Lead Generation for Agencies – How to Win More Clients?

Let’s be honest for a minute — As an agency owner, you might already be aware that winning new clients can sometimes feel like a mission impossible.

But here’s the thing – generating quality leads for your agency doesn’t have to be mission impossible.

In fact, with a solid understanding and some creative strategies, you can easily generate a steady flow of qualified leads for your agency.

To make things easier for you, we’ve shared 10 proven lead generation strategies any agency can implement to generate qualified leads consistently.

Lead Generation for Agencies – Table of Contents

• What is Lead Generation for Agencies?
• Types of Agency Lead Generation Methods
• Why Lead Generation is Critical for Agencies?
• 10 PROVEN Lead Generation Strategies for Agencies
• Lead Generation for Different Types of Agencies
• How Can Agencies Leverage AI for Lead Generation?
• Conclusion
• FAQs

What is Lead Generation for Agencies?

Lead generation is about identifying and pursuing potential clients or customers who could be a good fit for the services your agency offers.

As an agency, your lifeblood is landing new client work. Without a steady stream of qualified leads coming in, your coveted lead pipeline will start looking pretty dry, pretty quickly.

And let’s be real—no clients mean no revenue, which is not exactly ideal for any agency!

Now, we’re not just talking about getting any old random lead here. The key is generating leads that are a good fit – prospects with a legitimate need for what you offer and the budget to pay for it.

After all, there’s no point wasting time chasing prospects that will never hire you.

The bottom line is that consistent, strategic lead generation must be a top priority if you want to keep your sales pipeline stocked with quality opportunities.

Also Read: 12 Actionable Lead Generation Strategies for Startups

Types of Agency Lead Generation Methods

There are two main methods that an agency can use to generate leads at scale:

• Outbound lead generation
• Inbound lead generation

But before you can utilize either of these two methods, it’s important to learn the difference between them.

Below, we’ve shared a table explaining the key differences between outbound and inbound lead generation methods for agencies.

Why is Lead Generation Critical for Agencies?

There are three main reasons why lead generation is absolutely critical for the success of your agency.

• Reason 1 – Consistent Sales Pipeline
• Reason 2 – More Qualified Leads
• Reason 3 – Higher ROI

Reason 1 – Consistent Sales Pipeline

As an agency owner, you already know that clients don’t stick around forever. Even if you have some long-term clients now, you can’t just relax. Clients eventually leave and go somewhere else – it’s just the nature of the business.

That’s why you constantly need to be filling up your potential client pipeline with fresh, qualified leads. If a couple of your big clients leave without any new prospects to replace them, your profits could take a massive hit.

But if you have a consistent sales pipeline, you’ll always have a deep pool of potential new business opportunities. This is why lead generation for agencies is non-negotiable for your agency.

Reason 2 – More Qualified Leads

When leads are few and far between, you don’t have much choice but to chase after anyone who shows even a little interest in working with your agency.

But if you have a lot of new leads constantly coming in, you get the luxury of being picky about who you want to work with. With tons of prospects, you can qualify them thoroughly and CHOOSE clients that are a perfect match for your agency based on the traits you’re looking for.

In other words, you won’t need to settle for tedious clients that nickel and dime you. Instead, you can focus solely on your ideal clients that truly value what you offer.

Reason 3 – Higher ROI

Imagine two situations… In the first, you get a small amount of random, unqualified leads that you desperately try to convert into clients. In the second, you have a steady stream of high-quality leads who are interested in hiring an agency like yours.

Now, it’s obvious which situation will give you a better return for your sales and marketing efforts, right?

With leads that are already pre-sold on an agency solution, your close rates will be higher, and your client acquisition costs will be lower. That’s a win-win for your bottom line.

10 PROVEN Lead Generation Strategies for Agencies

Generating leads is the lifeblood of any agency. Without a continuous flow of new leads, your agency will struggle.

Fortunately for you, we’ve shared 10 proven lead-generation strategies that agencies like yours can implement to keep that sales pipeline full.

