How to win clients for your digital marketing agency in 2023

So you are running a digital marketing agency and struggling to find QUALITY clients. Or maybe you’re just starting out, and the idea of getting new clients seems like a challenge.

Well, you’re not alone. Many agency owners face similar problems.

In the sea of articles out there providing half-baked advice or outright false information just for the sake of ranking high in Google, we’ve created something different.

In this article, we’ll walk you through proven strategies and techniques that have helped countless agencies to attract and retain high-quality clients. From identifying target audience to choosing the best strategy, we’ve got everything covered. 

Let’s dive in and discover the secrets of attracting unlimited clients and building a thriving digital marketing agency.

The ultimate guide to getting clients for your digital marketing agency

Acquiring clients for your digital marketing agency is a challenging task. One of the main challenges is the competitive nature of the digital marketing industry. 

With numerous agencies out there, standing out from the crowd is tough. 

Also, potential clients might already have existing partnerships or be skeptical about outsourcing their marketing efforts.

So, how can you acquire clients for your digital marketing agency in such a situation?

In order to overcome these hurdles, you will need to generate leads (strategically and proactively.)

By generating leads, you can focus your efforts on those who are already interested, saving time and resources.

There are two approaches of lead generation, the first one is the targeted outbound lead generation approach and the second one is the inbound-led lead generation approach. 

The targeted outbound lead generation approach involves actively reaching out to clients and trying to sell them your services. Whereas the inbound-led lead generation approach involves creating content that is valuable to your target audience and then converting them into customers.

Both approaches can be effective in getting clients for your digital marketing agency. However, the best approach for you will depend on your target audience, your budget, and your offering.

So without wasting time, let’s explore both the approaches to acquiring clients for your digital marketing agency in detail:

Targeted outbound lead generation approach

The very first approach that we are going to cover is the targeted outbound lead generation approach. You must be wondering why we are covering this approach first instead of the inbound-led lead generation approach. Well, there are two main reasons:

1) It is a proactive approach:

The Targeted Outbound Lead Generation approach allows your agency to take a proactive stance in reaching out to potential clients.

Instead of waiting for leads to come to you, you actively identify and approach individuals and businesses that align with your targets.

This approach empowers you to be in control of your client acquisition process.

2) It provides quicker results:

The Targeted Outbound Lead Generation approach provides faster results compared to the inbound approach because it takes a proactive approach (as we discussed above). 

This means you can directly target those who are most likely to be interested in your services. And reaching out to prospects who have a higher likelihood of being interested in your services, can expedite the conversion process.

Both advantages enable you to create immediate opportunities for your agency and generate a faster and higher return on investment (ROI).

Best channels of targeted outbound lead generation strategy

There are various channels of outbound lead generation. But keeping the context in mind, that is, to acquire HIGH-QUALITY clients for your digital marketing agency, we will only focus on the three best channels:

Let’s check each one of them in detail.

1) Cold Emailing

Cold emailing is a powerful outreach strategy that can help you connect with potential clients and generate leads.

The reason is not only it is cost effective, but it is also repeatable and scalable. And when done correctly, cold emailing can be a powerful channel to generate leads and close high-quality deals. 

The chart below will help you understand it better:

The key is to craft personalized and compelling messages that resonate with your target audiences and to follow up with them consistently to build relationships and establish trust.

Here are six steps you can take to get high-quality leads for your digital marketing agency using cold emailing:

Step 1: Identify your target audience and build ICP

It isn’t worth your time and resources to try reaching people who aren’t likely to be interested in your services. By focusing on your ideal customers, you increase your chances of success and maximize your ROI. 

Thus, an ICP helps you understand your customer better. By defining the characteristics and traits of your ideal customers, you can get a clear picture of:

• Who they are
• What they need
• How you can serve them (better)

Let’s find and understand your ideal clients, so your cold emails can be effective and tailored to their needs and interests.

Start by narrowing down your target audience. This way, you can personalize and make your emails more compelling for each client you want to connect with.

Your ICP will outline the characteristics of the individuals or companies that would benefit from your digital marketing services. This helps you identify the most “valuable prospects” who are likely to engage with you.

Think about the key customer characteristics you would like to see in your prospects. 

Consider factors such as location, budget, industry, revenue, etc. These details will shape your ICP.

Take a look at this example of an Ideal Customer Profile:

We know it is time consuming to create an Ideal Customer Profile from scratch. To save you time we have done the work for you. 

Grab the FREE Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) template that we have created just for you:

Anyways, once you have identified your target audience and built your ICP, it’s time to create a lead list. This list will be based on your ICP and will allow you to take a targeted approach to reaching out to potential clients.

So, let’s move on to our next step.

Step 2: Build a lead list (Finding your prospects)

A lead list is a list of contact information – of those who are interested in your services. It’s a must of your agency to have a lead list to acquire new clients.

Why so? – Well, not all leads are the same. Some leads are more likely to become paying customers than others. 

With a lead list, you can identify which leads are most interested in your services and concentrate your efforts on them.

It will help you organize your outreach efforts and improve your chances of converting potential customers into paying clients.

To build a lead list, you can go with two approaches:

• Trigger/Intent-based approach
• General Prospecting approach. 

Let’s look at each of them.

Trigger/Intent-based approach:

In the Trigger/Intent-based approach, you focus on finding specific things that show potential customers might be interested in what you offer.

These things could be recent events like:

• Getting funding
• Job title changes
• Starting a new business

To do this, you can use tools like Google Alerts or Mention to get notified when these triggers happen. You can also use a database called Apollo.io to extract information.

With these tools, you can find out when potential customers show interest in the “type of services” you are offering and compile a list of leads based on your ideal customer profile.

General Prospecting approach:

On the other hand, the General Prospecting approach involves seeking potential sources where you can find contact information based on your ICP. This could be websites, forums, existing databases, or manual extraction using tools.

Gather the contact information, including email addresses, job titles, companies, and phone numbers, and create your lead list.

Regardless of the approach your choose, here are four ways to build a lead list for your digital marketing agency:

1) Manually: Research potential leads online and manually create a list of their contact information, such as email, job title, and company. This method is time-consuming but useful when targeting a specific niche or industry with a small prospect size.

2) Email Scraping Tools: If you prefer the manual method but want to save time, use email scraping tools. These automated tools extract email addresses from websites and social media platforms. However, be aware of the regulations in your region before using such tools.

3) Third-Party Databases & Software: Consider using third-party tools and databases that comply with regulations. These tools provide access to a wide range of contact information for professionals and businesses in your niche. Keep in mind that the data provided may not always be accurate, leading to email bounces and deliverability issues.

4) Buying a list from Third-Party Providers: Another option is to purchase a lead list from a specialized lead generation provider. While this saves time and effort, it can be costly and may contain outdated or irrelevant email addresses.

Caution: It can be against your national or regional privacy laws to purchase a lead list from a third-party provider, so be sure with that part. And also Saleshandy doesn’t promote purchasing a lead list. It’s best to manually build a list or go for databases/tools.

Whichever method you choose, remember to verify your lead list for better email deliverability. 

It’s crucial to ensure the highest deliverability for your cold emails, for which you will require a cold emailing tool that ensures your emails are landed in the primary inbox of your prospects.

Step 3: Choose the right tool/software to send cold emails

So you know your target audience now and created a lead list based on it.

What next?

Can you imagine yourself sending 100s of 1000s of emails to your potential clients along with keeping track of replies received and following up on it — All things MANUALLY?

No right?

Thus you need a cold emailing tool that can help streamline your outreach process so that you can focus on other important tasks.

But, how do you choose the right cold emailing tool? Yes there are many in the market and not all the tools offer what is required for a “digital marketing agency.”

So, here are some of the crucial things you should definitely look for in a cold emailing software:

Personalization:

Look for a tool that allows you to personalize your cold emails easily. 

Personalization is crucial for increasing engagement and building connections with potential clients.

Ensure that the tool provides features like mail merge, dynamic fields and customizable templates, enabling you to tailor your messages for each recipient.

Automation:

Efficiency is vital when reaching out to a large number of prospects. 

Opt for a tool that offers automation capabilities, such as automated follow-ups and drip campaigns.

Automation will save you time and effort, allowing you to focus on other important tasks while ensuring consistent communication with leads.

Deliverability:

It’s essential to choose a cold emailing tool with a good track record of deliverability.

The tool should offer authentication records set up and have capabilities to monitor your emails’ deliverability.

This will help ensure that your emails reach the intended recipients’ inboxes and avoid being flagged as spam.

Cost-effective and scalable:

Consider the cost-effectiveness of and scalability the tool offers.

Look for a tool that aligns with your budget and can accommodate your agency’s growth.

Scalability is crucial as your client base expands, so choose a tool that can handle increasing volumes of cold emails without sacrificing performance.

By considering these factors you can choose the right tool for your agency. 

Once you’re done with this part, the next thing is to ensure better deliverability of your cold emails.

Let’s see how you can ensure that in our next step.

Step 4: Setup & Email Deliverability

Setting up email deliverability is crucial as It directly impacts the effectiveness of your outreach efforts.

