10 Tips to Get Clients for Your Digital Marketing Agency in 2021

While our main role as a digital marketing agency is to get our clients more customers, sometimes we struggle ourselves to find our own clients. With the thousands of agencies that offer the same services as you, how can you stand out from the crowd? In this article we’ll uncover 10 tips to get clients for your digital marketing agency in 2021.

While you may have already mastered the common digital marketing techniques (since you offer them yourself to your own clients), know that there are a lot more ways to attract new customers than SEO, PPC, or social media marketing.

1. Ask for referrals from happy customers

Who can better vouch for your services but your previously satisfied customers? While your happy customers can surely put in a good word of mouth about you, this is still not a guarantee. Not being proactive about asking for referrals will make you miss out on a lot of opportunities that a free referral can give you.

An Agency Vista profile allows for you to connect your existing reviews from Facebook and Google My Business to lend trust to profile viewers. Agencies that are looking to increase their business reviews can do so directly on their account or through becoming verified and gaining access to Agency Vista’s reviews as a service program.

If you’d like to request a review from an existing client on your Agency Vista profile, you can simply do so by selecting ‘reviews’ in the top menu bar. There you can click ‘add or request reviews’ and easily ask your clients.

Consider offering incentives for successful referrals. Offer a discounted rate the next time they hire your services, not only you get a referral, but you also get a repeat customer!

2. Promote your services on Agency Vista

Agency Vista is a network of over 45,000 marketing agencies. Businesses that are in need of digital marketing services go to this platform to find reliable marketing agencies with real client reviews to help them with their buying decisions. Simply create your profile, provide as much information as possible such as client portfolio, client testimonials, team members, job listings, etc. and get ready to receive qualified leads regularly!

3. Attend digital marketing conferences

Virtual conferences are on a high right now due to the global pandemic. Attend to as many marketing conferences as possible to widen your network and have people remember your brand. AdWorld, currently the world’s largest marketing conference, offers group networking with over 50,000 attendees which is much more than you can possibly meet than when you attend an in-person conference. Aside from widening your network, you can also learn some insider tips from industry experts on how to take your business to the next level.

4. Clean up your portfolio

Remember that potential clients need to be convinced that your digital marketing agency is credible, trustworthy, and best of all provides a great return on their investment. Having a strong portfolio is a solid way to gain clients, this serves as proof that you’ve done similar work previously and your clients got the results they wanted. 

Tips on building a strong portfolio:

• Showcase your best and most recent work only. There are lots of technologies and tools involved in the ever-changing world of digital marketing that’s why your work in 2010 won’t mean as much as your work 6 months ago. 
• Every entry in your portfolio should have a client name (if they are ok to disclose it, otherwise the industry will do), their pain point, the services you provided, and the results.
• If you have several clients, consider dividing the projects into categories (by type of service rendered for example) for easier navigation.
• If you are new and do not have many clients yet, consider adding short-term jobs or passion projects that you have done in the past that are related to what you are offering now.
• Include a call-to-action. A strong portfolio with no call-to-action is pointless. Make it super easy for potential clients to reach you by adding a visible CTA button on your portfolio page.

In the example above, Adapting Social laid out the problem of the client, the method used, and the results. It was concise, visual, and direct to the point.

5. Blog about your industry

As a digital marketing expert, you know how content marketing is crucial in building your reputation as an expert in your field. But are you doing it on your own business? You’d be surprised at how many agencies skip this technique and don’t bother hiring their own content writer. 

Remember, lots of high-quality content on your website equals SEO. And SEO = organic traffic. Which is all that you need to get qualified leads for your digital marketing agency!

6. Build a following in social media

Imagine offering a social media marketing service for a brand and then when they go ahead and visit your social media profiles, you are not even regularly posting and worse they have more followers than you! This will immediately cast a doubt on your ability not just in this particular service, but your entire credibility will be questioned.

Never underestimate the power of social media. Anyone serious about hiring you for your services will research about you and finding out that a company claiming to be a digital marketing expert has little to no social media presence is literally a career suicide.

7. Sign up to local business directories

Online directories, also known as citation sites, are very important because it is being used as a ranking metric by Google, Bing or other search engines. That being said, the more listings you have to different online directories, the higher your brand shows up in the search results when people search for your services. Why? Because it tells the search engines that your business is popular and active. Citations also make your business credible, as a verified listing from a reputable online directory cannot be faked. 

8. Invest in social media advertising

Everyone with the capacity to purchase is on social media, so it makes sense to advertise where your potential customers are. Do you have a clothing line for millennials? Instagram and TikTok ads are the way to go. 

Social media platforms have sophisticated targeting capabilities, they allow you to pinpoint to who do you want to show your ads. Facebook’s algorithm identifies your potential clients by letting you define who your target audience is. Not only that, but it also finds people with the same type of behavior as your previous customers and shows your ads to them so you can drive more relevant traffic to your site. 

It’s cheap (as compared to traditional TV ads), effective, and improves brand recognition!

9. Start an online course

If you have the ability to teach, starting an online course is a great way to increase your authority within your niche and gain potential customers. With the thousands of digital marketing agencies that offer the same services as you do, you need to be seen as an industry expert, and what better way to do that by being a teacher/instructor? Hootsuite, a social media management software, has embraced this business model and started Hootsuite Academy to teach aspiring social media managers how to succeed in the industry. These students in turn end up as paying customers and sign up for their tool. 

Some online course platforms to consider: Udemy, Coursera, and Thinkific.

10. Speak at a conference

Just like an online course, speaking at a conference will increase your reputation as an industry expert which builds trust in your brand. If simply attending a conference widens your network, speaking at one puts you at an advantage over your competitors. You are now seen as a subject matter expert which will likely make people do more business with you.

When speaking at a conference, there are several marketing opportunities you can take advantage of. You can have a booth with your team ready to hand out pamphlets and entertain questions from curious attendees. You can also give away swag in exchange for contact information in which your sales team can later connect with!

Final thoughts

While there are thousands of competitors out there in the digital marketing world, you will never run out of brands wanting to boost their sales through an effective digital marketing agency. While you can get clients through word of mouth and referrals from previous clients, why not cast a wider net by following the tips above and watch your digital marketing agency receive a sudden increase in clientele?