What Does A Digital Marketing Agency Do?
We often get asked the question “What exactly does a digital marketing agency do?” by companies who have never worked with a Digital Marketing Agency before. Well, here is your answer.
Trusted Marketing Advisor
The best way to describe a digital marketing agency to a company who has never worked with one is that an agency is an extension of their existing marketing department. If that company does not have a marketing department then a digital marketing agency acts as a virtual Chief Marketing Officer. Digital marketing agencies (good ones at least) can be the trusted marketing advisor to a company who is looking for an online growth strategy. A digital marketing agency will help that company navigate the waters with online advertising, organic search, e-mail marketing, social media, and other online channels.
Implement the Right Advertising Platforms
A digital marketing agency will help a company assess the right digital advertising platforms to generate qualified leads for their company. For some companies that could be social media marketing while others could benefit more from Google search and display ads or content marketing. Usually, companies utilize a combination of multiple platforms to maximize reach and ROI.
A good digital marketing agency will take the time to understand their client’s goals and work backward into a digital marketing strategy. Ad placements will be determined by target demographics, budget, product, sales goals and more.
Establish Conversion Goals
A good marketer understands that in order to determine return on investment, a digital marketing agency needs to be able to create and track online conversion goals in order to determine the overall return on investment of all marketing spend. Digital marketers have the leverage in knowing that for each dollar spent, they can track the successes and under achievements of each marketing strategy. By understanding cost per lead and cost per acquisition, a good digital marketing agency can reallocate budget immediately to a marketing strategy that is producing results vs. one that is spending money with nothing in return.
Analytics & Reporting
Whether you sell Drain Repair Service or Plaque Removing Dental Gel Marketers know that analytics is crucial to justify their time (and money) spent on certain marketing activities. For instance, if a budget calls for $10,000 per month spend on all digital platforms, a good marketer will understand the importance of A/B split testing platforms for the purpose of achieving a lower cost per conversion. Reporting is paramount for the marketer to disseminate information to the rest of the executive staff. Reports should demonstrate what happened from a marketing standpoint as well as what we have learned from the various marketing activities. More importantly, a good marketer should be able to look at analytics and determine what the focus should be the subsequent months based on empirical data. Let the data tell you what you need to focus on, the data doesn’t lie.
Lead Generation
Marketing in some organizations is seen as a sales support role. We find this to be an outdated stereotype of marketing. Digital marketing should be seen as a lead generation tool or strategy that can be deployed to help increase inbound leads. For instance, if a company needs more inbound calls or emails from the website, a digital marketing agency by its inherent nature assumes the role of a lead generation channel for that organization.
Branding
Companies who have a budget for branding should utilize a digital marketing agency to help raise their online awareness. Traditional marketing such as direct mail, newspaper ads, and other offline activities typically cost more and make it difficult to directly track success. Digital marketing offers complete transparency in that we know the cost of each click as well as the cost per lead. From a branding standpoint, we know how many users see our ads on a monthly and daily basis and how many users engaged with our brand online. You can’t do that with a billboard, newspaper ad or a direct mail piece.
In summary, whether you own a land excavating company, landscape design, tile and stone, or chimney sweeping company a digital marketing agency can be used differently by each company. The one constant across all companies is that a digital marketing agency should increase their inbound lead generation as well as provide guidance across all advertising mediums and the digital space.