It is because if your email deliverability is poor, your emails will not make it to the primary inboxes of your prospects.

Here are some important steps to ensure better deliverability:

1) Choose the right domain:

Using your primary domain for cold emailing can harm your domain reputation and hinder your open and response rates. It’s essential to have secondary domains and email accounts to maintain good email deliverability.

Now that you know the importance, let’s consider some crucial factors while selecting domains:

• Make sure your domain is unique and stands out from competitors.
• Check if the email service provider’s sending limit aligns with your needs.
• Purchase domains from trustworthy registrars that won’t misuse your data.
• Look for ESPs that support authentications like SPF and DKIM to ensure you’re a genuine sender, protecting your account from spammers.

You must be thinking right now – “What type of domains should I purchase ?”

Long answer short, it should not be much different than your primary domain. Here’s the example of types of domain you can go for:

Alright, once you’ve chosen your domains, it’s time to warm them up.

2) Warmup your domain:

Research shows that over 20% of outreach emails fail to reach the recipient’s inbox, often due to a lack of email warmup in new accounts.

Now, you must be wondering, “What is this Email Warmup?”

Email warmup involves establishing a reputation for a new email account and gradually increasing the sending limit. There are two methods to warm up your email account:

Manual Method: You can manually send emails each day and gradually increase the number. However, this method requires a lot of time and effort.

Automated Method: The second method (recommended) is to use automated tools (like TrulyInbox) to simplify the warmup process. It helps you automate email warmup, saving time and effort so you can focus on other tasks.

After warming up your email accounts – to improve deliverability, focus on authentication records and technical setup.

3) Authenticate your email account:

To ensure your cold emails don’t end up in spam folders, authentication is crucial. 

Simply having a valid email address and hitting the send button won’t guarantee successful delivery.

Here are the authentication records you must set up:

a) SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF is a security mechanism that prevents email spoofing and confirms the authenticity of incoming emails. It verifies the DNS records of the sender and recipient, ensuring legitimate communication.

b) DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM uses an encrypted signature to verify the sender’s identity. It provides the recipient’s DNS server with a key to check the sender’s DNS record.

c) DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): DMARC allows you to specify actions for receiving servers when outgoing messages fail SPF or DKIM authentication.

Additionally, consider setting up a custom tracking domain. It’s your own domain used to track “opens” and “clicks” in your emails. Custom tracking preserves sender reputation, boosts email deliverability, and improves click-through rates.

You can learn about all authentication records in this detailed guide on email deliverability.

Now that you’ve completed the necessary setup for optimal email deliverability, it’s time to craft compelling emails.

Step 5: Write stunning cold emails

Mastering the art of writing effective cold emails is absolutely crucial as it builds trust and relationships, increasing the chances of getting positive responses. 

A well-crafted email captures attention, communicates your value proposition, and persuades readers to take action. 

Let’s break down the components of a cold email:

1) Subject line: Craft a compelling subject line that grabs attention and entices recipients to open your email. 

Here are a few tips:

• Keep it short and relevant.
• Personalize it.
• Use action-oriented language.
• Accurately reflect the value of your email.
• Avoid spammy words.

2) Preheader: The preheader text appears next to the subject line in the recipient’s inbox and summarizes the email. 

Here’s how you can make the most out of your pre-header text:

• Align it with your subject line and email content. 
• Keep it short (30-140 characters) and make sure it generates interest.
• Remember to consider your ideal customer profile (ICP) when writing.

3) Body: The body of your email is where you make your pitch and convince recipients to take action. 

Here are a few things you have to consider:

• Start with a personalized greeting using the recipient’s name in a formal yet compelling tone.
• Introduce yourself, your agency, and explain why you’re reaching out to them.
• Highlight the benefits of your services and how it adds value to their business.
• Include social proof like credentials or testimonials to establish credibility.
• End with a clear call to action and a professional, friendly closing.

Wait! – there are a couple of things to avoid in your cold emails:

• Avoid making false promises or claims you can’t fulfill or back up.
• Conduct research on clients to align your message with their interests.
• Keep your email conversational and avoid overly formal or stiff language.
• Don’t ask for too much too soon; build the relationship and demonstrate value first.

Once you have crafted and sent your cold emails, it’s time to follow-up with your clients.

Step 6: Follow-up

So, based on the above steps, you’ve sent out hundreds of cold emails, but you’ve only gotten a few responses.

You don’t have to give up here. 

You have to send out a friendly reminder to the potential clients who haven’t responded to your initial emails.

You might have this question now, “Why should I send another email to them when they haven’t responded to my initial email yet?“

The fact that they are not interested in your service is just one of the many reasons. 

It can be that they are too busy to respond, they lost your email in their crowded inbox, or it can be anything else. 

You just need to remind them about your offering by sending a follow-up email in the same thread. 

This also shows that you are genuinely interested in helping them out.

Now, when it comes to following up with your potential clients, there are two strategies you can use: a time-based sequence or an intent-based sequence. 

Let’s take a look at both.

With a time-based sequence, you’ll be consistently sending emails to your prospects, making sure to have 7 to 8 touchpoints with them. You’ll space out these emails with time intervals in between. 

This approach ensures that every prospect on your list receives equal attention, no matter where they are in their buyer’s journey. It’s like keeping a steady rhythm of communication.

On the other hand, the intent-based sequence focuses more on the interests of your prospects. This strategy specifically targets those prospects who are actively searching for a solution. 

You identify these prospects by looking out for “intent signals,” such as their reply rates, link clicks, open rates, or downloads. 

It’s all about honing in on those who are showing a genuine interest in what you have to offer.

Intent-based sequences are especially valuable because they allow you to laser-target the right prospects. 

By personalizing your approach, you can significantly increase your conversion rate. But remember, whichever strategy you choose, your follow-up emails should align with the same approach as your initial email, which we discussed earlier.

Now, you might be wondering, “Which strategy should I go for? Time-based or intent-based?” 

Well, it depends on your specific goals and the nature of your prospects. 

If you want to cast a wide net and ensure you’re engaging with everyone consistently, the time-based sequence is a good fit. 

On the other hand, if you want to focus your efforts on those who are actively searching for a solution, the intent-based sequence is the way to go.

So, consider your objectives, analyze your prospects’ behavior, and choose the strategy that best suits your agency. 

Remember, follow-up emails are your opportunity to strengthen connections and move prospects closer to becoming your clients.

By Following the above steps you can keep on acquiring genuine high-quality leads for your digital marketing agency. But there are certain best practices you should be aware of to make the most out of cold emailing efforts.

What are certain cold email best practices that will unleash the potential of your outreach efforts?

1) Use multiple email accounts

It’s a smart move to use multiple email addresses when sending cold emails.

By using different accounts, you can avoid spam filters and increase the likelihood of your emails being delivered to the recipients inboxes.

Even if your one email address gets marked as spam, you’ll still have other options to fall back on; continuing your outreach cycle.

Moreover, having secondary domains and accounts can increase your email-sending volume without hurting your domain reputation. Here’s a table explaining that:

2) Verify your email list

Before you hit that send button, take a moment to verify your email list. 

It’s crucial to ensure that the email addresses you have are valid and that your recipients will actually receive your email. 

A verified email list helps reduce bounces and boosts your deliverability rates. 

This means a lower chance of your account being labeled as spam. So, it’s definitely worth the effort.

3) A/B Test your emails

Don’t be afraid to experiment and optimize your cold email campaigns. 

A/B testing is a fantastic technique where you send two different versions of an email to different segments of your email list. 

Then, you see which one performs better. It’s like comparing apples to oranges to find the juiciest fruit. 

You can test elements such as the subject line, the call to action, the email’s tone, and its length. 

Oh, and guess what? 

With Saleshandy, you can take your testing game to the next level by trying out 26 different variants of your cold email in a sequence. How cool is that?

4) Analyze and Optimize

Tracking, analyzing, and optimizing your cold email outreach is essential. By analyzing the performance of your email, you can make informed decisions and improve your future campaigns.

Here’s how to effectively analyze and optimize your emails:

• Measure Key Metrics: Monitor metrics like deliverability rate, open rate, reply rate, and click-through rate to gauge the success of your cold emails.
• Adjust Timing: Experiment with different timings to find when your target audience is most responsive. Test sending emails on different days and times to optimize engagement.
• Refine Email Length: Test various email lengths, aiming for a concise message that captures attention. Research suggests that emails between 50 to 125 words tend to have higher response rates.
• Focus on Value: If your open rates are high, but reply rates are low, reassess your value proposition. Restructure your pitch to make it more relevant to your ideal customers.

Analyzing results and implementing optimizations based on the insight gathered will enhance the effectiveness of your cold email outreach, helping you acquire high-quality clients.

5) Include unsubscribe links

Last but not least, always include an unsubscribe link in your cold emails. 

It’s an important way to respect your recipients’ preferences and give them the choice to opt out of future emails. 

Plus, it helps you stay clear of the spam radar. 

Now that we’ve covered some of the cold email best practices, let’s move on to exploring a few awesome cold emailing tools that will streamline your outreach efforts and help you get more clients.

