Abby is a data-driven content marketer with certifications in inbound marketing and content marketing. She’s written hundreds of articles covering digital marketing topics — a few of her specialties include first-party data, marketing and data analytics, marketing strategy optimization, and SEO. When she isn’t writing or optimizing content, Abby loves to spend time reading the latest mystery novel, having movie marathons with lots of snacks, and jamming out to Shania Twain.
It’s happened for the second…
Maybe third…
Or even fourth time this month: Another marketing task fell through the cracks.
Whether it’s reporting, testing a campaign, or publishing a piece of content, something always falls through the cracks. Maybe it’s because you don’t have enough manpower on your team — maybe you don’t have all the resources you need to complete the task.
Whatever it may be, it’s likely the reason you searched “what is a digital marketing agency” and ended up on this page.
What is a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency helps businesses reach, nurture, and convert users through online channels like search, paid, email, social, and more.
In other words, a digital marketing agency is your revenue-driving, time-saving hero when it comes to marketing your business online.
Discover what a digital marketing company can do for you and why you should hire one!
What is a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency provides professional services to help businesses improve their visibility, reach, and revenue from online channels.
Digital marketing companies work with clients either on a one-time or ongoing basis. These firms offer services for the following:
Search
Paid advertising
Email
Social media
Other digital channels
What does a digital marketing agency do?
Expert insights from
Emily C.Senior Content Team Lead at WebFX
“Digital marketing agencies help clients drive results online. Whether combining content marketing and SEO to boost your brand in search results or launching targeted social ads — digital agencies help you reach and convert more leads into revenue.”
A digital marketing agency provides online marketing solutions to help businesses improve brand awareness, lead generation, and sales through online channels. Digital marketing agencies may offer various services like the following:
Search engine optimization (SEO): SEO is the process of optimizing your ranking in search results to drive more qualified traffic to your business’s website.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: PPC involves running paid advertisements, in Google search results, third-party websites, and more, to reach qualified leads ready to convert.
Web development and design: Web design and development is the process of creating and designing a new look for your website to help give it a branded, memorable experience for your audience.
Social media marketing: Social media marketing involves promoting your company’s brand, products, and services through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and more.
Content marketing: Content marketing is the publishing of educational material on your website to help provide your audience with helpful information, while establishing yourself as an authority in your field.
Email marketing: Email marketing involves sending promotional content directly to the inboxes of interested leads that sign up to hear from your brand.
In some cases, digital marketing firms will also specialize in specific sectors. For example, a franchise marketing agency will build its plans based on the challenges, KPIs, and needs of franchises.
What should a digital marketing company do for its clients?
Now that we’ve covered some of the services a digital marketing agency offers, let’s look at what, specifically, a digital marketing agency should do for its clients.
A reputable digital marketing company should do the following for clients:
Learn your business and marketing goals, audience, and market
Provide your business with a custom strategy or plan for achieving your goals
Give your team regular updates on work completed, overall performance, and more
Track your marketing performance to provide accurate updates and goal tracking
Help your business navigate market changes, digital marketing shifts, and more
With those in mind, here’s how a digital marketing agency can help:
Identify, create, and implement valuable marketing strategies: Digital marketing agencies work with clients to create and implement custom marketing strategies that best suit their business and provide the best return on investment (ROI).
Track campaign progress and provide comprehensive reports: Digital marketing agencies will track the progress and success of your marketing campaigns and provide you with comprehensive custom reports, so you always stay in the loop.
Evaluate results: Digital marketing agencies will also evaluate the results of marketing strategies and campaigns to identify which strategies are driving the most revenue for your business.
Generate leads and sales: Overall, the main goal of digital marketing agencies is to generate web traffic and leads and increase sales for your business through their innovative marketing strategies.
Maintain open communication: You can expect a digital marketing agency to stay in frequent contact with you while you are working together. They may provide regular reports and progress updates and discuss any new problem areas or new techniques.
