How to get marketing agency clients

"Every agency owner I know has had the same month." Matthew McQuinn, a former agency director, writing on the Coldlytics blog

You know the month. One good client goes, your calendar looks empty, and you keep checking your email as if it owes you money. Here's how to get out of it, and how to stay out.

Start in the right place

Where agency clients really come from

Promethean Research surveyed 91 agency leaders and had them score 34 ways of winning work, based on how much money each one brings in. Only three reached 3 out of 5. All three start with someone who already knows you: referrals from clients, more work from current clients and referrals from partners. Blogs and newsletters scored 1.5.

Clients who come through a referral also last. In the same firm's research, they stayed about twice as long as clients who came from events or from contacting strangers.

There's one big exception. Some sales are quick, like selling to a small business where the owner decides fast. For those, paid search ads and cold email (email to people you don't know) scored about as well as referrals. So if you sell to local shops and trades, you can go out and find clients sooner. If you sell to big companies with long sales, spend your time on introductions.

Pick one kind of business

"Full-service digital marketing" is hard to refer and hard to believe. "We get more calls for plumbers in Oklahoma" is easy to repeat. A friend can hear that once and think of someone.

In a 2023 Databox survey of 87 agencies, about 8 in 10 said focusing on one industry would help them win clients. Only 10 said they serve just one. Everyone knows, and hardly anyone does it, because saying no to work feels dangerous when you're short of it.

You can still take a good client from elsewhere. This is only about where your limited selling hours go for the next 90 days. Pick a group that passes these checks:

• They can pay. Someone working alone will struggle with a monthly fee. A firm with a handful of staff and nobody doing its marketing is a better bet.
• One new customer is worth a lot to them. A roofer can pay your fee with one job. A coffee shop needs a lot of coffees.
• There are plenty of them. Count them. If you can't find a few hundred you could serve, your list will soon run dry.
• You have a way in. You've worked in that trade, you know people in it, or you've already got one client there.

The same goes if you sell one service. Say search is all you do. Then how to get seo clients comes down to these same decisions.

Make one offer they can say yes to on one call

Nobody wakes up wanting "digital strategy." An owner wants more calls or a fuller calendar, and wants to know what it costs. Give what you sell a name, a price and a short list of what's included. Here's an example, using made-up numbers:

Local Calls for plumbers. We clean up your Google listing, ask your customers for reviews and track every call. $900 a month for three months, then month to month.

Then add a small first step for anyone who isn't ready. It could be a short paid review of their marketing with three things to fix. Price it so an owner can say yes without phoning their accountant. If they like the review, the monthly package is the obvious next move.

The questions owners don't ask out loud

When a call goes well and then goes quiet, there's usually a worry you never answered. Answer these on your site and on the first call, before they have to ask:

That second row is worth asking about directly. If an owner has used an agency before, ask what went wrong, then tell them how you'd handle it. It will often be the most useful five minutes of the call.

Proof when you have no case studies

You have more proof than you think. Try these in order:

1. Work from earlier jobs. Describe what you did and what changed, but leave out names unless you have permission.
2. Your own marketing. Share how many leads your site or your posts brought in last month. Small and true beats big and vague.
3. One reduced-price client. Put what's included, the end date and your right to publish the results in writing.

Record their numbers before you start, or you'll have nothing to compare with at the end. Keep free work to one project at most, for someone you'd happily help anyway. People who pay tend to reply faster and take the work seriously.

If a testimonial came from a friend, a relative or a discounted project, say so next to it. The FTC says those connections can need disclosing. A line like "Done at a reduced rate while we built our portfolio" is short and reads fine.

Tidy your own shop window

People look you up before they answer your email. Keep this small. Your site needs what you sell, three examples of past work that fit it, who'll do the work and a contact link on every page. A week is plenty, and a site that names one kind of customer will beat a prettier one that names nobody.

You don't need a blog yet. An abandoned one looks worse than none. The dates on an agency's blog are a fairly accurate chart of its finances: six posts in a quiet spring, then nothing for a year after a big client signed.

Answer new messages the same day. An owner comparing a few agencies will often go with whoever answers first and says something useful. Ask a couple of questions before you book a call, too, so your week isn't full of people who can't afford you. That's all agency lead qualification means.

A contact form also asks a lot of someone who isn't sure yet. If people visit and leave without a word, that's what we built Possible to help with, so take this with the obvious pinch of salt. It's an AI built on real sales psychology that asks each visitor the right question, remembers the answers and guides them toward a booking. It's free to start, and there's more on Possible for agencies. If your site gets a handful of visits a month, leave it for now and get back to your list.

Start with the people you know

Your first client will probably come from someone who has seen your work or trusts you already. Write down 50 names: old bosses, former colleagues, past freelance clients, your accountant, the friend who just opened a second shop. Then look at each person's business for five minutes and message them one at a time. A post saying "we're open for business" gets some likes from people who love you and no work.

