6 Strategic Ways Advertising Agencies Can Generate More Leads — Outpacing the Competition

Lead generation is among the most essential operations of every creative firm like your advertising agency. That’s because it’s the most effective means of increasing clientele. So, generating as many leads possible should be in your regular to-do checklist. Yes, generating leads is a huge challenge. But it’s one that’s overcomeable with the right strategies. So, in this blog, we’ll introduce you to six ways that your ad agency can generate more leads.

6 Strategic Ways Advertising Agencies Can Generate More Leads — Outpacing the Competition

Reinvent Your Inquiry Forms

Let’s face it. Your website’s inquiry forms might have a generic and dull appearance. And it’s likely the culprit why your agency isn’t obtaining more clients. Take note that your site’s inquiry form is a stage where your leads become clients. So, it should at least look presentable and unique to your brand. The aesthetic look of the inquiry form could well be a deciding factor whether a lead avails your services or not.

Marcus Taylor, CEO of Venture Harbour, a UK-based technology company, can attest to how helpful inquiry forms are in lead generation. Marcus used Leadformly (a website tool for creating forms) to optimize the design of his company’s inquiry forms. In return, Venture Harbour’s lead conversion rate increased from 0.96% to 8.1%. Plus, it didn’t cost his company a lot of money.

Be Transparent About Your Agency’s Process

People nowadays don’t fully trust opaque agencies. Back then, many of them take their chances on such agencies. But today, having opaqueness isn’t going to cut it. Thus, generating more leads wouldn’t be possible. So, if you’re aware that your agency isn’t guilty of something fishy, be transparent about its process. Show the market about how your team does things exactly. Let them know about your perspectives, principles, strategies, and methods.

Your leads will quickly trust your agency if it’s transparent. You see, displaying the true colors of your organization implies that it doesn’t mislead its clients. Today, every company, not just agencies, has to be on an open book if they want a higher lead conversion rate.

Conduct a Valuable Research and Share It Openly

If you want to connect with your target leads through educational means, conducting research is the way to go. The topic of your research should be about advertising or marketing, of course. Your research can be about challenges in advertising and their corresponding solutions. But you can explore other topics that can catch the interest of your target leads.

Once you have your research, share it openly with the public. You can share it through your website or social media page. There are multiple options in sharing valuable content today, thanks to advanced digital technology.

The reason why research helps generate leads is that it proves your agency’s competency. It implies that your agency truly has in-depth expertise in advertising and promoting businesses. And just like being transparent, research can also support in winning the trust of your target leads. Some companies even use research as one of their marketing strategies, and it proved effective.

Participate in Small Industry Events

Because of their larger crowd, big industry events might seem to be the better option in generating leads. To a certain degree, yes, it’s a good option. But, due to their size, many of your competitors will likely participate as well. For sure, they’re also participating to get leads. So, a better approach would be to participate in small industry events.

Typically, small industry events only consist of around 50-100 people. In that case, chances are only one or two of your competitors will show up, or none at all. If you’re the only advertising agency participating, then all the attendees of the event are yours for the taking.

Moreover, speaking in front of larger crowds in big industry events can draw a lot of attention to your agency. However, there’s a slim chance that the majority of them will become leads. That’s because your conversation with them will be less intimate. But, speaking in front of smaller crowds, your discussion with the audience will be in-depth. For one, it enables you to entertain specific questions from some of the audience, of which you can provide accurate, well-targeted answers.

If there aren’t any upcoming industry events near your area, you can host one if there’s room in your schedule.

Give Away Freebies

Based on a report from Dr. Robert Cialdini, a former Psychology and Marketing professor at Arizona State University, it’s human nature to show gratitude to someone who did or gave something out of goodwill. All of us can attest to that for sure. We tend to return the favor to someone who did us a favor. With those in mind, giving away freebies is indeed an excellent strategy.

When you give a freebie to a lead, the likely outcome is that he or she will hire your services as gratitude. Giving freebies is a subtle persuasive act or tactic that works efficiently. It’s like showing your hospitality to a prospective client—making them feel a warm welcome.

For this tactic to work, make sure to give relevant freebies. You can give away instruction materials about advertising, such as webinars and ebooks.

Structure a Network for Referrals

If you want to generate leads without having to do much or spending loads of cash, then start structuring your referral network. There are two foundations to structure your referral network—existing clients and non-competing agencies.

Existing Clients

Part of your advertising agency’s business plan is to expand your clientele, indeed. You might’ve not thought of it, but your existing clients can help in expanding your clientele. They’re an excellent source of leads. Keep in mind that your clients are mostly corporate people. That means they have a plethora of connections from different industries. Their connections could become your clients soon. You can ask your clients for referrals at any time. But, if they find your services satisfying, they might give you referrals without you asking.

Non-Competing Agencies

Agencies that aren’t in the advertising or marketing field are also good sources of leads. If you can arrange a successful partnership proposal with them, that would be great. When they become your partners officially, they’ll direct their clients who need advertising services to your agency. Though, in return, you also must refer your clients to them. If you ask us about partnering with them, we’ll say that it’s a win-win deal that you must grab.

These six strategic ways require a lot of planning and management. Admittedly, none of them guarantee instant success. But they guarantee success nonetheless if you execute them right. Lead generation is a process that doesn’t produce results overnight. But when the results come, you’d be glad that you applied the six strategic ways that we taught you here.

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