Why Your Digital Marketing Agency Needs SOPs to Scale

Running a digital marketing agency is hard.

The success of your agency is measured not just by the clients it acquires, but by the clients it retains and the efficiency with which it delivers services.

As the industry becomes more competitive, agencies must focus less on outreach and more on delivering consistent value, building trust with clients, and ensuring that their operations are streamlined and scalable. Which ironically, grows and sustains agencies faster than anything else.

At the heart of your agency growth lies an overlooked tool: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). SOPs are more than just checklists – they are the backbone of any successful agency. 

In other words – SOPs ensure that every task is performed consistently, every project is delivered to the highest standards, and every team member knows exactly what is expected of them. In an industry where many agencies operate on the fly, lacking formal processes, those that implement and adhere to SOPs gain a significant competitive advantage.

Real business owners know that SOPs are worth millions if the result in teams completing tasks quicker and delivering more value.

For example, just like there are processes in place for pool builders like Nilson Silva at Master Touch Outdoor Living, so that his contractors can reliably install pools without anyone going rogue. Or like airlines who process thousands of flights a day, yet still manage to run profitable businesses, even when there’s hail storms outside.

This article will make the case that SOPs are essential for scaling your digital marketing agency and how they contribute to long-term success.

The concept of recurring revenue is central to the growth of any digital marketing agency. While a monthly fee of even $1k/month might seem modest, especially when considering the broad range of services an agency provides, the real value lies in the long-term relationship with the client.

If an agency can retain a client for 30 months, that equates to a lifetime value of $30,000 per client. When we break down the costs involved in delivering the project—perhaps $500 to $1,000 depending on the scope—this recurring revenue model becomes incredibly lucrative.

However, this profitability hinges on the agency’s ability to keep costs low while maintaining high-quality service. This is where SOPs come into play.

By standardizing processes, agencies can ensure that tasks are completed efficiently and consistently, reducing the time and resources required to deliver services. For example, instead of spending hours training new team members from scratch, agencies can provide them with detailed SOPs that guide them through every step of the process, ensuring they deliver the same high-quality results as more experienced team members.

The first 90 days of a client relationship are critical. This period, often referred to as the “tune-up” phase, sets the stage for long-term success.

During this time, your agency should focus on optimizing the client’s website and digital presence. Key tasks might include improving location service pages, building high-quality backlinks, and implementing targeted content strategies that align with the client’s goals.

Following a well-defined training program, such as the Content Factory model, ensures that your team is working efficiently and effectively during this crucial period.

SOPs play a vital role in ensuring that this tune-up phase is executed flawlessly. By providing clear, step-by-step instructions, SOPs eliminate ambiguity and ensure that every team member knows exactly what needs to be done.

This not only improves the quality of work but also speeds up the process, allowing your agency to deliver results faster and more efficiently. When clients see tangible improvements in their digital presence within the first 90 days, they are more likely to stay with your agency long-term, leading to higher retention rates and greater profitability.

Therefore, before you go about hiring VAs to scale your agency, make sure you have procedures in place for them to follow.

One of the biggest challenges agencies face is finding and retaining reliable, competent team members.

While it might be tempting to outsource tasks to low-cost Virtual Assistants (VAs), this approach backfires if the VAs are not dependable or lack the necessary skills. The true cost of working with unreliable VAs often far exceeds the initial savings.

If you constantly have to chase down team members to correct basic mistakes or follow up on incomplete tasks, the costs—in terms of both time and money—can quickly spiral out of control.

This is where SOPs can make a significant difference. By providing clear, detailed instructions, SOPs reduce the need for constant oversight and micromanagement. They ensure that even less experienced team members can deliver high-quality work consistently, reducing the risk of errors and rework.

SOPs also make it easier to onboard new team members, as they can quickly get up to speed by following the documented procedures. 

You can’t have SOPs without competent team members, or team members without proper SOPs.

You can print out the recipe for the tastiest Michelin star meal, but if the chefs are MIA when it’s time to cook, the meal can’t be served. Similarly, if you have award winning chefs but no receipts to follow, this also fails since every chef is cooking their own dishes without any coordination. You need both.

Consider the case of Mandeep Bhalla, where a lack of SOPs led to a fiasco in quality control. This example highlights the importance of having robust processes in place. When SOPs are well-crafted and adhered to, they serve as a safety net, ensuring that even when things go wrong, there is a clear process for identifying and fixing the problem. 

One of the ways we do this is by practicing MAA (metrics, analysis, action).

Let’s say you’re writing a weekly client report. To give a proper update, you start with the metrics since you can’t analyze anything we can’t measure. This might include calls generated, SEO improvements, and what has been done in the previous week for the client.

You then move on to analysis, which is how these changes have affected the client’s goals and what changes need to be made in the following week. For example, if calls were down the previous week, what action should be taken to increase volume.

Finally, there’s action which is the result of the analysis. Action is simply taking steps that address the analysis.

The point of MAA is iteration and knowing what needs to be done based on the data collected. There’s an old saying that says “what doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get improved”.

After SOPs are in place – the next step is hiring competent people.

Let’s say you want to build an agency. You know exactly how the business will be run to guarantee the most value for your clients. You write a business model, build your SOPs, and launch it.

If you’re a one-man-show, good luck sustainably scaling past $20k/month.

At some point (sooner rather than later) you need to hire VAs. To do this the right way, you should include VA training as a part of the onboarding process, that way you don’t have to individually train each new team member.

Afterwards, you can have them perform tasks to show they’re competent before hiring them. For example, here’s our Ops lead Muzamil giving a potential hire (and current new team member) Natasha a task last month before we onboarded her.

By answering these questions, Natasha proved that she followed the training (our SOPs) before we added her to our team roster. By following a process of checks, you can efficiently onboard competent people quickly.

The successful business owners know that the key is having a great team first, then tools and processes later.

The smarter the AI-infused tools and platforms become, ironically, the STRONGER your advantage becomes in attracting and growing the best people. That’s why we share our VA hiring process for any digital marketing agencies to follow.

But that’s just half the equation – since without SOPs, more people won’t be able to do their job nearly as well as they should.