1. Cold Outreach
2. Lead Generation Forms
3. Website & SEO
4. Content Creation & Promotion
5. Paid Advertising
6. Social Media Marketing
7. Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
8. Chatbots
9. Influencer Marketing
10. Referral Marketing

1 – Cold Outreach

Cold outreach is the number one lead generation strategy for agencies that have proven to be incredibly effective when done correctly.

The best part is there are various channels you can utilize to execute a successful cold outreach campaign.

Let’s check them out:

1. Cold Emailing
2. Cold Calling
3. LinkedIn Outreach

• Cold Emailing

Sending personalized, value-driven cold emails to prospective clients is a great way to capture their attention and start a conversation.

The key to successful cold email outreach is making your emails highly relevant and focused on helping the prospect rather than just pitching your services.

In other words, you need to cut through the noise with a compelling, benefits-driven message that speaks directly to their pain points and priorities.

While it takes some research and effort to craft the perfect cold email sequence, when done well, cold email can be an incredibly effective and scalable outbound lead generation channel to generate new, qualified leads for your agency consistently.

Fortunately, there are tons of advanced cold email software out there that you can use to easily streamline and automate most parts of your cold email campaigns.

Saleshandy, for instance, allows you to personalize your cold emails for each prospect, automate the sending of follow-up emails, and has advanced email deliverability features that ensure your emails always land in your prospects’ primary inboxes.

That said, if you plan to make cold emailing a part of your agency lead generation, here is a cold email template you can use to improve your chances of getting more responses.

Cold Email Template for Agency Lead Generation

Subject:{{Your Agency}} <> {{Prospect Company}}
Hi [Name],

I'm [Your Name] from [Your Agency]. 

We specialize in [brief description of services].

We’ve successfully partnered with businesses in your industry to [mention a specific result], and I'm excited about the possibility of doing the same for you.

Could we schedule a quick 15-minute call to discuss how [Your Agency] can help your business grow?

I’m available this [provide two time slots], or let me know a time that works better for you.


Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Job Title]
[Your Agency]
[Your Contact Information]

• Cold Calling

While it may seem old-school, picking up the phone and having a real conversation through cold calling can still work wonders for generating leads for your agency.

The best way to succeed at cold calling is to simply make sure that your message and value proposition are on point. You have to capture interest right away and not come across as a stereotypical annoying sales pitch.

Most importantly, you need to remember that the call needs to be a two-way dialogue where you ask insightful questions to understand the prospect’s needs.

When combined with cold email and LinkedIn outreach touches as part of a structured multi-channel sequence, cold calling can be a powerful channel to generate leads for your agency.

Cold Call Script for Agency Lead Generation

Hi, is this [Prospect’s Name]?

Great! Hi [Prospect’s Name], I'm [Your Name] from [Your Agency]. I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time. Do you have a minute?

[Wait for response.]

Awesome, thanks!

Well, the reason for my call is simple. At [Your Agency], we specialize in [briefly describe what your agency does]. 

We've seen some fantastic results with our clients, including [mention a quick result or achievement]. And I believe we could achieve something similar for you.

Would you be open to a more in-depth conversation about how we can specifically help [Prospect’s Business]?

I’d love to schedule a short meeting to dive into your goals and share some insights on how we can help achieve them.

How does your schedule look this week for a quick chat?

Thank you, [Prospect’s Name]. I'm looking forward to our conversation. I'll send over a calendar invite for [confirm time and date]. 

Have a great day, and thanks again for taking the time to speak with me!

• LinkedIn Outreach

Last but not least, LinkedIn provides agencies with a powerful channel to connect with ideal prospects, share value-added content and insights, and initiate warm conversations.

If you want to succeed at LinkedIn outreach, consider leveraging LinkedIn Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Premium, and AI tools for targeted B2B lead generation.

More importantly, when you do reach out to your potential clients on LinkedIn, you need to be patient and employ a relationship-building approach rather than coming across as overly salesy right out of the gate.

