Website SEO services agency increases annual revenue by $23K in first year with Vendasta
Serving a variety of local clients from different business backgrounds
Specializing in digital advertising and website SEO services
With a background in print ad sales, Joshua Wagoner, owner of Thrive Marketing, recognized he needed to make a career adjustment. Wagoner saw that his clients were falling behind their competition. They needed to be ushered into the digital age. This is when Wagoner made the decision to pivot and become a digital agency owner. In this new role, and with access to a white label software marketplace, Wagoner could provide solutions like website SEO services and digital advertising that his clients desperately needed.
Thrive Marketing scaled with website SEO services while expanding their client offering through Marketplace
Gross annual
Marketplace revenue
Account
retention rate
Total paying
accounts
Background
When Wagoner stepped in, Thrive Marketing was already working with Vendasta. His new challenge was to decide how to move the agency forward. “I didn’t want to just go do something completely different,” says Wagoner. “I like working with local businesses, and sales comes naturally to me. I saw the need to do something different, and Vendasta was the right solution to stick with.”
Objectives
Through a continued partnership with Vendasta, Thrive Marketing owner Joshua Wagoner hoped to:
- Improve sales and marketing processes with a platform that includes prospecting and reporting tools like Snapshot Report and Executive Report.
- Accelerate business growth by outsourcing to Vendasta’s white-label digital marketing agency.
- Provide clients with tailored solutions through an online marketplace that will help them grow.
The approach
Using prospecting tools to show rather than tell
Wagoner relies on the Snapshot Report as his prospecting tool of choice. This sales enablement tool gathers a prospect’s online “health” in areas like SEO, advertising, and social, and scores it in a report.
“Many people have no idea how their business would stack up in any one of these reports, and they’re surprised when I show them their online performance is nowhere near what it could be. The Snapshot Report really opens up the conversation to discuss website SEO services and products like SEO Network and Reputation Management,” says Wagoner.
Becoming the local digital solutions expert with Marketplace
Digital marketing shook up Wagoner’s routine. He had to find a new approach to selling and servicing local businesses quickly.
His ambition to succeed pushed Wagoner to learn the ins and outs of Vendasta’s Marketplace and how to best leverage resellable products and services to not only generate more revenue but to help his clients succeed.
“When I started in this business with Vendasta, I was overwhelmed by Marketplace. But I’ve learned some big lessons through this, like understanding what’s really important and how to prioritize. It’s been a journey of learning,” says Wagoner.
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Execution
Outsource website SEO services to grow at scale
Thrive Marketing relies on outsourced white-label web design services to accelerate their growth. This saves both time and money for a small agency that’s aiming high with the goal of increasing annual revenue to over six figures.
“We lean on Vendasta’s website SEO services, and I love to have that as a selling point for my clients. I get to tell them we’ll not only build you a website, but it comes with 12 months of free site maintenance. So, just tell us what you need, and we’ll get it done,” says Wagoner.
Closing more deals with Vendasta’s team
Since taking over the business, Wagoner has been on a journey of learning. This includes having frequent conversations with his account manager, Alistair.
“It’s like having an insider on your team,” says Wagoner.
The account management team at Vendasta is assigned to partners to help ease them into the functionality of the platform, tools, and Marketplace. Thrive Marketing leans on account managers whenever they need to better understand a new feature, learn how to better use the platform, or determine how other agencies use Vendasta.
Increasing client retention with built-in reporting tools
Automated assessment tools like Vendasta’s Executive Report help Thrive Marketing see where their clients are winning, while proving their effectiveness as a digital agency.
“With Executive Report, my clients can see where things are working out and where there’s room for improvement,” says Wagoner.
Thrive Marketing also leverages this tool to assess upselling opportunities while also providing their clients with the best solutions to suit their needs.
“Once you familiarize yourself with Marketplace, you can start to pick and choose the products each individual client needs. With a little bit of research, I can find almost any solution for my clients and tailor products and services to their needs.”
Joshua Wagoner
owner, THRIVE MARKETING
Thrive Marketing’s best-selling products
The conclusion
His advice to other agencies new to Vendasta: “Stick it out. Embrace the learning curve and the journey, and realize that it is set up for you to succeed,” says Wagoner. “You do have to do the work, but it’s worth it. Especially when you see how happy your clients are with the work you’re doing.”
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