Begin to Win and Not Suck, A Guide to Starting a less Forgettable Agency

After 3 hours of sleep and a 5 Hour Energy drink I find myself here, in front of my laptop, running toward the finish line of the week. The Nine Days Agency has successfully launched our brand, website, social media, and even gave an engaging presentation, Yay! Before I get too excited, there’s something I want to address. The landscape of marketing is changing. With organizations like the Marcus Graham Project ushering in creatives of color, it's hard not to notice this new trend of minorities stepping into roles of leadership in a once niche industry. If you’re a creative of color looking to create their own culture-shifting agency, here are 4 things to think about so you can be competitive in this ever-expanding industry.

Tip #1 - Brand Identity

Having a clear identity keeps you grounded as an agency. It allows you to know what you will stand for, what audience you speak to, as well as gives everyone involved a true sense of oneness. When developing an identity I suggest fleshing out a mission and vision statement first. This will help give you an idea of what to say when selling your services to potential clients. It also gives you a strong foundation to build from. At minimum you should have a logo, and know the who, what and why of your agency. As you get to hustlin' all the other things will fill themselves in, just get started.

Tip #2 - You Are Nothing Without Your Team

Interesting story, a group of strangers and I decided to move to L.A. and embark on a journey where we would take our special skills and start an ad agency. The instigator to this wild call to action was the Marcus Graham Project, the result, Nine Days Agency. What we quickly came to realize is, you are nothing without your team. We all boarded planes with suitcases full of stories, stories of sacrifice, of hope, of entering the unknown and taking off into new possibilities. What we learned through it all in our first official week together (we had introductions on Zoom) was that we had to band together. Every role is vital for our survival and mission of making a cultural shift in just 10 weeks. Our clients are colossal brands and our hunger is just as massive. If you want to function at a high level, everyone needs to know what part to play in the ecosystem of your company. Most agencies have an infrastructure that breaks down like this:

Project Manager

Account/Brand Manager

Strategist

Producer

Creative Director

Copywriters

Social Media Strategist

Community Engagement

Luckily for us, we all came into this agency knowing our roles. Starting out, the average person may not be so lucky, but it does help to know what a full chess board looks like so you can measure your company’s full potential. This is a grow where you’re planted approach. The seed has been laid now it's time to…

Tip #3 - Presence

Like any good company, the goal is to be omnipresent and one of the best ways to do that is by creating your online presence. Be it a website, social media, LinkedIn, whatever! You have to set up shop and let the world know you exist and are open for business. With our agency we decided to utilize Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Youtube and our website as our social platforms. Our company's introduction to the world came in the form of our manifesto. We published this everywhere, this way whenever someone asks to see what we do we have that as our first line of communication. It establishes the brand, culture and inspires inquisitive minds to want to know more.

Tip #4 - Get in The Game

Let’s do the math. You have your logo, you have your mission and vision, you know your identity like the back of your hand, you have an infrastructure with a team that knows all their roles, you built out your presence and set up shop, and you created some buzz by creating promotional material; you’re ready. The only thing left is to get in the game. It’s time to get the bag and do dope stuff.

We live in a time where so many people can be self made. If you think you have what it takes to get your hands dirty and build a company drenched in passion, creativity and purpose then wait no more. The best has yet to come, good luck.

By: Kurtis Hilliard