My Secret Sauce For Agencies: Lead Magnets

I live and breathe agency life, and I feel vulnerable today so I am going to share my secret on how I generate leads for my agency clients.

As the owner of The Campfire Circle, an agency that grows agencies, I’ve developed an organic lead gen approach that works WAY better than cold outreach for agencies.

If you’re ready to grow your agency with qualified leads, then you’re going to love what I have to say. Of course, it’s my wish that you hire me for lead magnets as they are my most popular service. But, if you have the time to do them in-house, I am about to reveal my approach.

Whether you’re a client of mine or not, I want you to have the tools to make your agency successful. 

What Is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is simply a landing page containing something of value in which people will provide their email address for your asset.

Lead magnets can be a couple of things:

• An eBook

• An industry report

• A webinar

• A white paper

• A worksheet

• A newsletter

• A video tutorial

• An email series/course

The key is that your lead magnet should be your “hub” for all of your lead gen efforts for 3 months. That means your agency should publish one lead magnet per quarter.

Being Strategic With Your Theme is Crucial

Regardless of the form, the theme of your lead magnet needs to be strategic. This means that, by filling in the lead capture form for your resource, they’re showing an affinity with your agency’s services.

Embrace the niche that your agency has, and create a lead magnet around that. It will convey expertise to the brands you are targeting. 

Industry Reports Make the Best Lead Magnets

I’ve been leveraging lead magnets for over a decade. The ones that perform the best, in my experience, are lead magnets in the form of industry reports.

For industry reports, first, decide if you want to publish data about the industries or services your agency does well with and survey experts to gather your own data. Or, you can do your target audience’s target audience. I know that sounds confusing, so here are examples:

• This industry report is a good example of surveying experts in a service and publishing a report on it

• This industry report is a good example of surveying a target audience’s target audience as this report was for an agency that specialized in the pest control industry

Wondering how to gather the data? I use PollFish. Be sure to use an identifying question to qualify the 300 people who fill out your survey. And budget for about $600 for them to get the right people to take your survey.

My theory is that new data is easy to promote. Not to mention, publishing your own data does wonders for thought leadership. 

Tips For Promoting Your Lead Magnets

So, you’re ready to ditch cold outreach and gain more qualified leads via lead magnets. But that’s not enough. You need to get visibility on the lead magnet you worked so hard on.

Publish one lead magnet per quarter to keep your funnel full and promote it like crazy each quarter. Here are some tips to promote your lead magnet:

• Organic social media posts

• Paid social media posts

• Email lists you have

• Sponsoring a newsletter or email blast for a publication your target audience follows

• Guest posing on high-profile publications

• Connecting with industry thought leaders and asking them to share your lead magnet

• Ask your current clients to share it with their own audiences

The Key Is The Nurturing Sequence

Just because someone downloads or signs up for your lead magnet, they won’t become a client without a bit of nudging.

Create a lead nurturing sequence in your email marketing platform for everyone who signs up for your lead magnet. 

My process is to send 3 thought leadership emails after they download the report. Then, the 4th email invites them to book a meeting with you as you’ve established trust and credibility with your previous emails.

Final Thoughts: I Want a Lead Magnet!

I just spilled the secret process that is my most popular service for my agency clients. I feel I’ve equipped you with everything you need to know to produce a lead magnet for your agency.

As you can imagine, a lot of time and strategy goes into creating a lead magnet and promoting it. Often, agency owners are busy with client work and don’t have time to execute strategies that grow their agencies, and if that sounds like you, you can contact me here. 

Does your agency leverage lead magnets? I’d love to read all about your experience using this powerful lead gen strategy in the comments below!