How I Built a Digital Marketing Agency from Scratch

Entrepreneurship

India

25 Years

I'm Rishabh Mishra, the founder and director of Social Pulse Agency, a digital marketing firm. We are passionate about helping local startups and small to medium-sized businesses grow their online presence and achieve sustainable growth. We offer a full suite of digital marketing services, including SEO, social media management, content marketing, paid advertising, and website development, all tailored to early-stage ventures' unique needs and budgets.

My journey into the digital marketing world began somewhat serendipitously. After completing my MBA and working in a traditional marketing role for a few years, I noticed a significant gap in how smaller businesses were leveraging the power of the internet. Many had fantastic products or services, but struggled to reach their target audience online. I saw an opportunity to bridge this gap by providing accessible and effective digital marketing solutions.

Our mission at Social Pulse Agency is simple yet powerful:

"To empower emerging businesses with the digital strategies they need to thrive in the modern marketplace."

We believe that every startup, regardless of its size or funding, deserves a fair chance to succeed in the digital landscape.

"Startups don’t need flashy ads, they need partners who actually care about results with the right strategy."

What inspired you to start your own business?

The inspiration to start Social Pulse Agency stemmed from a blend of frustration and a desire to make a real impact. In my previous role, I often saw smaller businesses being offered one-size-fits-all solutions that didn't address their specific needs. It felt like the digital marketing landscape was heavily skewed towards larger corporations with deep pockets.

My personal story involves witnessing the struggles of a family-run business -a fantastic local enterprise that was struggling to attract new customers despite having excellent products. They were hesitant to invest in digital marketing due to perceived high costs and a lack of understanding of its potential. That's when the idea of creating an agency that truly understood the challenges and constraints of startups and offered transparent, results-driven digital marketing services at a fair price.

I realised that my passion for digital marketing, combined with my understanding of the local business ecosystem could be the foundation for something meaningful. I wanted to create an agency that acted as a true partner to startups, helping them navigate the complexities of the digital world and achieve their growth aspirations. It wasn't just about making a profit; it was about empowering these businesses, contributing to the local economy, and seeing them flourish.

How did you get your customers?

Networking: Attending local startup events, industry seminars, and business meetups was crucial in the early days. Face-to-face interactions helped build trust and credibility.
Referrals: Happy clients are our best advocates. We always strive to exceed expectations, and word-of-mouth referrals have been a significant source of new business.
Content Marketing: Creating valuable content, such as blog posts and articles on our website and LinkedIn, showcasing our expertise in digital marketing for startups, has helped attract organic leads. We focus on addressing the specific challenges faced by early-stage businesses.
Social Media Engagement: Actively engaging on platforms like LinkedIn, sharing insights and interacting with the local startup community has helped build our brand presence.
Local Partnerships: Collaborating with other service providers who cater to startups, such as legal advisors and co-working spaces in Thane, has also generated leads.
Case Studies and Testimonials: Showcasing successful projects and positive feedback from our clients on our website and in our proposals helps build trust and demonstrates our capabilities.

We closely monitor metrics like:

Website Traffic and Engagement: Using Google Analytics, we track website visits, bounce rate, time on page, and conversion rates for our clients. Positive trends in these metrics indicate the effectiveness of our SEO and content marketing efforts.
Social Media Growth and Engagement: We track follower growth, reach, engagement rates (likes, comments, shares), and click-through rates on social media platforms to measure the impact of our social media strategies.ṣ
Lead Generation: We monitor the number of leads generated through various channels (website forms, social media inquiries, etc.) and their conversion rates into paying customers.
Return on Investment (ROI): We work with our clients to track the ROI of our digital marketing campaigns, focusing on metrics that directly impact their business goals, such as cost per acquisition and customer lifetime value.

How are you funding your startup?

The Social Pulse Agency has been bootstrapped from day one. I started with my savings and reinvested the early revenues back into the business to fuel growth. This approach has allowed us to maintain complete control and focus on building a sustainable and profitable business organically. We haven't raised any external funding so far, and we are currently profitable.

What is your average monthly revenue?

While I prefer not to disclose the exact figures, I can share that we've experienced consistent and healthy growth year-over-year. Our monthly revenue has steadily increased as we have acquired more clients and expanded our service offerings.A significant milestone for us was crossing the ₹ 1.5 Lakhs ($1700) monthly revenue mark within 2 years of starting, which was a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and the trust our clients placed in us.

How are you doing today and what plans for the future?

Today, the Social Pulse Agency is in a strong and stable position. We have a growing portfolio of satisfied clients, a talented and dedicated team, and a strong reputation within the local startup ecosystem in Thane and beyond.

What's working:

Our client-centric approach: We prioritise building strong relationships with our clients and tailoring our strategies to their specific needs, which leads to higher client satisfaction and retention.
Focus on measurable results: We emphasise transparency and data-driven decision-making, ensuring our clients see the tangible impact of our work.
Strong local network: Being based in Thane has allowed us to build strong connections within the local business community.
Adaptability: The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, and our ability to adapt to new trends and technologies has been crucial.

