Digital marketing agencies are brilliant at marketing their clients; that’s their speciality. But what about marketing themselves?
That’s a whole different story, right?
A study by
Ruler Analytics reveals that nearly 40% of the marketing agencies polled listed “generating high-quality leads” as their biggest challenge.
A
HubSpot survey found that 90% of agencies find new leads mostly via referrals.
Do you see where I’m getting at?
If it’s not via referrals, agencies struggle with their lead generation strategy.
Does it require a different skill set than marketing SMBs?
Maybe agencies just can’t find the time to engage in self-promotion.
Whatever the reason may be, you can’t quite afford not to engage in lead generation for your agency. The marketing agency landscape is a competitive one; without taking an active approach to lead generation, you’ll be left behind.
Also, it might just help you get better-quality leads, expand your reach, and even form business partnerships.
You’re probably thinking,
“I don’t need your help with that, I know my way around marketing.”
And you’ll be right and wrong. True, you’re no stranger to marketing strategies and tactics. Actually, you are quite the expert. But… There’s always something more you can do. I’m willing to bet that you’re not employing all the tactics listed in this article to get new customers.
If you are convinced that you’re doing everything, then, by all means, stop reading this article.
But if you’re in doubt, keep reading, because this in-depth article will list the most effective lead gen methods and tactics out there for agencies.
So let’s get started!
Search engine optimization is always a good place to start. It allows you to lay the foundations for steady organic traffic coming your way, and while it takes time to rank for the right keywords, once you’re there—you are there!
So do the work, it will be worth your while: keyword research, content marketing (more on that in the next section), optimizing your site for SEO (mobile responsiveness, page speed, metadata), the works—I never heard someone say that SEO is a poor investment.
And if you are operating in a certain geo, there’s much to be said about local SEO. Many marketers find it an effective tactic for finding potential prospects in the surrounding community. So, as you do with your clients, follow these local SEO tips:
Looking for some more info on SEO in general and Local SEO specifically? Check out the following resources:
How to Strategize Your Local SEO Audit
But for SEO to work, you need content, right?
Content is the bread and butter of any marketing agency.
By creating high-quality, informative content, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry and attract potential clients who are looking for help. Establishing authority in the marketing agency landscape is as important as SEO. Word of mouth is important. Sometimes even more than SEO.
And it’s not just about blogging: You can do guest posting, gated content, newsletters—everything goes, just make sure the content strategy you choose will work for your particular agency. Not all content is created equal, so tailor your approach to fit your unique business needs.
It's worth mentioning AI-generated content here. As a
website builder with a built-in AI Assistant, we're fully supportive of using AI to assist in content generation, not only for clients but also for yourself.
Another thing to think of is personalizing your content. You’ve got your personas nailed down, don’t you? So why not tailor your content to each buyer persona and decision-makers? Think of a specific landing page for each. That’s a good way to generate leads.
Now get out there and start writing, or just use your outsourcing contacts to create content, this time for you.
According to Wyzowl’s
video marketing statistics 2022 report, 86% of video marketers say video has been effective for generating leads.
Creating engaging video content isn't always easy, but it's worth the effort. After all, a lead who comes to your agency after watching a video is much more likely to be qualified and ready to buy than someone who just reads an article or sees a static ad. These are the best leads.
Related: The Power Of Adding Videos To Your Clients’ Sites
Be active on social media. You can’t afford NOT to. Even if you are not a social creature, which I find quite difficult to imagine given your occupation, you should work on becoming one.
Because everything happens on social media these days, leads spend quite a lot of time there. After all, leads are human, and humans do social.
You have the advantage of knowing how to do social media - use it! Create polls and carousels, and have fun!
It’s not just about posting once a day for each platform (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and so on). You need to engage in order to generate leads, especially in the marketing industry. By commenting on and liking other people's content, you're more likely to get noticed. You can also join social media groups and participate in discussions to get your name out there.
Also, don't be afraid to experiment with new social media platforms and strategies. It will help you to not only generate leads for your marketing agency but also to serve your clients better in their social media activities.
This possibly could have been the first step, before SEO. If your website is not optimal, all that traffic generated by SEO will go to waste.
If you are offering web design services to your clients, but your site is slow (site performance really impacts conversion rate), not responsive, or just not intuitive, that’s a bad first impression and an even worse experience for potential leads.
It seems obvious, but you’ll be surprised how many businesses fail miserably when it comes to their own websites.
Focus on your conversion pages first: landing pages (including looking specifically at the forms), contact pages and so forth. There’s a reason why there are CROs out there—there’s so much to do when it comes to conversion rate optimization. It’s also OK to be unsure; that’s where A/B testing comes in.
Don’t neglect your site speed (also on mobile), it’s as crucial as a well-optimized landing page.
Heard of
Core Web Vitals? If not, it’s time you’ll get acquainted. These are Google’s set of metrics to measure web experience, including speed.
