Lead generation is the oxygen that makes each and and every business thrive. Without new business coming through the door, companies will struggle to survive, let alone grow.
Thankfully, there are experts and agencies out there whose specialty it is to generate more B2B leads for their clients and can assist your business with this.
When doing your research on which marketing agency to partner with, you need to decide which services are the most crucial for you to receive from the one that you end up choosing.
Do you know which are the most critical lead generation services that you should request from an agency and why they are important? Here is a list of the top 5:
1. Search Engine Optimization
In order to generate more leads, you must first get more traffic and better rankings. This is why SEO is so important.
Implementing a smart SEO strategy and using keywords properly will help your key web pages increase their ranking in the SERPs (search engine results pages), which will result in more visitors coming to your site and entering your conversion funnel.
As SEO is so crucial to getting more B2B leads, it is important that any agency you work with offer this as a service.
You should also make sure that the agency will take a look at your site’s backend to ensure that it is functioning properly. If a site has a ton of errors and problems, not only will Google look down on it, but any visitors who come to the site will do so, as well.
Typical things an agency offering SEO services should cover:
- Broken links
- Pages that don’t load and result in a 404
- Checking the robots.txt and sitemap files
- Meta tags
- Duplicate content
- Canonical issues
- Analyzing your Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics accounts
2. Content Marketing
Visitors who come to your site can all be at different points in the buyer journey. One visitor could be an industry expert who is looking to change providers, while another visitor is someone who doesn’t even know what they’re looking for, but has been told to find it.
If you want to increase qualified B2B leads, then it is up to you to provide the types of content your ideal buyer personas are looking for. You are going to want to talk to them in their own language and provide content that is tailored to each of them - about their pain points, challenges, goals, etc. - so that you can encourage them to feel as though you are the ideal partner for them.
You should ask your agency if they provide content marketing services and if they practice inbound marketing. If they do, then you should ask them to explain exactly how it works and how they create content that will appeal to your audience and convert leads.
You will want to work with a company that can build a customized content marketing strategy for your business and is strongly familiar with the following points:
- Developing content campaigns based on buyer personas
- Managing a content calendar
- Creating gated content offerings with dedicated landing pages and thank you pages
- Nurturing leads through the buyer journey and helping convert them into customers
3. Social Media Management
Having a presence on social media these days is critical. Social media is a powerful tool that allows your business to directly engage and interact with your audience. Not being active on social media means you are not speaking directly to your community, so instead of being an industry leading voice, you have no voice at all.
The issue that many businesses face is that they are busy running their business - they don’t have the time or resources to engage with people on Twitter and Facebook. So having social media experts who can build relationships on behalf of your company while building your online presence and brand awareness is critical.
When speaking with potential agencies, ask them about their social media marketing habits:- How often do they post on social media?
- What are the typical KPIs?
- How do they measure results?
- How often do they interact with the community?
- Do they join relevant industry groups and post comments or answer questions there?
- Do they reach out to industry leaders and influencers and engage with them?
4. Outreach
It would be great to have content published on industry leading sites, but many business owners do not have the time or the energy to do it effectively. It’s not just about making contact with editors and publishers. The articles also need to be of high-quality and offer true value to the readers.
You should aim for an agency that has the expertise and connections to get your brand out there and publish your content where it matters the most in order to build your name in your industry.
When asking agencies about their outreach services, make sure they offer the following:- Connections with top-tier publications
- Publications with dofollow links included in the article and author bio to improve SEO
- A commitment to publishing a certain number of articles per month on relevant sites
- High-quality, in-depth articles that can position you as a thought-leader in your industry
5. User Experience and Conversion Optimization
Many companies think that a good looking website is enough to attract and convert leads. While a modern, fresh and beautiful design does help, there is more to lead generation than “just a pretty face”.
You should work with an agency that can offer a complete website audit and also let you know what best practices you should implement on your site in order to help improve your conversion funnel.
When speaking with sales representatives at the various agencies you are considering, ask them if they will do any of the following:- Give feedback on CTAs
- Check keyword usage and offer suggestions
- Offer feedback on the overall user experience and flow
- Check for holes in the conversion funnel
If you are considering KeyScouts and would like to see how working with us can benefit your business, feel free to contact us and get your free SEO Positions Report.
If you have any other questions about marketing agency services, feel free to contact us. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
