lright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caitlin Holt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Caitlin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

The craziest thing that ever happened with my business is having a potential client completely waste my time because they were interested in more than just my services.

I run a marketing agency specializing in creative and digital advertising services, and often get inquiries about my services through LinkedIn. One day, I received a message from someone who owned a belt company wanting to learn more about my services. I didn’t see any red flags after messaging with them further, and found out that we both graduated from the same college in the same city. So, we decided to meet in person to discuss how I could help them sell more of their belts online.

I spent hours researching, reviewing accounts, and writing a proposal for this potential client before our meeting. When we finally met in person, I was prepared to discuss marketing strategies, but they had other ideas. The conversation quickly turned personal, and ended with them asking me to meet up with them later for a date. I left the meeting feeling extremely uncomfortable, and eventually had to block them after they continued texting me inappropriate messages.

At the end of the day, this experience helped me to learn that I am allowed to be selective about the type of person or business that I choose to work with. I don’t have to give a potential client my time of day if I feel like they aren’t a good fit for me to work with. Also, I learned that it isn’t a good idea to invest my time into doing work for someone before we have an official agreement. Now, I know how to protect myself and my business from people who don’t have my best interests at heart.

Caitlin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Caitlin Holt, and I own a marketing agency called Hitch. We specialize in digital advertising and creative services for small to mid-sized businesses. Above all, it is our goal to help our clients stand out online.

Getting into this industry was honestly a wild ride, and looking back I can’t believe I have made it to this point. I had a major change in my career path after suffering from a foot injury as a professional ballerina. I became very inspired by my father who worked in marketing for over 30 years, and decided that I wanted to go into the same industry. During my senior year of college, I got a job at a marketing agency and worked with clients such as Equifax and USA Today. Eventually, I started to build up my own portfolio of clients on the side, and was able to go full-time with my own business a few years later.

At Hitch Agency, we offer a wide range of digital marketing and creative services including social media management, paid advertising through Google, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Tik Tok Ads, email marketing, influencer marketing, SEO, web design, photo and video services, and marketing automation.

Out of all of these services, our specialty is definitely paid advertising. I noticed a huge gap in the market when I first started offering these services. Many of my clients told me that they had a difficult time finding an agency that offered paid advertising services for an affordable price. In fact, some agencies even wanted to tack on an outrageous commission rate for each product that they sold through the ads that they set up. I really take pride in the fact that I am able to offer paid advertising to multiple businesses while charging them a fair amount and guaranteeing them a return on their investment.

One thing that really sets Hitch Agency apart is the fact that we go above and beyond for our clients. No ask is too small when it comes to the services we offer. Many of our clients have been with us for 3+ years, which is pretty uncommon for marketing agencies. Usually agencies have a high churn rate with their clients, which proves that they are not offering quality work. Also, I would say that we never put one client above another. Even if your contract or scope of work isn’t as big as some others, we still allocate an equal amount of time to helping you achieve your marketing goals.

I am the most proud of the fact that I have helped so many small and mid-sized businesses reach their goals through digital marketing, and have even been able to open their eyes to the power of modern marketing technology. I am so excited to see what the future has in store for me when it comes to new technology, and have some unique projects in the pipeline that involve augmented and virtual reality. It feels really rewarding to be able to educate my clients about marketing technology while completing my services, and I look forward to being able to do this for more people soon.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

While there truly is no better way to acquire clients than through an in-person connection, I recently pulled the trigger on hiring several client recruiters to help me gain new clients. At first, I was scared by the thought of investing so much money into a few people with no guarantee that they could get me any new clients, but then I remembered that you have to spend money to make money. Plus, these people are professionals who can spend their entire day focused on getting new business, while it is something that I have had to put on the back burner to focus on my actual work. So far, my recruiters have been successful, and I am happy that I took that jump.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

One book that I read recently that changed the way that I run my business is the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. Before reading this book, I feel like I didn’t have the best leadership skills, and didn’t come across as a strong leader. Also, I had a problem with always saying yes to everyone including my clients, which sometimes caused me to not be compensated appropriately for my time or my work. This book absolutely changed the way that I lead my agency, and has helped me to learn some amazing tactics for taking control of my life in general. I highly recommend that everyone read it at some point in their life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hitch-agency.com/
• Instagram: @hitch.agency
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hitchagencymarketing
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hitchagency/