Lead Generation in Digital Marketing: 10 Proven Strategies
You may offer the best marketing agency services in town, but without customers, your business won’t make it for long. To ensure a steady stream of new customers, you need to generate leads consistently.
Not only that, but you need to fortify your marketing agency to withstand the powerful blows of Google’s SGE and Bing’s AI-powered search. If you’re ready to grow your business and find more dream clients even amidst the challenges of the AI revolution, this blog about lead generation in digital marketing is for you.
We’ll cover exactly what lead generation entails, why it should be a top priority for your business, the different types of digital marketing leads, and some examples of actionable strategies you can start putting into play today.
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Table of Contents:
- What Is Lead Generation in Digital Marketing?
- Importance of Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
- Goals of Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
- Types of Leads in Digital Marketing Lead Generation
- Strategies for Effective Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
- How Vendasta Can Empower Your Digital Marketing Lead Generation
- The Future of Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
What Is Lead Generation in Digital Marketing?
Lead generation in digital marketing is the process of attracting potential customers' interest in your services through a variety of digital marketing techniques, such as content marketing, social media posts, email campaigns, and search engine marketing.
One of the essential aspects of any digital lead generation strategy is capturing the leads’ contact information so that you can continue moving them along your sales pipeline with the ultimate aim of converting them into paying customers.
With competition becoming ever more fierce and digital noise growing louder than ever, winning a new customer today demands agency skills, grit, and persistence.
The activities that comprise agency lead generation strategies do double-duty in other areas as well, like enhancing recognition of your agency’s brand identity and reputation in your marketing niche.
Importance of Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
It’s difficult to overstate the central role of excellent lead generation in digital marketing. With its help, even if you’re starting with no experience or client base, you can still build a profitable digital agency startup.
Set Yourself Up for Rock-Solid Client Relationships
Lead generation enables your agency to initiate and nurture relationships with prospects by understanding and catering to their needs before they even spend their first dollar.
For example, by producing high-value content and distributing it for free, you demonstrate an understanding of your potential customers’ core challenges and pain points. Providing them with tips on how to grow their business revenue positions your marketing agency as a trustworthy partner.
Drive Sales and Supercharge Agency Revenues
The ultimate purpose of lead generation in digital marketing is to have more clients sign contracts with your agency, but it isn’t just about lengthening your client list. Strategic, targeted lead generation for digital marketing agencies can draw in clients who are less likely to churn, not just more clients.
Digital lead generation enables you as a marketing agency owner to improve agency-client fit by focusing your marketing efforts and resources on those prospects who have a high intent to purchase and are a good match to your portfolio of solutions.
Get More Out of Your Marketing Efforts with a Targeted Approach
Whatever your marketing niche is, chances are you can break your target audience down into sub-groups and tailor your marketing strategy to each audience segment.
For example, if your marketing agency caters to the needs of cleaning businesses, just like BookCleaningJobs.com, you could segment your ICPs based on their budget. If a cleaning business is a startup, then you could target its founder with marketing content that explains the importance of designing a landing page and running Google Ads to kickstart revenue growth.
A medium-sized cleaning business with a solid list of recurring clients can benefit from your website design and reputation management services to further grow its client base.
By developing targeted marketing strategies, you can find well-aligned clients.
Measure the Impact of Your Sales and Marketing Efforts
It’s not uncommon for those starting a new digital marketing agency to take a haphazard approach to finding clients. Without a solid plan, measuring success is difficult. Lead generation in digital marketing is most effective when you track and analyze key metrics like conversion rates, cost per lead, and customer acquisition costs.
Compete More Effectively in a Crowded Marketplace
No matter where your business is located, chances are your agency won’t be the only game in town. By consistently showing up and staying top-of-mind for prospects, you’ll establish your marketing agency as an industry leader and win more business in the process.
Goals of Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
Lead generation is, of course, about filling your sales pipeline with a healthy volume of prospects. But that’s not the only goal you can achieve. Let’s take a look at some other goals you could set for your strategy.
Increased Agency Brand Awareness
Lead generation often begins with raising brand awareness among target audiences. By using a mix of digital channels to get in front of prospects, you can expand your online presence and gain recognition in your marketing niche.
As an example, NP Digital leverages all five major social media platforms to increase their brand awareness across the globe.
For more context into how you can use LinkedIn for your lead-generation efforts, check out this episode of the Conquer Local podcast:
Enhanced Engagement with Customers
The best lead generation efforts aim to engage prospective customers and encourage interaction with your digital agency brand.
