Cold Outreach Isn’t Working For Agencies and What To Do Instead

As an agency owner, you probably fall victim to cold outreach all the time. A lot of times, it’s for apps and tools. But do these emails resonate with you? Probably not. So why would cold emails and calls work for your agency?

In the last few years, a lot of tools and apps have entered the market that makes it super easy to get people’s contact information. This ease of contacting each other has killed cold outreach. It’s just too saturated.

Not to worry, there are stronger strategies than cold outreach, and once you understand the modern-day brand that is looking for agency support, your agency will be unstoppable. Ready to transform growth at your agency? I sure hope so because I wrote this post just for you.

Why is Cold Outreach Not Working For My Agency Anymore?

There are two reasons why cold outreach isn’t very effective anymore.

First, businesses are inundated with calls and emails from companies they’ve never even heard of.

The second is that consumers have evolved and want to be self-sufficient and find information about agency partners independently. There is an odd sense of accomplishment when a business researches agencies and finds one on its own. The thing is, cold outreach is the opposite of this new normal type of purchasing behavior.

At the end of the day, businesses don’t want to hear from you. They want to hear about you. This means that it is your job to get the right information in front of the right people at the right time.

There is a Need to Revamp Lead Gen

Once you decide to drop cold calls and emails, you need to be prepared with new ways to bring in leads.

The fact of the matter is that when a potential client finds your agency and your lead magnets, they feel more educated. And when they choose to download your resource or sign up for your newsletter, they are showing an affinity for your agency.

From there, you need to implement a smart email marketing sequence to nurture and, fingers crossed, convert.

And then there is the whole issue with cold outreach that you have to first sell the need for your agency, and then when you have a business’s attention, you have to sell your service. This leads to a really long sales cycle, and who wants that?

The goal is for qualified leads to come to your agency through modern-day agency promotion strategies that feel authentic.

6 Strategies to Implement to Replace Cold Outreach

Out with the old and in with the new. Here are the most successful inbound strategies that I’ve implemented for my agency clients. The key to these strategies is that they all represent thought leadership and give your agency a ton of credibility. The type of credibility that makes people take notice.

Lead magnets: Lead magnets tout an enticing topic in which a qualified prospect shares their email address for your agency’s resource. Usually, these are in the form of industry reports, eBooks, webinars, etc. The key is to be strategic with your topic so that whoever fills out your lead capture form shows an affinity for your agency’s services. After someone fills out your form, it’s crucial that you have a lead nurturing sequence via your marketing automation tool to nurture the prospects who shared their information with the goal of converting them into a client.

Guest posting: Spend some time analyzing your current clients. Really get a feel for their pain points and how your agency speaks to such pain points. Utilize what you know about your current clients to appeal to new clients for your agency. Once you know which topics are going to resonate with your target audience, you can start reaching out to like-minded publications.

Nurturing contacts: Remember, this is a post about non-outbound strategies. So, you won’t do cold email outreach, but email marketing is still vital. Your job should be to nurture the contacts you have with thought leadership strategically. When email marketing is implemented well, it actually has an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent.

Improve your SEO: I love SEO because once it’s implemented, optimized, and kept up to date, it’s one of those strategies that works in the background. By improving your SEO, you are increasing the amount of organic traffic to your website. And remember, we are all about organic leads and helping your target audience research and come to your agency on their own.

Network at events: As humans have been facing a pandemic for years now, face time, when appropriate, is still the strongest way for agencies to land new clients. Businesses don’t just want professional services; they also want a humanized connection with their agency partners. So, research some conferences to go to that your target audience would attend. And if you really want to land more clients, land a speaking opportunity at these conferences.

Join online communities: When you can’t network in person, online communities can be very helpful when landing new clients. There are plenty of LinkedIn groups you can join. Since we’re cleansing ourselves of cold outreach, don’t spam your online communities. Engage, ask questions, provide thoughtful resources, and simply promote your thought leadership without making it sound like a sales pitch.

Final Thoughts: I’m Ready to Try New Tactics For Lead Gen 

As an agency owner, balancing promoting your agency while still doing awesome work for your clients can be tedious. That is exactly why I created The Campfire Circle, an agency for agencies. So, if you are replacing cold outreach with the organic inbound strategies I’ve outlined, contact me here, and we can talk about scaling your agency.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but these organic strategies are much more fun and creative than cold outreach. I think once you see the impact of this type of lead gen, you will be hooked.

What do you think about replacing cold outreach with more authentic strategies to generate leads? I’d love to read your insights in the comments below!