What Does a Digital Marketing Agency Do? Everything You Need to Know

A digital marketing agency can be a powerful ally for your business, offering a range of services that you might not fully recognize at first. If you’re a sales or marketing manager, your primary role is to attract customers to your business, acting as the welcoming face at its “front doors.”

In today’s landscape, where 81 percent of customers conduct online research before making purchasing decisions, establishing a robust online presence is essential. This involves engaging and guiding customers throughout their journey. This is where a digital marketing company shines – achieving this for your business and delivering so much more.

But what exactly is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is a multifaceted strategy aiming to target, engage, and nurture customers online across various channels. The ultimate goal is to guide them towards making a purchase and becoming repeat customers, generating more revenue over time.

The impact of digital marketing is striking. For instance, businesses that blog experience 67 percent more leads compared to those that neglect this approach. Moreover, the conversion rate for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an impressive 14.6 percent, far surpassing the mere 1.7 percent conversion rate of traditional outbound methods.

The suite of digital marketing services includes:

1. Content Marketing: Creating valuable, informative, and engaging content to attract and retain customers.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing your online presence to rank higher in search engine results and drive organic traffic.
3. Video Marketing: Utilizing videos to communicate your brand, products, and messages in a compelling and shareable format.
4. Google Ads/PPC: Creating targeted advertisements that appear on search engines and websites, driving relevant traffic to your site.
5. Email Marketing: Building and nurturing customer relationships through personalized email campaigns.
6. Social Media Marketing: Leveraging social platforms to connect with your audience, build brand awareness, and drive engagement.

A digital marketing agency employs an array of tactics, strategies, and online tools to help your business achieve its marketing and sales objectives. For many solo entrepreneurs and smaller marketing teams, orchestrating an effective digital marketing campaign can be a complex undertaking.

Also Read-10 Marketing Automation Trends That Businesses Should Follow

8 Types of Digital Marketing Agencies (and What They Do)

Choosing a digital marketing agency can be daunting if you’re not well-versed in the industry. Different agencies specialize in various industries or services, while others provide a comprehensive range of offerings. The best fit for your business hinges on factors like your budget, digital marketing goals, and how involved you wish to be. Here are seven common types of digital marketing agencies:

1. Digital Marketing Agency: This agency employs omnichannel, multichannel, or single-channel marketing to connect with customers online. While multichannel and single-channel marketing engage customers through various channels like websites, blogs, email, and social media, omnichannel marketing aims for a seamless customer experience across platforms and devices. Traditional marketing services are generally not offered.
2. Full-Service Digital Marketing Agency: These agencies tend to be larger and offer diverse digital marketing services. Businesses often collaborate with full-service agencies for specific projects, such as lead nurturing campaigns or website redesigns. They can also augment existing marketing departments at a lower cost than hiring new staff.
3. Inbound Marketing Agency: Inbound marketing agencies specialize in inbound tactics that differ from traditional outbound strategies. They position online businesses for customers to discover, establish trust over time, and drive sales. While inbound strategies yield significant results, they typically require a longer time frame (six months to a year or more) before lead and sales growth takes off.
4. SEO Agency: SEO agencies focus on enhancing their clients’ websites and content to achieve high rankings in search results. They perform tasks like keyword research, website audits, backlink assessments, content creation, metadata evaluation, video description optimization, and link building. These agencies utilize data analytics and tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEM Rush, and SEO Moz to stay ahead of search algorithm changes.
5. Digital Ad (PPC) Agency: Paid search, or paid advertising, involves spending money to bid on keywords and ad placements in search results. These agencies create attention-grabbing ads that align with platform best practices. Services include ad creation and deployment on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Ads Manager.
6. Online Ad Agency/PPC Agency: Online ad agencies specialize in generating website traffic through paid ads on platforms like websites, search result pages, and social media channels. This approach can yield quick results, provided the campaign effectively targets the intended audience. Online ads can complement a broader digital strategy, often pairing well with less expensive long-term strategies.
7. Social Media Agency: Companies enlist social media agencies to establish and maintain their social media presence. These agencies manage and create social content, set up advertisements on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, respond to customer interactions, and handle influencer outreach for cross-promotion or affiliate marketing.
8. Web Design Agency: Comprising creative designers, web design agencies craft custom and optimized websites or web pages for businesses. They handle visual aesthetics, functionality, and user experience (UX) for projects ranging from new websites to redesigns. Services include UX/UI design, image creation and storage, web development, and web hosting.

DIGITAL MARKETING CONSULTANT

A digital marketing consultant is a professional who may or may not be affiliated with a digital marketing agency. They possess a comprehensive understanding of digital marketing and can assist businesses in devising effective digital marketing strategies. These consultants identify weaknesses in your current approach, areas that can be improved, and the optimal methods to achieve significant gains. They often have a network of marketing professionals or agencies they can refer you to for further assistance.

What Does a Digital Marketing Agency Do?

