Guide · Updated 4 October 2026
The best way to get clients for a marketing agency
Short answer: referrals win, but you cannot schedule them. In a survey of 91 agency leaders, client referrals scored 3.7 out of 5 for revenue, the highest of 34 tactics. The best channel you can switch on yourself is outbound email: when deals close quickly, leaders rated it 3.5 out of 5, level with referrals.
Source: Promethean Research, How Marketing Agencies Get Clients (seen October 2026).
Every channel, ranked by agency leaders
Promethean Research asked agency leaders to rate 34 revenue tactics from 1 to 5 by how much of their revenue comes from each, and how many of them put effort in.
| Tactic | Leaders putting effort in | Revenue score (1 to 5) |
|---|---|---|
| Client referrals | 67% | 3.7 |
| Growing current accounts | 68% | 3.6 |
| Partner referrals | 53% | 3.0 |
| Upselling services | 59% | 2.9 |
| Responding to RFPs | 39% | 2.4 |
| Case studies | 34% | 2.1 |
| Website optimization | 42% | 2.0 |
| Social media content | 41% | 2.0 |
| SEO/SEM | 33% | 2.0 |
Data: How Digital Agencies Grow, Promethean Research (survey of 91 agency leaders), via prometheanresearch.com.
Two things stand out. Only three tactics score 3.0 or better overall, and all three come from relationships. And plenty of agencies put real effort into content: 42% work on their website and 41% on social media, for a score of 2.0.
Why referrals are not a plan
Referred clients are the best clients. Promethean found they stayed about twice as long as clients won through events or outbound. The problem is timing. A referral arrives when a happy client happens to mention you, not when your pipeline is empty, so it cannot be the only way in.
The channel you control: outbound email
The same survey split agencies by how complex their sales are. Where deals close quickly, leaders rated nine tactics at 3.0 or better, and outbound email sat at the top with referrals:
“pay-per-click 3.8, client referrals and outbound email 3.5”
Outbound email also works with no ad budget and no audience. What it needs is volume and patience. Belkins analyzed 7.5 million cold emails sent in 2025 and found an average reply rate of 0.45% against total sends. Companies with 11 to 50 employees replied at 0.49%.
Source: Belkins, B2B cold email response rates, 2026 study (seen October 2026).
That number is why most agencies give up on cold email after a few hundred sends. At 0.45%, 1,000 emails bring about four or five replies, and only some of those turn into calls. It works when the list is right, the sending is clean and the follow-up never stops.
The rules every sender has to meet
“Keep spam rates reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.3%.”
US law applies too. Under the CAN-SPAM Act, each email that breaks the law can cost up to $53,088, and an opt-out has to be honored within 10 business days (FTC, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business).
Do it yourself, hire, or hand it off
Sales and marketing staff make up 6.6% of agency headcount on average, from 5% at studios under 10 people to 8% at agencies of 50 or more (Promethean Research). Small agencies mostly have no one whose job is new business.
- Do it yourself: cheapest in cash, most expensive in time. Lists, inboxes, warm-up, copy, follow-up and replies all land on the owner.
- Hire an SDR: median SDR on-target earnings are $80K a year ($55K base, $25K variable), and the average SDR takes 3.0 months to ramp (The Bridge Group, 2025), before benefits, tools and management. More in SDR vs done-for-you.
- Done for you: a team runs the outbound and the agency only takes the calls.
Where NULLTOUCH fits
NULLTOUCH is the done-for-you version for marketing agencies in the US and Canada. We find the agency's ideal clients, write and send the cold email from inboxes set up in the agency's name, answer replies, and put the calls on the agency's calendar. The agency shows up and closes. The guarantee is 15 booked calls in 60 days, or a full refund. The 60 days start at your first send, and it holds when you approve your targeting and emails within 48h and take the booked calls.
Book an intro callOr see how it works on the NULLTOUCH home page.
Questions
What is the best way for a marketing agency to get clients?
Referrals. In Promethean Research's survey of 91 agency leaders, client referrals scored 3.7 out of 5 for revenue, the highest of 34 tactics. Referrals cannot be switched on when you need them, so the best channel you control is outbound email, which leaders rated 3.5 out of 5 when deals close quickly, level with referrals.
Does cold email still work for agencies?
Yes, at volume and with clean sending. Belkins measured a 0.45% average reply rate across 7.5 million cold emails sent in 2025, so results come from targeting, volume and follow-up, not one clever email. Senders must also meet Gmail's spam-rate limits and the CAN-SPAM Act.
Should an agency hire a salesperson to get clients?
Sales and marketing staff make up 6.6% of agency headcount on average, from 5% at studios under 10 people to 8% at agencies of 50 or more (Promethean Research). The Bridge Group puts median SDR on-target earnings at $80K a year ($55K base, $25K variable), before benefits, tools and management.
Is SEO or social media a good way for an agency to get clients?
Not on its own. In the same survey, 42% of agency leaders worked on website optimization and 41% on social media content, yet both scored only 2.0 out of 5 for revenue. SEO/SEM also scored 2.0.