How to Get Clients for Your Marketing Agency in 2025

Table of Contents

Lift the veil on the top 15 strategies that help you win the first clients for your marketing agency. Discover the strategy’s importance & preparation steps and get inspired with 5 proven approaches to different types of clients.

Is your calendar full of “quick calls” that go nowhere and proposals that never get a response? That’s the reality new agency owners have to deal with. Client acquisition has never been this challenging. Clients are tired, cautious, and constantly flooded with cold emails that sound the same. The pitches, the promises, the lead magnets, and even the approaches feel like something you have already seen. You start to wonder: How to get clients for a digital marketing agency?

This article is about to give you an answer. I have chosen the proven strategies that will expand your lead databases and make success your destination. Let’s dive in!

Why Getting Clients Is the #1 Challenge for Agencies Today?

Around 37% of marketing agencies struggle with lead generation and client acquisition (AgencyAnalytics). However, when compared to retention, it might be the lesser evil. The modern agency buyer is skeptical and well-researched. To succeed, you must establish a smarter acquisition system. Otherwise, the “how to get new clients” question remains unanswered.

I suggest that we take a look at email marketing statistics for customer acquisition:

A personalized customer journey can help improve lead conversion by 30% (Salesforce).
New customers generate around 35% of the company’s revenue (Business Dasher).
Lead generation is the 3rd metric by importance used to measure the effectiveness of content marketing strategies (Hubspot)
Around 44% of businesses prioritize customer acquisition (Business Dasher).

How to Prepare Your Agency for Effective Client Acquisition

Preparation is the foundation for everything that follows. If your positioning, targeting, and systems are off, no email newsletters will work. This section is where you learn how to get clients for a new business.

Here is how you can approach the preparation:

Define your ideal customer profile or ICP: Determine the industry/niche, team size, marketing budget, and client’s pain points. It will help you align your messaging and targeting.
Clarify your agency’s pricing structure: How to get more clients with no pricing in place? Exactly. Think of the models you offer (project or hybrid) and determine whether you need flexible sales prices or mapped outcomes.
Create a unique selling proposition or USP: Clarify your niche expertise, show how exactly you bring value, and include details on your methodology.
Set up a lead capture system: Think of lead capture pages with catchy lead magnets (case studies, e-books, customer stories, portfolio samples) to capture emails and build automated nurturing processes.
Audit your internal delivery process: Do you have clear onboarding flows? How many clients can you handle without any impact on quality?

Once your foundation is solid and you know where you are headed, it is time for us to move to the next section—the strategies and practice.

15 Strategies to Get Clients for Your Marketing Agency

What separates agencies with a consistent pipeline from those that are stuck chasing leads? It is not about luck, but the right combination of strategies. Ideally, they match your strengths, niche, and market behavior. With that mix in place, your growth becomes a matter of time, not chance.

Let’s take a look at how to get clientele for your agency in detail.

Build a Strong Online Presence

What’s the first conversion touchpoint? In most cases, it is a strong digital presence. Surely, it does not end with an eye-catching website or social media pages. The visuals mean little when they do not guide the user towards conversion, and that’s the first pitfall you can come across. Let’s take a look at how to find more clients with a web presence:

Social proof (logos of the clients that trust the company, testimonials, results).
Strong CTAs (2-3 words, one of which is a verb).
A clear homepage value proposition.
Active profiles on LinkedIn, Google Business, Clutch, and more.

SEO-Optimize Your Website and Content

Does your website rank and attract new customers? If not, proper SEO strategies can be of help. Before actively promoting your company, think of the organic methods on how to get clients.

Here are a few ideas you can consider:

Ensure SEO-friendly images (add alt text and description, optimize image size and resolution).
Improve page experience using Google PageSpeed Insights.
Add internal & external links to your content.
Use schema markup to help Google understand your content (FAQ, your services).
Use AI for content marketing to improve results.

Create and Distribute Strategic Content

How to gain clients and show your expertise at the same time? Quality content creation is the key to this question. Not only is it a great way to attract leads, but you can also strengthen your online presence, increase credibility, and improve traffic. Let’s take a look at some of the proven approaches:

A blog answering client requests and ranking for long-tail keywords.
LinkedIn posts that share lessons, results, and thought leadership.
YouTube or Instagram Reels series with case studies or Q&A sessions.

For consistency, consider editorial calendars. These help you stay focused and ensure content is live on time.

Personalize Your Cold Outreach at Scale

I know a simple but effective way to increase open rates from 48% to 62% (Woodpecker). The section’s heading is a spoiler. Yes, it is personalization. When your cold outreach campaigns are customized and aligned with the buyer persona, your opens and replies rise; it is as simple as that.

Let’s compare how the personalized and non-personalized sequences perform in terms of responses (Woodpecker):

Company Size	No Personalization	Basic Personalization	Advanced Personalization
11-50 employees	9% reply rate	14% reply rate	18% reply rate
50-200 employees	5% reply rate	8% reply rate	10% reply rate

The key to answering “How to get marketing clients using outreach?” lies in personalization as a sales strategy. When applied right, it does wonders for your campaigns.

