24 Ways to Grow Your Agency in 2024
I feel like I just implemented my 2023 growth plan for my agency, and now it’s time to plan for 2024!
Right now is the ideal time to put a plan in place to attract brands while they’re making their own business decisions for 2024. Including which agency they are going to hire.
For the upcoming year, how will you approach growth at your agency? In the spirit of all things 24, this post offers 24 ways to grow your agency in 2024. Take advantage of the hyperlinks I included as they offer more details on each growth tactic.
Is Your Agency Equipped For Growth?
If your agency is at its capacity, you may need to hire more employees to align with your growth plan. You can send out a survey or meet with each employee to see if they can handle more work. If they can’t, you’ll want to hire ASAP so that your new employees are onboarded for 2024.
Consider what your agency is strongest at, albeit a service or a particular industry, and focus your growth efforts on your strengths.
Make sure you have a pulse on the health of all of your clients, including if they’re going to renew or not, so you can prepare for the year ahead.
Here are 24 Ways to Grow Your Agency in 2024
Publish your own data: By publishing your own data, you immediately become a thought leader as you are the source of the data, not someone regurgitating someone else’s data. This can be done by surveying a target audience and utilizing the data you gather for a comprehensive report.
Create a lead magnet: A lead magnet is something of value housed on a landing page with a lead capture form. This usually is an eBook or a webinar. Use your lead magnet as your “hub” for all your lead gen efforts. Things like paid social are better when they lead a potential client to your lead magnet instead of a general ad about your agency.
Embrace the power of nurturing: All of the leads you generate in 2024 should be put into a strategic lead nurturing sequence. I recommend starting them in a series of 4 emails. 3 thought leadership emails and the fourth email, once you’ve established credibility, with a CTA to book a call with you. After the initial sequence, ensure you’re dripping them content, such as blog posts because they could convert later.
Partner with thought leaders: Industry thought leaders have a large, engaged audience. If you form strategic partnerships with them, they can talk about your agency to their audience. Tap into people you already follow and ask them how you can partner with them. For my agency, I reach out to industry thought leaders and ask them if I can contribute a guest post for their blog.
Earn social proof: Social proof is one of the strongest things you can gain for your agency. The brands you are targeting want to hear from another brand like them about their experience with your agency. This can be testimonials, social media shoutouts, case studies, etc. Be sure to leverage your earned endorsements to get them in front of as many brands as possible.
Become a thought leader: Brands are willing to pay more for an agency with expertise in a particular industry or service. That means you need to showcase your expertise. Spend time on publishing on high-profile publications, posting actively on social media, hosting webinars, speaking at conferences, etc. You can read my detailed approach to thought leadership here.
Social media helps: Brands peruse an agency's social channels when they are choosing their agency. Be sure that you’re active. Not to mention, being active on social media will build an organic audience that you can engage with. Regarding paid social, my agency clients have the best luck on LinkedIn. But for paid social, leverage a lead magnet instead of a generic CTA to fill out a contact form.
A guest posting campaign: Reach out to publications that your target audience follows and ask them if you can contribute a guest post. If you have a decent portfolio, you can land a decent number of free spots. For really high-profile publications, you may have to pay a fee, but it has always been worth it in my experience.
Create better proposals: Make it a goal in 2024 to create better proposals. They should be visually appealing, contain the necessary information, and provide upfront pricing. This is your chance to emphasize your value, so include past work and testimonials from clients.
Run a blog: An agency blog does a lot. It increases SEO value, provides thought leadership, offers content you can drip to your audience, and can generate leads if you offer a subscribe button.
Embrace a niche: Since brands are willing to pay more for expertise, you can’t be an expert in every industry and in every service. In 2024, try leading with your strengths; you may find that you don’t need to cast a wide net to grow. If you need help with or want to learn more about embracing a niche, this post will help.