Best cold emailing tools for your digital marketing agency

Cold emailing tools are essential for streamlining your outreach process and maximizing your email effectiveness. Let’s explore three of the top tools you should consider for your digital marketing agency:

1) Saleshandy:

Saleshandy is an outstanding cold email automation tool that allows you to send highly personalized emails at scale while ensuring the highest email deliverability. It mimics manual sending approaches by sending cold emails one by one, making them appear more authentic. 

With Saleshandy, you can easily manage replies from a unified inbox, giving you better control over your email conversations. 

How to get your first 100 Clients through Cold Emails | Step by Step Cold Email Guide to get Clients

Why should you choose Saleshandy for your cold email outreach?

• Personalization: Increase engagement and response rates by easily personalizing your emails with merge tags, such as recipient names, company details, and job titles.

• Automation: Save time and effort with powerful automation features like automated follow-ups and email tracking, enabling you to send emails at scale.

• Deliverability: Ensure your emails land in recipients’ inboxes and not their spam folders through advanced deliverability techniques like email warmup and custom domain tracking.

• Easy Inbox Management: Keep track of all your email responses in one centralized place using Saleshandy’s unified inbox feature, making it effortless to manage and respond to replies.

• Cost-Effective and Scalable: Saleshandy offers flexible pricing plans suitable for businesses of all sizes, allowing you to send hundreds of emails daily without getting flagged as spam.

2) Woodpecker:

Woodpecker is an excellent choice for automated personalized emails. They pride themselves on being one of the most secure cold emailing solutions for automated campaigns. This tool is ideal for teams that require collaborative features like sharing contact lists and blacklisting domains.

3) Yesware:

Yesware is another top-notch cold emailing tool that simplifies your outreach efforts. With Yesware, you can effortlessly import prospects from CSV files and create successful email campaigns. It allows you to link your Gmail or Outlook account for sending emails and seamlessly integrates with Salesforce CRM, making your processes even smoother.

Now that you know some of the best cold email tools, it’s time to level up your client acquisition game. 

We know you’re excited to get started with cold emailing, but let’s take a look at some other outreach channels too.

Why? 

That way, you can make an informed decision about what’s best for your agency.

Don’t worry. We have a guide at the end where we will show you which strategy will be best for you. But first, let’s move to our next channel – LinkedIn Outreach.

2) LinkedIn Outreach

LinkedIn outreach is the process of reaching out to potential clients on LinkedIn through sending connection requests, sending InMail messages, or commenting on their posts.

The goal of LinkedIn outreach is to build relationships with potential clients and ultimately generate leads.

The whole process of acquiring clients through LinkedIn is divided into two parts:

Let’s dive into it.

Find Leads:

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for digital marketing agencies to find new clients. 

By using LinkedIn strategically, you can increase your visibility to potential prospects and build relationships that lead to new businesses.

Here are four ways to use LinkedIn to find leads:

1) Creating an “All-Star” profile

Creating an All-Star profile is crucial for you to acquire clients for your digital marketing agency.

An All-Star profile means that you have meticulously detailed all your professional experiences in every relevant section.

This allows your target prospects to easily discover and connect with you.

Moreover, LinkedIn tends to promote All-Star users more frequently in the ‘People Also Viewed’ section.

According to LinkedIn, users with All-Star profiles are an astounding 40x more likely to receive opportunities through the platform.

By making yourself and your agency more visible to the professionals in your network, you open the door to a multitude of prospects and lead-generation opportunities.

These opportunities come into play at a later stage in the sales cycle, allowing your digital marketing agency to thrive. Now let’s see another way through which you can find leads on LinkedIn.

2) Search and Filter prospects

To kickstart your client acquisition efforts, it’s essential to build a network on LinkedIn.

Start by using the search feature to locate and connect with individuals who could be potential clients within your 2nd and 3rd-degree connections.

LinkedIn provides various filters to help you refine your search.

By expanding the filters under “All filters,” you can narrow down your search based on criteria such as:

• Job title
• Industry
• Past companies, etc.

This enables you to pinpoint users who align with your target audience.

Once you’ve applied the desired filters, you can begin sending connection requests to these filtered users.

This initial connection is an excellent opportunity to establish a rapport and lay the foundation for future business relationships.

3) Share content over a targeted network

Once your network has grown to a substantial size (1000+ connections), it’s time to start sharing valuable and engaging content on your profile.

The interactions you receive from your posts, such as shares, likes, and comments, will appear on both your first connections’ and their connections’ feeds.

This means your content’s reach expands exponentially, lending more credibility to your profile.

As users come across your content more frequently on their feeds, they begin to view you as a credible source.

This credibility makes it much easier for you to connect with potential clients on LinkedIn.

4) Target your prospects

Apart from the above ways shared, one of the quickest ways to conduct LinkedIn prospecting is by targeting groups and organizations.

If you have specific industry verticals in mind, you search for their profiles and gain valuable insights.

This allows you to understand the areas in which they are expanding and tailor your approach accordingly.

On the employees’ page, you’ll find useful filtering options such as title and name. These filters can help you narrow down your search and make it more targeted.

This approach is particularly effective for account-based marketing or sales, as it allows you to focus your efforts on specific individuals.

Another effective strategy for LinkedIn prospecting is joining relevant private and public groups.

You can easily search for groups on LinkedIn, just like you would search for professionals or organizations.

Once you’ve joined these groups, you can actively participate in ongoing conversations related to your areas of expertise.

By engaging in these group conversations, you can showcase your expertise and establish yourself as a trusted authority.

As you generate engagement from your content, you’ll start to identify users within the group who are a perfect fit for your digital marketing services. 

At this point, you can connect with them individually and explore potential business opportunities.

After you’ve found some potential prospects, it’s important to reach out to them in a personalized way. 

Engage:

Now that you’ve built a strong network of connections; it’s time to utilize it effectively for client acquisition. 

Let’s delve into the art of engaging with potential clients on LinkedIn:

1) Engage and chat with new connections

Once you’ve connected with promising leads, it’s crucial to initiate a conversation without immediately diving into a sales pitch.

Starting off by genuinely getting to know your connection is key.

Ask them about their:

• Role and responsibilities
• Current challenges
• Organizational goals

This approach allows you to build rapport and establish a genuine connection.

Pro Tip: In cases where you’re not directly connected to your prospects, LinkedIn offers InMail credits that allow you to message individuals outside of your network. This feature provides an opportunity to engage with potential clients who may not be within your immediate connections.

2) Map your lead’s online presence and engage

Once you’ve made a connection with a prospect on LinkedIn, it’s essential to extend your engagement to other digital platforms.

This serves two important purposes:

Firstly, by exploring their content on various channels, you can gather valuable insights about your prospects.

Secondly, by liking, commenting, and sharing their posts on these platforms, you can strengthen your relationship with them and take the conversation further.

Now that you have connected with your lead over LinkedIn, there are certain best practices you need to follow to make the most out of your efforts.

What are certain best practices for LinkedIn Outreach that can book you some high-quality leads?

1) Personalize your messaging

One of the best practices for LinkedIn outreach when it comes to acquiring clients for your digital marketing agency is personalized messaging.

Why?

Well, think about it from the perspective of the person receiving your message.

When they see a generic message in their inbox, it’s easy for them to dismiss it as spam or simply ignore it. But when you take the time to personalize your message, it shows that you’ve done your homework and you genuinely care about connecting with them.

By taking time to tailor your messages to each individual, you’ll significantly increase your chances of acquiring clients for your agency.

2) Capture their emails

One of the main features of LinkedIn is the ability to connect with prospects through InMail and messages.

This allows you to directly communicate with potential clients within the platform.

If you’re already connected with a prospect on LinkedIn, you can easily find their contact details, including their email address (if they have chosen to share it on their profile).

This gives you an additional channel to reach out to them, outside LinkedIn.

But, what if you haven’t connected with a prospect yet OR they haven’t accepted your connection request?

In such cases, there are several tools available that can help you find their email addresses. 

These tools can be valuable resources for expanding your outreach efforts and establishing direct connections with potential clients.

Later in the next section, we will delve into these tools.

3) Nurture new leads over email

After discovering the email addresses of your potential clients, you can engage with them over email. 

For this, you can utilize a tool like Saleshandy to automate your email communication.

Anyways, the purpose of nurturing is to gain valuable insights about your prospects and guide them deeper into the sales funnel.

This approach enables you to generate leads, ultimately resulting in successful client acquisition for your digital marketing agency.

Now that we’ve seen how to discover and connect with prospects, let’s explore LinkedIn prospecting tools that can help us make the most out of the platform.

Best LinkedIn Outreach tools for your digital marketing agency

1) Saleshandy Connect

Saleshandy Connect is a FREE LinkedIn email finder that delivers excellent quality leads within seconds.

This means you can swiftly identify the email addresses of your potential clients over LinkedIn. It’s a reliable and verified source of data, ensuring you have accurate and up-to-date information.

Beyond just finding email addresses, Saleshandy Connect goes the extra mile by providing the lead’s first name, last name, and also designation.

