Home /Marketing Agency/15 Ways To Get Social Media Marketing Agency Clients In 2020

15 Ways To Get Social Media Marketing Agency Clients In 2020

In this article you will learn How To Social Media Marketing Agency Clients, what to look for, where to go, how to connect with potential clients, how to join groups, forums, running ads, cold calling, sending email campaigns to potential clients, pros and cons of each one of them in details.
          1. GO TO INDUSTRY EVENTS
          2. GET REFERRALS
          3. CONNECT WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY
          4. TALK TO SERVICE PROVIDERS
          5. PUBLISH VIDEOS 
          6. POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA REGULARLY 
          7. PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE GROUPS AND FORUMS
          8. START YOUR OWN ONLINE GROUP 
          9. GET INTERVIEWED ON PODCASTS
          10. COLD CALL 
          11. PUBLISH A BOOK 
          12. RUN FACEBOOK ADS 
          13. SEND DIRECT MAIL 
          14. DO WORK ON FREELANCING WEBSITES 
          15. ATTEND LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER MEETINGS
Before going to the 15 ways to get SMMA clients in 2020. It is extremely important to figure out, who is your potential client?, whom you could help, and to what type of business niche you could offer your service?.

A potential client (aka a lead) is the person who is likely to become your client or customer. 

So figure out that and let's dive into the 15 ways to get SMMA clients in 2020. 

1. GO TO INDUSTRY EVENTS

Connecting with people is important. When you pay money for a conference ticket, a hotel room, and a plane ticket, you get to connect with other people who have paid money for a conference ticket, a hotel room, and a plane ticket.

There are lots of marketing industry events, but these are full of other marketers and it can be hard to stand out. Don’t expect to get many search marketing clients at a search marketing event.

You will, however, stand out as a search marketer if you go to a social media marketing conference (and vise versa). 

To really stand out, go to a niche industry event like a conference for chiropractors or gym owners. Make sure you have something to offer that is specific to their needs and desires.

Tell them you’re there to get a better understanding of their industry (which is the mindset you should have anyway, so if the client-getting thing doesn’t work out you won’t go home empty-handed). 

Pro & Cons

The benefits of going to events is that you get direct access to people who have money, who have a business and who are actively trying to improve their businesses.

You also benefit from whatever is being taught at the conference and if you are getting new clients the conference will pay for itself.

But Events can be expensive and can be hit or miss (your perfect client may be at the event but you don’t happen to meet her simply because it’s not possible to talk to everyone). 

Tips:

Change seats often, go to all the networking sessions, talk to everyone you can. Focus on them - ask them questions, find out what their goals are. If you can afford VIP seating, get it...this will put you in contact with the people at the event who have the MOST money and the strongest desire for improvement.

2. GET REFERRALS

Referrals are such a good source of customers that some businesses rely on them 100%. If you can make that work and if you’re growing as quickly as you want to grow, that’s fantastic.

But if you’re relying on referrals simply because you can’t get anything else to work, then keep trying other stuff too.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to referrals is they simply don’t ask for them.

Many people are happy to refer to you when asked, but it’s not at the top of their agenda if you never ask them about it. Don’t be afraid to ask your existing clients if they know anyone who might need your help. 

Pro & Cons

Benefits of referrals is that you get some of the best leads. You should be closing at least 50-80% of them, depending on how warm they are (were they referred by an existing client or were they referred by a friend of a friend).

But disadvantages include relying on other people to send business your way, and it’s not possible to scale referrals. Sometimes you need to spend time talking to prospects who aren’t ideal clients for you. 

Tips:

The best time to ask for a referral is immediately after praise has been given to you. (“Thanks so much, I’m glad I was able to help with that.

By the way, I’m looking to grow my business with more clients like you. I’d really appreciate it if you recommended me to some other people you think I can help. Do you know anybody?”)

3. CONNECT WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY

Connecting with Friends and family is important. They can bring you a great source of customers. It’s often not your friends and family who need help, but people they know. “Friends” also includes your Facebook friends, so this can include hundreds of people.

But you must know what you’re doing, have clear goals. You don’t need to directly ask your friends if they need help with something.

Instead, you can post about it on social media from time to time. Sometimes, simply updating your job title on Facebook and LInkedIn will attract attention from people who need your help and will ask about what you do. 

Your closest friends, maybe the last 10-20 people you texted, should definitely know you are looking for clients. Don’t try to sell your closest friends and family members. Instead, find out who they know.

