Paid Ads for Agency Startups
How 8 agency companies used paid ads to get traction. Real revenue data, growth timelines, and replicable strategies.
Pricing Models
How They Got First Customers
Agency Companies Using Paid Ads
Your Social Voice is a done-for-you digital marketing agency founded by Kim Barrett that grew from near-zero to $450k in revenue in 2015 and is on track for $110k MRR by October 2016. The agency uses Facebook lead generation and content retargeting to drive leads for clients through tiered service packages ranging from $4,400 to $11k AUD monthly. With a 80% month-to-month retention rate and 25 active clients, Kim scaled the business using owned Facebook lead gen, two full-time salespeople on commission, and a distributed team across Perth, Philippines, and Africa.
Dream Client Academy is a marketing consulting firm founded by Alex Albarran at age 21, grown from $0 to $31,000/month in monthly revenue as of February 2020. The business started as a side project helping local business owners with social media advertising while running a food delivery company, eventually becoming the primary focus due to better margins and alignment with Alex's strengths. The firm achieved rapid growth through paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram, generating a 7:1 return on ad spend with a scalable and predictable customer acquisition model.
Brad Martinot was laid off from Infusionsoft after six years as a product leader and launched Sixth Division in 2012 to provide Infusionsoft users with coaching, training, and implementation services. The flagship $12,000 "Makeover" two-day offering became a multimillion-dollar business, generating $1.6M in 2014 (95% from makeovers) and projected $3.1M in 2015. Brad also built complementary software offerings (Plus This at $59/month and a $97/month membership with live coaching calls) and leverages event sponsorships to acquire customers at scale, recouping service revenue to fund software growth.
Zammo Digital is a marketing agency founded by Aaron Zakowski that specializes in helping SaaS companies scale using Facebook ads. The agency works with notable clients including InVision, DigitalOcean, and Treehouse, demonstrating traction with established SaaS brands.
Vince Nguyen resurrected his solo digital agency from semi-retirement, returning to 5+ figures per client in the first month. He specializes in Facebook Ads optimization and shares growth hacks for running a profitable solo agency, including WhatsApp-based customer outreach and outsourcing SDRs in Latin America.
Nick Unsworth built LifeOnFire, a business coaching and digital marketing agency targeting for-purpose entrepreneurs. The company generates significant revenue through a sophisticated event funnel that combines free/low-cost ticket acquisition via Facebook ads with high-ticket coaching upsells, generating $840,000 ARR from a single event with 42 high-ticket coaching sales.
Basic Bananas is a marketing consulting and education agency founded by Christo Haugh that sells a year-long program called "The Clever Bunch" to small business owners in Australia (expanding to New Zealand and Los Angeles). The program costs $8,000-$12,000 annually and includes monthly workshops, weekly webinars, and online support. Over the past 12 months, Basic Bananas generated between $2-3 million in revenue with a 14-person team, using a paid advertising funnel that costs $20-50 per workshop attendee and converts 10% to the full program.
John Morgan built Morgan and Morgan into one of the largest personal injury law firms in the country by pioneering advertising in the legal industry when it was taboo. Starting from a personal mission to help injured people, he scaled the firm to ~$2B in revenue through innovative marketing, brand building ("for the people"), and creating a network of referral partners. Beyond law, he's built a portfolio of entertainment attractions including Wonderworks, Alcatraz East, and now Flavor Town, generating significant cash flow.