Top 5 Effective Ways To Get Clients As A Digital Marketing Agency
New clients are the lifeblood of any business.
Without new clients, any successful business or agency owner will tell you that it’s only a matter of time before the business perishes.
As the former CEO of IBM, Thomas Watson, said in the 1940s, “Nothing happens in business until something gets sold.”
As luck would have it, getting new clients also happens to one of the most difficult thing for any business, especially agencies – whether that be a software development, digital marketing, or branding agency.
Since we are an agency and have made millions of dollars for business and clients since launching in December 2017, we are providing this guide to help digital marketing agency owners, managers, and leaders get more new clients.
It is duly noted that you are the one who knows your business best, but we hope these 5 practical strategies & tips help you just a bit.
But first, some words of advice
In medicine, there is a well-known phrase “Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice”. Be sure to diagnose correctly before you apply any remedy. It could certainly be possible that a bigger issue your agency faces is not attracting new clients, but maybe retaining existing clients.
It is of course a colossal waste of time to allocate massive efforts, capital, and resources to generating new clients if many holes are present after the contract is signed (e.g. client wants out after 2 weeks due to lack of initiative or performance, poor communication, no clear path to continuous or retained services, no word of mouth referrals post-engagement, etc.)
Once you have a good grip on your agency business and you know that excellent results will be delivered to the prospective client, only then it is wise to go confidently & aggressively into the market and bring on new clients.
Strategy #1: The 7-Point System
Math, data, and statistics tell us that most customers need to see or hear about a product/service at least 7 times before they buy.
Develop and implement a concrete strategy to roadmap when/how a specific subset of clients will see & hear about your agency, and its services, at least 7 times. (And for goodness sake, no, this does not mean message them on LinkedIn 7 times in a row).
Here is a tip written by Rei Llazani, 50Pros co-founder, on LinkedIn about this topic:
https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:7097604531579957248
Let’s look at a general & hypothetical example, supposing we are a software development studio in Phoenix, Arizona.
Here is what you might do:
- After identifying a nicely operating AC/heating company with a poor booking system, poor website, and poor CRM, reach out to the company owner to introduce yourself. (We’ll talk about proactive sales in the next section).
- This is touchpoint #1: they have seen your agency name.
- The day after the introduction, provide materials to the owner including a link to the website so they can get a chance to see your services, portfolio, and more.
- This is touchpoint #2: they have seen your website.
- Since you have set up pixels on your website, the AC/heater company owner will see your advertisement throughout the next few months when he visits Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook. This is relatively inexpensive compared to general paid ads because you are only targeting users that already visited your website.
- This is touchpoint #3: they have seen your services on social media without you pushing it.
- Showcase your services where you think this prospective client might be browsing. This could include a physical billboard advertisement where you know that the AC company owner is driving through each day, online directory platforms, and an early morning television program that highlights local business owners like yourself.
- This is touchpoint #4: they have seen your brand come up through other reliable sources.
- Time to start selling. Note that several months have passed from the first touch point, so now things are a little warmer. Send an email to the owner saying how you reviewed their website and have a specific solution: A, B, and C that will increase their revenue by at least x2 because what you build will do X, Y, and Z.
- This is touchpoint #5: they have seen what you are willing and capable of doing for them, and a seed has been planted in their mind.
- Through any method, including a direct/personalized email, showcase a recent success story you developed for another AC/heater company and what that did to their business.
- This is touchpoint #6: they have seen the real results you have achieved, and the FOMO may start kicking in if they don’t act asap.
- Send a formal pitch to be a client.
- This is touchpoint #7: they have seen why working with you is a terrific opportunity and will improve their business.
Top 5 Effective Ways To Get Clients As A Digital Marketing Agency