What's up brand builders Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in
this video you're going to learn eight lead generation strategies for your creative agency
so you can stop worrying about where your next lead is coming from
and design a conveyor belt of qualified leads all with a budget for your services
now if you're new to the channel and you want to build brands that go beyond the visuals and
the logo using strategy psychology and creative thinking then you're in the right place hit that
subscribe button and the notification bell if you want to fast track your results make sure
you grab the pro brand strategy blueprint to free download and the link is in the description now
the most frequently asked questions that i get are in and around lead generation and sales because
yeah i get it i mean i was a freelancer for years and i remember i didn't know where my
next lead was coming from i didn't really have a strategy other than to wait around for referrals
which wasn't really a strategy so when i began to start experimenting with ways that i could bring
leads into my business i found out what worked and what didn't so in this video i want to give
you eight strategies that you can take into your own creative agency so you can start generating
leads for your business and stop worrying about where your next lead is coming from strategy
number one incentivize your visitors now when your visitors come to your website it's not enough just
to give them information yes you need to tell them very quickly what you're going to do for them how
you're going to do it but that information is not enough you need to incentivize them to take some
kind of next step now if all you have is your core offer there if all you have is your 10 000 or 20
000 product or service then that's not enough for somebody to take action coming to your website you
need to incentivize them with some kind of next step that will get them into your business so an
example here might be a brand audit or a brand consultation strategy number two get creative
with your forms now chances are if you have a website you have some kind of lead capture form or
you have some kind of inquiry form now i've seen forms that are as long as 30 questions and they
asked their audience they asked their visitors to fill out 30 questions to make an inquiry now that
is the quickest way to scare your leads off that is the quickest way to get no leads now
if you just have a simple form with a handful of questions even that is not good enough you
can get creative with your forms today you can make them very easy and very intuitive to use
and quite creative that you can lead your visitors along one question at a time towards whatever it
is that you're offering towards that inquiry so scrap the old inquiry forms don't make them 30
questions long and get creative with them strategy number three speak at small industry events
now i remember seeing advice like this when i was younger on my career and i used to go along to
small business events and there were tons of other designers and branding specialists and marketers
they're all singing the same tune but here i'm talking about going to industry specific events
and you really need to be positioned effectively here for this you really need to be positioned
within whatever niche that you're trying to target and you need to have your messaging dialed in you
need to understand their industry now if you go along to a small business event offering creative
services to small businesses then that's not enough your your language is not dialed in
enough you're speaking too broadly you're speaking in generic terms but if you are dialed in in terms
of your positioning if your messaging is dialed in if you take that know-how and that knowledge
to industry specific events you will be the only branding strategist there giving them information
and giving them value about how they can brand their businesses so think about the industry
that you're serving think about the events that they have and go along and speak at those events
strategy number four give them something actionable now chances are when a visitor comes to
your website they have a problem now this problem could be that they need a new website or they need
a brand identity or a brand strategy they might need seo or facebook ads but whatever they're
coming to your website for they have a problem and if you understand what those problems are and you
understand all of the questions in and around those problems then you can create a document
that will answer all of those questions for them and that document will be valuable to them because
it will answer those questions it will fill in the gaps it will fill in the blanks and it will give
them the information that they're looking for now in exchange for this document you are going to get
their email address so not only are you giving them value here not only are you earning trust
you're getting the ability to follow up with them via email strategy number five use automated email
to warn your clients now without a doubt automated email is one of the most effective ways to turn
a cold lead into a hot lead and you do this by giving them value you do this by educating them
and addressing the challenges that they have addressing the pain points that they
have acknowledging the outcome that they're trying to achieve and what they need to do
to get there this is a very very effective way to give that information to earn that trust to stay
top of mind it kills so many birds with one stone through email automation and it warms your clients
throughout that process so really take the time to put together a sequence that will bring your
clients along that will educate them that will give them that value and that will warn them to
your offer when it comes strategy number six go in gently now just because you have earned a little
bit of trust with your lead just because they know who you are they have that brand awareness they've
seen your name around a few times they've had a few emails in their inbox from you it doesn't
mean that they're ready to jump into bed with you straight away your core offer might be 10
20 30 000 and just a few emails and a few touch points is not going to make them ready enough to
be able to spend that kind of money with you you need to give them a low commitment offer first you
need to have a low commitment transaction first and foremost to give them a taste
of what you're like to give them a taste of how you work and whether or not you're good
for your word and you deliver on what you say you can deliver if you do if you deliver on that core
on that micro offer if you deliver on that upfront lower commitment offer and they feel that they got
value from that outcome then they'll be ready to take you up on your core offers so go in gently
with a low commitment offer with a low cost offer and then over deliver on that and get them ready
for your core offer strategy number seven build your referral network now when you do niche down
when you do position yourself effectively chances are you're not going to be a jack
of all trades you certainly shouldn't be a jack of all trades so therefore you're not going to be
doing content marketing and seo and facebook ads and brand identity and brand strategy and web
development you're not going to be doing all of those things but all of these businesses and all
of these executioners that do this kind of work are doing this work for the same type of audience
that you have so you need to build up a referral network and that's a two-way street
so when somebody comes to you and they're looking for a certain type of service and you don't
deliver that service it's better to have somebody to refer them to rather than just close the door
on that relationship in turn if they do go to your referral network that's a chance for you
to earn more revenue through a referral fee or whatever agreement that you have set up and on the
flip side of that you get more referrals through that referral network if somebody goes to them
looking for a brand identity or brand strategy and that's not their core offer then they can
refer them to you so it is a two-way street and it's a great way to get leads and strategy number
eight create advocates now once you start getting those leads through those leads turn into clients
those clients turn into revenue and that completes the circle however you can keep that circle going
by making sure that you over deliver with your clients making sure that they walk away feeling
that the experience that they got that the outcome that they got through your brand was above and
beyond what they thought they were going to get you should treat every single client like they are
going to go away with a megaphone and speak to the world about your business and your brand and if
you do that you will create advocates in waiting if you then incentivize them to go out and speak
about your business that will turn into leads now there's no denying that the idea of getting
new leads and trying to go out there into a cold market and sell yourself is a little bit daunting
but it's easier than you think with inbound marketing today with email automation with the
amount of things that you can do online to get the attention of your audience to give them value and
to warm and nurture them before putting your core offer in front of them it's a lot easier than you
think you just need to identify the strategy that suits you that suits your business and then commit
to it and that commitment will turn into leads and sales and when you do and when those sales and
those leads start coming through you'll need to start thinking about growth and sales this video
will show you what you need to be thinking about and what actions you need to take in order to
grow and scale your agency until next time brand like a master and i'll see you in the next video
you