Written by: Kristen DeGroot, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
With cold outreach not working as well as it used to, agency owners need to think outside the box regarding client acquisition in 2024. We need to revamp lead gen and client acquisition.
Sure, there are 100 ways to generate leads. But do they convert? The ten ways I’m about to list to land more clients in the upcoming year are all ways to generate and convert qualified leads, not just ginormous lists of leads that aren’t interested in your services. I’ve used these strategies for my own agency and my clients’ agencies.
To do a deeper dive into each of the ten ways to land more clients in the upcoming year, I’ve paired a thorough resource with each strategy that I list so you can learn more. So, let’s dive in and explore new ways to promote your agency to land more clients in 2024.
Publish your own data
As a marketer and/or business owner, you’re going after clients that are in a similar role to yours, so it’s not hard to put yourself in their shoes.
Who do you trust more? Someone who talks about data a third-party published, or do you trust the source of the data?
Publishing your own data conveys expertise brands are willing to pay more for.
How to go about it? Pick a theme, such as the unique services you offer or the industries you work within. Survey 300 people that make up the target audience and publish the data you gather into a comprehensive report with actionable takeaways.
Of course, you want to create a landing page for your report and gate it with a lead capture form because the report will bring in qualified leads, but the nurturing sequence will bring in clients.
Leverage HARO
You’re probably familiar with HARO, but if not, it’s a resource where journalists put out queries, and businesses and/or thought leaders can contribute insights. The journalist always links back to the source. Great, right?
Take it a step further and send queries that not only enhance a piece you’re writing but also identify potential clients for your agency.
If they provide a good quote that you want to use in a piece of content, tell the source right away and introduce your agency to start a conversation about potentially partnering.
Further Reading: HARO For Beginners
Low-risk outsourcing
Hiring an agency to grow your agency or hiring freelancers to supplement your workload can lead to profitability.
Many agencies don’t have the budget or hours for a full-time employee, but freelancers can add a lot of value.
You can even consider hiring a sales expert who works off commission.
Bottom line, low-risk outsourcing can save you budget while growing your agency.
Further reading: The Top Four Ways Outsourcing Benefits Marketing Agencies
Get your hands on the right email lists
With an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent, email marketing remains one of the most effective strategies to land more business.
One list that works well for my clients is Get Prospects. For a low fee, they issue a list once per month of startups that just launched and they are startups with funding, and often don’t have any agency yet.
A simple Google search will reveal other companies where you can buy targeted email lists from.
Remember that it’s not smart to send a sales pitch to your email addresses immediately. I recommend a series of 3 thought leadership emails before sending an email with a CTA to book a call.
Further reading: How Agencies Can Do a Better Job With Email Marketing
Partner with agencies that compliment yours
Your agency likely specializes in certain services. Surely, there are areas of digital marketing that you’re not an expert on. And if that is the case for you, it’s the case for other agencies.
Do some networking on LinkedIn and find agencies that offer services that complement what you offer. For example, you may specialize in SEO, but a lot of content creation goes into good SEO, so it would be in your best interest to partner with a copywriting agency.
When you come across these opportunities to work with agencies that complement yours, you’ll basically agree that when you get a client who needs their services you’ll make an introduction and vice versa.
To fully grasp which agencies complement yours, if you haven’t already, you need to embrace a niche.
Further reading: Has Your Agency Embraced a Niche?
Hit freelancing websites
I have surprisingly landed a lot of clients on UpWork.
Narrow your search by the service(s) you offer, and you can even filter by the brand's budget.
Sure, there are a lot of postings with tiny budgets, but I’ve also found many companies willing to pay my rate of $70/hour since I have expertise. I predict the same experience for your agency.
Further reading: UpWork Client Acquisition Guide
Resurface leads that turned cold
I’ve worked with agencies with leads in their pipeline for a year before converting.
Revisit leads that have not converted yet. Implement a new lead nurturing campaign for these leads and offer them something of value if they get on a call with you.
To really get back on their radar, it’s not a bad idea to send personalized emails to these leads with a tailored plan of how your agency can help them.
Further reading: 5 Proven Ways to Re-Engage Cold Leads
Get a pulse on your target audience’s target audience
A lot of agencies get hung up on understanding their own target audience but neglect really understanding their target audience’s target audience.
Publishing reports, crafting blog posts with best practices, surveying the audience, and more can give you more insights into your clients’ experiences while establishing the kind of thought leadership that lands new clients.
Further reading: What Is a Target Audience and How to Find It
Embrace social proof
The reality is that brands DO want to hear about your agency, but they DON’T want to hear about it from you.
That’s why you need third-party endorsements of your agency, aka social proof.
Incentivize your happiest clients to participate in case studies, provide testimonials, give social shout-outs, or write a review of their experience with your agency.
Once you’ve earned social proof, you need to leverage it so that it lands you new business and it comes up when brands are researching your agency.
Further reading: How Agencies Can Do a Better Job Earning and Leveraging Social Proof
Start a referral campaign
Expanding on my point about social proof, a third-party recommendation of your agency can do wonders.
Starting an actual referral campaign is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to land new clients.
Start by identifying your happiest clients. Offer them a $250 gift card for everyone they refer who agrees to a meeting and a $500 for any of their referrals who becomes a client. If you think about how much you spend on other marketing tactics, this is a cost-effective way to land new business.
Further reading: The Complete Guide to Building a Referral Program for Your Agency
One last thing: I like these strategies, but I don’t have time to implement them!
The entire reason why I started The Campfire Circle, an agency for agencies, is because agency owners spend so much time doing awesome client work and have little time to spend growing their own agency. That’s where I come in.
After growing agencies for over a decade, I recently turned all of my experience into an agency. So, if any of these ways to land more clients appeal to you, you can contact me here. Being a new agency I keep my fees extremely reasonable.
Do you have any strategies to share about agencies landing more clients in the upcoming year? I’d love to read your insights in the comments below!
Kristen DeGroot, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kristen DeGroot is the CEO of The Campfire Circle, an agency for agencies. She has been helping agencies grow for over a decade. Kristen has an English writing degree so a lot of her strategies that she implements for her clients are content driven. Basically, Kristen grows agencies so that agency owners can spend more time on what matters: Doing awesome client work.