This additional information allows you to personalize your outreach efforts and establish a more meaningful connection with potential clients.

With Saleshandy Connect as your LinkedIn prospecting tool, you’ll have the power to identify and engage with high-quality leads effectively.

2) LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to conduct targeted outreach on a larger scale.

It offers advanced search and filtering options that let you narrow down your prospects based on criteria like their years of experience, seniority level, and the groups they’ve joined. Plus, it even recommends relevant leads to you, making your job easier.

But that’s not all!

As a user of Sales Navigator, you’ll also receive extra InMail credits every month.

This means you can send personalized messages directly to potential clients, even if you’re not connected with them. 

Also, Sales Navigator allows you to see who has visited your profile, giving you valuable insights into potential leads who have shown interest in your agency.

By leveraging these features your digital marketing agency can streamline the prospecting efforts and connect with high-quality leads more effectively.

3) LeadConnect

LeadConnect allows you to automate your LinkedIn Outreach and send personalized messages to potential clients.

It goes beyond just finding prospects – you can also connect with your target audience directly on LinkedIn. Plus, it offers the convenience of automated follow-ups based on their preferred time zone.

It’s a game-changer for boosting your client acquisition strategy via LinkedIn.

Pheww, we’ve covered a lot! 

We talked about cold emailing, and then LinkedIn outreach. Now let’s take a look at our last targeted outbound lead generation channel: cold calling.

3) Cold Calling

Another channel through which you can acquire clients for your digital marketing agency is cold calling.

A cold call is an outbound phone call made to potential clients who haven’t yet shown their interest in your services.

It’s important to note that cold calling is not a get-rich-quick scheme – Where you just dial a number and acquire a client.

It takes time, effort, and strategy to be successful.

Let’s see how can you leverage cold calling to win quality clients for your agency in a step-by-step process:

1) Prepare a list of prospects

To kickstart your client acquisition process, it’s crucial to have a solid list of leads to connect with (similar to our cold emailing lead list).

Now you must be wondering, “Won’t it be hard to first narrow down and then find the phone number and other contact details of the prospects?”

Fortunately, finding phone numbers is relatively easier now. You can utilize local directors or a third-party tool (like ZoomInfo), to identify potential leads and their contact information.

After identifying suitable leads, depending on the services you offer at your agency, it’s essential to filter your leads based on various criteria. Let’s see it in our next step.

2) Qualify and segment your list

Before you pick up the phone to reach out to potential clients, it’s crucial to determine if they could actually benefit from your services.

If they don’t have a need for your services, not only will it be harder to close the deal, but you might also end up irritating your leads.

That’s why it’s important to qualify your cold-calling leads right from the start, so you can avoid contacting irrelevant prospects. 

By focusing on leads who are more likely to be receptive, you increase your chances of converting them into clients.

To accomplish this, you can leverage the information in your cold leads database. Look at fields such as geography, business vertical, and company size to segment and qualify your contacts.

By doing so, you’ll be able to tailor your approach and script for each segment, aligning it with their specific needs and how your digital marketing services can solve their problem.

Once you’ve identified and categorized your potential leads, it’s time to reach out to them in a structured manner. 

3) Dial qualified leads

To dial qualified leads begin with the segment that has the highest likelihood of converting, and gradually work your way down the list.

This approach enables you to connect with promising leads early on while managing the others towards the end.

As you progress, you’ll spend less time on each lead.

Consider utilizing sales dialers or VOIP call solutions to record and transcribe your conversations. These tools allow you to document the details for future reference.

It’s crucial to be mindful of your contact number’s reputation, as it can impact your outreach efforts. Certain dialer tools come with built-in features to handle this.

However, consistently calling from your agency’s cell with the same outgoing number might increase the chances of being blacklisted. (Also, nowadays both Android and iOS have utilities that block spam calls).

Therefore, if your number is reported as spam, you may face restrictions on numerous other devices as well.

Once you’ve got the potential client engaged during your cold call, it’s time to dive deeper and qualify them further. Thus the next step is to ask quality questions.

4) Asking qualifying questions

In this you have to ask additional questions to your clients about specific challenges they face. 

This will help you understand which service that you are offering would be most beneficial to them. It will also allow you to gauge their level of interest and prioritize the leads.

Ask qualification questions that revolve around the problems your leads are currently facing. Find out how much these challenges are costing them and what previously they have tried.

Make sure your questions are engaging, encouraging the leads to do most of the talking. By doing so, you can listen attentively and gather as much information as possible.

5) Plan the next steps

Once you’ve established a conversation with a potential client and they’ve shown interest, it’s essential to guide them through the next stages effectively. 

In the world of digital marketing agencies, the ultimate goal is often to schedule a meeting. 

However, keep in mind that prospects may have concerns or objections that need addressing before they’re ready for a call or to move forward. 

It’s crucial to ensure that you don’t end the conversation without determining the next set of actions that will lead to a successful partnership.

For instance, if a lead expresses a desire to try your services or get discounted pricing during the initial stages, your next step should be to validate these requests and provide a response to the lead. 

Similarly, if the lead mentions that they are currently pressed for time and can’t commit in the current week, it’s important to schedule a follow-up on a mutually agreed-upon date – covered in our next step.

6) Follow-up

There will be moments when your potential clients show initial interest in your digital marketing agency but then seem to disappear or ignore your outreach. 

This is quite common, especially when you’re reaching out to prospects cold. 

However, just because they haven’t taken the initiative doesn’t mean the opportunity for a deal is lost. It’s crucial to continue following up, capturing their attention, and offering even better deals, terms, and incentives that make it enticing for them to move forward.

Remember, following up doesn’t have to be limited to phone calls alone. You can leverage other channels like social media and email. 

Just like you can use tools and databases to find prospects’ phone numbers, you can also uncover their email addresses (by now you are already aware of this ).

But why should I?

The simple reason is – email communication is less intrusive than phone calls, allowing for more tolerance when it comes to follow-ups. 

Moreover, emails offer the advantage of sending multimedia files and attachments, which can help you nurture your cold call leads effectively. For streamlining your email follow-ups and saving time, consider using an email automation tool like Saleshandy, which automates the process and removes unnecessary manual work.

By consistently following up and using various communication channels, you can re-engage potential clients and maintain their interest in your services.

Now that we know how to win clients for your digital marketing agency through cold calling, let us look into some of the cold calling best practices.

Cold calling best practices that will work like a charm on your clients

1) Make sure your tone is right

When you’re reaching out to potential clients for your digital marketing agency through a cold call, your tone of voice can have a significant impact. 

It’s essential to be purposeful with your tone and convey the importance of your digital marketing services to the lead. 

2) Avoid close-ended questions

When reaching out to potential clients for your digital marketing agency, it’s essential to foster meaningful discussions. 

Instead of asking closed-ended questions that lead to simple yes or no answers, opt for open-ended questions that encourage your leads to share their stories and experiences in more detail. 

Start your questions with ‘how’ and ‘why’ to elicit descriptive responses that provide valuable insights into their needs and challenges.

3) Leverage social proof

When reaching out to potential clients for your digital marketing agency, it’s crucial to showcase how your services have benefited similar businesses. 

This helps build trust by giving them a clearer understanding of the positive impact your agency can have on their success. 

Plus, it taps into the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) phenomenon. 

If you’ve worked with prestigious or well-known clients, highlight them and share concrete results demonstrating how your digital marketing strategies made a measurable difference for them.

4) Be mindful of their time

When it comes to cold calling for your digital marketing agency, it’s crucial to be mindful of your potential clients’ precious time. 

Remember, they didn’t expect your call, so they might not be prepared to discuss your services right away. 

Avoid being overly assertive and instead gauge their willingness to engage based on their tone and responses. 

Once you sense they’re comfortable, you can smoothly proceed with the rest of the conversation.

As you are aware of the cold calling best practices, now let us see what are some of the tools you should be using to streamline your efforts.

Best cold calling tools for your digital marketing agency

1) Klenty

Klenty is a fantastic tool for digital marketing agencies looking to acquire clients through cold calling. 

It offers a dynamic calling solution that simplifies the cold-calling process for both representatives and managers. With just one click, you can place calls swiftly and minimize downtime between conversations.

One of the standout features of Klenty is its “Action Replay” capability, which allows managers to review recorded calls. This feature enables focused and effective coaching, as managers can provide valuable feedback to reps based on their calls. 

It’s an excellent way to improve the overall performance of your team.

Moreover, Klenty provides call reporting resources that offer valuable insights into how individual reps are handling their calls. This data is essential for tracking progress, identifying areas for improvement, and ensuring that your team is delivering their best during cold-calling efforts.

2) Close

Close is an awesome CRM designed specifically for digital marketing agencies looking to acquire clients through cold calling. 

It offers a comprehensive solution that covers every step of the sales process.

With Close, you’ll have access to a range of powerful features tailored to cold calling. 

Whether you’re making calls, recording them for later reference, or using automatic dialers to streamline your workflow, Close has got you covered. 

Plus, they even offer Conversation Intelligence, which can help you analyze and improve your sales conversations.

