Digital Agencies: How To Get Clients (4+ Tips)

When asked about their biggest challenges, 60% of agencies chose finding new clients.

 

The struggle is real. 

 

In this guide, you’ll learn how to get clients using strategies that are working right now.

 

We reached out to six digital marketing agencies for their best pandemic-proof tips. By the end of this post, you’ll know how to attract ideal clients like bees to honey.

 

Ready? Let’s begin.

 

1. Upgrade your process

At least 80% of B2B buyers expect the same experience as B2C customers. 

 

What this shows us is that clients look beyond rates when hiring agencies. They also look for personalized service, expansive knowledge, and convenience.

 

Here’s how to improve your buying experience: Level up your process.

 

Let’s explore what it looks like in these examples.

 

Create a personalized client discovery experience

Be Media, a digital growth agency in Australia offers a free 45-minute marketing audit call.

 

These discovery calls are a goldmine. 

 

CTO Shane Pollard recently did a teardown of a prospect’s retargeting ads and abandoned cart email sequence. He unearthed multiple errors — one being a broken 404 page — and offered high-level suggestions.

 

Be Media’s personalized approach creates high engagement and great partnerships with clients. It positions the digital growth agency as an expert. 

 

What’s more, it conveys an irresistible message to prospective clients: 

 

If Be Media can identify these money-making opportunities in a free 45-minute call, imagine what it can do with more resources.

 

Nail the way you present your project deliverables

 

Spreadsheets are useful, but let’s be honest: No client wants to wade through endless rows and columns of data. 

 

It’s so tedious!

 

What clients really want? 

 

Speed.

 

Here’s an example to illustrate what we mean. 

 

Search Station, a web design and digital marketing agency, upgraded its reports from Google Sheets and Google Data Studio to DashThis.

 

Compare these two reports:

The left shows a spreadsheet chock-full of mind-numbing numbers. 

 

Whereas on the right? An attractive report that looks like a professional graphic designer made it. Note: DashThis also offers white-label options to match your client’s brand personality. 

 

Clients will opt for the report on the right, as it effectively communicates their marketing results at a single glance.

 

You, as an agency owner, also benefit from these automated marketing reports. You set yourself apart from competitors and upsell more services down the road.

 

(Automate all your marketing data in one report easily. Get your 10 FREE dashboards on DashThis for 15 days.) 

 

2. Build a referral system with clients and vendor partners 

 

In a survey of more than 600 B2B professionals, 75% of sales leaders and 70% of marketers agree that referrals enjoy higher conversion rates.

 

It’s no understatement then. Clients are your best assets. 

 

Take Firewire Digital. 

 

The digital marketing agency uses incentives (i.e., discounts for future projects) to reward current clients who recommend its services to other businesses.

 

Brogan Renshaw, the founder and director of Firewire Digital, counts referrals as his favorite marketing strategy. On average, clients refer to two new businesses a month.

 

When should you ask for referrals?

 

Kevin Miller, CEO and co-founder of GR0, suggests the first two to three months of results, as this is the stage where clients experience the ROI of working with you.

 

He adds, “During times of crisis when business owners look critically at every dollar spent, it’s much easier to get a new client when you already have a mutual point of contact putting in a good word for you.”

 

Pro tip: Remember to collect testimonials from these clients and show them off on your website. Better yet, write a case study! 

 

Source

 

Kristina Witmer, President of Witmer Group, focuses on building relationships with her vendor partners as they’re a continued source of referrals.

 

The phrase “building relationships” has been thrown around lately. Wondering how it looks like? 

 

In Witmer’s experience, it can be something as simple as paying invoices on time or taking the initiative and asking if projects are a good fit for them.

 

She adds, “I respect my vendor partners’ time off. The more open communication I have with them, the better the result.”

 

3. Invest in strategic paid search and SEO

 

68% of all website traffic is sourced from organic and paid search. 

 

In other words, search engine optimization and PPC ads make a powerful acquisition strategy.