In simple words, you need to focus on providing useful insights and positioning yourself as a trusted industry voice. As you become a familiar, visible presence, you can initiate more personal conversations through direct messages or connection requests.

While social selling is more of a top-of-funnel, long game, it can be an effective way to get on the radar of potential clients.

As we said earlier, combined with cold emailing and cold calling, LinkedIn outreach is a powerful way to generate new leads and drive new business opportunities.

LinkedIn Outreach Direct Message for Agency Lead Generation

Hi [Prospect’s Name],

Impressed by your work at [Prospect’s Company], especially [specific detail].

We specialize in [service], helping businesses with [specific benefit].

Interested in a quick chat to explore how we could help you too?

Best,
[Your Name]

2 – Lead Generation Forms

Outbound lead generation strategies like cold email, calling, and LinkedIn outreach are necessary to include as a part of your lead generation strategy. But it’s equally important to include inbound lead generation channels to generate leads for your agency.

One of the most effective ways to do this is by strategically placing lead generation forms on your website and landing pages.

Remember, to win more clients using the lead generation form strategy, you need to make them obvious and enticing to help reduce any friction in the submission process.

When done right, a single well-crafted lead-gen form can be an absolute lead-generating machine, which can consistently capture hundreds or even thousands of leads every single month.

3 – Website & SEO

Like it or not, your agency’s website makes or breaks the first impression of your business. More importantly, optimizing your agency’s website for search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for driving a steady stream of inbound leads.

Unlike outbound strategies, SEO is an inbound marketing approach where potential clients will find you organically when actively searching for the services you offer.

To generate leads through this channel, you need to optimize your website with relevant keywords, high-quality & relevant content, and a user-friendly structure.

This will increase the chances of your agency’s website ranking higher organically in the Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) and drive more inbound leads.

4 – Content Creation & Promotion

Content creation and promotion are important parts of a successful digital marketing strategy.

For the uninitiated, content marketing involves ideating, creating, and distributing relevant, high-quality, and easy-to-digest content that attracts and retains a clearly defined audience.

In fact, creating and promoting insightful, educational content is one of the most powerful strategies for agencies to generate a consistent flow of inbound leads.

To execute this strategy effectively, your first step will be to create a content roadmap that covers the topics, questions, and pain points your potential clients care about the most. Then, you need to craft your content so that it is helpful to your potential clients, whether through blog posts, case studies, podcasts, videos, or infographics.

But remember one thing: Creating great content is just the first step. Content promotion also plays an equally important role in ensuring that your content reaches potential clients.

This, in turn, will not just expand your agency website’s online presence but will also increase the number of inbound leads for your agency.

5 – Paid Advertising

Every agency needs a reliable way to pump fresh leads into their sales pipeline. Sometimes, you can’t rely on organic traffic from SEO and content alone.

That’s where paid advertising comes in.

The best thing about paid advertising is that you can get super-targeted and put your offers directly in front of your ideal clients just when they’re looking to hire an agency like yours.

With Google Ads, for example, you can instantly rank your agency website at the top of the search results whenever a potential client searches for services you offer. Social media ads, on the other hand, work similarly. You can target exact roles, industries, company sizes – pretty much any criteria that fit your potential clients.

It’s like having an always-on lead-generation channel you can control. Sure, it takes some budget. But it’s an investment that keeps your pipeline filled with highly-qualified leads.

Paying advertising is a must-have strategy for most growing agencies to hit your sales goals.

6 – Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a big deal for businesses today. And it is not just about posting random content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

It’s actually about connecting with people, highlighting what makes your agency special, and encouraging potential clients to engage with your business.

But social media marketing is not as easy as it sounds. To succeed at social media marketing, you can’t just blast out the same generic content across all channels and expect it to resonate.

Each platform has its own unique language, tone, and best practices. For example, on LinkedIn, you’ll want to showcase your agency’s expertise and thought leadership, while on Instagram, it’s all about visual storytelling and giving a behind-the-scenes look at your company culture.

Most importantly, remember that social media is a two-way communication.

