding in the short-term leads to long-term growth.
What did the access process look like before Leadsie? 🗝️
Prior to Leadsie, the account managers at Megaphone used a giant PDF with the steps clients needed to fill out. This was a MASSIVE document which was about 15 pages long. That was a lot of work for the client before Megaphone could get to work!
On top of the doc, there were also a lot of back-and-forth phone calls where the team would need to ask the client what screen they were seeing, etc. This ultimately caused a lot of frustration on both sides and drew out the process of getting started.
What’s changed since using Leadsie? Hint: 25% improvement 🌟
Leadsie has brought a bit of hand-holding to onboarding, making the whole process easier.
Using Leadsie helps reduce the barriers to entry and challenges for that prospect. It has helped get the relationship off on the right foot.
It’s allowed the team to maintain the strong rapport they've built with prospects throughout the sales process.
Leadsie essentially just walks them through the onboarding step-by-step. And less sort of frustrated calls of them saying, "I don't know what this is. I don't know what that is."
Particularly, they love the Leadsie feature, that identifies errors and tells you what the problem is.
Has it made a difference?
Oh yes! 🙌 Here's what Sarah told us:
"Through Leadsie, we've seen a 25% increase in efficiency. So the amount of time it takes from sign to onboard has decreased [by 25%], which is fantastic."
💪💪💪
This means less frustration with getting access, starting the work sooner, and getting those results for clients.📈
We can’t knock that!
Thanks, Sarah, for taking the time to chat with us. If you’re looking for a marketing agency for your business, check out Megaphone….they didn’t win all those awards for nothing! 🏆
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