Need some CRO pointers, check out the following resources:
Live CRO Audit: Skyrocket Your Clients Websites’ Conversion Rate
Yes, doing paid campaigns (PPC), whether through Google or paid social media campaigns, as well as other paid channels, requires a budget, but if you know your CPL (cost per lead) and you know how much a sale gets you, you’ll know if it’s worth the budget. My guess… it is.
There’s an entire methodology for paid campaigns (especially lead generation campaigns), and there are people whose sole responsibility is operating these campaigns, so I’m not going to get into the tips and tricks for each platform.
However, I will say this: be innovative!
The amount of paid campaigns running for any industry is huge, and you need to stand out. Innovation can come in many shapes and forms. The copy of the ads can be inspiring, the design can be flashy, and the audiences could be exact, but if you’re not providing users what they want, and even exceeding their expectations, your campaigns will fall behind, or just be ridiculously expensive.
Luckily for you, I have just the thing that will make your campaigns shine!
As an agency that offers web design and development services, you can offer leads instant sites in pay-per-click campaigns, using Duda’s API. Potential leads will see an ad offering them an instant site, like these ads:
They will click and fill in a quick form with their business details, and voila—they get the site automatically sent to their email address with all their information. That’s a major hook!
Now you see what I mean about being innovative?
Becoming an expert in your industry also means attending events. I know, it’s quite time-consuming and requires interpersonal skills, but nothing beats human connection and building relationships. In addition, you can reach a lot of people with relatively little time and money.
You don’t have to go to huge events. Actually, it’s often more efficient to choose small ones, where you’ll have more attention.
As for speaking at events, that’s more time-consuming than merely attending, but it will allow you to establish your authority and generate trust in your agency as a thought leader and expert in the industry.
And there’s a third option—creating your own event. Yes, it’s more expensive and it will take up quite a bit of your time, but it’s also very rewarding.
You know how it is: the bigger the pain, the greater the gain. Just think about what having your own event could do for your agency.
Although I advocated here for face-to-face encounters, they are not the only option. You can network online, as well. Join relevant Facebook and LinkedIn groups, attend webinars (and participate in some) and generally get to know your industry’s online scene.
Getting listed in directories is a great way to get your agency's name and contact information out to potential clients. When people are looking for an agency to work with, they will often search for directories to find a list of agencies that meet their needs.
There are many directories that agencies can get listed in, but some of the most popular ones include the
American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) Directory,
the Agency Register,
Digital Agency Network,
AdForum,
HubSpot Partner Directory, to name just a few.
To get listed in these directories you’ll need to submit your information and often pay a listing fee. However, the exposure and leads that these directories can provide make them well worth the investment.
Have you ever used PR to your advantage?
Get the word out about your agency and attract new clients by targeting the right publications and offering them great content they can use (with targeted keywords to help your ideal customers find you).
Keep an eye out for any publication that mentions agencies like yours or includes quotes from agency owners in your industry—then pitch them your content.
Here are some top tips for generating leads through press releases:
That's right, awards are a great way to help you stand out from the competition and build credibility and visibility for your agency.
Of course, you’ll have to research awards that are respected and have a good reputation, are relevant to your business and would be attractive to your target clients.
The help you with your research, we've compiled a list of top awards that we feel are worth your time:
MarCom AwardsContent Marketing AwardsAVA Awards
One last thing: once you win an award (fingers crossed) don’t forget to spread the word via social channels and follow up with clients and leads (also leads you’ve met in awards events), letting them know of your success.
I started out this article with referrals. But just in case you’re not already asking for referrals, I decided to include this in my list of top tactics for lead generation for your agency.
Asking current and past clients for referrals is a simple way to get your foot in the door with new potential clients. Plus, referrals tend to be more qualified than other leads (and we all know lead qualification is a whole other story), which means you're more likely to close the deal.
Offering clients additional services alongside website building can attract leads seeking a more comprehensive package. What if you could offer to update all your potential clients' website metadata and do so with a single click?
Guess what? You can!
Using Duda's AI Assistant, you can generate keyword-rich SEO metadata for all site pages in seconds, including titles and descriptions.
Considering it's that easy to generate metadata for your clients sites, you can afford offering this capability to clients free of charge, or at a very low cost - while securing them as clients.
Related:
How AI Generated Content Is Empowering Digital Agencies In 2023
Beyond The Hype: What AI Means For Agencies
There are more ways to generate leads for your business; you can do personalized outbound using marketing automation and email marketing, hand out cool giveaways to your leads (as part of your account-based marketing efforts), leave comments on external blogs that are aimed at the same target audience as you do. Heck, you can even write a book about marketing.
The word is your oyster.
Also, there’s something to be said about marketing software and lead generation tools for agencies. There are many of those available.
Here’s a nice article that covers some.
Lead generation for your agency can be a tough process, especially in this economy.
In this article I tried to ease the pains of the lead generation process and offer some tactics to help you generate more leads and get more clients. I believe that by following these tactics you’ll be well on your way to seeing an increase in leads.
Good luck!