So, simply broadcasting your message is not going to attract any leads. You must actively listen, engage, and respond to your followers, building relationships and positioning your agency as an approachable, trustworthy partner.

7 – Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Let’s be honest: As an agency, you probably always wanted to land big-name clients who could take your business to new heights. But it’s easier said than done.

Landing big-name clients requires a strategic, targeted approach that goes beyond traditional lead-generation tactics.

This is where the account-based marketing (ABM) strategy plays a crucial role in agency lead generation.

For the uninitiated, ABM is a sniper approach to identifying, nurturing, and closing your ideal big-name client accounts. With ABM, you’re not casting a wide net. Instead, you identify the specific accounts (companies) that perfectly align with your agency’s offerings and would benefit from your services.

If you’re looking for the best strategy to land big clients, Account-based Marketing must be part of your agency’s lead generation strategy.

8 – Chatbots

Chatbots are a game-changer for businesses of all sizes. For the uninitiated, chatbots are tools that automatically engage with and assist your website visitors.

Chatbots offer a powerful solution if you’re looking to generate more leads for your agency and provide exceptional customer support. Chatbots are your agency’s digital assistants 24/7, ready to chat with visitors anytime.

But chatbots aren’t just about answering questions. They can also collect information from your visitors, like what interests them or problems they’re trying to solve.

Plus, chatbots can make your potential clients feel valued & taken care of, which is a big deal in building trust and loyalty.

In short, chatbots are super helpful assistants who can make sure your potential clients have a great experience with your business anytime they visit.

9 – Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is another powerful strategy to generate qualified leads for your agency.

See, influencers are super popular social media personalities with massive loyal followings. And when an influencer enthusiastically approves your agency, their fans can’t help but take notice.

But succeeding at influencer marketing is not easy. It’s also not a simple cash-for-posts exchange. You can’t just throw money at celebs and hope for the best. Your influencer partners must be a natural match for your brand’s vibe, messaging, and target audience.

Simply put, it’s about structuring mutually beneficial partnerships that deliver for the influencer, their audience, and your agency authentically over time.

10 – Referral Marketing

Lastly, referral marketing is still one of the most powerful and cost-effective lead-generation strategies for agencies.

Referral marketing is the secret sauce that can take your business to new heights. It allows you to harness the influence of your satisfied clients and turn them into your brand ambassadors. They’ll spread the word about your exceptional services, attracting high-quality leads that convert like magic.

Simply put, your happy customers get rewards, like discounts or special offers, for bringing new customers your way, and you get more business.

Lead Generation for Different Types of Agencies

Lead generation is different for different types of businesses and industries. What works in one industry might not be as effective in another.

What we’re trying to say is that you need to learn which lead-generation strategies are the right fit for your specific agency and industry.

We’ve got you covered if you’re unsure how to determine the best lead-generation strategies for your agency

Below, we’ve explained what strategies work best for specific industries.

1. Lead Generation for Digital Marketing Agencies
2. Lead Generation for Staffing & Recruitment Agencies
3. Lead Generation for Creative Agencies
4. Lead Generation for Design Agencies
5. Lead Generation for PR Agencies

• Lead Generation for Digital Marketing Agencies – As a digital marketing agency, the companies looking to hire you are desperate for more online leads and sales. They want growth in the number of qualified inbound leads, but their websites aren’t cutting it for them.
  
  To attract such clients, you can implement various outbound strategies. For starters, you can run paid ad campaigns offering a Free Website Audit or execute a targeted content marketing campaign that naturally brings more potential clients to your website and then gets them to contact you with a lead magnet.
  
  Basically, you’ve to prove that your agency is a pro in digital marketing and can help to achieve your potential client’s business goals.
  
  For example, you can achieve this through paid ad campaigns offering free website audits or targeted content marketing campaigns that drive potential clients to your website, where you can entice them with a lead magnet to encourage them to contact you.

• Lead Generation for Staffing & Recruitment Agencies – Staffing agencies look for hiring managers and companies that are completely overwhelmed with too many open job positions. These managers are dealing with applicants who suddenly ghost them during the hiring process. They are having a very hard time reliably hiring talented and qualified people.
  