It has built-in global inbound and outbound calling, call forwarding, and the ability to send and receive text messages.

3) Kixie

Kixie is a powerful sales engagement platform designed specifically for making those important calls. 

With Kixie, you can reach out to leads, track your progress, and leave pre-recorded voicemails with just one click if your prospect isn’t available to answer.

One of the great features of Kixie is its seamless integration with all major CRMs. 

This means you can easily keep tabs on your prospects as they move through your pipeline and stay informed about your team’s previous conversations with them.

It also offers an automatic local presence dialer that selects a local phone number based on your prospects’ locations. This personalized touch increases the likelihood of establishing meaningful connections.

Okay, so now we have reviewed the best cold calling tools, and with that, we have successfully covered our targeted outbound lead generation approach.

But things don’t end here!

If you’re looking for ways where your prospects reach out to you – for your services, you may want to consider an inbound-led lead generation approach.

What? My clients will reach out to me? – Yes

Let’s find out how

Inbound-led lead-generation approach

Inbound-led lead generation is a strategy that focuses on attracting and engaging potential customers with valuable content and experiences. 

When done correctly, inbound lead generation can help you build a strong reputation as a thought leader in your industry and attract qualified leads who are already interested in what you have to offer.

There are a number of channels that you can use to implement an inbound-led lead generation strategy, but as you know, we are only covering the best for your agency needs:

Let’s check each one of them in detail.

1) Content Marketing

Content marketing is a powerful channel for building trust in your agency, leading to increased confidence and higher sales. 

Tailoring high-quality content to meet to feed your prospects’ needs converts them from website visitors into paying clients. It also guides hesitant individuals toward closing a deal. 

Thus a strong content marketing strategy is crucial. Here’s a 6-step process on how to leverage content marketing to acquire clients for your digital marketing agency:

Step 1: Define the goal

When using content marketing as a channel to acquire clients for your digital marketing agency, it’s crucial to first define a clear goal. 

Why?

Defining a goal helps you stay focused and measure the success of your efforts.

To do this you first need to understand your ideal clients and their needs. 

This knowledge will shape your content strategy and ensure it resonates with your target audience.

Once you are aware of their needs and preferences, ask yourself what you want to achieve through your content marketing efforts.

Are you aiming to increase brand awareness, drive traffic or position your agency as an industry expert?

Clarifying the purpose will guide you to define specific goals that can be quantified and tracked.

For example, your goal will be to increase website traffic by 30% within three months or generate 50 qualified leads per month. This specificity helps you gauge your progress and make necessary adjustments in the future.

By defining a clear goal in content marketing, you’ll have a strategic direction and be better equipped to attract and convert clients for your agency.

Step 2: Competitive research

The second step to acquiring clients for your agency is to conduct competitive research. 

This process helps you gain valuable insights into your competitors’ actions and allows you to position your agency effectively. 

Begin by identifying digital marketing agencies offering similar services and targeting audiences like yours. 

Pay attention to the types of content they create, the topics they cover, and the frequency of their posts. Also, keep an eye on your industry’s latest trends and emerging topics. 

Pro Tip: Consider subscribing to industry newsletters, following thought leaders, and participating in relevant online communities. This will help you align your content strategy with your target audience’s changing needs and interests.

Remember, competitive research in content marketing is an ongoing process. Continuously monitor your competitors’ activities, adapt your strategy, and strive to offer unique value to your audience.

Step 3: Content strategy

To create an effective content marketing strategy for your agency you need to tailor your content that resonates with your target prospect’s needs and preferences.

Research relevant keywords and topics that align with your target audience’s interests and search intent.

Plan your content creation and distribution in advance by creating a content calendar. 

Define the types of content you will produce (blog posts, videos, etc.), their topics, and the schedule.

This ensures consistent delivery of “value” to your audience. Value? Eh?

Yes, focus on creating content that provides value to your target audience. Address their pain points, answer their questions, and offer solutions.

Alright, let’s accept the fact that creating content isn’t enough; you also need to promote it effectively! 

So let’s check that in our next step.

Step 4: Content promotion and distribution

Once you start creating and releasing content it’s time to promote and distribute the content. 

Determine the frequency of your content production and set realistic goals.

One way to distribute content is by implementing effective SEO techniques. This will improve your content’s visibility in search engine results and attract tons of traffic organically.

Apart from this, you can also share your content on social media platforms where your prospects spend most of their time. For your digital marketing agency try leveraging Industry Facebook groups, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote your content and engage with your prospects.

Pro Tip: Repackage your content into different formats, such as videos, carousels, etc. to reach your audience in a variety of ways – any which ways this will also showcase the capabilities of your digital marketing agency that you are capable of producing a multitude of creative content.

Hey, things don’t end here. Don’t forget that the ultimate goal after doing all this is to generate leads! 

Let’s discuss that part in our next step.

Step 5: Create lead magnets

Lead magnets are valuable resources (or incentives) that you can offer to potential clients in exchange for their contact information.

To create lead magnets you need to select a format that aligns with your audience’s preferences and your agency’s goals. 

You may ask this question – What’s this “format” thing now?

Lead magnets can take various forms, such as:

• Ebooks 
• Checklists 
• Templates 
• Case studies, etc. 

Consider what format would best showcase your expertise and resonate with your target audience.

Once you select the format(s) choose a topic for your lead magnet that offers immediate value and captures your audience’s interest.

It should be:

• Relevant to their needs.
• Help them overcome a specific challenge.
• Provide actionable insights.

Aim to provide a solution that showcases your expertise and establishes your agency as a trusted resource.

Focus on delivering high-quality content that is well-researched, informative, and actionable. Make it visually appealing by incorporating relevant graphics, images, etc.

Next, develop a promotion plan to maximize the reach and impact of your lead magnets. 

• Use compelling copy and visuals on your landing pages to entice your audience to download or sign up for the lead magnet. 
• Leverage social media, targeted ads, or collaborating with influencers to expand your reach.

Creating compelling lead magnets is an essential step in your content marketing strategy to acquire clients for your digital marketing agency. 

Now that we have seen how to acquire clients through content marketing for your digital marketing agency. 

Let us see what are certain best practices to follow for maximum output.

Content marketing best practices to skyrocket your lead generation efforts

1) Create intent-based (educational) content

One of the best practices in content marketing is creating intent-based educational content. 

This approach focuses on providing valuable information and addressing the specific needs of your target audience. 

Your content should aim to educate and inform your audience. Offer actionable tips, step-by-step guides, or in-depth analyses that help them overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

By creating intent-based educational content, you position your digital marketing agency as an authoritative resource that can solve your clients’ problems. 

This establishes trust and credibility, making it more likely for potential clients to engage with your content (and offerings). 

2) Long tail keywords 

Long-tail keywords are specific (longer) keyword phrases that people use when searching for particular information or solutions online.

For your content marketing efforts targeting long-tail keywords for the blog posts and landing pages can be low-hanging fruit.

Unlike generic keywords, which are shorter and more competitive, long-tail keywords are often less competitive and target a niche audience.

By incorporating these keywords strategically into your content, you can attract highly targeted traffic to your website.

These visitors are more likely to convert into leads or potential clients since they have a specific intent and are actively seeking a solution or information related to the long-tail keyword they used in their search.

3) Ensure your brand voice

A brand voice guide is a blueprint for your agency’s tone, style, and language. It outlines the specific attributes and characteristics that define your brand’s personality. 

Establish guidelines that reflect your agency’s unique identity, from formal to informal, professional to conversational. 

This will ensure consistency across all content and establish a recognizable brand voice.

To make your content more approachable and relatable, use conversational language. Embrace contractions, like “you’re” and “it’s,” and write in a way that mimics everyday conversations. 

Doing so creates a welcoming atmosphere that encourages potential clients to engage with your content and consider your agency a trusted partner.

Whether you’re creating blog posts, social media updates, or videos, it’s crucial to maintain a consistent brand voice across all channels. 

This consistency reinforces your agency’s identity and helps clients recognize and connect with your content wherever they encounter it. 

Pro tip: Consider creating brand-specific templates and style guides to ensure uniformity in design elements, such as colors, fonts, and imagery.

Thus, it’s crucial to maintain a consistent brand voice throughout your content creation process. 

It allows you to effectively communicate your agency’s unique value proposition while fostering a genuine connection with your clients through your content.

3) Remarket your content

To acquire clients for your digital marketing agency through content marketing, remarketing your content can be a highly effective strategy. 

You must be thinking – “Why so?”

Let us tell you – Remarketing allows you to reconnect with individuals (your clients) who have already shown an interest in your agency’s content or services, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

For this, start by segmenting your audience based on their previous interactions with your content. 

Identify different groups of users who have:

• Engaged with specific topics
• Visited certain pages
• Downloaded specific resources

This segmentation will enable you to deliver more personalized and relevant content to each group.

Now, develop remarketing campaigns that cater to each segment of your audience. Craft a compelling ad copy, select eye-catching visuals, and choose a strong call-to-action that encourages users to take the next step. 

Tailor the messaging to align with the specific needs and pain points of each audience segment. But also, avoid overwhelming your audience with too many remarketing ads. 

