Tired of the never-ending search for your next web design client? Between managing your current clients and trying to secure new projects, it’s easy to fall into the cycle of relying on once-off payments from short-term projects and waking up and doing it all over again, just like your own personal Groundhog Day hell.
The goal for many agency owners is to find steady, predictable revenue to alleviate this stress, free up time to focus on your business and digital marketing strategies, and ideally afford yourself some well-deserved and much-needed downtime every day.
But how can you transform this ideal scenario from a fantasy into an achievable reality and manifest a recurring revenue model of your own?
What services can you sell to increase your agency’s annual recurring revenue?
There are many, many additional services you can offer to your clients that increase your recurring revenue by going beyond the scope of their initial project.
As a content agency, we know this world inside-out. So for this blog, we’ll be focusing on recurring content services you can sell.
As we all know, for a website to remain successful and consistently perform well on search engines, it must be updated regularly with fresh, optimised content.
These content services can enhance your clients’ content marketing efforts without any heavy lifting required on their end:
Monthly or weekly blogging
Social media updates
Guest blogging
Email marketing
SEO services
Ongoing website maintenance/content updates
How to upsell content creation services and create a recurring revenue business model
You may already know that the services listed above can add a lot of value to your client’s content marketing and, therefore, the overall success of their business – but do they know?
Blogging helps businesses generate 67% more monthly leads than those who don’t, but still, it’s a difficult task to get clients to both understand the value of – and invest in – these additional services.
Let’s look at how you can make a more compelling argument to your clients so they’re more likely to invest in your content marketing services.
Create simple, clear content marketing packages
When it comes to selling recurring revenue services, clarity is king! Create straightforward packages that paint a bright and clear picture for your clients – no guesswork, just pure value.
Over the years, I’ve seen agencies try a variety of ways to package content marketing. A few years ago, ‘points’ systems became super popular: clients buy a certain amount of points a month and can use it on a variety of services. Safe to say, this didn’t take off (thankfully).
If it’s confusing for other industry experts, imagine how your target audience will feel trying to decipher it.
Zero in on your clients’ needs. Show them how these content creation services aren’t just a nice addition but a game-changer. They’ll simplify operations, rev up online traffic, and as a bonus, the revenue dial will keep creeping up. Now, that’s what we call a winning deal!
But don’t just offer a one-size-fits-all package. Spice it up with a variety of service tiers to accommodate different budgets. Once clients start seeing the value of your services, they’ll be tempted to upgrade to more comprehensive packages.
To pump up your recurring revenue, why not throw in monthly blogging services and social media management packages into the mix? Your service tiers might look something like this:
Basic package: Clients provide the content, you polish it up. You’re the editor, optimising their work into a final product they’re proud to share.
Standard package: You’re the one-stop-shop. From brainstorming to writing to optimising, you handle it all. You deliver ready-to-publish blogs.
Premium package: The ultimate service. Clients receive everything from the Standard package, plus a personalised content marketing calendar, publishing services, added email marketing, social media management, and analytics.
Present a clear, hassle-free process
No one needs more stress. Your clients are busy managing their businesses, so when pitching content creation services, assure them it will be a smooth ride and won’t add tons of extra work to their (already full) plates!
Be transparent and clear about your process so they know what to expect. This way, they’ll be confident in their decision to invest in your services, knowing there won’t be any unwelcome surprises.
Content research: During this phase, you’ll research subjects specific to your client’s target audience and perform keyword research. The focus will be figuring out how the content will address their target audience’s problems and creating awesome blog title ideas and email campaign outlines.
Client approval: Next, you’ll show your research to your clients to get the go-ahead before you move on to writing. They’ll be happy to know they’re involved in the output, making it easier for them to trust you and commit to the service for the long term.
Content planning: Now, you can start developing a custom content calendar for your clients, scheduling when blog posts should ideally be written and published for a steady flow of content to help them reach more potential customers.
Interview with client: To get further insight into their perspective, schedule a dedicated call with your clients so you can ask them about their audience and how they are solving their problems so you can address these crucial points in their content.
Content creation: Use all this info to start writing your blogs and social posts, or send it to a professional copywriter to create the content for you.
Client review: Get feedback from your clients to ensure you have captured their brand message and tone of voice. Again, it’s a great way to show that you’ve got their best interests at heart by involving them in the process.
Time to publish!: Congratulations! Now, you can schedule your delicious content to go live! Just make sure that blog posts and social media posts are formatted correctly so they look fantastic and are a joy to read.
It’s all about timing
If your client is unsure about signing up, don’t pressure them; we all know how annoying that is!
Give them time and space and check in on a monthly basis to see if they’re on track with their sales targets.
If your client isn’t happy with their lead generation after having insisted they would maintain their own content creation and (understandably) being unable to find the time to commit, you have a strong argument to make at the right moment.
You can explain that the blog section on their website resembles more of a cob-web page (except maybe don’t use this punderful analogy) and that you can help boost organic traffic and generate high-quality leads by creating regular content that is optimised for search engines and written specifically for their niche.
Ready to boost your recurring revenue with content creation services but need a little help?
Our outstanding team of talented content writers have your back! Our content marketing packages cover every aspect of planning, researching, writing, and publishing.
We provide expert content writing, content strategy, and search engine optimisation to agencies worldwide who add our content creation services to their packages, creating a dreamy recurring revenue stream for themselves.
Sound good to you?
Get in touch, and let’s start increasing your monthly revenue together 🙂
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