Pro & Cons

You probably already know some people who could use your help, as you know most of them from before. Hopefully these people like you and it shouldn’t take much convincing to let them give you a shot. 

But disadvantages are, If you do a poor job it can ruin relationships. Also, this well dries up quickly so don’t expect to build an entire business simply by talking to people you already know. 

Tips:

If you’re just starting out (which is usually when you tap into this source of clients) make sure everyone you work with knows exactly how experienced you are.

You can even say you’re learning and you won’t charge them until you start getting good results. People might be hesitant to work with you, since they still need to pay for their ad spend. But at least if things don’t work out you haven’t damaged your reputation by over-promising and under-delivering.

If you aren’t charging someone, make sure he knows your main motivation is to get a case study and a testimonial. Ask for the testimonial as soon as there are good results to show. 

4. TALK TO SERVICE PROVIDERS

When the plumber came to fix your toilet last week, did you talk to him? Does he know you can help him get more customers? What about the gym you’re a member of, or your favorite restaurant?

Do you know the owners of these places and do they know what you do? Talk to them and see where it goes! And it could be more than plumbers, gym owners, restaurant owners.

Pro & Cons

The advantage is that as you are already engaging in their business, they will naturally be very receptive to what you have to say.

But this doesn’t happen often every now and then

Tips:

You can somewhat control the randomness of this by hiring service providers who you have the best chance of landing as a client.

Who is already advertising on Google? Is it likely that the business owner will be the one coming to your house? Or is the company so big that an employee will be sent?

Hiring a service provider is an opportunity to get into a conversation with a business owner who might be interested in your services. Don’t be pushy, but make sure whoever you are talking to knows what you do

5. PUBLISH VIDEOS 

Videos are a great way to demonstrate your expertise and attract clients. Publishing a lot of videos (or even just a few good ones) can help you get found.

There are people who find me today because of videos I posted on YouTube years ago. As of today, YouTube is the main platform for publishing videos.

People also consume videos on Facebook, but videos on Facebook don’t stick around long. On YouTube they will show up in search results (including Google search results) for a long time.

Pro & Cons

A lot of people like to learn by watching videos, and they will often watch several videos on the same topic. So even if other people have published videos about something, you can still get views.

If your video is good (people are watching it), YouTube will start to suggest your video when people are watching related content.

Plus, once you record and publish a video, you now have an asset that will work for you for a long time, it could still bring you a client after 1 year, who knows!

But the hard part is that people aren’t going to magically start watching your videos just because you start a YouTube channel.

It will take some additional work to start getting people watching. It can take a while for people to start finding your videos organically, and sometimes that never happens. Having an existing audience/list that you can send to your videos obviously helps. 

Tips:

Use a good microphone - your production quality doesn’t have to be very good (you can use simple slides or just record your screen while demonstrating something) but if your audio is bad, people won’t stick around much. And remember to make quality content.

If you want to get found organically, then you need to make videos about things that people are searching for. Use Amazing Keyword Generator to get a list of keywords people are searching for on YouTube about your topic, and make videos targeting those keywords.

Also, don’t be afraid to make videos about very specific topics or for very specific niches. You may not get a lot of views, but the views you get will be very high quality and responsive. 

6. POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA REGULARLY 

You can be an “influencer” to a very small group of people and it can create a big impact. If you are entertaining and people feel like they are getting value from you, they will continue to follow and interact with you and even refer you to others. 

Pro & Cons

The big advantages is that it doesn’t cost anything to get started, and if you post consistently you can quickly be considered an authority in whatever it is you’re posting about.

Posting a lot on social media also helps you refine your message and define who your target audience is. Trying to be all things to all people will hurt you, so picking a niche and going after it will be beneficial all around.

But the disadvantages is that it can consume a lot of time and be difficult to come up with good content on a regular basis. But if you can hire somebody to do it, that’s perfect. 

Tips:

Show as much of your personality as possible. Not every post should be about business. Variety is key. You can also share some viral content relating to your niche.

Extra tip from a client: “When you start to get a lot of friends from the same niche you should “assign them to a custom friend group on Facebook.

Then make posts weekly to only that friend list with industry specific tips for marketing. You won't annoy your own friends list since you're only going to be posting to them. I landed 4 leads last week with a single post.

I'll post next week again to that list and I'll probably get another 5. I've got like 50+ friends from one industry and probably only 10 are clients.” 

7. PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE GROUPS AND FORUMS

If you’re going to be spending time on Facebook, you might as well spend it hanging out in groups of other business owners.

I promise you, you don’t need to know what your aunt had for supper today, or what your friend from high school’s kid did that was cute.

Get out of your personal news feed and go into a group. And find questions and answer them and don't send your website link or video link. Just answer and help them and get into contact.

Demonstrate your knowledge and willingness to help and people will friend-request you, and send you messages looking for paid help.

Groups exist for local business owners (in your city), specific topics like Google Ads, SEO, email marketing, etc.), business software (ClickFunnels, WordPress, Shopify, etc.), and specific professions (these can be hard to get into if you’re not one of them). 

Pro & Cons

There is no barrier to entry (unless a group moderator doesn’t want you there for some reason...but there will always be other groups for you). As long as you are adding value, people will see you as an authority on whatever topic you’re talking about.

But it can be time-consuming and there are no guarantees anyone in a group will ever work with you and give you money for something

Tips:

Don’t ever post a link to your website, your own YouTube video, or anything like that. Don’t get spamed.

This is the fastest way to get kicked out of a group, even if you are trying to be helpful. Leverage your answers. If you write a detailed response about something, consider turning it into a blog post, or a post on your personal profile.

When you join the industry niche facebook groups and someone asks a marketing question you can really stand out with answers.

Once you have a solid customer base on that industry, they will start commenting and recommending you in threads. Never post in these Facebook groups, just reply and be involved in them. Learn their industry and get to know who the big guys are that people look up to. 

8. START YOUR OWN ONLINE GROUP 

This may seem like a daunting task. It was to me at first, but now I have a group with over 10,000 members with hundreds joining every week. As you can imagine, this is a huge benefit to me and my business.

Pro & Cons

The advantage is that as a group owner, people will notice you will be seen as an authority.

You will also be the only person in the group who can promote your own offers, but don’t do that often. Also, you can ask questions of people as they join the group. This is a great place to insert market research questions (“What is the #1 challenge you are having with ____?”). You can also build an email list by offering a freebie to people who join the group.

But groups are hard to start if you don’t have an existing audience. They also take time and attention to manage in order to keep the interactions high-quality. 

Tips:

If you are starting from scratch, it will be easier and more effective to start a group for a specific target audience. Instead of a group about “Google Ads” start a group about “Google Ads for Dog Trainers” or whatever niche you want to go into.

Or, start a local business owner group if your city doesn’t already have one. Groups like this probably won’t grow to 10,000 members, but the people in them will be very interested in what you have to say.

9. GET INTERVIEWED ON PODCASTS

You don’t need to be interviewed by Tim Ferriss or Joe Rogan to get great exposure from podcasts. In fact, some of the smallest podcasts out there have some of the most targeted and interested listeners.

Pro & Cons

A podcast allows you to get inside people’s heads for a long stretch of time. If someone listens to you talk for 60 minutes, you don’t need to do much more selling. People who reach out to you after hearing you on a podcast are going to be some of your best leads and customers.

But the disadvantages is that you won’t always get leads and it can be difficult to get on podcasts, especially if you’re hoping to get on specific ones. 

Tips:

Do what you can to help promote the podcast yourself. This will make the host happy, and will make you look more appealing to other potential podcast producers.

If you are planning to promote something, make sure you clear it with the host and discuss how your pitch/promotion is going to work.

A good thing to offer is a freebie specific to the podcast’s audience (or modified so it looks specific to the podcast’s audience). This will take people from the podcast and get them onto your list so you can continue the conversation.

EXAMPLE

One of my coaching clients and a member of my program… He told me he was interviewed on a “super small” podcast that was only listened to by business owners in his city.

This interview lead to five inquiries, and three of the five became clients. According to him, “They were literally the easiest sales I have ever gotten.

Even better than a warm referral. They heard my stuff, I had the stamp of approval from the host. I would have closed the other two, but I chose not to work with them.”

10. COLD CALL 

With a little time and determination, cold calling can be a very effective and reliable way to get new clients.

You may not like receiving cold calls yourself. You may never buy anything from telemarketers.

That’s fine - just because cold calling doesn’t work on you, doesn’t mean it won’t work on your target clients. In fact, the data proves that cold calling does work. Several people I know use cold calling as their primary source of new clients.