Try this:

Hi Sam, I've started an agency that gets more calls for plumbers and electricians. Do you know anyone in those trades who's unhappy with their marketing or has none? An introduction would mean a lot, and I'm happy to return the favor.

Coffee works even better if you can get it. Even when they can't think of anyone, you've practiced saying what you do.

One warning if you've just left an agency. Read your old contract before you message its clients. Some contracts ban this for a set time, and a legal letter is a poor way to launch.

Make asking for referrals a habit

Referrals feel like luck if you only ask when you happen to remember. So set a date. Every three months, choose the three clients who like you most and ask each of them to introduce you to someone.

The best moment is right after a good result. Make the question narrow, because a broad one makes people's minds go blank:

Glad to see the calls are up this month. Do you know another plumber outside your area who'd want the same? If so, I'd love an introduction. You can just forward them this: "Tara's team handles our Google listing and I can actually understand her reports."

Afterward, let your client know what happened, even if nothing came of it. A thank-you and an update make the next introduction much easier.

Sell more to the clients you have

More work from current clients scored second highest of all 34 in the Promethean survey, and it doesn't feel like selling. Every three months, sit down with each client and bring one fresh idea. The customer retention strategies you'd recommend to a client work on your own clients too. Every client you keep is one you don't have to replace in a panic.

Find partners who already have your customers

A good partner already works with the customers you want, but offers something different from you. They have the trust you're trying to earn. Good ones for a marketing agency:

• Web designers whose clients keep asking them about marketing
• Bookkeepers, and insurance agents who work with businesses
• Companies that sell supplies or software to your chosen trade
• Bigger agencies that sometimes have too much work, or get asked for jobs too small for them

Start with five names, and offer to send work back when you can. Settle early how introductions will work and what each of you gets out of it. Otherwise, it's two people saying "we should do something together" until one of them retires.

Contact strangers the right way

Writing to strangers doesn't depend on anyone thinking of you. It works when your message could only have gone to that one person.

Build a list of 100 with a reason attached. Add a column for why you picked each one. Good reasons:

• They're hiring a marketing person, which suggests a gap they're trying to fill.
• They're paying for ads that land on a weak page.
• They have great reviews but a half-empty Google listing.
• They've just opened a new location or launched a new service.

Write to the owner, and keep it short. Say what you noticed, what you do, and ask one small question:

Subject: Your Google listing

Hi Dan, I searched for an emergency plumber in Tulsa on my phone. Your reviews beat both companies above you, but your listing has no photos and your hours are blank.

I help plumbers get more calls from Google. I recorded a short video of what I'd fix first. Would you like to see it?

This is a sales email from my business: Tara Lane, Lane Local, 40 Main St, Tulsa, OK. If you'd rather not hear from me again, just say so and I won't write again.

The names are made up to show the shape. Yours must be true, and that's the whole point. Done by hand ten times, this also teaches you what owners respond to. You can turn that into a website audit lead magnet on your own site. That just means a free check-up owners can ask you for.

Follow up three times. Leave a few days between messages. Each one should add something new. Stop the same day if someone says no.

Judge it after 100, not after 15. If 100 specific emails bring no replies, change the kind of business or the offer. Fifteen emails and silence tells you nothing yet.

Follow the law. In the US, the rules on sales email cover emails to businesses too. You need a real postal address, a clear way to opt out, a subject line that matches the content and a clear sign that it's an ad. You must honor opt-outs within 10 business days. Fines can reach $53,088 per email, so "Re: our conversation" to a stranger is a bad idea on every level. Other countries have their own rules, and some are stricter, so check before you send.

The other doors, and when to open them

Marketplaces can pay better than their reputation suggests. Michael Chagala of the agency Rank Harvest SEO wrote in a Forbes Agency Council post that its Fiverr sales reached $53,000 in the first year, and that its average sale is $600. Treat that as one person's report, and don't let any single door become your only one.

The daily hour

The average agency in the Promethean survey took more than four months to close a deal. Small owners move faster, but the lesson holds: the client you need in March has to hear from you in November. Book one hour a day and treat it like client work, even in your busiest week.

1. Week 1: Pick your kind of business. Write your package and your 50 names. Start messaging ten a day.
2. Week 2: Fix your site. Ask your three happiest clients for an introduction, if you have any. Message five possible partners.
3. Week 3: Build your list of 100, with a reason next to each name. Send five emails a day.
4. Week 4: Keep sending and following up. Then count replies, calls and new clients, and go back to the table at the top.

Once clients come in, add one slower way of finding work and keep contacting people. That's the easiest part to drop.

Questions about getting marketing agency clients

Go deeper on conversion tactics.