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Market research is a big part of the digital marketing industry. With so many systems and approaches available, many businesses are increasingly turning to specialists for their lead generation and conversion needs. If you have a deep understanding of what motivates people to buy a product or service, 2024 is a great year to learn how to start a lead generation agency.
In this article, we’ll cover:
- Defining a niche for your lead generation agency
- How to start a lead generation agency and avoid legal headaches
- Finding clients for your lead generation agency
- How to manage your lead generation agency with Slam’s Notion HQ
- Handling the kick-off call for your lead generation agency
- How to start a lead generation agency and build your online presence
- How to start a lead generation agency with Slam templates and tools
We’re Slam Media Lab, a B2B website design and marketing agency with 10+ years of experience helping small businesses, nonprofits, and corporations crush their digital marketing goals. We’ve spent over 100 hours documenting our agency processes (onboarding, sales, etc) over the years, and now we’re making them available to founders like you.
That's why we decided to launch an in-depth instruction from our founder and CEO Silvia Li Sam on How to Start an Agency.
This masterclass covers everything from what it takes to scale a million dollar agency. You can watch the full trailer:
If you're ready to crush it, we're offering 75% off to the first 10 people reading this guide using code AGENCY100. Use this link.
In the meantime, this article will share links to several templates and digital tools designed to help you launch and manage a lead generation agency.
How to Start a Lead Generation Agency and Define Your Niche
Lead generation is an art based on specificity, not random selection. To develop advertising strategies and tailor them to an audience’s needs, you’ll first need to pinpoint your target market.
At Slam, we recommend following a 6-step process for picking and developing a niche:
- Write down 20-30 niches you can think of
- Dive deeper and be specific
- Narrow it down and do some research
- Perform in-depth market research on your narrowed-down topics
- Figure out if your niche is spending money
- Determine your niche’s problems, desires, and questions
Whether defining a niche for your lead generation agency or a client’s target audience, these six steps will put you on the right track.
If you need more help with this topic, our How to Start an Agency masterclass offers a thorough primer on choosing a niche for your agency.
How to Start a Lead Generation Agency and Avoid Legal Headaches
Lead generation involves gathering and closely examining user data. If you’re figuring out how to start a lead generation agency, understanding your legal obligations is crucial – especially if you’d rather avoid fines and sanctions down the line.
In this section, we’ll cover:
- Business setup and registration
- Privacy protections
- Anti-spam legislation
We’ll also recommend some tools and services you can use to simplify your registration and HR processes. However, it’s important to always discuss your business’s legal setup with an accountant and lawyer before going anywhere near user data!
Setup & Registration
Defining your agency’s legal structure is the first step to setting up and registering your business. Are you going to be an LLC or an S-Corp? Each category has a different ownership structure and tax obligations, so it’s a good idea to consult with an accountant before making a decision.
With your business structure confirmed, it’s time to register your agency. You can use Stripe Atlas for this. We recommend registering in Delaware to take advantage of the state’s flexible corporate laws and favorable tax environment.
Keep in mind that if you’re doing business in a different state from the one where you registered, you may need to work with a registered agent to keep everything above board.
Privacy Protections
As a lead generation agency, you’ll be collecting and analyzing lots of consumer data. To stay on the right side of the law, you’ll need a clear understanding of your obligations when it comes to:
- Data collection
- Data handling
- Data storage
For example, as a design agency based in San Francisco, we often collect personal information from California residents. That means we’re required to adhere to the rules outlined in the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Another data protection law to know about is the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. This legislation imposes obligations on any organization targeting or collecting data related to people in the European Union, so you need to be aware of it even if you aren’t based in Europe.
Anti-Spam Legislation
Email communications and campaigns are a big part of running a lead generation agency. Understanding anti-spam legislation is a requirement if you want to avoid substantial fines and other legal consequences. These laws dictate:
- Explicit consent for email communications
- Clear identification of senders
- Opt-out mechanisms
If you’re based in the United States, you’re required to follow the stipulations outlined in the CAN-SPAM Act. In Canada, there’s a similar law called the CASL.