Through compelling content and strategic communication, you can invite prospects to engage with your agency through likes, comments, survey participation, and more. The key is to treat digital lead generation as an opportunity to provide value to prospects and address their needs rather than just a way to sell your services.
For example, NP Digital facilitates potential customers’ engagement by offering access to The 2024 paid media playbook in exchange for them providing their contact information:
Types of Leads in Digital Marketing Lead Generation
Leads aren’t created equal. Correctly identifying lead types enables you to take the best possible step toward winning their business. The two main categories of leads are marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and sales-qualified leads (SQLs). Let’s take a look at both.
Marketing-Qualified Leads (MQLs)
MQLs are prospects who have demonstrated interest in your marketing agency’s services but aren’t yet ready to sign a contract. They may have downloaded your lead magnets, subscribed to your newsletter, or attended your webinar, but while they’ve demonstrated interest, they require further nurturing to move further down the sales funnel.
Sales-Qualified Leads (SQLs)
SQLs are prospects with a higher chance of purchasing. This means that, unlike MQLs, SQLs are key decision-makers who have all the necessary information about your services, a budget, a clear vision of what they want to achieve as a result of the partnership with your agency, and a timeline for purchase and implementation. SQLs are those prospects who have either already engaged with your sales team or independently sought out the necessary information.
Each lead type requires a unique digital marketing strategy when it comes to moving them through your sales funnel.
You can nurture MQLs by providing value, building trust, and guiding them toward a purchasing decision with personalized drip email campaigns, educational content, and ongoing engagement through social media.
Your sales team needs to directly engage with your SQLs to deliver personalized sales pitches, product demos, and pricing information.
Strategies for Effective Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
Lead generation in digital marketing can be broadly divided into two types: inbound and outbound marketing.
The former involves marketing efforts designed to entice potential customers to take the initiative to contact you. For example, they might be so impressed by your blog that they reach out to your agency, asking you to create a similar blog for their business.
Outbound marketing is when you take the initiative to get your brand in front of customers, whether through paid ads or by attending in-person events and networking.
1. Drive Targeted Leads with Paid Advertising
Paid advertising is one of the most effective types of outbound marketing that increases your number of leads in record time because you pay money to online publishers, such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads, to have your marketing agency featured in front of leads that match your criteria.
There are a lot of different types of paid advertising depending on the online publisher you choose:
- PPC campaigns run on search engines.
- Social media campaigns run on social media platforms.
- Video ad campaigns show up on video streaming platforms.
- Native ads blend with surroundings to inconspicuously promote your brand in a sponsored article or video.
- Display ads live on websites.
An important type of PPC ads is retargeting ads. These are shown to users who have previously engaged with your online content.
As the name suggests, in PPC advertising, you pay only for those ads that result in clicks.
Here are the most effective tools for monitoring and measuring the success of your PPC campaigns:
- SEMrush helps track competitors’ PPC strategies and monitor keyword rankings and ad performance.
- AdEspresso simplifies Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads management and provides split-testing tools for ad variations.
- Vendasta’s digital marketing team offers PPC marketing services. You can see the results of all marketing campaigns in a single dashboard, known as Advertising Intelligence.
2. Boost Website Traffic with SEO and SEM
SEM is a set of marketing activities focused on optimizing your online content—whether it’s your website or PPC ads—to make it legible for search engines. SEO is part of SEM.
The goal of SEO is to drive organic traffic, while SEM focuses on driving both paid and organic traffic.
Three main types of SEO are technical, on-page, and off-site.
Technical SEO is an umbrella term for all those aspects of an agency’s online presence that make it accessible and crawlable for search engines. For example, to assess NP Digital’s technical SEO, one would assess its website’s performance with Google’s Page Insights:
Another example is that of Kinex Media. To assess their on-site SEO, one would look at how well their website is optimized for relevant keywords, such as the keyword “SEO agency.” They have SEO mentioned 16 times on their homepage.
An example of effective off-site SEO would be backlinks and mentions on trustworthy platforms. For example, Neil Pate has a large online presence that generates natural interest in his agency’s marketing services. Just recently, he presented at HubSpot’s Inbound 2024 event.
Pro Tip: Vendasta’s AI-powered reputation management software helps you track and respond to online mentions, boosting your brand image and trustworthiness.
SEO complements SEM in the following ways. When you apply SEM best practices to your PPC advertising, such as by optimizing your ad for certain keywords, you need to make sure that your visitors land on a highly relevant page that increases their likelihood of converting.