By effectively remarketing your content, you can increase brand awareness, engage with potential clients who have already shown interest, and ultimately acquire new clients for your digital marketing agency. 

Remember to continuously optimize your remarketing efforts based on data to achieve the best results. You will understand it better in our next best practices.

4) Track and Measure

If you ask us – “Amongst all which best practices should I start?” we would say to track and measure your content’s effectiveness.

Do you remember our first step above was – clearly defining what you want to achieve with your content marketing efforts? 

Based on that, identify the metrics (KPIs) that align with your goals. KPIs would include website traffic, social media engagement, email subscriptions, or conversion rates. 

To track this, leverage tools like Google Analytics, social media analytics, or marketing automation platforms to measure your content’s performance. 

(Hey, don’t worry we will cover the best tools in our next section – promise!)

Anyways, coming back

Based on the data you gather – “Regularly Analyze and Refine.”

• Continuously review your content performance data and make data-driven decisions. 
• Identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement. 
• Adjust your content strategy based on what works best for acquiring clients.

Remember, tracking and measuring your content’s impact is an ongoing process. By consistently analyzing the data and refining your strategy, you can optimize your content marketing efforts to acquire more clients for your digital marketing agency.

As we have covered all the best practices to supercharge your content marketing efforts, as we promised, let us check out some of the best tools to make things easier for you.

Best content marketing tools for your digital marketing agency

1) WordPress (To create Landing Pages & Publish Blogs)

WordPress is a robust platform that makes creating landing pages and publishing blogs easy. It has a user-friendly interface accessible to beginners and experienced users.

You can choose from various pre-designed templates and customize them to match your agency’s branding and style. WordPress also makes it easy to create landing pages with its intuitive drag-and-drop editor.

The platform has a built-in content editor that lets you craft and format your blog posts. You can easily add images, videos, and other multimedia elements to enhance your content’s visual appeal and engagement.

WordPress also offers robust SEO capabilities, so you can optimize your blog posts for search engines and attract organic traffic to your agency’s website.

2) Canva (To create social media posts)

Canva offers a simple and intuitive design interface that doesn’t require extensive graphic design skills. 

Canva’s drag-and-drop functionality allows you to effortlessly arrange elements and customize layouts to suit your brand’s style and messaging.

Simply choose a template, customize it with your own content and branding, and you’re ready to publish engaging posts that resonate with your audience.

If you have a team working on content creation, Canva offers collaborative features that streamline the process. You can invite team members to edit designs, leave comments, and provide feedback in real-time.

By leveraging Canva’s capabilities, you can create captivating social media posts that engage your target audience and drive your agency’s success.

3) OptinMonster (To capture leads on your landing pages)

OptinMonster is a top-notch lead-generation tool that simplifies the process of converting your website visitors into potential customers.

Regardless of the type of website you operate or the type of leads you seek, OptinMonster provides tailor-made solutions for creating campaigns that gather high-quality leads to suit your specific requirements.

With OptinMonster, you have the freedom to exercise your creativity and design captivating on-site lead-generation campaigns such as popups, slide-in windows, and interactive spin-to-win wheels. 

The best part? You can achieve it all through a user-friendly and uncomplicated builder, even if you’re new to the platform.

4) Publer (To schedule and track social media posts)

Publer is a powerful tool that simplifies the process of managing and scheduling your social media content. 

With Publer, you can easily plan and organize your posts across various platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. It allows you to create and schedule posts in advance, saving you time and effort.

Tracking the performance of your social media efforts is essential, and Publer offers robust analytics and reporting features to help you with that. 

It provides valuable insights into your post engagement, reaches, and audience growth. With these analytics, you can identify which types of content resonate the most with your audience and optimize your future posts accordingly.

In addition to its core features, Publer integrates with popular social media management tools like Canva and Giphy, enabling you to create visually appealing and engaging content directly within the platform.

Overall, Publer is an excellent tool for social media scheduling and tracking for digital marketing agencies.

With that, we have covered how to use content marketing to acquire clients for your digital marketing agency. And we promise the next channel will leave you in shock. Excited? Let’s dive in.

2) Referral Marketing 

Referral marketing is a powerful channel that can help your digital marketing agency acquire new clients through the recommendations and endorsements of your existing clients and influential figures within your industry. 

By leveraging referral marketing, you can tap into the trust and credibility established by these individuals, leading to a higher likelihood of acquiring new clients.

To effectively use referral marketing as a channel for client acquisition, is a three-step process:

Step 1: Plan your monetary structure

The first step in referral marketing is to plan your monetary structure. 

One effective way to encourage existing clients to refer your agency to others is by offering them discounts. 

When they bring in new clients, you can reward their loyalty by providing a percentage off their next service or a reduced rate on future projects. This not only motivates your existing clients to spread the word about your agency but also strengthens your relationship with them.

Another strategy is to partner with industry influencers and other agencies. 

By collaborating with influential individuals or established agencies in your field, you can tap into their network and gain access to a wider audience. To incentivize these partnerships, consider offering referral incentives. 

This could involve providing monetary rewards or special privileges to influencers or agencies who refer clients to your agency. By offering these incentives, you create a win-win situation where everyone involved benefits from the referrals.

Remember, the key is to make your referral program attractive and valuable to both your existing clients and potential partners. For which you have to define your campaign. Let’s see how.

Step 2: Define your referral campaign

To define a referral campaign and make it attractive and valuable to both your existing clients and potential partners, start by establishing specific goals for your referral campaign. 

Determine what you hope to achieve, such as the number of referrals, increased revenue, or new client acquisitions. Clear goals will help you design an effective campaign.

Next, craft persuasive messaging that highlights the benefits of participating in the referral program. Clearly communicate what’s in it for the referrer and the referee.

Also, Create a streamlined system where clients and partners can easily refer to others. Provide clear instructions on how to refer, track referrals, and redeem rewards. 

Simplifying the process increases the likelihood of participation.

You can also equip your existing clients and potential partners with the necessary resources to refer to others effectively. 

For this, you can offer pre-made referral templates, social media posts, or email content that they can use to spread the word about your agency.  This makes it easier for them to refer and increases the chances of success.

After all this, it’s obvious to track the performance of your referral campaign, let’s see how to do it.

Step 3: Enable your tracking

Tracking the performance of a referral campaign is crucial to understand its effectiveness and make necessary improvements. 

Define specific goals for your referral campaign, such as the number of referrals or conversions you aim to achieve. Having well-defined objectives will help you track progress and measure success accurately.

Provide each referrer with a unique referral code or link. This allows you to identify and track referrals back to the source accurately. You can generate these codes or links through referral tracking software or custom-built solutions.

By diligently tracking your referral campaign’s performance, you’ll gain valuable insights into which referrers are generating the most qualified leads for your digital marketing agency.

This knowledge will allow you to refine your strategy and maximize the benefits of referral marketing for client acquisition.

Now that we know how to leverage referral marketing to acquire quality clients for your digital marketing agency. 

Let us dive into some of the best practices – for sure you don’t want to miss out on them.

Use these referral marketing best practices to make your existing clients bring the business for you

1) Guide them to refer

Begin by initiating a conversation with your existing clients and partners about your referral program. 

Let them know that you value their support and would appreciate any referrals they can provide. You can reach out through emails, phone calls, or in-person meetings to discuss this opportunity.

Keep it simple and friendly, and emphasize how their referrals can benefit both parties involved. Make sure to highlight the value and quality of your agency’s services to encourage their confidence in making referrals.

Make it easy for your clients and partners to understand how they can refer potential clients. Clearly outline the process and any specific information you need from them, such as contact details or specific needs of the referred clients. 

The easier you make it for them, the more likely they’ll be to refer.

Remember, effective referral marketing relies on building strong relationships and trust with your existing clients and partners. But it’s very much important to ask at the right moment – the second best practice will help you here.

2) Ask for a referral at “key moments”

When it comes to acquiring clients for your digital marketing agency through referral marketing, one of the best practices is to ask for a referrer at the key moment.

Identify key moments in your client or partner relationships when they are likely to be satisfied with your services. 

This could be after achieving a significant milestone, delivering exceptional results, or receiving positive feedback. Aim to ask for a referral when they are most enthusiastic about your work.

Clearly communicate your desire to expand your client base and reach more businesses in need of your digital marketing expertise. 

Explain that you would greatly appreciate their help in referring potential clients who could benefit from your services. Remember, asking for a referral should be a natural part of your ongoing client or partner interactions. 

By choosing the right moment, expressing appreciation, showcasing success stories, and making the process easy, you’ll create a positive environment for referrals to thrive.

3) Over and above incentives and discounts (to reward them)

Offer over and above discounts and incentives to reward your existing clients or partners.

Why should you be doing this?

This shows your appreciation for their referrals and gives them an added incentive to continue recommending your services. 

Make sure these discounts or incentives are meaningful and attractive enough to motivate them to refer others in the future as well.

Let’s say it’s hard for your agency to discount the services or offer an incentive. Another way to go beyond discounts is by offering value-added services to referrers. 

