5 Best client acquisition strategies for agencies

User acquisition strategies are the methods you use to connect with customers. They’re the actions you take to persuade a shopper that your solution is the best. Put simply, a customer acquisition process is the handful of things you do to bring in new customers.

And no, an acquisition strategy isn’t the same thing as lead generation. A customer acquisition strategy includes tactics like lead generation; the acquisition strategy is the whole while lead generation is just one of its many parts to get potential customers.

While it’s tempting to focus on product development or training your team, you always need to focus on customer acquisition. Without a solid acquisition strategy in place, you risk:

• Wasting time (and money) on the wrong marketing ideas for new customers and existing customers.
• Earning less on every customer.
• Angering your existing customers.

The stakes are high, and that’s why every business—no matter its size—needs some kind of acquisition strategy in place to get potential customers and keep existing customers.

If you don’t have a customer acquisition strategy yet, don’t worry. You can brainstorm a strategy right now to make the most out of your digital marketing efforts.

While it’s tempting to borrow someone else’s playbook, every customer acquisition strategy is different. That’s because every business is different. So, you need to fine-tune your new customer acquisition strategy based on your:

• Business goals
• Audience needs
• Product or service
• Marketing and sales budget

But you don’t need to start a user acquisition strategy from scratch. Start with these 5 ideas to create your own client acquisition strategy.

1. Define Your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) and find your target audience

Before you can attract the right clients, you need to define who they are. As an agency, client acquisition isn’t about reaching everyone—it’s about knowing exactly who benefits from your services and where to find them. Every solid customer acquisition strategy starts with an understanding of your audience. Who are you speaking to? Where do they hang out online? How do they want to hear from you?

This isn’t a fluffy exercise, either: 65% of businesses with buyer personas exceed their sales goals.

Start by clarifying:

• What problems does your agency solve?
• Who gets the most value from your services? (Industry, company size, budget, business stage)
• What makes your agency different from competitors?

Once you establish your Ideal Client Profile (ICP), you can pinpoint where they spend their time online and how they prefer to engage with agencies like yours.

For example, if your agency specializes in branding for e-commerce startups, your ideal clients are likely active on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Shopify-related communities. If you work with B2B SaaS companies, LinkedIn, Twitter, and industry Slack groups might be where they go for insights.

Rather than making assumptions, do the research:

• Analyze existing clients – What do your best clients have in common?
• Use analytics tools – Google Analytics, LinkedIn insights, and social media data can reveal key trends.
• Leverage surveys and feedback – Ask past clients how they found you and what influenced their decision.
• Monitor competitor strategies – Where do similar agencies generate leads?

By refining your ICP and focusing on where your ideal clients are most active, you’ll avoid wasted marketing efforts and connect with leads who are actually ready to buy.

2 . Focus on the right acquisition channels

With so many ways to market your agency—email, social media, paid ads, and content marketing—it’s tempting to try everything. But an effective client acquisition strategy prioritizes the channels that bring in the most high-quality leads with the least friction.

Start by analyzing your ideal client. Where do they spend time online? If you're targeting fast-growing startups, LinkedIn and outbound email sequences might be your best bet. If you’re marketing to e-commerce brands, Instagram ads and influencer collaborations could yield better results. For B2B agencies, thought leadership content on LinkedIn and SEO-optimized blog posts can establish credibility and attract inbound leads.

One of the most powerful yet often overlooked tools? Email marketing. With an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent, email remains a top performer for lead generation. With a customer relationship management (CRM) platform like Copper, agencies can automate outreach, personalize follow-ups, and nurture potential clients over time. Set up automated email sequences to keep leads engaged—whether it’s a welcome series, a case study highlight, or a gentle nudge toward booking a consultation.

And don’t forget website conversions. Use lead magnets like free audits, industry reports, or exclusive webinars to capture emails with gated content or forms. Once a lead is in your CRM, segment them based on interest and stage in the funnel. Then, send tailored content that moves them closer to signing a contract.

At the end of the day, you don’t need to be everywhere—just where your ideal clients are ready to listen.

3. Leverage content to attract clients

Want to acquire more customers without spending a lot of money? Content marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to acquire high-quality clients. A well-executed content strategy not only builds trust with potential clients but also boosts your search engine rankings, helping your agency attract inbound leads without spending heavily on paid ads.

In fact, going all-in on organic content can cut marketing costs by 41%: it can even reduce customer acquisition costs (CAC) by over 50%.

To make your content work for client acquisition, focus on SEO-driven, high-value content tailored to your ideal clients at every stage of the customer journey. Instead of creating content just for the sake of it, develop a strategy that answers your audience’s most pressing questions and positions your agency as the solution.