Pro & Cons

You can reach people on the phone that you wouldn’t be able to reach any other way. It’s easy to target a specific niche vs. other strategies that will attract people from many different niches.

Tips:

Stick to one industry at a time. Start with an industry that you have some results for - it will be significantly easier to sell your services when you can show someone good results you’ve gotten for another business in the same industry.

When calling, be sure to talk to the business owner. Do not waste your time trying to sell yourself to anyone except the business owner. When compiling lists to call, always include business owner names. 

11. PUBLISH A BOOK 

Yes, YOU can write a book. It will take some time, and you’ll need to figure out a lot of stuff you’ve never had to think about before. But in the end, you’ll have a valuable asset that will serve you well - an asset most people don’t have.

Pro & Cons

By publishing a book, you are immediately seen as an authority on your book’s topic. You get this authority boost even if people don’t read the book (most people won’t).

For people who do read the book, you will be able to demonstrate your knowledge and show your personality. You’ll be in people’s living rooms with them...you’ll be in bed with them. That trust and intimacy easily transfers to sales.

But writing a book will take some time. You also need to promote it once it’s published. If nobody knows it exists it won’t do you any good. 

Tips:

If you have the resources, there are several companies that can help you write and publish books.

You can even get interviewed and record stuff and people will turn the recordings into a well-edited book for you. You can literally buy your way out of writing and publishing your own book.

If you want to publish the book yourself, Amazon makes it really easy. You just upload the files to their CreateSpace platform, and you can start selling your book on Amazon. If someone buys one copy of the book, Amazon will print one copy to send to that person. You can publish the same book on Kindle.

You can also run paid ads on Amazon to bring people to your book listing - you can run ads that target certain keyword searches, or you can run ads that target other authors’ books. 

12. RUN FACEBOOK ADS 

There is no specific template I know of that will allow you to get clients with Facebook ads. If there was a template that worked, everyone would be using it and it would stop working anyway, so don’t look for any magic bullets when it comes to Facebook ads.
However, there is a basic approach that works for a lot of people:

1. Create a valuable piece of content for a very specific target audience. It can be a video, an article, a webinar...whatever. It should help the target audience achieve a goal/desire that they have in their business.

2.Run Facebook ads to that content, targeting the specific audience you are trying to reach. 

3.The content piece can have a call-to-action within (to work with you, schedule a consultation, get more content), or you can run retargeting ads to people who viewed the content and put a call-to-action in your retargeting ads. I’ve seen both methods used effectively. 

The important thing to do is warm people up with helpful content before inviting them to work with you. Do not try to drive cold traffic directly to a call-to-action. Don’t even worry about collecting emails (unless an email sequence IS how you will be delivering the content). Just give people value, then tell them how they can get even more value from you by working with you directly. 

Pro & Cons

A working ad can generate leads for you consistently. As it keeps running and gets more engagement, it will start to get noticed more and more.

It may have been ignored by someone three months ago, but now that it has 100+ likes that person takes notice and finally checks out your content.

For someone else, that threshold might be 200+ likes after 20 times scrolling past the ad. An ad that leads to a good piece of content can keep growing and reaching more people for a long time, even if you are targeting a very specific audience.

But the hard part is that you have to produce the content for your Facebook Ads, and it may take some money spent on testing to hit on a piece of content that will resonate with your target audience (doing research first will help with this). 

Tips:

A small target audience that you have an affinity with is going to be the best place to start (if possible).

Did you used to run a landscaping company? Then start by targeting owners of landscaping companies with content specific to getting more landscaping jobs.

The next best thing is a niche you have experience in and testimonials from. Maybe you never owned a non-marketing company, but you have testimonials from two dentists who you’ve helped.

Then start by targeting dentists with content specific about getting more patients. Incorporate your testimonials into the content and call-to-action. 

13. SEND DIRECT MAIL 

In a digital world, sending actual physical mail to people is an easy way to stand out. Several top ad agencies use direct mail to attract leads and clients. You can mail postcards, letters, FedEx envelopes, or large packages.

A friend of mine received a giant framed maze in the mail from a marketing company that wanted to work with him.

There’s not much of a limit to what you can send in the mail, but if you’re going to be investing a lot, you really need to make sure you have your targeting and your messaging right.

Pro & Cons

You can easily target a specific niche with direct mail. You can compile a list of specific companies/owners you want to work with, and mail only to them.