 

Marie-Joëlle Turgeon, the marketing manager at Bloom, shares: 

 

“On the one hand, paid search advertising allows us to be present for users during their research process. On the other, we also want to rank higher on search engines to drive steady organic traffic and increase brand awareness.”

 

On the SEO front, Turgeon and her team frequently update their web pages with high-intent keywords. They also publish blog posts weekly. 

 

Source

 

In the last six months, Bloom saw a 192% YoY increase in organic traffic and 253% in organic conversions.

 

Here’s how to improve your content marketing efforts: Write content that meets the needs of your target market. 

 

Back in February 2021, Dave Ashworth, a technical SEO consultant at Organic Digital, noticed his analytics skewed by spam — it sent over 4k visits!

 

He figured his potential customers must be experiencing a similar problem and wondering how to fix it, so he wrote a how-to guide.

 

Source

 

Ashworth’s guide generated more traffic than the spam did.

 

It captured the attention of users, who ended up becoming new leads and paying clients. 

 

Pro tip: Distribute your content to capture traffic. Here are four ways:

• Repurpose your content on social media posts. For example, join Facebook groups and answer questions. Include a link back to your blog post (get permission from the moderators!). Or, turn it into a Tweetstorm.
• Answer questions on Reddit and Quora. Summarize the main key points and include a link back to your original post or marketing campaigns. 
• Promote on Facebook ads. Create a catalog of your blog posts and promote them on a dynamic Facebook ads campaign.
• Try blogging! Guest post on non-competing blogs and websites and include a backlink to your post. In your author’s bio, add a link to your landing page (Tip: You can do this easily without hiring a web designer. WordPress, for one, offers dozens of free themes.) On your landing page, offer a freebie (e.g., ebook, template) in exchange for users' email addresses. Take this opportunity to build your email list.

4. Host workshop-style webinars

 

More companies are shifting their offline events to online presence in light of the pandemic. 

 

On ClickMeeting alone, webinars rose from almost 60,000 in March 2019 to nearly 300,000 a year later.

 

Do you want to attract potential clients on webinars?

 

Consider this tip from Darian Kovacs, Jelly’s founding partner: Turn it into a live workshop, instead of a one-way presentation.

 

Kovacs and his team would invite a viewer to volunteer their website for a live SEO audit. The Jelly team would break down the tools they use and what to watch out for in a real-world scenario. 

 

Jelly’s behind-the-scenes strategy highlights its expertise, which builds a great level of trust and connection with viewers.

 

On average, 2-8% of attendees will respond to a follow-up meeting. 20% or more will subscribe to Jelly’s email list or podcast.

 

What about the remaining attendees? Odds are, they’ll hire Jelly when they’re ready to outsource.

 

As Kovacs puts it, “We become top of mind when they think of who to hire. ‘Why not hire the experts?’ ‘Why not hire the smartest folks in the room who are willing to teach?’”

Attract your target audience and win new business

 

Handling business cards to random strangers you meet. 

 

Applying for low-paid gigs on multiple job boards.

 

Sending dozens of connection requests on LinkedIn and waiting for anyone to bite.

 

Finding new customers shouldn’t take so much work. 

 

We hope this guide has given you the confidence to get back out in the field and attract your ideal customer. 

 

Even though this guide featured agencies, all these tips work just as well for anyone — small business owners, freelancers, startup founders, local businesses, you name it.

 

To recap, here’s what you’ve learned on how to get clients:

• Build a referral system with clients and vendor partners 
• Invest in paid search and SEO
• Host workshop-style webinars

 

And above all else, upgrade your process. 

 

Set up a personalized client-base discovery experience to wow prospects from the beginning. 

 

Keep the excitement going — create high-quality marketing reports to effectively communicate the ROI you got for them. 

 

You’ll stand out in a sea of competitors who still use spreadsheets, save each other time (thanks to automation), and earn more money down the road.