How to Get SEO Clients for Your Digital Marketing Agency

Do you run a digital marketing agency? If you do, you’re probably well aware of how to generate leads for other businesses, but what about your own? 

From zeroing in on your ideal customer persona to creating compelling content, we’ll guide you through how to get SEO clients for your digital marketing agency.

Plus, get insight into why it’s beneficial to highlight your AI policies to prospective clients.

Define Your Ideal Client and Your Niche

The first step in getting SEO clients for your digital marketing agency is to know who you’re targeting. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, it’s best to choose a specific niche to focus on.

Example: If you handle SEO for dentists, take time to understand the specific challenges dentists face when optimizing their websites to generate new leads. Then, consider the unique offerings of your type of marketing agency and how your services can help. 

Backlinko notes that specializing helps you stand out in a more crowded and competitive marketplace. Tailoring your messaging to precise client segments also helps deliver targeted solutions and build a portfolio that attracts new customers. 

To best figure out the type of niche your digital agency serves: 

• Think about the areas where you have prior experience or expertise. Consider areas where you uniquely understand a specific business model or challenges that model might run into when it comes to digital marketing 
• Look for specific industries where there’s a high demand for SEO vendors or services but relatively few companies operating in that space.
• Create detailed personas of the clients you’re looking to attract. Include things like their challenges, goals, and how they approach decision-making.
• Consider whether your ideal client needs a B2B marketing agency (business-to-business) or a B2C marketing agency (business-to-consumer).

Showcase Results With Case Studies

Creating case studies is a powerful way to give potential clients tangible proof of the results your digital marketing agency generates. It demonstrates to clients why it’s beneficial to consider hiring a marketing agency.

The best case studies include: 

• An introduction about the client, who they are, what industry they serve and what challenges they were facing before they hired your company
• Then, dive deeper and focus on specific challenges with regard to SEO. Consider aspects like low organic traffic, difficulties with keyword research, or a lack of traffic from paid ads.
• Which strategies did your agency use to solve the issues? This could include content strategy, technical SEO fixes, backlink-building or all of the above. Go into detail on how you were able to solve their problem. 
• Show the results, like an increase in organic traffic or better keyword rankings.

Use Your Own SEO Strategies

Your digital agency should reflect the type of SEO results you’re able to deliver to other clients. That means optimizing your site with the same care and attention that you would give to a client. Not only will this help you attract leads, but it will also showcase what you’re capable of. 

For digital marketing agencies looking to increase leads, this means targeting the right keywords, crafting engaging content, and taking into consideration on-page and off-page SEO factors. Basically, treat your company as if you were a client! 

Offer an SEO audit to prospective clients

Along the same lines as showcasing your SEO prowess is offering to show clients what kind of results you can generate for them. 

One of the best ways to do this is by offering an SEO audit. An SEO audit is a fantastic lead magnet because many prospective clients who need your services know they need to rank better in the search engines, but aren’t sure where to begin. 

By offering an introductory audit, you can give them specific areas for improvement and naturally mention how your services can help. 

Run Paid Ads to Reach Business Owners

A great way to get your website in front of more SEO clients is to run paid ads. Using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or LinkedIn Ads puts your business front and center on the screens of people who are actively searching for what you have to offer.

All of these ad platforms let you precisely segment and specify your target audience, so if you’re looking to offer “SEO for dentists in [location],” you can target just those dentists in that locale. 

Keep in mind that all three platforms have very different approaches and very different audiences that they attract. 

• Facebook, for instance, is a more social network.
• LinkedIn targets business professionals.
• Google Ads users could be anywhere on the sales funnel spectrum, from being aware that they need SEO help, to searching for specific local SEO services. 

Work With Complementary Businesses

Building relationships with other businesses in your industry is a fantastic way to reach more SEO clients for your digital agency. 

Many digital marketing agencies partner with similar (but not directly competitive) businesses to broaden their range of services. 

Digital marketing companies that specialize in SEO often work with:

• Web designers
• E-commerce companies
• Business coaches
• Social media marketers
• Freelance writers

To help increase the number of qualified leads for your digital marketing agency, it’s a good idea to reach out to local companies in these areas to see how you might be able to work together and generate business for each other from your current and future client roster. 

Position Yourself as a Thought Leader

Content marketing is an excellent way to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. 

By optimizing your content to connect with the most targeted individuals possible, you greatly increase the odds that they’ll reach out and want to work with you. 

Take the time to regularly post blogs and guides on your own site. This helps you quickly build up a library or content cluster of very targeted articles (for example, specializing in SEO for dentists) to establish yourself as an authority in your chosen niche. 

Then, get the word out about your fantastic content:

• Take the time to write guest posts for industry-leading blogs or other publications.
• Offer a free webinar presentation or video that aligns with your content.
• Share your high-quality content on social media.

Overall, using your specialized industry knowledge, experience, and expertise to create content that shows that you know what you’re talking about and can attract new leads or interested prospects. 

Highlight Your AI Policies With Transparency

Some of the most common questions that pop up for prospective SEO clients when it comes to hiring a digital marketing agency are: 

• Do digital marketing agencies use AI? 
• If AI is part of their services, how is it used?

AI is rising in Google search results, so creating a clear AI policy about how your company approaches AI can make you stand out from the competition. If you scan content for your digital marketing or SEO services with an AI Site Scanner or AI Content Detector, let clients know so they can be confident in the authenticity of what they are publishing.

Final Thoughts

The bottom line on getting SEO clients for your digital marketing agency or handling lead generation is to showcase your expertise in every way possible. 

That means:

• Using your SEO knowledge on your own site.
• Showcasing results via client case studies.
• Creating actionable content that makes people want to reach out to you for more information.
• Working alongside complementary companies to offer value-added services. 

By following these tips, not only will you be able to gradually position yourself as a recognized authority in your chosen niche, but you’ll also be well on your way to improving your website’s position in the search engine results pages with listings and ads that are designed to attract and retain more of your ideal clients.