For example, Kinex Media’s Google ad is optimized for the keyword “SEO agency” and when you click on it, it takes you to a well-structured landing page with “SEO” mentioned 35 times.
3. Attract and Nurture Leads with Content Marketing
Content marketing is all about producing high-quality content through blogs, ebooks, whitepapers, interviews, and podcasts to establish industry expertise. Take a look at the blog Denny Unger On VR Mechanics, Multi-Modality, and the Inevitability of AR Glasses by Meta, for example.
The interview with Cloudhead Games CEO and CCO Denny Unger helps Meta position itself as an industry leader in terms of building VR technology. Future Metaverse users will be more likely to trust Meta thanks to the fact that successful entrepreneurs respect and trust the company to the extent that they are willing to spend their valuable time answering questions and sharing insights with Meta’s content marketing team.
4. Engage and Convert Visitors with AI-Powered Chatbots
You’re no doubt well aware of how busy business owners are. If they have questions about your marketing agency but don’t get an answer right away, they might sign a contract with someone more responsive.
Luckily, you can avoid this situation with chatbots. For example, Vendasta has an AI web chat that can answer FAQs immediately and request prospects to provide their contact information for future lead nurturing.
5. Turn Happy Customers into Lead Generators with Referral Programs
Trust is a key factor in B2B relationships, which is why referral programs and affiliate marketing are among the top lead-generation techniques.
Referred leads are more likely to convert because they already trust the referrer’s recommendation. Another perk is that rewarding referrers is often less expensive than running paid campaigns.
Affiliate marketing is when you partner with individual marketers or influencers to promote your agency’s services in exchange for a commission on any leads or sales they generate. This strategy allows you to extend your reach by tapping into the networks of your affiliates.
The best thing about affiliate marketing is that you only pay for actual results, such as qualified leads or closed deals.
6. Generate Leads Through Social Media Marketing
While we mentioned marketing on social media platforms concerning PPC advertising, you can also leverage Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to build a community of followers and keep them engaged so they’re more likely to choose your agency when needed.
Tracking engagement metrics is essential for evaluating social media campaign performance and refining strategies. Here are some of the best tools:
- Sprout Social offers analytics for tracking likes, comments, shares, and follower growth.
- Agorapulse tracks audience engagement with metrics like comments, DMs, and mentions.
- Iconosquare offers optimal posting time recommendations based on past performance.
- Vendasta’s social media management platform helps quickly generate social media posts using AI, generate content calendars, and automatically release prescheduled posts at set times.
7. Network and Generate Interest Through Events
Hosting virtual events such as webinars, workshops, or live Q&A sessions is an excellent way to demonstrate your agency's expertise while capturing the attention of potential clients.
You can share insights on topics like SEO, social media strategies, or paid advertising best practices. For example, a webinar titled "5 Proven Strategies to Double Your ROI on Google Ads" could attract business owners who struggle with paid search campaigns.
Participating as a speaker or panelist at marketing conferences positions your agency as a thought leader in the field. If you don’t make it to the list of invited speakers, sponsoring events is another great way for your marketing agency to enhance its visibility.
8. Convert Prospects with Email Marketing and Nurturing Campaigns
The success of your email marketing efforts hinges on the quality of your email list. A well-curated list ensures your campaigns reach individuals who are genuinely interested in your services.
Findymail is a trusted email verification tool that guarantees a bounce rate of less than 5%.
Divide your email list into smaller groups based on shared characteristics, ensuring your content is relevant and engaging. Here are some ideas on how you could segment your target audience:
- Group prospects by their industry to deliver content tailored to their unique challenges.
- Segment by company size to align messaging with the specific needs of small businesses, mid-sized companies, or enterprises.
- Use data on how prospects interact with your website, emails, or content to create segments such as new subscribers, engaged leads, or dormant contacts.
You can leverage tools like Vendasta’s AI-powered CRM to seamlessly automate your email marketing.
Here are some other popular tools besides Vendasta to automate your email marketing:
- Mailchimp is a beginner-friendly, affordable, and scalable email builder with customizable templates.
- ActiveCampaign has powerful automation and segmentation features at a competitive price.
9. Optimize Landing Pages and Websites to Maximize Conversions
When potential clients click on your ad or email, they expect the landing page to meet their expectations. A poorly designed or irrelevant page can confuse or frustrate visitors, leading them to bounce before converting.
