Digital Marketing Agencies
Having a strong digital presence and using digital channels is one of the most effective ways to market your business these days. Whether it’s developing a social media strategy, getting leads and conversions through SEO or creating a paid search campaign, digital marketing offers a huge range of tools to segment the market and speak directly to your target audience.
That all sounds great, but you may be wondering where do I start?
Well, if you’re new to the world of digital marketing, or you’re a small business looking for some digital marketing expertise, hiring a digital marketing consultant or outsourcing to a digital marketing agency is a great way to get the results you want.
But first, let’s cover some of the basics when it comes to finding a digital marketing company to work with.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for any form of marketing that promotes or sells products and services through online and digital channels such as email, search engines, social media and mobile apps.
In a nutshell, digital marketing is simply marketing designed for today’s world. With the ability to capture and use data (and many other great things the Internet provides), digital marketing offers businesses with a wealth of insights and better audience segmentation compared to traditional marketing.
Who is digital marketing for?
Digital marketing is for any business that wants to sell, trade or promote products and services online and through digital devices. As people are more connected to their digital devices and spending more time online, most businesses can reap the benefits of investing in digital marketing. With benefits such as lower costs, wider audience reach and more accurate metrics, going digital is the way forward.
What is a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency is a company that specialises in all things within the digital marketing world. A business can either choose to handle their digital marketing in-house, or they can outsource. Companies with an in-house marketing team may even choose to outsource certain projects to an agency as they have expertise across all digital and online marketing services.
What services does a digital marketing agency offer?
A digital marketing agency offers a full range of digital marketing services including:
- Affiliate Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Display Advertising
- Email Marketing
- Online Reputation
- Website Design & Development
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Pay Per Click (PPC)
- Branding
- Market Research
- Social Media Management
- SMS Marketing
- Video Production
With expertise on offer across all areas of digital marketing, agencies take care of the marketing so that you can give your full attention to other areas of the business.
What are the benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency?
The benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency include:
- Effective budget management
- Advanced insights and digital marketing tools
- Keeping up to speed with the latest trends
- Expertise from a whole team with various specialisations
- The ability to focus on other areas of your business
- They are accountable for marketing strategies and results
- Access to more creative ideas to grow your business
These are just some of the benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency. Digital marketing is a full-time job, and passing the baton to the experts gives you the breathing space to focus on other areas – and to trust that it’s being done right.
What’s the difference between a digital agency and an advertising agency?
A digital agency focuses more closely on marketing strategy and execution, whereas an advertising agency focuses on creating and executing campaigns.
Digital marketing agency
Small businesses hire digital marketing agencies to help create or improve their digital and online marketing strategies. A full-service digital marketing agency offers all types of digital marketing services. They may offer advertising services but their forte is all things digital, with a focus on digital marketing strategy and execution. Working with a digital agency is usually more long-term as it can take some time to see how successful a strategy is.
Advertising agency
Small businesses hire advertising agencies to build and run advertising campaigns, whether digital or traditional. While an advertising agency may offer digital marketing services, they specialise in advertising. Advertising agencies are hired to create powerful and effective advertising campaigns and working with an agency is often project or campaign-based.
How much do digital marketers charge?
This is an important question that all businesses ask when hiring an agency. And the honest answer is, it really depends.
A good agency will carefully weigh up several things before coming to a price, such as:
- Your desired goals/outcomes
- The quality of your current marketing assets (current data and metrics will need to be provided)
- The level of competition in your industry and location
- The level of expertise an agency can provide and the profit they wish to make from the collaboration
It’s really important to note that your engagement with a digital marketing agency should be beneficial for both sides of the table. A good agency will be absolutely certain of your requirements and objectives before offering a price.
How to allocate a budget for digital marketing
One of the most common questions asked by startups and small businesses is, how much budget should I allocate for digital marketing?
According to 20/20 Vision: A Marketing Leader’s View of Digital’s Future report, 95% of organisations have raised their digital marketing budget in recent years and 9 out of 10 marketers think this will continue to grow.
So, how do you decide what kind of budget to set? Follow these steps.
1. Create a goal
While the goal for most businesses will be to increase sales, identify any-sub goals. Do you want to build brand awareness, and if so through increased social media followers? Do you want to increase website traffic, if so by what percentage and what time frame? These are just a couple of examples, but it’s generally better to have a strong presence in a few places then spread yourself thin across every channel.
2. Analyse past digital marketing activities
If you previously worked on any digital marketing campaigns, analyse past results and channel performance. You should be able to identify which channels you can spend budget on and which channels you can afford to miss out.
3. Research prices
Once you’ve identified your goals and the channels you want to use, you can work out the average cost of how much each activity will cost by doing some research and consulting with the agency. For example, if you want to drive website traffic by 40%, how many months of SEO would it take to achieve, or how many paid social media ads would it take?
4. Monitor results
One of the best things about digital marketing is that it’s extremely measurable with all the analytics tools available. It doesn’t take long to see how well your marketing techniques are performing, or if your money has been well spent. You can even make last-minute changes to your campaigns to make the most out of your budget.
How to choose a digital marketing agency?
We’ve put together some of the most important things you should consider to ensure you hire the best digital marketing professionals for your business.
1. Determine your needs and goals
This is an important one. There are loads of talented digital marketers out there, but the right professional will tailor their solution to the unique requirements of your project.
2. Understand their niche and clientele
Some digital marketing companies specialise in certain areas and industries. You are better off hiring professionals that have worked with similar companies or goals rather than those who are new to your type of business.
3. Review their portfolio
A portfolio showcases a digital marketer's achievements and can help you decide whether they will be a good fit for your project.
4. Read reviews from others
Reviews and references from past clients can tell you a lot more about an agency than their website. You could also contact their previous clients to get honest feedback about their work.
5. Get free estimates or quotes
We advise you to get at least 3 quotes from different agencies for a fair comparison. It’s relatively easy to get free estimates or quotes online, especially for B2B services.
7. Compare the total cost
When comparing agencies, make sure to ask about any extra fees such as variation fees, penalties and other fees - it’s always good to cover your back in case of any miscommunication down the track.
8. Assess their values and work ethics
You should find and hire digital marketing agencies that uphold similar values to yours. Values such as integrity, accountability and transparency are essential to a successful project.
9. Make long-term plans
Lastly, try to develop a long-term relationship with your agency. Changing service providers can be costly in time and money in the long run. Look at the overall value you are getting from each quote, instead of the cost you are paying.
Ready to hire a digital marketing expert? Tell us about your project and we’ll find the top digital marketing agencies near you.
You can also compare our range of offers from digital marketing agencies and experts, which have been curated with small businesses in mind.