These could include:

• Free consultations
• Complimentary audits
• Additional upgrades to their existing services, etc.

By providing these extra benefits, you not only show your gratitude but also enhance the overall value of the relationship with your referrers.

Remember, when offering over and above discounts and incentives, it’s important to ensure that the rewards align with the value of the referrals. 

By going the extra mile to appreciate and reward your referrers, you can strengthen your relationships and encourage a steady stream of referrals for your digital marketing agency.

Now that we know the best practices, managing this stuff on top of your regular agency business can be a hassle, right? It’s here where tools can help.

Best tools to keep your referral campaign on automation 

1) Upfluence

Upfluence simplifies the process of identifying and connecting with influential individuals who can refer clients to your business.

With Upfluence, you can easily search for influencers based on specific criteria, such as niche, industry, location, and social media platforms. This targeted approach ensures that you connect with influencers who have a genuine interest and influence in your field.

Once you’ve identified potential influencers, Upfluence provides detailed profiles and analytics to help you assess their reach, engagement, and audience demographics. 

This information allows you to make informed decisions about which influencers align best with your agency’s target market.

Furthermore, Upfluence offers comprehensive campaign management features that enable you to track your interactions and collaborations with influencers. You can monitor the success of your referral campaigns, track referrals generated, and measure the overall ROI of your influencer marketing efforts.

2) Tapfiliate

Tapfiliate provides a comprehensive solution for managing and monitoring referral campaigns.

With Tapfiliate, agencies can easily keep track of their referral program from start to finish. The tool allows you to create custom referral campaigns and provides a user-friendly interface to manage all aspects of the program.

Once your referral campaign is up and running, Tapfiliate enables you to track the performance of your referral partners in real time. 

You can easily monitor the number of referrals generated, track the conversion rates, and measure the overall success of your campaign.

With its user-friendly interface, real-time tracking, and comprehensive reporting features, Tapfiliate is an excellent tool for agencies looking to keep track of their referral partners and optimize their referral programs.

So, we covered the best referral marketing tools, and with that, we have come to our last channel of inbound-led lead generation approach – social media marketing. For this channel things ARE different (for real), and you should definitely NOT miss this.

So, let’s check it out

3) Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a unique and powerful way to acquire clients for your digital marketing agency.

As the name suggests, it’s all about using social media platforms to connect with potential customers, build brand awareness, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Here’s the step-by-step process to effectively use social media to win clients:

Step 1: Sort your social media platforms

When it comes to acquiring clients for your digital marketing agency through social media marketing, the first step is to sort your social media platforms. 

A genuine question arises here – “Why should you sort your channels when you can just publish content on all the platforms?”

The answer is very simple, sorting your channels helps you focus your efforts and maximize your impact.

Determine which social media platforms are most relevant to your target audience and industry. To do this consider the following:

• Research the popularity and engagement levels of each social media platform you’ve identified. 
• Look for platforms with not only a significant user base but have an active community for the industry you are targeting.

One more thing you have to consider is how much you can invest in managing and maintaining each social media channel effectively. 

It’s better to have a strong presence on a few platforms rather than spreading yourself thin across many.

Based on the above factors, prioritize the social media channels that offer the most potential for acquiring clients. 

Select a core set of platforms to focus on initially, ensuring you have the capacity to consistently engage and provide valuable content.

Remember, sorting your social media channels is an ongoing process. As your agency grows and your target audience evolves, you may need to adjust your channel selection. Regularly monitor your chosen platforms’ performance and adapt your plan accordingly.

Step 2: Plan your content and schedule

After sorting the channels, plan your social media content and schedule them.

Begin by gaining a deep understanding of your target audience of that particular social media platform. Analyze their preferences, and behavior on each social media channel you identified in the sorting process. 

This will help you tailor your content to their needs and interests.

Then, determine the objectives you want to achieve through your social media content. 

It could be increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or promoting specific products or services. Clearly defining your objectives will guide your content creation process.

Now, the majority part is done. Phewww! 

You just need to create content that resonates with your target audience and aligns with your objectives. 

Develop a mix of informative, entertaining, and visually appealing posts. Use captivating headlines, high-quality images, and videos to capture attention and encourage engagement.

But wait! It’s not just creating content and posting. Then?

You have to send the post at a defined time when your audience is active and ready to engage with your content.

For this, you have to develop a content calendar to organize and schedule your social media posts. 

Consider the frequency and timing of your posts on each channel, taking into account the peak activity times of your target audience. 

Use scheduling tools to automate your posts and ensure a consistent presence across platforms. By now you know that we are definitely going to cover this in the end.

Pro tip: To keep your social media presence fresh and engaging, include a variety of content formats. Experiment with different types of posts, such as blog links, infographics, polls, behind-the-scenes glimpses, client success stories, and industry news. Keep the content mix diverse to cater to different preferences.

Remember, social media content planning and scheduling require continuous optimization. 

By consistently delivering valuable content, you can attract potential clients and showcase the expertise of your digital marketing agency.

So far, (we are sure), you definitely have this question – “Hey, I sorted the channels and started producing content. What about the leads?” 

Don’t worry we have got that covered in our next step.

Step 3: Create landing pages to capture leads

Creating landing pages is a crucial step for digital marketing agencies to capture leads from social media platforms. 

These pages act as dedicated spaces where potential clients can provide their contact information, allowing agencies to follow up and nurture these leads. 

Here are few things to consider:

• The headline of your landing page should be attention-grabbing and clearly communicate the value proposition. Use concise and persuasive language to entice visitors to take action. 
• Keep the copy focused on the benefits and solutions your agency offers, emphasizing how it can address your audience’s pain points.
• Place a prominent and compelling CTA on your landing page to guide visitors toward providing their contact information. Use action-oriented language, such as “Download Now,” “Request a Consultation,” or “Sign Up Today.” 
• Make sure the CTA button stands out visually, attracting attention and encouraging clicks.

You must be wondering – “Like seriously a prospect will come and provide their contact information?” 

The answer is straight NO!

To encourage visitors to share their information, provide them with something valuable in return. 

This could be a:

• Free ebook, 
• Whitepaper, 
• Webinar registration,
• Access to exclusive industry insights, etc.

Clearly communicate the benefits of the content or incentive to highlight its value and motivate visitors to take action.

Pro tip: Always monitor the performance of your landing pages and make data-driven adjustments to enhance their effectiveness in generating valuable leads.

Alright, so you tried and tested multiple ways to bring engagement on your socials, but as you are just starting out it is taking time and the returns are less.

Yes, we understand this. But, the next step can be a probable solution for you.

Step 4: Opt for social ads

In social media marketing, using social media ads can be a game-changer when it comes to acquiring clients for your agency. 

These targeted advertisements enable you to reach a wider audience, increase brand visibility, and generate quality leads. 

To maximize the effectiveness of your social media ads, establish clear campaign goals. Do you want to generate leads, increase website traffic, or promote specific services? 

Having defined objectives will help you craft compelling ad content and optimize your campaigns for success.

Now, we have scheduled our content and also run ads to attract leads. What next? 

Things should not be random, or you will waste your time, efforts, and money with ZERO leads.

There are agencies that have quite less engagement but attract high-quality clients, and then there are also agencies whose social media posts go viral, but the quality of leads is poor.

Thus tracking your efforts becomes a crucial thing, especially in the game of social media.

Step 5: Track performance and optimize

Tracking your social media posts involves monitoring various metrics and analytics to gather data on your posts’ performance. 

You can use social media management tools or the built-in analytics features provided by platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to track essential metrics such as engagement, reach, impressions, clicks, and conversions.

Once you have gathered sufficient data, the next step is to optimize your social media posts based on the insights you’ve gained. 

Optimization involves adjusting your content, timing, and targeting to improve social media performance.

If you’re running social media ads, track the performance of your campaigns closely. 

Monitor critical metrics like:

• Click-through rates
• Conversion rates
• Cost per acquisition, etc.

Optimize your ad targeting, creative elements, and bidding strategies based on the data to maximize the return on your advertising investment.

Use the data gathered from tracking to segment your audience based on demographics, interests, or behaviors. 

Tailor your social media posts to specific segments to ensure your content is relevant and engaging for each group. This personalized approach can help you build stronger connections with your target audience.

Remember, tracking and optimizing your social media posts should be ongoing. 

Regularly review your analytics, test new strategies, and adapt to your audience’s changing preferences and behaviors. 

By continuously refining your social media marketing efforts, you can enhance your chances of acquiring clients for your digital marketing agency through social media. But there are a few best practices that you should be aware of to attract burning leads

Let’s check them out in the next section.

Social media marketing best practices that no one told you ever

1) Form Brand Partnerships

By leveraging the strength and reach of trusted brands, agencies can enhance their online presence, expand their audience, and ultimately attract potential clients.

Look for brands that align with your agency’s values and objectives, as well as those that can offer value to your potential clients. 

For instance, if your agency specializes in e-commerce marketing, partnering with a prominent online payment gateway or a popular e-commerce platform can be mutually beneficial.

Here’s something you should note – “Successful brand partnerships are built on shared goals and a collaborative mindset.”