Regardless of where your agency is based, understanding and adhering to anti-spam laws will protect you from legal consequences while ensuring ethical and responsible business practices.
How to Start a Lead Generation Agency and Find Clients
If you found this article, you’re probably wondering how to start a lead generation agency. A more important question to ask yourself is, how do I make money with a lead generation agency?
The answer is simple: to make money, you need to find and retain paying clients!
Easier said than done, you may be thinking – and you wouldn’t be wrong. In this section, we’ll cover two important aspects of finding clients for your lead generation agency:
- The proposal
- The offer
A proactive approach is crucial to finding, pitching, and closing clients. It takes hard work and tenacity, especially in the beginning, but keep at it and before long you’ll have a strong market presence for your brand.
For more on finding clients to pitch your proposal and offer, check out our How to Start an Agency masterclass.
Writing a Proposal
A great proposal contains the following key parts:
- A memorable introduction
- Details about your services and experience
- Transparent pricing
- Timeline for deliverables
- A strong call to action
Digital marketing is a competitive industry, and it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. A great proposal is the best way to make potential clients notice you, so please take it seriously!
If you’re fighting writer’s block and don’t know where to begin, check out our Marketing Proposal Template.
Crafting an Offer
The proposal starts a conversation, which (hopefully) leads to an offer.
To design a winning offer that will convince clients you have what it takes to deliver results, we recommend following these five steps:
- Define your prototype client
- Develop a tailored solution to their problem
- Demonstrate expected outcomes
- Offer a unique element that sets your service apart
- Communicate your unique value
We show you exactly how to craft the perfect offer in our How to Start an Agency masterclass.
How to Start a Lead Generation Agency and Build Your Online Presence
Whether you’re an established agency or just getting started, building an online presence is an important part of connecting with clients. Positioning yourself as a credible agency with happy clients and supporters does wonders for your reputation and ability to land contracts.
In this section, we’ll discuss three important aspects of building your online presence:
- Brand identity
- SEO techniques
- Social media marketing
Simply put: a strong online presence builds brand recognition and makes people trust you. When figuring out how to start a lead generation agency, your online presence is non-negotiable.
Brand Identity
Your agency’s brand strategy and identity are so much more than just a logo and some colorful banners. In our experience, branding is more like a language. When done right, it communicates what your agency is all about without using words or lengthy explanations.
Brand identity includes things like:
- Art direction
- Illustration and motion
- Graphic design
- Email design
- …and more!
From the colors you choose to the way you incorporate animations into your website, brand identity sets the tone for how you interact with clients and what they can expect from you.
SEO Techniques
Are you looking for innovative ways to find clients for your lead generation agency? In addition to leveraging your network and responding to agency RFPs on job boards, you should also consider using SEO to generate organic traffic for your agency’s website.
SEO, or search engine optimization, involves using a variety of technical and content-focused techniques to boost your website’s rankings in search engines like Google, Bing, etc.
The harsh reality of digital marketing is that, without a strong SEO strategy, most people will never find or engage with the content you put out into the world.
Here are some Slam-created products to simplify your lead generation agency’s SEO:
In addition to our templates, it’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with popular SEO agency reporting software – especially for your agency client reporting.
Here are a few examples of software we use at Slam:
SEO is a complex topic that’s impossible to fully cover in this article. To learn more – including the differences between technical and on-page SEO – check out our How to Start an Agency masterclass.
Social Media Marketing
It’s 2024, and your lead generation agency needs to be on social media, period.
This isn’t a bad thing – quite the opposite! Nowadays, social media platforms offer suites of professional marketing tools designed to help brands connect with target audiences around the globe.
These three social media platforms are great for lead generation and marketing:
At Slam, we’ve managed hundreds of social media marketing campaigns over the years. To make our lives easier, we created templates for planning and tracking content:
- TikTok Content Planner
- TikTok Script Template
- Airtable Content Calendar
- Instagram Story Template for Figma
- Notion Content Creation Template [+Calendar]
And if you need to learn more about how to start a lead generation agency with social media, we’ve got you covered. In addition to our How to Start an Agency masterclass, we also offer the following courses and how-to guides:
- The Complete Guide to Instagram for Small Business
- Master TikTok for Your Nonprofit
- Small Business TikTok Strategy
With our templates and resources, plus your passion and dedication, virality is practically guaranteed. The only thing left to do is ensure your content writing and strategy are on point!