Serve as an extension of your marketing team: You can also expect that a top digital marketing agency will act as an extension of your marketing team. They can help free up time and allow your team to focus on other marketing tasks.
Hiring a digital marketing agency comes with a host of benefits, including the following:
1. Cost savings
Working with digital marketing agencies, especially full-service agencies like WebFX, can save you time and money in the long run. Many agencies allow you to bundle multiple services into one package, and can often offer discounts for doing so.
You can also save time by working with one team to manage multiple campaigns and platforms instead of communicating with different agencies and teams. And digital marketing agencies can take a few projects off your hands, so you can spend more time focusing on your most important tasks.
Not to mention, outsourcing services in general to a specialized, professional, and experienced company save businesses 15–30% in costs. So, leaving your marketing to a team of professionals who do it day in and out can be a cost-saver for your business.
2. Expertise and revenue-driving strategies
Sometimes it can be tricky to track which marketing strategies are driving the most leads and sales for your business.
Digital marketing agencies can use state-of-the-art marketing tools and software to see exactly where your leads and sales are coming from, so you can focus your efforts on the strategies that are most effective.
When you partner with an agency like WebFX, you get access to a team of experts, plus marketing tech, that can propel results beyond what you thought possible.
Emily C., Senior Content Team Lead at WebFX
“Our team at WebFX specializes in all areas of digital marketing, from the creative to the technical,” Emily adds. “This 360-degree approach saves time, leverages niche expertise you may not have available in-house, and helps you maximize (and track) revenue across channels!”
Some digital marketing agencies also offer access to their own marketing tools. Our clients at WebFX have access to our proprietary software RevenueCloudFX, where they can monitor results across multiple campaigns, track the sources and phone calls, and much more.
3. Streamlined campaign management
By working with a digital marketing agency, you will have access to industry experts who can help you effectively manage your campaigns and develop strategies that will increase your revenue.
And if you have multiple campaigns and platforms, an agency can help you manage each one. With team members specializing in various marketing roles, digital marketing agencies allow you to streamline your campaign management all in one place.
4. Ability to focus on other tasks
65% of people say that outsourcing helps them focus on core functions of their business.
There are dozens of tasks that need your attention, but it’s hard to get to them. When you hire a digital marketing agency, though, you take some things off your plate and can get to those pressing tasks faster.
So, not only are you reaping the benefits of having an agency handle some of your marketing for you, but you can also put time and energy into other tasks that need your attention. It’s a win-win.
5. Up-to-date campaigns
One of the biggest benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency is that they stay on top of the latest trends and changes in digital marketing.
The industry is always changing, between algorithm updates, new social media platforms, and emerging tools. It’s hard for your business to keep up with it, especially with how often it changes.
When you hire a digital marketing agency, though, you don’t have to worry about keeping up with it. Your agency will stay on top of the latest trends and apply them to your campaigns to help you maximize your revenue.
How do I hire a digital marketing agency?
Get a quick overview of how to hire a digital marketing agency below:
Research digital marketing services, from what they cost to what they should include
Get stakeholder input on objectives, budgets, and agency expectations
Ask for referrals from your professional network
Read agency case studies, reviews, and testimonials
Request a meeting with the top candidates and ask questions
Get custom pricing and deliverables
🎥 Watch: 7 Red Flags to Avoid When Choosing a Marketing Agency
Businesses across industries lean on digital marketing agencies to help them market their products or services to their audience.
According to digital marketing agencies, it’s only expected to get more common. At least 60% of digital marketing agencies expect to see an increased workload (and revenue) in the next year. It indicates that more businesses seem to be seeking support, which means its becoming a more common practice to hire a digital marketing agency.
Not all digital marketing agencies are the same. You need to find the agency that’s the best fit for your business’s needs and projects.
Here are a few different digital marketing agencies you’ll run into:
Full-service agencies: Full-service digital marketing agencies offer nearly any service you need, from SEO to influencer marketing to web design. These agencies are the best option if you think you’ll need help with multiple marketing strategies.