Approach potential partners with a clear understanding of how both parties can benefit from the collaboration. 

By aligning your agency’s objectives with the partner’s objectives, you can create a win-win situation where both brands can achieve greater visibility and engagement.

2) Share your existing clients’ stories

One effective way for your digital marketing agency to attract new clients on social media is by sharing the success stories of your existing clients. 

By showcasing your clients’ positive outcomes and achievements, you can demonstrate your expertise, credibility, and track record of delivering results.

But how does this work?

When your digital marketing agency highlights its clients’ success stories, it creates social proof, showing potential clients that they have helped others achieve their goals. 

• It builds trust and credibility in your services by featuring real examples of how your agency has benefited the clients.
• By describing the strategies and tactics used to achieve success, you can position yourself as knowledgeable and capable. This can attract potential clients who are seeking similar outcomes.
• Sharing client stories on social media encourages engagement and interaction from the audience. 
• People may comment, ask questions, or share their experiences, allowing you to connect and initiate conversations with potential clients.

By telling these stories compellingly and relatable, your agency can attract new clients and differentiate itself in the competitive digital marketing landscape.

3) Pay attention to key trends in your target niche

To attract new clients, your digital marketing agency should pay close attention to critical trends in its target niche. 

There are two reasons for this:

First, by staying informed about the latest developments and shifts in the industry, you can position yourself as an expert and offer valuable insights to potential clients.

• By monitoring trends in your target niche, your agency can identify emerging challenges and opportunities potential clients face. 
• This knowledge enables you to tailor your services to meet specific needs and provide relevant and practical solutions.

Another reason is that clients seek digital marketing agencies that deeply understand their niche. 

• By keeping an eye on key trends, your agency can showcase its expertise and demonstrate its ability to stay ahead of the curve. 
• This builds trust and confidence in potential clients, making them more likely to choose your agency for their marketing needs.

By leveraging these trends, you can attract new clients and establish yourself as trusted partners.

Now It’s time to check out the best social media tools.

Here are the best social media management tools for your digital marketing agency

1) Hootsuite

Hootsuite’s success is its ability to streamline social media tasks. From curating and scheduling content to measuring social metrics and running ads, it covers all the essentials. Digital marketing agencies appreciate the convenience of having everything on a single platform.

Hootsuite stands out for its exceptional monitoring capabilities. Agencies can effortlessly keep an eye on their clients’ social media presence across multiple accounts and keywords. 

Additionally, it offers seamless integration with over 35 social media networks, allowing agencies to expand their reach and manage diverse platforms from a central hub.

Another advantage of Hootsuite is its bulk-scheduling feature. This time-saving functionality enables agencies to plan and publish social media posts in large quantities, streamlining their workflow and maximizing efficiency.

2) Buffer

Buffer is a fantastic tool for managing your digital marketing agency and your clients’ social media accounts. 

It has a user-friendly interface that many clients love. However, agencies and small teams might find it a bit pricey in the long term.

To access all of Buffer’s features, like Buffer Reply and Buffer Analyze, you’ll need a separate subscription. Unlike its competitors, these features usually come bundled without any additional charges. 

So, keep that in mind when considering your options for social media management tools.

3) Sprout Social

Just like Buffer, Sprout Social is an all-in-one platform for digital marketing agencies, offering a range of social media tools. It combines social media scheduling, monitoring, and analytics to provide better reporting.

What sets Sprout Social apart is its inclusion of customer relationship management (CRM) features. These features allow you to have a complete profile of your clients, enabling you to serve them better and foster stronger relationships.

One of the standout features of Sprout Social is its impressive reports. Many digital marketing agencies love beautifully designed reports so much that they often download and send them to their clients without any further editing needed. It’s a real time-saver!

Now that we have explored both the Targeted Outbound Lead Generation approach and the Inbound-led Lead Generation approach, you might be wondering which one is the best fit for your digital marketing agency. 

To help you make an informed decision, let’s delve into some key considerations.

How can you choose the best approach for your digital marketing agency?

When deciding on the best approach for your digital marketing agency, there are two factors to consider:

1. ROI: The money & efforts you invested should have the highest possible returns.
2. Time: The time it takes to deliver the outcome should be the shortest.

By taking both the factors into account the Outbound approach may be a better choice than Inbound.

Let’s see how.

1) Outbound lead generation allows you to take a proactive stance in reaching out to potential clients. 

• By directly targeting specific individuals or companies, you have more control over who receives your message. 
• This targeted approach increases the likelihood of connecting with prospects who are genuinely interested in your services. 
• Consequently, your ROI potential is higher since you’re focusing your efforts on engaging with qualified leads.

2) Outbound strategies give you the opportunity to create genuine connections with your prospects. 

• By personalizing your messages and demonstrating a clear understanding of their pain points, you can establish a real and relatable connection. 
• This emotional connection goes a long way in building trust and credibility, ultimately increasing the likelihood of converting prospects into clients.

3) When it comes to time, Outbound approaches often yield faster results compared to Inbound strategies. 

• Inbound methods rely on creating valuable content and optimizing your online presence to attract leads organically. 
• While effective, this process can take time to generate a significant influx of clients. 
• On the other hand, Outbound methods enable you to actively seek out potential clients and initiate conversations, expediting the client acquisition process.

Now you might have this question – “Okay, I am convinced that the outbound approach is better than the inbound approach for my agency, but which channel in the outbound approach should I prefer while starting out?”

When choosing the best approach for your digital marketing agency, it’s important to consider factors such as cost-effectiveness and scalability. 

Within the Targeted Outbound Lead Generation approach, you have various channels to consider, including cold emailing, LinkedIn outreach, and cold calling. 

Let’s explore which channel might be the best fit for your agency.

Firstly, let’s discuss cold emailing:

• Not only is it cost-effective, but it is also scalable, meaning you can reach out to a large number of potential clients without incurring significant expenses. 
• By crafting compelling and personalized email messages, you can effectively introduce your agency and its services to a targeted audience. 
• Cold emailing allows you to establish initial contact and showcase your expertise, making it a valuable channel for generating leads.

Now let’s compare cold emailing to LinkedIn outreach:

• While LinkedIn can be a powerful platform for networking and connecting with professionals, it tends to be more costly compared to cold emailing. 
• With LinkedIn, you may need to invest in premium memberships or advertising options to maximize your reach and visibility. 
• Additionally, the response rate on LinkedIn can be lower compared to cold emailing, as users on the platform are often inundated with connection requests and messages.

Lastly, let’s consider cold calling. 

• Cold calling involves directly reaching out to potential clients via phone calls. 
• While it can be effective in generating immediate responses and engaging in real-time conversations, it tends to be the costliest option. 
• Cold calling requires significant time and resources, such as hiring dedicated sales representative(s) or outsourcing the task to a call center (that too only if you have scaled to that level). 
• It can also be challenging to reach decision-makers and hold their attention during phone conversations.

In conclusion, when choosing the best channel within the Targeted Outbound Lead Generation approach, cold emailing emerges as the most cost-effective and scalable option. 

It allows you to reach a wide audience, establish initial contact, and showcase your agency’s value proposition. 

While LinkedIn outreach and cold calling have their merits, they can be more costly and time-consuming compared to cold emailing.

Remember, the ultimate choice depends on your agency’s specific goals, resources, and target audience. 

It may be beneficial to experiment with different channels and evaluate their performance to determine the most effective approach for your digital marketing agency.

So, let’s say you decided to go for cold emailing to win high quality leads for your agency – How can you leverage Saleshandy to your advantage? 

Let’s check it out!

Why use Saleshandy to get clients for your digital marketing agency

Saleshandy is one of the best cold email automation tools, allowing you to send highly personalized emails at scale with the highest email deliverability. 

It sends out cold emails one by one, making them appear to be sent manually, mimicking human-like sending approaches. 

Also, you can easily manage the number of replies on the email sent using Saleshandy and respond to them from a single place in a unified inbox.

Here’s why you should choose Saleshandy for your cold email outreach:

Personalization: With Saleshandy, you can easily personalize your cold email with merge tags, such as recipient name, company, job title, etc. This helps you to increase engagement and response to your emails.

Automation: Saleshandy provides powerful automation features, such as automated follow-ups, email tracking, etc., that saves you time and effort in sending emails at scale.

Easy Inbox Management: With Saleshandy, you can keep track of all the responses on your email in a centralized place. The unified inbox feature allows you to manage all the replies in one place and respond to them with ease.

Cost-Effective and Scalable: Saleshandy is a cost-effective and scalable solution with flexible pricing plans that suit businesses of all sizes and the ability to send hundreds of emails daily without being flagged as spam.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when it comes to getting clients for your digital marketing agency, both the Targeted Outbound Lead Generation approach and the Inbound-led Lead Generation can help you to attract clients.

The best approach for you will depend on the return on investment and the time it takes, as discussed.

No matter which approach you choose, it’s important to be persistent and adaptable. Client acquisition is an ongoing process, and you’ll need to be willing to adjust your strategy as needed.

If you’re dedicated to growing your agency, you can attract valuable clients who will contribute to its success.