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| How to Start an Advertising Agency |
Starting an advertising business is a savvy career move that has promising potential. When an advertising firm is created with the right strategy, this form of business can serve as one of the more profitable startups in both the Marketing & Relation arenas. The most important theme in starting your own ad agency is making sure that you have the right academic and professional experience.
Prior to starting an advertising business, you must know the fundamental principles of advertising. By taking college level graphic art courses and copywriting courses, you will develop the fundamental tools that you will need. You will be able to gain academic, as well as, practicum experience. This is because as you complete coursework in these areas, college professors will assign you advertising projects. On each of these projects, your professors will provide you honest feedback on multiple phases of your work. With every project completion, this work is yours to keep. Be sure to fine-tune your advertising projects in order to add them to your advertising portfolio. In addition, you can also add to your advertising portfolio by volunteering your advertising skills to non-profit organizations, local chamber organizations, and businesses within the Small Business Association (SBA). Volunteering your services in all these areas will provide you a quality portfolio for your business.
Once you are done with your college coursework, it is very important for to continue reading key books and periodicals on advertising. If you shop at your local Barnes and Nobel or Borders, the customer service representatives there can recommend some top books for you to read. Also, your college professors can recommend current books, as well. Current books and periodicals will keep you current on the latest processes and innovations in the advertising arena.
Once you become knowledgeable about the most recent trends in advertising and design, develop an extensive resume of your qualifications. The resume should include all of the schools that you have attended, as well as, the professional experience you have. Also, you will need to create a hardcopy of your portfolio. Be sure to list copies of your advertising and graphic art experience. Because of the Internet, it will also be a good idea to scan some of the items in your portfolio, in order to create pdf(s) of some of your best work.
Your professional experience should include work with regional or national advertising agencies. It is essential that with this experience you get a strong background in copywriting and graphic design. With the different positions that you hold, make sure that you get recommendation letters from your supervising managers in each role. Recommendation letters are a helpful selling point on business development appointments for your business. Also, these managerial contacts can be helpful later down the line in soliciting freelance work for your new ad agency.
Once you are done with your resume and portfolio, you should create a business and marketing plan. Use your graphic art skills and copywriting talent to compose your business plan. If you are not familiar with writing a business plan, you can go to the MetroBizSearch.com articles that cover the necessary steps for creating a business plan. You can also seek professional help from the Small Business Association or local college entrepreneurship programs.
Once you complete an advertising business plan, you will need to obtain a business license from your state and county offices. Determine if you will run a freelance advertising agency from your home or commercial space. Be sure to join local advertising and marketing groups. It is just as important to join local chamber and small business association organizations. Memberships in small business organizations will create extend your client-business network.
If you follow the steps above, you should be highly successful in starting your own advertising agency.
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