Niche marketing agencies: Niche marketing agencies typically only work with a certain set of clients. For example, an agency may specialize in home services marketing and only work with clients in that industry.
Strategy-specialized agencies: If an agency isn’t full-service, they likely only specialize in one or two strategies that they offer to clients. SEO agencies, which only offer SEO services, are the most common. These agencies are an option if you’re only looking to invest in a certain strategy, like SEO or web design.
Great digital marketing agencies offer a variety of services to help their clients achieve their marketing goals. This includes digital marketing services like:
Digital marketing uses online platforms and technology to effectively market your products and services on the Internet, so you can better reach and convert qualified leads. With digital marketing, you can also easily monitor customer behavior and engagement, so you can track the success of your campaigns and easily identify which strategies are driving results.
A common battle businesses like yours face is deciding when to hire a digital marketing agency. How do you know it’s the right time? Here are a few scenarios where you should consider hiring a digital marketing agency to handle your campaigns:
You aren’t seeing growth or good results from your marketing campaigns
Your marketing campaign performance is declining or stalled
You’re struggling to get to important marketing tasks
You lack expertise in a certain area of marketing
You don’t have the resources or people to handle your marketing needs
You struggle to keep up with digital trends and changes
If you’re experiencing any of these scenarios, you’ll want to consider hiring a digital marketing agency to help your business achieve its goals. An experienced agency can take tasks off your plate to help you do more with your marketing.
On average, digital marketing services can cost anywhere from $3,000 a month or more for small-to-midsized businesses (SMBs). But remember — this is just an estimate.
Because there are many different services that flow into digital marketing, the cost of digital marketing services aren’t set in stone. They can depend on a number of factors like:
Hiring a digital marketing agency is a big step, but a good one if you’re looking to earn more revenue with your marketing. Now, the big question: How do you choose the right agency?
When you have a shortlist of agencies, you can evaluate each one by:
Seeing if their monthly cost fits with your budget
Evaluating what experience they have working in your industry
Asking about their communication style and how they report results
Analyzing their portfolio to see the work they’ve done for others
Asking what tools they have available for your business to access if you become a client
Analyzing all these areas will help ensure that you find the right agency for your business.
If you’re hiring a digital marketing agency as an extension of your current marketing team, you might feel a little nervous about making the partnership work. Here are a few tips to help you make your collaboration a breeze:
Setting a communication frequency: Setting expectations about communication frequency will help reduce a lot of friction and set expectations. For example, you could agree to monthly reporting, taking place at the beginning of the month, through a video chat. Setting this guideline holds your agency accountable while keeping your team in the loop.
Use project management tools: It’s always a great idea to go with an agency that has project management software. It makes it easy for you to keep tabs on your campaigns and stay in the loop on what your agency works on.
Create an approval process: If your agency needs your approval for certain campaigns or marketing copy, make sure you have a process in place to give approval in a timely manner. It will ensure that everyone works harmoniously between the teams.
Unlock the benefits of a digital marketing agency
Hiring a dependable digital marketing agency has several benefits for your business.
Get a turnkey solution to online marketing with our full-service digital marketing agency, which creates custom, effective strategies. Browse our digital marketing services now or contact us online today to learn more!
Try our free Marketing Calculator
Craft a tailored online marketing strategy! Utilize our free Internet marketing calculator for a custom plan based on your location, reach, timeframe, and budget.
Craft a tailored online marketing strategy! Utilize our free Internet marketing calculator for a custom plan based on your location, reach, timeframe, and budget.
Abby is a data-driven content marketer with certifications in inbound marketing and content marketing. She’s written hundreds of articles covering digital marketing topics — a few of her specialties include first-party data, marketing and data analytics, marketing strategy optimization, and SEO. When she isn’t writing or optimizing content, Abby loves to spend time reading the latest mystery novel, having movie marathons with lots of snacks, and jamming out to Shania Twain.
