Digikraf - The Power of Digital Marketing Agencies: A Comprehensive Guide (Part 1)
Discover everything you need to know about digital marketing agencies in this detailed guide. Learn about their services, types, and how they can benefit your business. | Digikraf
A digital marketing agency can be a valuable partner to your business, though you may not fully realize all they can do for you. As a sales or marketing manager, your job is to bring in customers through your business’ “front doors.
Today, 81 percent of customers conduct online research before making a purchase decision, which means it’s imperative to develop a robust online presence that engages and nurtures customers online throughout their customer journey. A digital marketing company can do this for your business, plus a lot more.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is a multifaceted strategy aimed to target, reach out to, and build relationships with customers online, across a broad range of channels, ultimately getting them to make a purchase and more purchases in the future.
The results of digital marketing are dramatic. Blogging alone can help brands bring in 67 percent more leads compared to those that never post. SEO also boasts a conversion rate of 14.6 percent, which is dramatically higher than the 1.7 percent conversion rate that traditional outbound methods deliver.
Digital marketing services consist of the following tactics:
a. Content Marketing
b. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
c. Video Marketing
d. Google Ads/PPC
e. Email Marketing
f. Social Media Marketing
A digital marketing agency employs a wide variety of different tactics, strategies, and online tools to help a business attain its marketing and sales goals. This can make planning and executing a successful digital marketing campaign a challenging prospect for most solopreneurs and smaller marketing departments.
Given the scope of digital marketing, it’s helpful to look at the most popular types of digital marketing agencies and the services they offer.
8 Types of Digital Marketing Agencies (and What They Do)
Choosing a digital marketing agency can be challenging if you aren’t familiar with the industry. Some agencies specialize in one industry or service, while others offer a broad range of services. Remember that the best one for your business will depend on your budget, your digital marketing goals and objectives, and how hands-on you want to be in your digital marketing. Below are seven of the most common types of digital marketing agencies:
DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY
A digital marketing agency reaches customers online through omnichannel marketing, multichannel marketing, or single-channel marketing. With multichannel and single-channel marketing, agencies interact with customers in one or multiple channels such as websites, blogs, email, social media, and more. Omnichannel marketing refers to marketing that provides a seamless customer experience across channels and devices throughout their lifecycle. A digital marketing agency typically won’t offer traditional marketing services.
FULL-SERVICE DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY
A full-service digital marketing agency tends to be larger than most other types of agencies and offer a variety of digital marketing services. Businesses often partner with full-service digital marketing agencies because they have the experience doing specific projects that the businesses need done, such as lead nurture campaigns or a website redesign. These agencies can also bring added muscle to existing marketing departments at a lower cost than it would take to build them out with new hires.
INBOUND MARKETING AGENCY
An inbound marketing agency offers inbound marketing tactics and strategies, which differ from traditional outbound strategies. Inbound agencies seek to position a business online where customers can find them, build trust over time, and eventually generate sales. Inbound strategies can yield significant results over time, but they typically require a longer time horizon (six months to a year or more) before leads and sales “hockey stick” up.
SEO AGENCY
Digital marketing agencies specializing in SEO (search engine optimization) help their clients’ websites and website content rank high on search results. They will have specialists perform the following:
a. Keyword research
b. Website audits
c. Backlink audits
d. Website and blog content
e. Metadata assessment
f. Video description optimization
g. Link building
h. And more
An SEO company will utilize a variety of data analytics and website developer tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEM Rush, and SEO Moz. SEO agencies are always early adopters of search engine optimization best practices, including compliance with Google’s ever-changing search algorithm.
DIGITAL AD (PPC) AGENCY
Paid search, also called paid advertising, is the other way to generate traffic to a business website. Unlike free organic traffic, paid traffic involves spending money to bid on keywords and ad placement on search results. Digital ads can appear on websites, search result pages (SERPs), and social media channels.
Digital ad agencies know how to produce attention-getting, keyword-filled ads that conform to the best practices of the digital platforms on which ads appear. Popular services include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube ad creation and deployment, and Google Ads Manager account creation and maintenance.
ONLINE AD AGENCY/PPC AGENCY
Paid search, also called paid advertising, is another way to generate traffic to a website. Unlike free organic traffic, paid traffic involves spending money to bid on keywords and ad placement on search results. Digital ads can appear on websites, search result pages (SERPs), and social media channels. This can bring you leads quickly, but your campaign must be properly set up to reach your target audience.
Digital marketing agencies that focus on online ads know how to produce attention-getting, optimized ads that conform to best practices. You may choose to hire an online ad agency alone or in conjunction with other agencies as part of a broader online strategy. While PPC can perform well on its own, it works best when paired with a less expensive long-term strategy that can capitalize on the paid traffic you generate.
SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY
Companies turn to social media agencies when they need help with establishing and maintaining a social media presence. Social media agencies can manage and produce social content and set up advertisements on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. They will also offer services related to responding and reacting to customer interactions on social media platforms. They may also offer influencer outreach for cross promotion or affiliate marketing.
WEB DESIGN AGENCY
A web design agency is composed of creative designers who build customized and optimized websites or web pages for businesses. Web designers will handle the look, feel, and functionality of the pages, whether it’s for a brand new website, a website redesign, or a smaller project. Common services offered by website agencies include user experience and user interface (UX/UI) design and research, image creation and storage, web development, and web hosting.
