Ag Innodata
  • Solutions
    • Solutions
    • Media Relations
    • Media Monitoring
    • Media Intelligence Services
    • Social Listening
    • Newswire
    • Use Cases
    • Custom Reporting
    • Crisis Management
    • Reputation & Brand Insights
    • Executive Briefings
  • Pricing
  • Resources
    • Bulldog Reporter
    • Case Studies
    • Webinars
    • Guides
    • Top Media Outlets
    • Top Journalists
    • Top Influencers
    • PR Glossary
    • Press Moves
    • Newsroom
  • Support
  • Log in
  • Speak to an Expert
Speak to an Expert
U


  • Solutions3
    • Solutions
    • Media Relations
    • Media Monitoring
    • Media Intelligence Services
    • Social Listening
    • Newswire
    • Use Cases
    • Custom Reporting
    • Crisis Management
    • Reputation & Brand Insights
    • Executive Briefings
  • Pricing
  • Resources3
    • Bulldog Reporter
    • Case Studies
    • Webinars
    • Guides
    • Top Media Outlets
    • Top Journalists
    • Top Influencers
    • PR Glossary
    • Press Moves
    • Newsroom
  • Support
  • Log in
  • Speak to an Expert

Email marketing for agencies: 4 tactics to test

by Jeremy Chatelaine | Dec 13, 2022

FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmail

Email marketing is a powerful tool for your agency.

You can use it to get in front of new potential leads or to drive improved results for your existing clients.

However, there’s so much information out there when it comes to email marketing that it can be hard to find actionable ways to get started.

In this article, I’ll show you the benefits of using email marketing at your agency, and then show you actionable email marketing tactics you can implement today.

Why use email marketing at your agency?

Sixty-four percent of B2B marketers say that their email marketing strategy helps them hit their business goals.

It’s a powerful way to:

  • Stay in touch with your existing clients
  • Reach out to new potential clients
  • Help you hit your client goals (depending on your agency services)

However, most agencies don’t use the channel to its full potential. If you take the time to understand how email can work for your agency and put those learnings into practice, you’ll quickly start seeing results and have a competitive advantage.

Types of email marketing tactics you can use

1. Inbound email

The first main type of email marketing agencies can use is inbound email.

Inbound email marketing refers to how you use email to communicate with your existing email list.

Examples of how you could use email marketing to engage with your existing list include:

  • Sending a weekly newsletter with tips and best practices to help your audience’s business
  • Having a 5-step email sequence designed to guide new email list subscribers into booking a call with your team
  • Automatically sending emails when clients pay their invoices with next steps

Your email list subscribers and existing clients check their inboxes throughout the day, so it’s a powerful way to stay in touch and keep your agency on their minds.

2. Outbound email

The second type of email marketing strategy you can test is outbound email.

This is any email you send to someone who you haven’t previously been in touch with.

Examples of outbound emails you can send include:

  • Sending cold emails to sales prospects who are a good fit for your services
  • Running a PR outreach campaign to build awareness for a client brand
  • Reaching out to other agency owners to build partnerships

Outbound email can be a difficult channel to use because you’re reaching out to cold recipients—but if you can figure out how to use it, it can be a powerful way to grow your agency.

4 email marketing ideas to help get results for your agency

1. Use cold email to get more agency clients

The first email marketing initiative you can try at your agency is cold email. It’s one of the most powerful ways to build a healthy pipeline of clients because you can reach out directly to decision-makers and have a one-to-one conversation.

So, how does the process work?

First, you’ll need to run a sales prospecting process. You’ll use tools like LinkedIn and ZoomInfo to create a list of qualified prospects that match the type of client you work with at your agency.

Once you’ve created a prospect list that includes details like your prospect’s name, company, and any other information you need, you can then import these prospects into a cold email platform like QuickMail.

You can use your cold email tool to automatically send multi-step email outreach campaigns to your prospects, without needing to send each email by hand.

Example screenshot of QuickMail Campaign Mission Control

If someone doesn’t reply to your first email, you can automatically follow up with them, which is a powerful way to increase your response rate.

Over time, you’ll start to see replies come in, and all you need to do is continue the conversation.

We’d recommend creating a sales dashboard to track your results—your cold email tool might have one, or you can create a custom dashboard in a tool like Excel or Google Sheets. This will give you and your team a clear understanding of how many opens, replies, and new opportunities your cold email campaigns generate for your agency.

2. Use PR outreach to boost client brand awareness

PR outreach is typically used to generate more views and awareness for your agency clients’ brands through earned media.

Effective PR outreach can help you:

  • Land features in top publications
  • Build links back to key client website pages
  • Generate new business and ROI for clients

Email works so well for PR because you can reach out directly to editors and journalists who work for the outlets you want your brand or client featured in, with a completely personalized pitch.

First, you’ll need to build a list of journalists to reach out to. Agility PR Solutions’ media database can help you quickly identify journalists and influencers who will be interested in your pitch.

Example con

Example contact profile from Agility PR Solutions’ media database

In your pitch, make sure to:

  • Use a clear and specific subject line
  • Use personalization to show each recipient why your story is a perfect fit for their publication
  • Follow-up if they don’t initially reply

As a best practice, it’s also best to avoid including attachments in your PR outreach emails. They can harm email deliverability, so wait until your contact replies to send any extra assets over.