  To win these clients, you can consider lead-generation strategies like publishing content with the latest job market insights and data. Break down the biggest hiring process bottlenecks and offer actionable tips for overcoming recruiting challenges like ghosting candidates or inefficient screening.
  
  On top of these, you can also run ads on keywords like “staffing agency [their city]” to put your agency in front of these potential clients at the perfect moment they’re searching for recruiting help.
  
  In short, you need to position your staffing & recruitment agency as the go-to solution for all your potential client’s hiring needs and challenges.

• Lead Generation for Creative Agencies – As a creative agency, companies come to you because they need great branding, impressive videos, eye-catching social media content, and creative campaigns that stand out.
  
  But the problem is that these potential clients are often unsure if your agency has the creative skills until you clearly showcase your artistic talents.
  
  To convert these outbound prospects into clients, you need an Instagram feed showcasing behind-the-scenes looks at your creative team in action. Additionally, you should also consider putting together a visually stunning digital portfolio with examples of your best creative work for well-known brands.
  
  Remember, the more you expose those prospects to your agency’s incredible creative abilities, the more they’ll visualize you as a game-changing creative partner.
  
  Basically, you need to make your agency’s creativity so utterly impressive and magnetic that prospects can’t help but want to hire your brilliant creative minds.
  
  Furthermore, you need to showcase your agency’s capability through an Instagram feed offering behind-the-scenes glimpses of the creative team in action, complemented by a visually stunning digital portfolio highlighting the agency’s best work.

• Lead Generation for Design Agencies – The design industry is super competitive, and clients nowadays want more than just skill. They’re looking for creative geniuses who can turn simple ideas into stunning visuals. They want an amazing experience that only you can give them.
  
  But, the tough part of being a design agency is showing your potential clients that your team is super creative and original.
  
  That means you must have an active online presence for your design agency. Furthermore, your agency’s website should really show off what you’re all about, not just the final designs but also how you come up with these cool ideas and what makes you different.
  
  Secondly, you can also use social media like Pinterest and Instagram to show off how versatile and detailed your work is. To go one step further, you can even consider sharing what happens behind the scenes, to how your team comes up with ideas and finishes the final designs to show potential clients what it’s like to work with you.
  
  Ultimately, you want to make sure clients see your agency as more than just someone they hire but as a key partner in making cool and innovative stuff happen.

• Lead Generation for PR Agencies – In the busy world of PR, clients are looking for something special, not just the usual talk.
  
  Hence, the big task for PR agencies is to show potential clients that you’re all about fresh ideas and telling stories in exciting ways, not just sending out press releases and making calls.
  
  This is why it is super important to have a strong online game. Your website needs to do more than just list your wins; it should show off your creative approach and the smart strategies that got you those wins. It’s about showing off how your team thinks differently and gets results.
  
  So, your ultimate goal is to make your agency look like more than just another PR firm. You want your PR agency to be seen as a hub of creativity and innovation, where your team doesn’t just follow trends —they set them.

How Can Agencies Leverage AI for Lead Generation?

If you’re an agency owner, you might have considered integrating AI into your lead generation plan.

Using AI, agencies can optimize marketing campaigns, improve efficiency, and even deliver AI-powered personalized experiences that better resonate with your potential clients.

Specifically, here are the top 5 ways your agency can leverage AI for lead generation.

1. Predictive Analytics for Identifying High-Quality Leads
2. Chatbots for Initial Engagement and Lead Qualification
3. Personalized Content and Recommendations
4. Enhanced Lead Scoring Models
5. Social Media Sentiment Analysis for Lead Identification

1 – Predictive Analytics for Identifying High-Quality Leads

AI can look through tons of information such as past sales, customer interactions, and engagement metrics, and help to find patterns that tell you which prospects are more likely to become clients.

This can help your agency find and focus on high-potential leads that are more likely to convert and contribute directly to increasing your agency’s bottom line.