Implement a referral program: Many agencies report that they get the majority of their leads through referrals from happy clients. Identify your happiest clients and put them in an email list. Offer them incentives for their referrals. I do a $100 gift card if a client refers someone who books a call and a $500 gift card if they become a client. Trust me, it’s well worth the spend.
Ditch cold outreach: Cold outreach just doesn’t work like it used to. Not to mention, it contributes to a lengthy sales cycle because you first have to sell the contact on your services and then sell them on your agency. It’s a better use of your time to ditch cold outreach altogether.
Leverage LinkedIn: My clients and I get the best results on LinkedIn. In 2024, make it a goal to be more active on LinkedIn. That means posting regularly on your personal LinkedIn profile and your agency’s LinkedIn profile. Join LinkedIn groups and network virtually. The platform even has some great lead gen options if you have a budget.
Add a new service: Sometimes, changing things up at your agency can be a good thing. If you’re going to add a new service, make sure that you and your employees can execute it well. Then you’ll promote it and leverage it to upsell current clients. I wrote a complete guide on adding services at an agency, and you can check it out here.
Join directories: A lot of times, when brands are searching for an agency to hire, they go to directories of different agencies. So your first step is to list your agency in a bunch of directories and I have a huge list of them here. Once you are listed in directories, email your clients with hyperlinks to each directory page and offer them a $5 Starbucks gift card for every directory they write a review in.
Retain your current clients: Client retention is firmly rooted in providing value and strong communication. At the end of the day, your clients want to feel a connection with your agency, and if you make them feel a part of your community, they’ll be way more likely to keep hiring your agency.
Purchase the right tools: Before 2024 hits, have your tech stack lined up. This includes things like a CRM, email marketing platform, analytics, social media marketing tools, etc. Most tools ask for a year commitment, but they also offer free trials. So you have time in the rest of 2023 to take advantage of these free trials and choose your tools.
Hire the right employees: If you want to grow your clients, you will also need to grow your employees. Don’t get hung up on resumes; focus on attitude and willingness to learn. Many agencies want someone with agency experience, but I’m a fan of hiring savvy account managers who don’t have agency experience, so I can teach them my own method.
Update your website: With your website being the first impression of your agency, you can’t afford to have an outdated website. Not to mention, it needs to be SEO optimized. I advise going with a web design agency that also knows SEO. The agency world is so competitive that an updated website might make all the difference.
Respond to leads quicker: Sometimes brands fill out a lead capture form or contact form, and they’re excited to talk to you, but if you take too long to get back to them, their excitement dwindles, and so does the potential to become a client. Ensure you and your sales team have a process to respond to leads quickly.
Resurface cold leads: In my experience, I’ve had leads that I nurture for a year before they convert. Identify leads that went cold and create a strategic nurturing plan for them. It’s the perfect time to resurface old leads right now, and I recommend leveraging the angle you want to help them grow in 2024.
Tap into the clients you already have: There are various ways to leverage your clients. A few include referrals, social proof, and upselling. Your current clients should be your best friends when you go into 2024.
Gain expertise in your target audience’s target audience: The key is that brands will be searching for insights about their target audience, and if they come across your thought leadership about their audience, your agency immediately becomes more favorable in their eyes.
Solutions if You Don’t Have Time to Grow Your Agency
Obviously, you don’t have time to implement all 24 of the strategies that I listed. Start with a few that resonate with you. And don’t forget, all of your focus should be on getting the attention of brands as they’re choosing their agency partners for 2024 right now until Thanksgiving.
If you want to implement any or many of these strategies but don’t have the time to implement them, that’s where I come in. The Campfire Circle is an agency for agencies, and each of the 24 strategies that I listed, I have been doing them for over a decade. I’m super responsive and offer free advice, so just shoot me an email at kristen@thecampfirecircle.com and I’ll get back to you right away.
Out of the 24 tactics that I listed, which one do you think will be the most effective for growth at your agency in 2024? I’d love to read all about it in the comments below!
