Nowadays, having a digital marketing strategy is essential to reach your potential customers. However, designing and executing a successful marketing campaign requires specialised knowledge in multiple areas, which a small marketing department often does not have or cannot carry out due to a lack of tools or personnel.
A digital agency encompasses many functions, but is primarily responsible for the planning and execution of digital content for the public for a company, brand, individual or organisation.
But if you really want to discover what a digital agency can do for you and all the added value it can bring to your business, read on!
what is a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency can specialise in digital marketing tactics or it can be a full-service digital agency.
A full-service digital agency or 360 agency usually offers comprehensive solutions for your online presence: from branding your company, designing your website and optimising it for better search engine rankings, to creating and executing a complete digital marketing strategy for you. For this example you can take a look at this article in which we define all the solutions a 360 marketing agency can provide.
In the case of digital agencies focused on digital marketing tactics, their services can include anything from an overall strategy to content marketing, email marketing, social media advertising, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, influencer marketing, PR services and much more. This option is most effective for those businesses that are just looking for support for their existing marketing department.
why do you need a digital agency?
You may want to consider hiring an agency to help you with marketing tasks if you:
- You have a small online shop as a hobby or side business and don't have the time to promote and grow your brand yourself.
- You have just opened an e-commerce website and are not sure where to start with digital marketing and how to implement it.
- You have an established small business, but it's more cost-effective to outsource marketing services to an agency than to hire an in-house marketer.
- Your business is growing rapidly and you need to consult digital marketing specialists on how to expand your marketing efforts.
- You have an established business but want to leave your marketing and sales activities in the hands of a specialised, full-service organisation.
If you ultimately decide to hire an agency, you can choose a local or global one, depending on your preferences, type of business and industry.
what kind of services does a digital marketing agency offer?
We have already outlined some of the key services that a digital marketing agency can offer its clients. Let's now look in a little more detail at the specific actions that a digital marketing agency can take to increase a company's traffic, engagement, sales and revenue.
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Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimisation". In simple terms, SEO refers to the process of improving your website to increase its visibility in Google, Microsoft Bing and other search engines whenever people search:
- The products you sell
- The services you provide
- Information on topics in which you have extensive knowledge and/or experience
At a digital marketing agency, marketers will use the following tactics to improve a client's SEO and therefore increase website traffic with interested users:
- Keyword research
- On-page optimisation
- Information architecture
- Responding to common industry search queries with relevant, high quality content
- Link building
- Competitor research and analysis
- Page navigation
- Focus on user experience
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Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
PPC is a form of search engine marketing (SEM) that brings users to a company's website through paid search advertising campaigns, with the long-term goal of making the website as visible and easy to find as possible. PPC works by charging the person who has placed an ad (in this case, a digital marketing agency or the client) every time a user clicks on one of their ads.
PPC advertising can be a cost-effective digital marketing technique, as the advertiser is only charged when a user actually reaches their website, but is not charged for the mere placement of the ad. PPC is also targeted, allowing advertisers to select demographics such as location, language and device type.
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Social media marketing
Social media marketing is the process of planning, creating and publishing eye-catching, engaging, high-value and relevant content on a company's social media platforms. These social media channels typically include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but, depending on where a company's target audience spends most of their time, could also include sites such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok and many others.
The goal of posting content on social media is to increase audience, followers or community, build brand awareness and authority, convert and retain customers, and drive sales for the company. In a practical sense, it is an opportunity to promote products and services, educate users about what a company does on a day-to-day basis and what it stands for, and engage directly with potential customers.
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Marketing automation
Marketing automation is what happens when you use tools and services that can automate different marketing activities to streamline activities and objectives, improve efficiency and productivity, and enable tracking and analysis of large amounts of data. A digital marketing agency can set up marketing automation tools on behalf of a company or client for a range of activities related to:
- Social media planning, scheduling and publishing
- ROI analysis and tracking
- Conversation monitoring
- Campaign targeting
- Content selection and management
- Email marketing
- Lead generation, analysis and management
- Testing
- Website visitor tracking
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Email marketing
Email marketing is the creation of email sequences to promote a product, offer or service to a company's customers or users. The aim of email marketing is to meet users' needs, solve their problems and answer their questions at every stage of the process, in order to convert a lead or nurture a sale.
A digital marketing agency can be asked to produce email copy on behalf of the client, or it can take the client's emails and build them into a sequence, which is then monitored, adjusted and analysed using tools such as HubSpot, MailChimp, RapidMail or GetResponse. This technology can help the agency evaluate the success of each email campaign and continually improve results.
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Surveys
Marketing surveys help a digital marketing agency collect data from a client's target audience on a specific topic, such as pricing, customer expectations or competition. It's a simple and effective way to get direct feedback from users and provide businesses with a better understanding of their customers' needs, wants and goals. There are numerous types of marketing surveys, but some of the most common are as follows:
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- Buyer persona
- Competitor analysis
- Price evaluation
- Sales activities
- Testimonials
- Lead generation
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Content marketing
Content marketing is the production and publication of high quality text or visual materials that aim to generate interest in a company's products or services, while avoiding explicit promotion of those products. This popular digital marketing technique provides users with insights and information, builds brand trust and authority, provides a platform for sharing a company's values or vision, provides an opportunity to answer common industry or product questions, and enables a brand to become a thought leader and trusted resource in its industry.
A digital marketing agency can advise clients on content marketing strategy, create a strategy from scratch after extensive consultation with a client, or work with an existing strategy to provide the copy or visuals the company needs to launch, execute and monitor an effective campaign.
what are the advantages of hiring a digital agency?
We've talked about what a digital agency is and what it can do, but you may be asking yourself, why don't I manage my digital marketing in-house?
The bottom line is that digital agencies are there to help you grow your business and achieve your marketing goals, but there are many reasons why companies choose to outsource.
Here are some of the main advantages of outsourcing to a digital agency:
- Cost savings
- Saving time and money on in-house recruitment
- Ability to focus on your business and what you do best
- Team of industry experts
- Knowledge of the latest trends and resources
- Project flexibility - long or short term, small or large
- External perspective
- Business discovery and recommendations
- Growth and scalability
- Data-driven results
Occam: the agency that fits your needs
As we have seen, the role of a digital marketing agency is varied and attractive, and both businesses and individuals can benefit from working with them. The advantages that an agency can bring include streamlining activities, increasing efficiency and productivity, providing a wealth of experience and expertise, and implementing and supporting internal processes.
At Occam we adapt to your needs, and become the agency your company needs. Whether you want a full-service agency or are just looking to hire a couple of services to help your marketing department. If you want to hire a digital marketing agency but still have doubts, request a consultancy with Occam and discover everything we can do for you.
