Getting clients is hard, and getting quality clients is even harder. That’s why we reached out to some social media industry leaders to figure out how their agencies create relationships and what their customer acquisition strategy is.

We asked: What has been the best way for your agency to find clients?

Here’s what they said.

Power up your workday Reach your goals faster with time tracking and work management. Get free demo

Jim Tobin, President at Ignite Social Media

Ignite Social Media offers full-service social media management, strategic planning, analytics and more. They claim to turn social marketing on its head every day, and with clients like Ziploc, Warner Brothers, Walgreens, Nike, The Body Shop and more, that isn’t hard to believe. Ignite Social Media is 100% focused on social marketing and have awesome case studies involving Windows Live, FIAT, and Samsung Visual Display.

Ignite Social Media is over 8 years old and we’ve never had a salesperson. Virtually all of our leads are from inbound marketing, including an extensive blogging program that has helped us with search engine optimization since day 1. Now that we’re older, of course, the other primary method of getting clients is through word of mouth and referrals from current and past clients and even past employees.

Sherman Lee, Co-Founder and CEO at Good Audience

Good Audience is a social media agency that pairs you with dedicated marketing assistants who takes care of your story telling, audience growth, traffic, and ROI. They’ve worked with Kettle Brand chips, Import.io and more. All of the Good Audience founders come from impressive social media backgrounds, boasting follower growth in the millions for Yahoo! and Blogger, among others.

Social media. It’s where everyone is hanging out and you can literally talk to them instantly. I don’t think there’s another channel that allows that besides cold calling. And you know how people hate it when you call them out of nowhere =)

Tania Nikitenko, Founder at TrueSocialMetrics

True Social Metrics isn’t a social media agency, but they are a valuable player in the industry. Their tool allows social media agencies to gain actionable insight into their social performance, analytics and ROI. Their software shows Conversation / Amplification / Applause rates, top performing content, the most authoritative influencers, and allows you to compare your social media profiles with competitors, analyze their posting strategy, social media campaigns, followers and learn their best practices.

Referrals and endorsement from industry leaders, mentions on conferences and meetups, social media. All this is backed up by Adwords remarketing, newsletters, paid advertising, content marketing etc. There’s a rule of 7 touchpoints: a potential customer touches base with your brand on average 7 times through different channels until she becomes your customer. That’s why you can’t rely on just one channel to acquire visitors, back them up by a diversified pack of channels.

Ian Mackie, Director of Social Media Advertising at Point It

Point It is a 33-person digital marketing agency that specializes in Paid Search Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Display, Paid Social Advertising and Website Development. They were on Puget Sound Business Journal’s 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies and Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America five years in a row and were featured on MarketingNW for their article on the ABC’s of B2B Social Media.

First and foremost, we start with our existing SEM clients, where we’ve already built the trust needed to show them the value of paid social. Outside of that, we have a fabulous marketing team that is constantly publishing new content related to social ads (webinars, whitepapers, etc.) to help fill the funnel. Attending and speaking at conferences are another great way to network and meet potential clients.

Mojca Marš, Founder at Super Spicy Media

Super Spicy Media is a social media marketing agency that aims to help software companies, consultants and online product creators manage their social media, generate new leads and increase sales so they can invest their time in other aspects of their business. It was founded by Mojca after she lost her previous job at an advertising agency, and within the first year of business, she doubled her income.

Learn more about how Mojca finds high-quality clients using social media in our Agency Advantage Podcast.

Actively looking for clients took up a lot of my time. After realizing that, I built a system for attracting clients as opposed to getting out and finding them.

There are 3 different channels that attract most clients for Super Spicy Media — social media (especially Twitter), my recent book and referrals.

I built a solid presence on Twitter that has proven to be an excellent stream of good clients and additional income. I used authority-building and personal brand to get me where I am today.

My recent book just consolidated that authority and brought even more people my way. Book sales are also enabling me to grow a list of people I can use for launching future products or services.

Last but not least, referrals have always been the easiest way of getting new clients. I try to connect and give value to as many people as possible. I want to become their go-to social media source for them which inevitably leads to more referrals and clients.

Rachel LaBerge, Operations Manager at Socially Smitten

Socially Smitten is a social media agency that offers social consulting, management, advertising, design and more. Their parent company, Smitten Media, also offers web development, design, SEO and other marketing services. Socially Smitten provides potential clients with a free quote to ensure social media is a good fit for their business, and that they can get an ROI.

The best and most efficient way for our agency to find clients has been through word-of-mouth referrals. People notice a job well done, and in a world full of endless options a personal referral holds a lot of sway. There are more and more companies offering social media services and we stand out from the crowd because we focus on quality. Our goal is to create value for our clients. We do this by staying tuned-in to how their goals coincide with both current trends and proven techniques, capitalizing on our team’s creativity and expertise. As we evolve and grow as a company we will continue to rely on word-of-mouth referrals to spread the love. We take pride in what we create and work hard to ensure captivating and successful campaigns for our clients.

Courtney Spritzer, COO & Co-Founder at Socialfly

Socialfly is a full-service social marketing agency that specializes in social PR. Co-founders Stephanie Abrams and Courtney Spritzer work with influential bloggers to help promote client’s brands, and also offer creative services and consulting. Socialfly has been featured in Bloomberg, Arise Entertainment and Social Media Today, and the two co-founders authored a book on social media titled Like, Love, Follow.

We are always networking. We go to industry events and conferences to meet new people. We also do our own social media to help us attract new clients and create buzz for our firm. This has helped us become very visible online for terms like “social media agency”. Many of our leads come from inquiries through our website.

What did we miss?

Do you work with an agency or have clients of your own? Share how you get clients in the comments below or feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Finally, a big “Thank you!” to all the agencies that shared their customer acquisition strategy and all of you who took the time to read this post!