Businesses partner with digital marketing agencies to leverage their expertise in online marketing. Agencies are well-versed in the latest trends, best practices, and effective tools and strategies necessary for digital marketing success.

Here are specific expectations when collaborating with a digital marketing agency:

1. GROW ORGANIC TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE

Digital marketing endeavors aim to drive substantial organic traffic to a business website. Professionals at digital marketing agencies possess a deep understanding of inbound marketing, customer journeys, and search engine algorithms. When you engage with a digital marketing agency, your website’s organic traffic—users finding your website through search engine searches—will increase. Your website will attract more leads with lower costs, and these leads will be of higher quality, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

2. GENERATE SALES-READY LEADS

The experts at digital marketing agencies familiarize themselves with your business, marketing goals, sales funnel, and target audiences. Their knowledge extends to various inbound marketing tactics like content marketing, social media marketing, web design, and search engine optimization. Depending on the stage of leads within your sales funnel, specific inbound marketing tactics prove more effective. By collaborating with a digital marketing agency, you’ll deliver the right message through the appropriate online channels at the right time to each lead in your sales funnel. This process helps move leads from the top to the bottom of your sales funnel, generating sales-ready leads.

3. EXPAND YOUR BRAND REACH

Your customers exist online, a fact known to both you and digital marketing agencies. Specializing in online brand promotion and customer engagement, these agencies excel at expanding your brand’s online reach. Partnering with a digital marketing agency enhances your website’s visibility through keyword research and buyer persona development. If the agency manages your social media marketing, your brand gains additional online presence across various social platforms.

DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCIES IMPROVE YOUR MARKETING FROM TOP TO BOTTOM

The digital marketing agency you select should seamlessly integrate with your internal marketing team, compensating for any deficiencies in specialized digital marketing knowledge and time constraints. Your agency partner will also identify weaknesses in your current digital marketing strategies. If your marketing team is small, it’s likely that you lack the expertise required for specific digital marketing campaigns. For instance, expertise in web design, SEO, public relations, email marketing, and social media marketing may be lacking.

At Foreignerds, however, we offer a comprehensive range of digital marketing services:

• Search engine optimization
• Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
• Social media marketing
• Marketing automation
• Content marketing
• Facebook advertising
• PR services
• Email marketing
• Video production
• Event coordination
• Website development

Is a Digital Marketing Agency Right For Your Business?

Before hiring a digital marketing agency, it’s crucial to assess your company’s needs. Are you in need of a content overhaul, SEO improvements, or a website UX redesign? Evaluate your internal marketing skills, strengths, and capabilities to determine the type of agency, if any, that can benefit your business. Do you already have an in-house team that requires assistance, or is your entire marketing outsourced? These questions will help you decide whether working with an agency aligns with your goals.

Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency? Ask These 12 Questions

When selecting a digital marketing company to collaborate with, thorough research is essential. Understand your digital marketing goals, budget, and your desired level of involvement in implementing a digital marketing campaign. Here are important questions to pose to potential digital marketing agencies:

1. Will you have a designated contact person or project manager within the agency?
2. Will in-house specialists or freelancers handle the work?
3. How does the size of your contract compare to others the agency handles?
4. What online tools and software do they utilize?
5. What proportion of your budget covers administrative costs?
6. How does the agency define a good client versus a bad client?
7. Which key performance indicators (KPIs) do they use to gauge success, and how will these be communicated in regular meetings?
8. What can you expect during your contract’s initial 90 days (or equivalent starting period)?
9. How often will you receive updates on your digital marketing campaign’s status?
10. What is the agency’s pricing structure?
11. Can they provide evidence of successful collaborations with businesses similar to yours?
12. What do their testimonials, Better Business Bureau (BBB) ratings, or Google Reviews reveal?

Ensuring you’re making the best decision for your business before entrusting a digital marketing agency is vital.

What Do Foreignerds Do Differently?

At Foreignerds, we embrace the inbound marketing framework tailored to today’s customer behavior. We work to attract customers when they’re ready to make purchase decisions, avoiding cold-calling and focusing on effective strategies. Our 6-step inbound marketing methodology identifies gaps in your marketing approach, and we tailor a strategy to rectify them.

Our team of T-shaped marketers possesses comprehensive marketing knowledge, allowing us to identify areas for improvement and execute necessary changes. Each member has unique expertise, from creating content to driving traffic or creating captivating graphics.

Some Outcomes of Our Results-Driven Process:

• Increasing organic website traffic
• Generating and nurturing sales-ready leads
• Expanding brand reach through new channels for customer acquisition
• Boosting revenue
• Lowering lead acquisition costs

Foreignerds: A Data-Driven Digital Marketing Agency to Enhance Revenue

Effective digital marketing can attract leads and customers, but the process can be time-consuming and costly when done alone. Many businesses partner with external digital marketing agencies. To understand where your marketing can be enhanced, contact us for a free 30-minute strategy session. We’ll review your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.

Ready to collaborate with a digital marketing agency? Discover how we can elevate your online presence and drive sales!