Here’s a guide on how to make sure your landing page is a success:
1. Focus on a Single, Clear Goal
Define the primary action you want visitors to take. Use a single, clear CTA button with action-oriented language (e.g., “Get Your Free Consultation”). Remove distractions like navigation menus or unnecessary links.
For example, Kinex Media’s landing page does a good job of attracting the attention of website visitors to a single “Get a Quote” CTA:
2. Craft Compelling Headlines
Make your headline benefit-driven (e.g., “Double Your ROI with Our Proven Marketing Strategies”). Use subheadings to provide additional context or clarify your offer.
Once again, Kinex Media’s landing page does a great job in this respect:
Notice how the marketing team promises potential clients to dominate search and lures them to level up their SEO game by emphasizing the promise of quintupling their marketing ROI.
3. Use Engaging Visuals
Use relevant images or videos that showcase your services or client success stories.
Include graphics, icons, or charts to visually highlight key benefits. Ensure visuals are optimized for fast loading to avoid slowing down the page.
4. Highlight a Strong Value Proposition
Use bullet points or short paragraphs to outline the benefits of your service. Include specifics, such as “Increase organic traffic by 50% in 90 days.”
Kinex Media excels at supporting its promises with real data. Examine how their landing page features a client success story told via numbers:
It’s hard to imagine an SMB owner who wouldn’t give at least some consideration to a marketing agency that promises a 111.87% revenue growth!
5. Simplify Your Lead Capture Form
Your form should be easy to complete, with minimal friction. The longer or more complex the form, the more likely prospects are to abandon it. The rule of thumb is to ask for your prospects’ email, phone number, and website, and give them space to type in any questions they have.
6. Optimize for Mobile Users
Use responsive design to ensure the page adapts to different screen sizes. Simplify navigation and use larger buttons for easy tapping. Test load times on mobile devices and reduce unnecessary scripts or large files.
7. Leverage A/B Testing
Test different headlines, CTAs, colors, and layouts. Monitor key metrics like conversion rate, bounce rate, and time on page. Implement the changes that yield the best results and continue testing.
How Vendasta Can Empower Your Digital Marketing Lead Generation
Vendasta offers a comprehensive platform equipped with everything your agency needs to dominate lead generation, from marketing tools to cutting-edge AI capabilities.
One of Vendasta’s greatest strengths is its all-in-one platform, which integrates tools designed to support various lead-generation strategies seamlessly.
Thanks to Vendasta’s CRM, you can capture leads seamlessly by sending out a brandable Snapshot Report that assesses the quality of the prospective customer’s online presence. You can also automate lead scoring, email marketing, social campaigns, and retargeting ads.
Vendasta takes lead generation in digital marketing to the next level with its powerful AI capabilities. For example, you can use AI-driven tools to create engaging email copy, social media posts, and ads that resonate with your audience. Vendasta’s AI also analyzes client data to suggest services or solutions tailored to their needs, making it easier to upsell or cross-sell.
The Future of Lead Generation in Digital Marketing
With Google’s SGE and Bing’s AI-powered search entering the game, it’s more important than ever before to take lead generation seriously. Why? Well, by scanning the web and providing summaries to users’ queries, Google’s SGE and Bing’s AI-powered search can harm organic traffic to websites, hampering lead generation efforts.
If users search for “what is SEO strategy,” for example, they will likely get all the information they need from Google’s SGE. That way, they will have zero incentive to click on your marketing agency's website, even if it’s cited in the sources section of Google’s SGE.
However, you shouldn’t despair. Instead, it’s time to produce in-depth expert content. For example, you could enhance your blogs about SEO strategy by providing real-life examples of how your agency helped clients level up their SEO game.
Also, you should keep in mind that Google’s SGE encourages searches that consist of long queries. So, you should ensure that your website is well-optimized for relevant long-tail keywords that deserve citations in Google’s SGE.
Whenever possible, you should also prioritize natural language to cater your website to voice search. Avoid marketing jargon as much as possible!
Ready to Supercharge Your Lead Generation Strategy?
Fingers crossed, by implementing the digital marketing strategies outlined above, you will build a robust lead generation strategy. Vendasta’s all-in-one platform is your ultimate partner that offers everything you need to optimize, automate, and scale your agency. Start transforming how you acquire and retain clients with Vendasta today. Sign up to try Vendasta for free today!
This article was originally published in April 2024 and was updated in November 2024 to include the latest information and insights.