2 – Chatbots for Initial Engagement and Lead Qualification

Automated AI bots are rapidly replacing traditional virtual assistants and becoming a superpower for digital entrepreneurs and founders.

In fact, AI-powered automation is the new delegation, which is enabling businesses to leverage chatbots that can engage prospects 24/7, the moment they visit a website or social media page.

These advanced AI chatbots can respond to inquiries, guide visitors through the website, and even gather critical information to qualify leads.

The best part is that they work around the clock, ensuring businesses never miss out on potential leads outside regular business hours – ultimately increasing the chances of generating more high-quality leads and driving growth.

3 – Personalized Content and Recommendations

Apart from chatbots, AI can also help to analyze visitor behavior, preferences, and how they engage with your agency brand.

Based on the insights, AI then personalizes content and messages for each prospect to make the whole experience feel like it’s tailored just for them. Simply put, the AI notices which articles your prospects read, what products they check out again and again, and even how they interact with various elements on your agency website.

Then, it uses all this info to adjust what you see next time. This level of personal touch doesn’t just make things more interesting for your prospect; it also significantly increases the chances of turning a casual visitor into a client.

4 – Enhanced Lead Scoring Models

Not every potential customer is the same. Some are ready to buy, while others are just looking.

To figure out who’s who, lead scoring comes into the picture. For the uninitiated, lead scoring is a system that helps sales teams figure out who might buy something and who’s just looking around. This score tells you how important or interested each prospect might be in hiring your agency’s services.

For example, if a website visitor is browsing your pricing/services page, he or she might be more likely to hire your agency than a visitor who just reads a blog post. Similarly, a lead who fills out a contact form might score higher than someone who merely subscribes to a newsletter.

Thanks to AI, this entire process can be much more refined and automated. This is because AI looks at all the interactions a potential customer has with your agency’s online presence – from the pages they visit on your website, and how long they spend on those pages, to the actions they take, like downloading a guide or signing up for a webinar.

This, in turn, helps you to prioritize your efforts on the leads that are most promising rather than treating everyone the same.

5 – Social Media Sentiment Analysis for Lead Identification

Social media platforms have become a goldmine for all kinds of agencies to generate new leads and business opportunities.

And now, with the help of AI, you can leverage sentiment analysis techniques for your agency to identify potential leads and opportunities more efficiently.

Sentiment analysis, for the uninitiated, basically uses NLP and ML algorithms to help you understand the sentiment or emotion behind social media posts, comments, and conversations.

As an agency owner, you can gain invaluable insights into your potential clients’ opinions, pain points, and preferences. Then, you can use these insights to identify individuals or groups who may be open to new solutions or interested in your agency’s offerings.

Conclusion

So there you have it – a handful of lead-generation strategies that have been proven to work for agencies time and again.

But remember one thing – at the end of the day, generating leads boils down to making your agency visible and valuable to your ideal clients. So, figure how what your potential clients are struggling with the most and experiment with different lead generation strategies that help to position your agency as the solution.

Most importantly, track which lead generation strategies are working the best and which are not, so you can double down on the strategies that fill your pipeline consistently.

FAQs

1) How do agencies generate leads?

Most agencies use a mix of different strategies to generate leads or potential new clients. Some popular strategies for agency lead generation are cold outreach, SEO & content marketing, paid advertising, referral marketing, and so on.

2) What are the strategies for agency lead generation?

There’s no one-size-fits-all, but some proven strategies are working on SEO, social media marketing, running targeted ads, and just straight-up cold calling/emailing potential prospects.

3) What is the difference between a lead and a prospect?

A lead is simply someone who has shown some level of interest in your agency’s services, like signing up for your email list or downloading a piece of content. A prospect is a lead that has been qualified as an actual potential buyer who meets your ideal client criteria and has the budget/authority/need for what you offer.

The key difference is that all prospects are leads, but not all leads are qualified prospects yet. You have to nurture those initial leads and figure out if they’re a good fit before calling them a prospect.