It’s also vital to set clear KPIs for your PR outreach—this will set a benchmark for your team and help you evaluate success.

3. Stay in touch and unlock revenue from your existing clients

Email marketing to your existing customer base is an excellent way to upsell and add new revenue streams to your business.

Your existing client base is one of your best sources of new revenue—if you can successfully upsell to them.

First, you’ll need to stay in touch with them. One of the best ways to do that is by sending a regular newsletter. Even if it’s once every two weeks, they’ll see your agency’s name in their inbox and will trust that you’re going to send them valuable content that can help them solve a problem in their business.

You can also use these newsletters to add a soft pitch about other services that your agency offers.

For example, if you run a PR agency and have clients working with you to build exposure from media publications, you might be able to upsell them with a package to help them gain exposure from relevant influencers on social media platforms as well.

This is effective because you don’t need to identify new clients and sell to them in order to add new revenue to your agency. You can tap into a base of people who already trust you and know that you can deliver results.

4. Automatically send emails based on actions your clients take

Email is the best way to keep your clients up-to-date and keep them in the loop about what’s happening on their account.

It’s the best channel for handling tasks like:

  • Automatically emailing them when a new invoice is due
  • Sending them an update on their campaign status
  • Reminding them that they have to provide you with key details before you launch a campaign

Luckily, it’s easy to automate email processes like these.

For example,   a workflow automation tool to send clients an automated email if you add a new update to their Google Sheets campaign tracker.

Or you could automatically send email sequences based on the status of a potential client in your sales CRM to move them through your funnel and turn them into a customer.

Email marketing workflows like these are a powerful way to communicate with your agency clients to keep them up to date on everything going on in their account.

Wrapping up

Email marketing can help your agency improve how you communicate with existing clients, and help you start conversations with new prospective clients.

The email marketing strategies we’ve looked at in this guide are all going to drive results for your agency in some way, whether it’s improved productivity, or accelerating your lead generation efforts.

When implementing a new email marketing initiative, make sure to set KPIs, then measure your results against them. Over time, you’ll figure out what moves the needle for your unique agency and can double down to help your company grow.

 

Jeremy Chatelaine is the founder of QuickMail.io, a SaaS company that enables personal one-to-one conversations at scale through automation – for outbound outreach, inbound leads, trial/onboarding, customer communication, and more. Before founding QuickMail, he worked for more than 15 years as a developer in the video game industry and in finance.

THIS MONTH'S WEBINAR

Jan Box (3)

Recent Agility Blog Posts

PR Profiles, Episode 32: A Conversation with Stephanie Wight, VP of Media Relations at CURA Strategies

PR Profiles, Episode 32: A Conversation with Stephanie Wight, VP of Media Relations at CURA Strategies

Aug 3, 2023

Creating essential guidelines for generative AI in PR and healthcare Before joining CURA...

PR Profiles, Episode 31: A Conversation with Brandon Wilson, APR, Chairman, President and CEO of Wilbron Inc.

PR Profiles, Episode 31: A Conversation with Brandon Wilson, APR, Chairman, President and CEO of Wilbron Inc.

Jul 6, 2023

The rise of specialists in PR and how to get paid three times A few years ago, Brandon Wilson...

PR Profiles, Episode 30: A Conversation with Wendy J. Roundtree, APR, founder and lead strategist of Jarel Communications

PR Profiles, Episode 30: A Conversation with Wendy J. Roundtree, APR, founder and lead strategist of Jarel Communications

Jun 15, 2023

The importance of social responsibility and the four bottom lines of business When asked in her PR...

5 tips to use social media to grow your business in 2023

5 tips to use social media to grow your business in 2023

Jun 6, 2023

Are you looking to take your business to the next level in 2023? Well, you've come to the right...

PR Profiles, Episode 29: A Conversation with Melissa Orozco, Founder and Chief Impact Strategist at Yulu PR

PR Profiles, Episode 29: A Conversation with Melissa Orozco, Founder and Chief Impact Strategist at Yulu PR

Jun 1, 2023

Exploring the principles of impact relations and getting at the heart of brand authenticity Eight...

About

Careers

Our Clients

Leadership Team

In the News

Offices

Solutions

Media Relations

Media Monitoring

Media Intelligence Services

Social Listening

Newswire

Use Cases

Custom Reporting

Crisis Management

Brand & Reputation Insights

Executive Briefings

Resources

Webinars

Guides & Reports

Press Moves

Newsroom

Newsletter

Contact

Speak to an Expert

Pricing

Support

Agility Logo White

©2025 Agility PR Solutions    ·    A subsidiary of Innodata Inc. All Rights Reserved.    ·    Privacy Policy    ·    Data Privacy Framework    ·    Cookie Settings    ·     Journalist Privacy Notice    ·    Terms of Use    ·    Accessibility

This website stores cookies on your computer. These cookies are used to improve your website experience and provide more personalized services to you, both on this website and through other media. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy. Disclaimer: In order to comply with your preferences, we'll have to use just one cookie so that you're not asked to make this choice again.
AcceptCustomize or Decline
Manage consent

Your Privacy & Cookies

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.
Necessary Cookies
Always Enabled
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Analytics Cookies
Analytics cookies are cookies that track how users navigate and interact with a website. The information collected is used to help the website owner improve the website.
Advertising Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Save & Accept