It costs money to print and mail things. It costs time or money to get a good mailing list. It costs money to test different approaches. You may need to mail to the same people multiple times, which costs even more money. Money, money, money. 

Tips:

You need an attractive offer - either a lead generation offer or some offer that will get people to call and make appointments with you. Your offer should speak to the specific niche, and to the specific desires of your target clients. Follow up with a phone call to really maximize results (“Hey, I’m just following up on a letter I sent a couple days ago…”).

14. ATTEND LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER MEETINGS

Unless you only work in a specific niche with limited opportunity in your area, the other business owners in your city should know who you are and should know what you do. Make yourself known by attending local networking events and other business owner meetings in your area.

Networking groups like BNI and Master Networks are always open to new recruits, and you can usually attend a meeting for free. One meeting is all it takes to introduce yourself to a table full of people. Don’t pay to join one of these groups unless it’s clear there are a lot of people in the group who might need your services. 

You can join your local chamber of commerce for a fee, which gives you even more access to other members. Don’t expect any clients to fall into your lap simply by joining. You need to join AND THEN put in the work of meeting people. Your chamber of commerce will also have free events you can attend, so it’s best to start there. 

There are other gatherings you can attend, such as One Million Cups, or random get-togethers hosted by someone on meetup.com. Be on the lookout for events in your area that are being marketed to business owners. 

Pro & Cons

By being local, you have an advantage over every marketer who is trying to help them from a distance. Plus, you live near these people and you should get out of the house once in a while anyway. A benefit of the paid groups is people do have to pay to be in them, so you will find people with money who invest in their growth.

But the disadvantages is that actually a small percentage of people at any local business owner meeting will actually make good clients. Many of them are there for the same reason you are - trying to get clients for themselves.

Luckily, most of the client-seekers at these meetings are bankers, insurance people, and realtors...you won’t run into other marketers too often. Another big con (for me, at least): you have to talk and be nice to people. 

Tips:

Don’t be pitchy or talk about yourself much at all. Just like if you’re on a first date, you should get the other people talking about themselves as much as possible.

When it comes time to talk about what you do, it should be done so begrudgingly - like you’re almost embarrassed to talk about yourself at all (while still confident about what you’re saying).

If someone is truly interested they will force you to open up, but they won’t be interested if they feel like they are being sold to from the start of your conversation.

15. DO WORK ON FREELANCING WEBSITES 

A lot of potential clients turn to sites like Upwork.com, Fiverr.com, and Freelancer.com when they need help with their marketing. They post projects, or they seek out freelancers who are offering specific services.

Pro & Cons

There’s a lot of advantages to this. These sites have a low barrier to entry - anyone can post a profile and apply to be hired for projects. Often, the customers do not expect the work to be perfect, so it can be a great place to earn while you learn.

But, when expectations are low, price is also low. You will often be in a bidding war with other freelancers to see who will do a job for the least amount of compensation. It can also be difficult to get your first few jobs if you haven’t been reviewed yet.

Additionally, expect to sift through a lot of jobs and a lot of prospects before finding the select few that will be worth your time. 

Tips:

Do not send template responses when applying for gigs or you will be ignored. Instead, make sure you understand what the prospect needs and provide some details on how you will specifically meet his needs.

If you don’t have any reviews yet, explain that you would normally charge more but you are submitting a low bid because you are working on building up some reviews.

Do not underprice yourself (especially once you have some good reviews). The cheapest freelancers and the most expensive freelancers usually get ignored. You want to be somewhere in the middle, at a price that makes sense for the value you provide. 

EXAMPLE 
Several years ago I used to get a lot of clients by offering gigs on Fiverr. I’ve even done some Fiverr jobs fairly recently for past customers who reached out to me. 

I started on Fiverr with a $5 gig...I was building entire campaigns for people for $5 (minus $1 that went to Fiverr)

Obviously I was not making money doing this, but I was focusing on delivering value, getting reviews, and eventually started charging enough that building the campaigns was worth my time.  

The main thing I focused on was getting clients for ongoing management services. I still have some of those clients to this day, but I eventually stopped Fiverr. Even though I had a team responding to the messages and helping with 80% of the campaign setup work, it became a low-value use of my time.  

The biggest problem is that EVERYONE wants and expects your help (you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince). The percentage of customers who became clients was very low (it's a big jump to go from a $100 gig to a $2,000/mo management plan).

I believe freelancing sites can help you get experience and clients if you have the time, but they are something you can and should graduate from.

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