Starting an video agency

[zerocool22]

Hi guys,

So I finally quit my job and decided to start my own video agency. After 10+ years of experience in video (allthough the last 6 years or so after having children the pacing was lower then before but I’m taking the leap and going all in.

There’s just one small problem:

I currently have 0 clients.

I’ve got the experience, the gear, a maybe dated portfolio and I know how to produce videos from start to finish. But now I need to turn that into an actual business, and preferably make it work pretty quickly.

So I’m curious:

What actually works in 2026 to get your first clients? Cold outreach? Networking? LinkedIn? Instagram? Agencies? Referrals? Something completely different?

I’d especially love to hear from people who recently started a creative business or agency and managed to get clients without already having a massive network.

Thanks a lot!

[fuzzynormal]

Do a ‘spec’ job for a non-profit that has board members with deep pockets and active businesses.

Do something simple and over deliver.  Make a great first impression.

It’s just networking and word of mouth. 

[zerocool22]

Maybe a stupid question. what about Social Media. Do I need an facebook account? Do I need an instagram account? An Tiktok account? Twitter? Linkedin?

I do have an instagram that I never use. But I might be making a mistake not using all these social media platforms? Best to do it under my name I think? Anyone on here who built out a great network on social media? What is the best strategy here?

[Ty Harper]

With 10 years experience in the industry, you should start by reaching out to all the clients you worked with in the past, who you feel like you delivered great content to, and who you have built a good relationship with, no?

[kye]

Not film specific, but a great way to think about business things is the sales funnel.  There's lots of versions of it, but the one I like is this:

1) Marketing - making people aware of your business / services / products
2) Sales - actually selling something to someone
3) Delivery - giving the customer what they paid for
4) Invoicing - getting them to pay you (assuming they don't have to fully pay up front)
5) Re-sales - selling something else to your previous customers (they bought from you once, so may well do-so again)

The reason I bring this up is that there's a critical difference between marketing and sales.  Marketing is generally done in bulk where whatever the customer is seeing isn't customised for them (think ads, fliers, etc), whereas Sales is often done person-to-person and so can be customised to what will help them specifically.  In this sense, the job of Marketing is to make contact with potential customers as quickly as possible, because only then can you start addressing their specific needs.

The purpose of social media in all this is Marketing, which is generic, and should do whatever is required to get them to contact you and not do anything else.  For example if you say you provide corporate videos but don't outline the details then maybe they contact you to discuss, but if you provide tonnes of info about it then maybe it's not quite right for them and they think you can't / won't provide what they want specifically and they never contact you.

In this sense, having an Instagram that says what you do, gives a few examples to show the quality, and encourages them to contact you, might be far superior to an endless stream of great looking images that aren't quite what they want.