The mistakes/missed opportunities, things that were hard for me?

Early underpricing: In the initial days, I might have underpriced some of our services to attract clients, which wasn't sustainable in the long run. Learning to value our expertise and price accordingly was a learning curve.
Slow team expansion: Perhaps I was too cautious in hiring initially, which sometimes led to feeling overwhelmed. Recognising the need to build a strong team earlier could have accelerated our growth.
Not niching down sooner: While we cater to startups, initially, our service offerings were quite broad. Focusing on a specific niche within the startup ecosystem earlier might have helped us become even more specialised and attract more targeted leads.

What are the good decisions I made?

Investing in content marketing early on: Creating valuable content has been a long-term asset for building brand authority and attracting organic traffic.
Focusing on client relationships: Prioritising client communication and satisfaction has been key to retention and referrals.
Building a strong company culture: Fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented environment has helped us attract and retain talented team members.
Strategic local partnerships: Collaborating with complementary businesses in Thane has expanded our reach and provided valuable referral opportunities.

Our plans for the future include:

Expanding our service offerings: We plan to incorporate emerging technologies like AI-powered marketing tools to enhance our services.
Scaling our team: We aim to strategically grow our team to handle a larger volume of clients while maintaining our quality standards.
Strengthening our presence in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region: While rooted in Thane, we see significant growth potential in the wider Mumbai area.
Developing specialised packages for different startup stages: We want to create more tailored solutions for seed-stage, growth-stage, and mature startups.

What advice would you give to budding founders?

Here are a few things I wish I knew when I started and some advice that has served me well:

Focus on solving a real problem: Ensure your business idea addresses a genuine need in the market. Passion is important, but it needs to be coupled with a viable solution.
Don't be afraid to start small and iterate: You don't need a perfect product or service on day one. Launch an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and gather feedback to continuously improve.
Build a strong network: Connect with other entrepreneurs, mentors, and industry experts. Their insights and support can be invaluable.
Focus relentlessly on your customers: Understand their needs, listen to their feedback, and prioritise their satisfaction. They are the lifeblood of your business.
Embrace failure as a learning opportunity: Not everything will go as planned. Learn from your mistakes and use them as stepping stones for growth.
Be patient and persistent: Building a successful business takes time and effort. There will be ups and downs, but perseverance is key.
Invest in your learning: Continuously educate yourself about your industry and the latest trends. The business landscape is constantly evolving.
Take care of your well-being: The entrepreneurial journey can be demanding. Prioritise your physical and mental health to avoid burnout.

Someone once told me, "Focus on providing value, and success will follow". This simple piece of advice has been a guiding principle for the Social Pulse Agency.

What is your proudest achievement so far?

That's a wonderful question to reflect on. While Social Pulse Agency has achieved several milestones that I'm incredibly proud of, the one that stands out the most is seeing our early clients, the startups who trusted us in their nascent stages, not just survive but actually thrive and expand their businesses, largely due to the digital strategies we implemented together.

Meaningful Milestone: The Success of Our Initial Cohort of Clients

When we started, our focus was on helping those overlooked small businesses in Thane. Many were struggling to navigate the online world and were hesitant to invest in digital marketing. Our proudest achievement isn't a specific revenue number or a massive client acquisition, but rather witnessing the tangible growth and success of these initial clients.

For instance, one of our very first clients was a small artisanal bakery in Thane. They had fantastic products but very limited reach. We developed a hyper-local SEO strategy, built them a basic e-commerce website, and ran targeted social media campaigns. Within six months:

Their organic website traffic increased by over 150%, as they started ranking for relevant local keywords like "best cakes in Thane" and "custom pastries Thane."
Their online orders grew by nearly 200%, significantly expanding their customer base beyond their immediate neighbourhood.
Their social media engagement soared by over 300%, creating a loyal community around their brand.

Similarly, we worked with a newly launched online coaching platform for students in Thane. Through targeted Facebook and Instagram advertising, coupled with engaging content marketing, we helped them:

Acquire over 500 paying students within their first year, exceeding their initial projections by 80%.
Achieve a conversion rate of 15% from lead to paid customer, demonstrating the effectiveness of our targeted approach.
Build a strong online community, resulting in significant word-of-mouth referrals.

These examples illustrate how our digital marketing strategies translated into tangible results for our early clients, solidifying our belief in the power of targeted and effective online presence for startups. Their success remains our proudest achievement and a constant source of motivation.

Where can we find you?

Book Recommendations

Zero to One by Peter Thiel
Hooked by Nir Eyal
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Podcast Recommendations

Marketing School by Neil Patel and Eric Siu
Indie Hackers Podcast by Courtland Allen
The Tim Ferriss Show by Tim Ferriss