Nurture Leads with Email Sequences

Conversion at first sight sounds like a fairytale, but reality often differs. It might take days, weeks, or even months to finalize some deals. In these cases, email campaigns can significantly improve your marketing results. The key is to segment the audience and personalize the messaging.

Here are a few ideas you can include in your nurturing sequence:

Welcome emails
Client success stories, testimonials, expert insights, or before-and-after cases
Behind-the-scenes emails to make the brand more human
Soft CTAs

Use AI Tools to Increase Efficiency

Say you know how to get clients, but what about organizing your communication? The more prospects you get, the higher the chance of missing information. As a result, the client satisfaction drops, increasing the likelihood of switching to another marketing organization.

Sembly is a smart solution for agency professionals who deal with many meetings and have little time for manual note-taking. Let’s take a look at what makes this meeting assistant an effective addition to busy workflows:

Automated deliverables: You can generate comprehensive documents based on meeting discussions within minutes: project plans, feature reviews, strategy drafts, and more.
Workspace analytics: Monitor the number of meetings, their duration, number of attendees, and more with Sembly’s analytics.
Precise meeting notes & summaries: The app automatically generates objective summaries and notes after the meeting ends.
AI tasks: Additionally, you will receive a list of tasks with deadlines, workstream, assigner, and assignee details.
Accurate multilingual transcriptions: Sembly supports 45+ languages and provides word-to-word transcripts. You will know exactly what the client said and when they said it.

While meetings take a significant amount of time, you don’t have to drown in meeting details. With a smart meeting intelligence solution like Sembly, you work with results and dedicate your time to what’s important—your clients.

Offer Consultations & Strategy Sessions

Before you write free consultations, strategy calls, or interactive demos as a pure sales process, think of the following:

Around 63% of customers consider their onboarding process a key factor in deciding whether to continue using professional services (UserGuiding).

What does it mean? While sales meetings help spark initial interest in the digital marketing agency, further correspondence makes people choose you. Clients expect thorough onboarding processes, including regular syncs, discussions of next steps, and customized approaches aligned with their company’s needs. The best strategy is to provide it.

Create Social Proof to Show Expertise

Promises can attract potential clients, but it’s real cases and expertise that make them convert. Customers need to see how you work in practice and want real proof that you have dealt with a similar situation before, and you know exactly how to approach and resolve it this time.

So, how to find marketing clients using expertise as your weapon?

Write case studies and conduct researches on relevant topics to increase trust.
Show actual before and after metrics from Google Analytics or Google Search Console.
Record video testimonials and add them to your website.

Build Authority with Guest Posts or Podcast Appearances

The good thing is that blog posts aren’t the only way to increase trust. Guest content or podcasts can also bring you closer to answering the “How to get clients for digital marketing agencies?” question. And while most companies treat it as a temporary boost, in reality, it can be an asset that leads potential clients your way.

I suggest that we take a closer look at the gain:

Repurposable content: A podcast can be a foundation for social media & blog posts or LinkedIn clips.
SEO backlinks: Mentions in reputable sources improve your search ranking and domain authority.
Pre-qualified exposure: People you interact with are already interested in your niche, so you are not pitching cold leads.

Run Smart Paid Ads for Growth

PPC campaigns turn every $1 you spend into $2 earnings (WebFX). Needless to say, it is still one of the fastest ways to generate potential clients, but only if your targeting, messaging, and funnel are aligned.

So, how to get leads for a digital marketing agency using advertising? What do you focus on?

Facebook ads: Consider social media ads to promote lead magnets and book strategy calls.
Google ads and PPC campaigns: These work best for high-intent keywords.
LinkedIn ads: Lastly, this type of paid advertising helps you target B2B industries.

Network Online and Offline with Intention

Not all connections happen in a sales funnel. Some begin in comment threads, Slack groups, or trade show floors. That’s the true power of smart networking: showing up consistently and adding value, not just selling. When you act intentionally, it is only a matter of time before you find potential clients.

Now, let’s examine how to get clients for a marketing agency using various locations:

Attend local business events or digital marketing meetups.
Participate in discussions on social media (LinkedIn, X, Reddit).
Reach out to micro-influencers or founders through social networks.
Join Slack or Discord groups for agency owners or niche founders.

List Your Agency in Directories and Review Platforms

What about some passive client acquisition strategy tools? You have probably come across these platforms, but aside from their roles, they can also improve credibility. Long story short: I have chosen the directories that will give you an idea of how to generate leads for a marketing agency in a passive way:

Google My Business for local SEO traffic.
Clutch and GoodFirms for verified B2B reviews.
Agency Vista for digital marketing showcases.

Host Webinars or Mini-Workshops

Think of webinars or workshops as a golden ticket to show your expertise. They have all the chances to educate, connect, and convert potential clients in real-time. You may promote them via email or social media, and use the recording as a lead magnet afterward. As a tip, consider inviting a client or industry influencer to co-host for valuable expert insights and reach.

