Lead generation for a marketing agency: the channels and the four steps

What lead generation channels work for a marketing agency?

The channels that work are the ones your ideal clients already use, worked steadily until they bring in leads each month. Common channels include the ones in the table below. Paid ads are one kind of lead source among them.

Pick one channel and master it before you add the next. Each channel asks something different of you, and each one gives you something different to count.

Referrals may be a channel you already have. For a referral program, see how to set up a referral program.

What's agency lead generation, step by step?

Agency lead generation, step by step, is the path a stranger takes to become your client. We see it as four steps, and every channel feeds the first one.

1. Attract. Give away something useful, like a short checklist, that solves one small problem for your niche. People get it in return for their email, and that free download is your opt-in.
2. Educate. Share what you know about the problem in short emails or posts.
3. Follow up. Keep in touch by email or text on a set schedule, so the follow-up never depends on memory.
4. Close. Invite the people who are ready to a sales call.

The opt-in is the hinge of the whole path, since it turns a visitor into a name on your list. For the free download and the offers that sit behind it, see How do I get steady leads, opt-ins and offers for my agency?

Your follow-up emails go to people who gave you their address. Follow the email rules where you and your readers live.

The four steps work the same with any channel. What changes from one channel to the next is where people first find you. For adding client channels in order, see getting more clients for a marketing agency.

How do you measure lead generation for a marketing agency?

Measure it by counting what each step produces each month, channel by channel. The counts show you which channel is working and which step loses people.

What to count at each step:

• Attract: new contacts from your free download, by channel.
• Educate: how many contacts open or reply to what you send.
• Follow up: replies, and requests for a call.
• Close: calls booked, calls held and new clients signed.

Then review the numbers once a month:

1. Put the counts for each channel in one sheet.
2. Compare each count with the month before.
3. Find the step where people drop off.
4. Change one thing at that step, such as the free download or the follow-up schedule.
5. Check the same count next month to see if it moved.

Keep the counts simple enough that you'll do them every month. A short sheet you fill in beats a long report you skip.

The counts can also warn you that a slow month is on the way. For a plan for a slow month, see getting leads when referrals slow down.

How do ad agencies approach lead generation?

Ad agencies can use the same channels and the same four steps. What changes is the proof they show, since a buyer of ads wants to see that ads can work for a business like theirs.

Ways an ad agency can shape its own lead generation:

• Show results from one field. Put past campaign results for one kind of business on the pages your leads see first.
• Make the free download fit that field. A checklist for one kind of business, such as dental offices, speaks to its owners in their own terms.
• Treat your own ads like any other channel. Run one at a time, and count what each one brings in each month.
• Work with partners who meet your buyers. Web designers, printers and sales trainers talk with the businesses you want.
• Follow up with proof. Use your follow-up emails to share short stories of results, with the numbers your clients agreed to share.

Questions an ad agency can ask about its own pipeline:

• Which field do our best results come from?
• Does our free download speak to that field?
• Which step in the path loses the most leads?
• Are we testing one change at a time?