What are the best lead generation channels for a small digital marketing company mainly focused on design?

Depending on your target group I would recommend doing facebook lead ads with a zapier integration to your mailchimp list. That works quite well.

There is also an option on linkedin, where you can get directly leads within the channel.

Hope that helps you :)

I'm more an expert on how to convert leads into clients, so take this with a grain of salt... I see digital marketing companies advertise on facebook all the time.

I know some of my marketing buddies also like to start out with Adwords to validate an idea. The thinking is that your best chance of getting leads when you are new is to catch them when they are searching for it and it is on their mind.

Don't forget to ask for referrals. Ask for them, but don't just ask to be referred. With a client, for example, you might want to set aside a moment to talk after the successful conclusion of a project. Ask them who they know that hires designers, and ask whether you can mention the client if you contact them. They'll probably say yes.

You may not have a list long as your arm, but these leads will have a much higher conversion rate--even if sales are not immediate. If you mention your client referred you, they'll be the most likely to respond positively to your outreach. Iif they don't need you at the moment, they're more likely to get in touch with you when they do, because of the connection you have with someone they know and respect.

Hi, I'm a great believer in direct as opposed to digital leads. Collaborating with an organization whose members or graduates are new professionals will provide the best prospects. Continued success.

Hello! My name is Humberto Valle, I'm a seasoned Marketing Strategist with www.Unthink.me. I've been blessed to work with small and large companies alike for about 10 years now.
As I was reading this question I couldn't help but wonder why a digital marketing company would be needing help generating leads?

The truth is that you are not alone, many marketers struggle to generate leads or sales, this is somewhat unexpected, like a doctor not knowing how to treat herself. But it's not that simple, lead generation is something that requires a very broad understanding of imagery, Landing pages, omitted factors, copy, structure of content, data, understanding the various persona's for any given product variation and then having the technical skillsets to create and manage PPC and SEO as well as scheduling for content and social media as part of a larger strategy for generating leads.

Adding difficulty is that each business requires it's own unique approach to solving their lead generation problems and within the budget. This means that as a marketer, you can't typically recycle strategies for every client - marketing for yourself though, should be much easier since the needs don't adjust often and regularly (your business model doesn't change regularly) -As I read your lead generation question, my second thought was that it's clear that you aren't following some lead generation tactics for inbound marketing to help expose your services to small business or startups, if you were to study the market thoroughly and understand who your real immediate competition was you would be able to target ideal potential clients. There are many marketing platforms for example, that decide to focus on a niche industry or specific type of clientele and this actually accelerates growth from being heavily focused in what they do and for whom they do it for. www.Fetchrev.com, for example, focuses on Family Entertainment Centers like bowling alleys, mini-golf courses, and amusement parks to name a few and provides them with a marketing technology that is scalable, consistent, and better yet affordable.
As web designers, you must decide on who would be your most ideal type of client based on a few factors such as cost, cash flow, design efficiency, and even interests (we do better work when we enjoy what we do). This should enable you to get better, learn more faster, and should allow you to offer certain guarantees to specific clients. If you have such a strong skill set in conversion from your web design you can also simply set PPC campaigns to generate traffic to your website(s) knowing that they will be converted.
Best of luck and let me know if you have any questions or would like some additional help.

Linkedin it’s currently my primary source of clients for my independent consulting business.

I’ll tell you exactly the steps I use to generate 5 to 10 leads per week only with Linkedin Lead Generation.

HOW YOU CAN GENERATE 5 TO 10 EXTRA LEADS PER WEEK USING LINKEDIN

It is NOW the moment to leverage Linkedin’s full potential. In the future, this social network will start to get overcrowded (see Instagram and other ones that in the past were money-printers for the first ones who fully understood them.)

How to leverage Linkedin to generate leads?

Use your personal account to post relevant content. Don’t put external links (if you really have to, write them in the first comment and tell people to look at it) as the post which includes them are penalized by the Linkedin algorithm that tends to make people remain in their platform. Use Quuu.co. If you want contents related to your niche posted every day on your account, but don’t expect an engagement from those. The best posts come from your stories, what you’d learned, and they give the hell out of value to your audience.
Select your target audience. Just hit the search button and look for the location, title/position, etc. where your leads are.
Optimize your profile. Treat it like a sales letter, but more related to your person. Firstly, write something eye-catching on your headline, for instance, “Contact me if you want to generate more leads for your B2B Business.” Then the first paragraph should be customer oriented (explaining the benefits of working with you/your company.) After you can tell more about yourself, and of your story if you’d like to.
Here you can check my profile to have some inspiration.
Start with the automation. Download “Linkedhelper” (better) or “GPZWeb” (still good) to automate the following actions:
Profile Views. People will visit-back and see your “optimized profile” (see point 3.) And many times they’ll contact you.
Connect with 1,000 People, including a 1 line message (less-salesy messages get a higher-acceptance rate.)
Send a Direct message with an intro summary & calendly/ web/email link to everyone who accepts (better if you wait one day after they accepted your connection request.)

** MAJOR KEY ALERT**

A high-quality copy of the message is KEY to succeeding. Try to stand out in humor or creative ways (thanks, Jon Buchan). I get five messages per day from people pitching me SEO services which go straight to the trash bin, while my messages, not to brag, get a very high response rate

Reply to your messages, and watch the leads roll in!
I repeat! Linkedin (and his automation) will soon get less effective as more and more people are starting to do it. So, do it now (the same applies to Facebook groups, see the third paragraph) and you’ll be ahead of 99,9%.

Another thing, stick with the limits, check here for more

For any other info on how to do Linkedin Lead Generation properly, just subscribe to my website at http://angelosorbello.com

As a former COO of the leading European design agency I am familiar with this topic. We started super-small and then become one of the most influential companies of its kind. All in 10 years.

What has been mentioned in the answers above is true. Testimonials and Referrals from happy clients are always the key and you should have them no matter what.

Although, the tools and channels I have seen working the best along with providing quality services were:

• Publishing extensive amount of work on social networks for designers
• Speaking on conferences about the latest trends
• Running very specific and targeted online campaigns via AdWords and Facebook.
• Winning awards for the work

If you would like to know more, let me know.

Regards, Filip

Here is an idea:

Focus your marketing on one type of business that you have had success with in the past. Example: veterinarians. You can still do work for other clients that approach you but, for now, focus on this target market.

The advantages are that:

1. You stand out from general website designers.
2. You can show them relevant examples, know their terminology, and specific needs.
3. While your existing customers might not want to introduce you to competitors, they would have no issues referring you to complementary businesses.

For example, if your target market is real estate agents. Ask your real estate agent to introduce you to bankers, home inspectors, real estate lawyers, etc. Then take them out for coffee on a regular basis, build relationships with them, and tell them that you design websites for real estate agents, and they can refer you to agents they work for, and you can refer them to agents you work with.