How to Start a Lead Generation Agency: The Kick-Off Call
Once you’ve landed a client, it’s time to hit the ground running with a kick-off! There are two types of kick-offs you should know about:
- Internal kick-off with your team
- External kick-off with the client
In this section, we’ll walk you through the basics of running internal and external kick-offs. For a more in-depth look at the onboarding and setup process, check out our How to Start an Agency masterclass.
Internal Kick-Off
When beginning a new project, it’s important to check in with your team and make sure everyone’s on the same page with an internal kick-off call.
Start by creating an agenda using our Meeting Notes Template. Make sure you’ve invited everyone to the kick-off, including outside contractors!
During the internal kick-off, you should walk everyone through the scope of work, discuss the timeline, and make sure deliverables are clear. You’ll also clarify roles and responsibilities, and establish the project’s primary owner.
At the end of your internal kick-off, open the floor to questions from your team. You can also run a quick brainstorming session to identify any missing pieces of information that should be added to the client’s kick-off agenda.
External Kick-Off
With your team on board and ready to go, it’s time to schedule a kick-off call with the client. This is a prime relationship-building opportunity, so make it count!
During the external kick-off, you should ask the client in-depth questions about:
- Company history and values
- Working style
- Communication preferences
- Expectations
In addition to understanding your client’s working preferences and needs, the external kick-off is your opportunity to set clear expectations for the project’s timeline, agreed-upon deliverables, and client-agency boundaries for working together.
It’s also a good idea to establish clear feedback mechanisms from the get-go. This will show the client that you care about transparency and accountability. Our Feedback Template is a great resource for this!
Once you’ve concluded the external kick-off, consider sharing meeting notes and other notable agenda items with your client using their preferred method of communication. They’ll appreciate everything you do to keep them in the loop!
How to Start a Lead Generation Agency and Manage Your Business with Slam’s Notion HQ
Even the best project can quickly fall apart without a solid project management system. From tracking deadlines to communicating with clients and team members, figuring out the operational aspects of how to start a lead generation agency should be at the top of your to-do list.
As an award-winning agency specializing in Webflow design and development, we know first-hand how many hours it takes to build effective processes for an agency. That’s why we designed and launched our Agency Workspace Template for Notion.
Created by and for founders and included in our How to Start an Agency course, Slam’s Notion HQ is guaranteed to save you time and money.
Our Agency Workspace Template for Notion includes:
- Task Management System
- Meeting Notes Tracker
- Documents Tracker with Templates
- Documentation and SOPs Hub
- Time Tracker for Billable Hours
- Client Dashboards for Sharing
- 1:1 and Performance Review Templates
- CRM for Contacts and Clients
For best results, we recommend duplicating the Workspace Template into your Notion account. With the setup legwork out of the way, you’ll free up time and resources to focus on generating great leads for your clients!
How to Start a Lead Generation Agency with Slam Templates & Tools
Are you learning how to start a lead generation agency and feeling overwhelmed by all the moving parts? We get it. As a design agency with 10+ years of experience, we know first-hand how hard it is to figure out things like setting up a business, finding clients, and managing your agency reporting.
To make things easier for new founders, we’ve built and launched a series of resources designed to save you hundreds of hours. For the record, these are the same templates and processes we use at Slam, so you know they’re proven to work.
You can access our templates and digital tools individually through our products page, or get them all for a fixed price as part of our How to Start an Agency masterclass.
Also, check out our helpful how-to guides for agency founders:
- How to Start an SEO Agency
- How to Start a Facebook Ad Agency
- How to Start a Content Writing Agency
- How to Start a Google Ads Agency
- How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency
Our blog is another great resource for keeping up with the latest industry trends. Also, subscribing to our newsletter will hook you up with helpful tips and resources delivered straight to your inbox.
If you have any questions about our products and services, contact us to start a conversation!
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