Attend Trade Shows and Conferences

Do you perceive trade shows as outdated? That’s exactly why they work. While most digital marketing agencies try to grab attention online, showing up in person sets you apart. These events revolve around building trust with decision-makers who rarely convert through cold outreach.

Surely, the preparation does not end with choosing the event. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Connect with attendees via LinkedIn to increase networking opportunities.
Prepare direct mail or follow-ups to send after the event.
Think of a digital or standard calling card to connect with your target audience.

Ask for Referrals

The truth is that some digital marketing agencies overlook referrals because they expect them to “just happen.” There is a belief that your clients will refer other potential customers with no reminders or requests. However, the reality differs: referrals need a system. Otherwise, you are betting on nothing but luck.

I have gathered a few simple ideas on how to make referrals work:

Ask happy clients directly after a successful project.
Offer a referral incentive (discounts, credits, donations).
Create a dedicated page on your site and promote referrals on social media.
Add a CTA or a banner in your email signature.

As a side note: do not limit yourself to clients only. Some referrals come from SEO experts, designers, or freelancers. Your networking is key to making this happen.

Inspiration and Creative Approaches by Agency Type

Let’s be frank: A PPC client does not think like a content marketing customer. A SaaS founder has different pain points than an SMM specialist does. The point? A marketing strategy is only good as long as it is aligned with your target audience.

In this section, I have grouped approaches based on 5 common agency types: PPC, SEO, SMM, content marketing, and email marketing. Let’s dive in!

How To Get PPC Clients

Constant pressure to deliver results, wasted ad spend, and low-quality leads are typical pain points of PPC customers. The thing is, sales pitches can not address these, but practical examples can. Here are the approaches you can try:

Start with a Google Ads audit to show inefficiencies and missed opportunities.
Present case studies and social proof showing improvements.
Build your authority with expert insights: breakdowns of real Facebook ad campaigns on social media.

How To Get SEO Clients

Vague promises and slow results do not cut it when it comes to SEO potential clients. Their biggest concerns? Not seeing ROI fast enough, poor reporting, and content strategies that don’t align with their goals.

Let’s take a look at how to work with these prospects:

Share clear case studies and examples from Google Search Console or traffic growth comparisons.
Offer keyword audits or technical SEO breakdowns.
Use cold outreach that targets poorly optimized websites with personalized recommendations.

How To Get Social Media Clients

Step 1 is to understand their struggles: low engagement and inconsistent social media marketing strategy. They want visibility, relevance, and growth across the right networks, but often lack time. Show how your professional services turn the tables for their company in practice.

Here are a few ideas on how to get social media clients:

Share expert insight in the form of audits, quick wins, and content analysis on your social media.
Use cold outreach with personalized audits of their current presence.
Offer case studies with clear social media marketing metrics.

How To Get Content Marketing Clients

Authority, traffic, and conversions—that’s what content marketing customers need. In reality, they often struggle with consistency & messaging and are overwhelmed by planning. Can your agency resolve the problems? In this case, make it your focus and show potential clients you have exactly what they need.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

Mention outdated blog posts or missed keyword opportunities in your cold outreach.
Add expert insights on how to improve their content results.
Show how your professional services helped existing clients.

How To Get Email Marketing Clients

Do you know how to deal with low engagement, outdated automations, and underperforming lists? In this case, getting email marketing clients will be easier. Surely, I also have got a few tips to share with you:

Educate through social media content or via guest posts with expert insight.
Share real client results: open rates, click rates, or unsubscribes.
Offer to rebuild their onboarding or welcome sequences.

The key idea is to understand what your customers want and need and show them how you can improve their results. Numbers speak louder than words, so ensure you have a few practical cases up your sleeve.

Wrapping Up

Your client acquisition strategy can either make or break your agency. The key difference lies in the clarity, consistency, and execution. Digital marketing organizations that win people over are not always the ones with the most creative direct mail, but they are surely the ones that understand their audience.

In this guide, I hand-picked 15 best strategies that will help you answer the main question: How to get first clients for a digital marketing agency? I hope you are closer to mastering this topic now. Good luck!

FAQ

How do digital marketing agencies find clients?

Successful digital marketing agencies find clients by combining inbound and outbound strategies.

Here’s a step-by-step approach:

Define your niche and ideal client profile.
Build a strong online presence with SEO-optimized service pages.
Create quality content: blogs, videos, social media posts.
Use cold outreach via personalized emails.
Run paid advertising like Facebook Ads or Google Ads for lead generation.
Try online directories: Google My Business or Clutch.
Ask for referrals and nurture relationships via email or social networks.

How to get digital marketing clients for free?

To get clients without spending money, follow these steps:

Optimize your Google My Business listing for local visibility.
Post consistently on LinkedIn or Facebook groups, depending on where your audience gathers.
Contribute guest posts or expert insights to niche blogs and communities.
Offer value upfront: free audits or consultations.
Ask past clients or peers for referrals.

How to get web design clients?

To attract web design clients, identify outdated or poorly performing websites and reach out with personalized audits or recommendations.

You can use social media to share before-and-after visuals, UX tips, and expert insights, and showcase your work. Additionally, try listing your services on directories such as Clutch and Agency Vista.