Optimize content for SEO and engagement

• Conduct keyword research to identify high-intent search terms related to your agency’s services.
• Write long-form blog posts optimized for search engines, covering topics like "How to Scale Your E-Commerce Brand with a Digital Marketing Agency" or "The Best Branding Strategies for Startups."
• Use video content on YouTube and LinkedIn to showcase case studies, client success stories, and actionable insights.
• Create lead magnets like free templates, reports, or guides that potential clients can download in exchange for their contact details.
• Repurpose content across multiple platforms—turn blog posts into LinkedIn carousels, infographics, or short-form TikTok and Instagram Reels.
• Build an email newsletter that nurtures leads with valuable insights and case studies, keeping your agency top of mind.

Since SEO is a long-term play, prioritize evergreen content that continues driving traffic over time. Investing in an optimized content strategy not only helps increase brand awareness but also ensures that when potential clients search for services like yours, your agency appears at the top of their search results.

4. Tap into LinkedIn and social media

Social media isn’t just for memes and cat videos—it’s a powerful tool for client acquisition if used strategically. LinkedIn, in particular, is a goldmine for B2B agencies.

Social media strategies for client acquisition:

• Engage with potential clients: Comment on posts, join discussions, and share relevant insights.
• Share valuable content: Post case studies, industry news, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of your work.
• Position yourself as a thought leader: Post unique perspectives, share industry trends, and provide solutions to common pain points. Thought leadership content can spark conversations and build credibility over time.
• Connect with decision-makers: Reach out to potential clients with personalized messages (avoid spammy pitches!).
• Run targeted ads: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram ads can help you reach your ideal clients based on job title, industry, and interests.
• Generate engagement: Ask questions, start discussions, and encourage your audience to interact with your content. The more engagement you get, the more visibility your posts will have.

5. Ask for referrals

We’ll let you in on a little secret: customer retention is part of the customer acquisition process. That’s because you’re never really done “acquiring” a customer’s business: you’re fighting for their loyalty for life.

One of the easiest ways to acquire new clients is through people who already trust you—your existing clients. If you deliver great results, word-of-mouth marketing does the heavy lifting for you. But instead of waiting for referrals to happen organically, make it part of your process.

How to get more referrals:

• Ask for them: When a project wraps up, ask happy clients if they know anyone else who could use your services. A simple follow-up email or even a LinkedIn message can go a long way.
• Offer referral incentives: One of the easiest ways to acquire new clients is through people who already trust you—your existing clients. If you deliver great results, word-of-mouth marketing does the heavy lifting for you. But instead of waiting for referrals to happen organically, make it part of your process.Give existing clients a discount, bonus service, or commission for sending new business your way. It doesn’t have to be monetary—exclusive perks or VIP treatment can be just as effective.
• Build relationships with complementary businesses: Partner with web developers, PR firms, or freelancers who can send work your way (and vice versa). Co-marketing campaigns or bundled services can also be a win-win for both sides.
• Try a referral program: Done well, referral programs are an ROI powerhouse for customer retention. Referred customers are 4X more likely to buy than non-referred customers and they have a 16% higher customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV). Referral programs are a great way to reward your loyal customers while bringing in more new customers.
  

Once you have a strategy in place, it’s a good idea to give structure to that strategy with some kind of platform. A customer relationship management (CRM) platform like Copper wrangles your sales, marketing and customer service teams into one workflow so you know your customer acquisition methods are always working.

A CRM strengthens your customer acquisition strategies by:

• Automating your business: A CRM is helpful because it helps you invest in customer relationships at scale. You can finally give your customers the engagement they expect—without the burnout.
• Measuring engagement: Are your customers actually converting? What isn’t working? Use Copper’s engagement analytics to improve your acquisition strategies over time.
• Calculating customer acquisition costs (CAC): Ideally, you want to shoot for a customer acquisition ratio that’s 3:1 ($3 generated for every $1 spent acquiring a customer). That sounds easy enough, but to calculate CAC accurately, you need a system to do the heavy lifting for your team. Copper helps businesses get a more accurate reading on their customer acquisition costs. or lead value

You can try to implement a customer acquisition strategy without a CRM, but it’s much more difficult. A CRM gives you a more holistic view of the customer journey so you can make informed marketing decisions. That means saving even more money and time because your strategy is working for you automatically. Nice, right?

Did you know that a customer acquisition strategy isn’t all you’ll need? Once you nail down your strategy, the customer acquisition model serves as the structure for your strategy. It should detail the steps that leads take to become customers, how you nurture those leads, and desired outcomes.

A good model ensures everything happens automatically, including customer segmentation, email marketing and outreach. With a tool like Copper, you can plug your acquisition model into the system to personalize your customer acquisition at scale.

There are best practices for client acquisition, but no one strategy is the best. It’s your job as an agency owner or consultant to determine which customer acquisition strategies will get the most mileage for your business. Focusing on your target audience, engaging on the right channels, performing content marketing, developing freemium offerings, and implementing referral programs is a great start.

Remember that acquisition doesn’t end once you score a new client. It’s an ongoing process where you have to delight customers at every turn to earn their business.

But sometimes it feels downright impossible to execute a customer acquisition strategy on your own. When you need to make the most of your marketing resources, consider streamlining the acquisition process with Copper. Try us free for 14 days to see how our CRM makes client acquisition a breeze.