10 SAAS tools needed to start your own agency

Starting your own Performance Marketing agency? 

I have set up and managed several Performance Marketing agencies. 

Whilst no business is always plain sailing, an agency can be a great way of earning good money if you find a growing niche and become experts at what you do. 

Here is my top 10 essential SAAS tools you need to get started from scratch: 

1. Setting up your limited company 
2. Business banking
3. Domains and your email
4. Corporate website 
5. Legal software   
6. Attribution software 
7. CRM
8. Automated Prospecting 
9. Accounting
10.  Zoom business account
    

Set up a Limited / LLC company

Setting up a limited company distinguishes personal liability and the business. 

The business is a separate legal entity and needs to be set up as such. 

This can seem a daunting step. Are you really a “Director”? What will happen if the company goes bust? Get over that fear and look at options in your country. 

In the UK, I like Companies Made Simple and I have set up a couple of companies with these guys. It’s surprisingly fast and inexpensive.  

At the very worst, a Limited company is a great vehicle to find work internationally if anything goes wrong. 

Get a business bank account 

Now you are set up as a Limited company and are registered with your country’s registra (Companies House in the UK for example) you are ready to open a company bank account. 

There are loads of options to choose from. Do some research and think about what features you will need. Some of the UK Fintechs don’t allow international transactions. 

I like HSBC. It's more expensive than some options but it's reliable, allows you to have USD accounts etc and their app is actually not bad.   

Domains

Whilst it's easy to get hooked on the idea of a killer domain, to be honest it's not hugely important for your corporate domain. Make sure it's something catchy, encapsulates what you do and imputes some value. 

If you are buying tons of domains for your business, (like loads of landing pages for jump sites) something like Cloudflare is a good bet. 

For your company domain and email client Google Domains is an easy option that plays well with everything else. 

Build a website 

There are a ton of options here and you can hire someone to build a website, but to get started cheaply use one of the many website building tools out there like Wix, Squarespace or, my favourite Weblium. 

You don’t need to be a design expert but it helps to have someone with an artistic eye and some idea on branding. After all, your corporate website is essentially your shop window. 

Stock images can be picked up cheaply on sites like pexels. 

There are mainly Logo Design sites online or you can go to a freelancer on sites like Fiverr. 

Investors 

Are you serious about growth? Do you plan to raise money, grant options, need founder agreements, cap tables etc? 

If the answer is yes, I would highly recommend SeedLegals. 

This company was founded by expert founders and they know their stuff. 

Get up to speed on what’s important to investors like S(EIS) Advance Assurance. This means your company could allow investors to claim tax relief and is the difference between raising and not. 

Attribution software 

If you are a Performance Marketing agency, then having the right tool to attribute all your spend is absolutely crucial. 

For me, there is only one choice: Everflow.io

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this, I work for Everflow but having been in the affiliate space for 17 years, there is a reason I am working here. 

Everflow is not a cheap solution. But here is the thing: IT WORKS! 

This is a lot more than many other systems out there. Sure, you can start cheap but sooner or later, you will pay for it. 

Why does Everflow get my vote? 

Four major things: Ease of use, scalability, automation and great customer success. Everflow has awesome features that do a lot of the heavy lifting (like A/B testing, campaign management and payment to Partners). Hit me up if you want a demo ! :)

CRM Tools 

The choice for CRMs is endless but right at the top of the pack is HubSpot. They are a market leader for a reason. Hubspot’s power can be awe inspiring. I love the automation features, like workflows, sequences and the reports are stunning. 

Really understand what is happening to your prospects and clients as they go through the sales funnel. 

Link this to Everflow and you get a complete picture of what is working and why. This could be media spend, marketing, conferences, white papers, you name it, and you can track it in the mighty Hubspot. Highly recommended. 

Prospecting Tools

Where can you find the right contacts that would be interested in your business? How can you contact them at scale? Step forth Apollo.io! 

This prospecting tool is essentially LinkedIn with email addresses. 

It plays well with Hubspot and you can do large data imports to relevant contacts easily. 

Accounting Software

Not sure of your numbers? Don’t know who has been paid or when you will be paid? 

If you don’t know, don’t worry…..you will soon be out of business and it won’t be a problem any more! 

Seriously, you need to be on top of your accounts.

 Xero claims over 2 million users and is pretty easy to use. Don’t miss out on understanding your balance sheet. 

Zoom business account 

Why just limit your meetings in person? Zoom is way better than Google Hangouts and allows you to record calls, share, group call etc. 

That’s it! You are all set. Now find a niche that has growth potential and own it!

Ping me if I can help further!