The events of the past 18 months have meant businesses across all industries have had to adapt their business models and grow their online presence.
As of 2019, 83.4% of businesses had a website, and that figure has only grown since then. A report from July 2020 also states that 85,000 online businesses were started in the UK during lockdown.
If you need to grow your online business presence or you’re thinking about starting an online business, you may well be considering or have considered hiring a digital marketing agency to help you grow.
If you are, then keep reading; in this article, we’ll outline what exactly a digital marketing agency can do for your business.
What is a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency is a marketing agency that focuses on the marketing of goods and services online and adapts to the changing landscape of the digital era. Digital marketing agencies concentrate mainly on leveraging new technologies and modern techniques to bolster their client’s reputation and sales.
Some digital marketing agencies offer multiple forms of digital marketing, while others specialise in a particular area. The most common forms of digital marketing are:
Full-service digital marketing agencies generally offer a more comprehensive range of services than an agency that specialises in one particular area, but your own business goals will determine whether you should hire a digital marketing agency specialising in a specific area, such as an SEO agency or a full-service agency.
When you’re choosing a digital marketing agency, you’ll want to take some time to consider what type of service will be most impactful for your business and your goals. For example, a local barber will probably require different services to an international ecommerce store.
If you can, try and find a digital marketing agency with experience in your industry or niche. A digital marketing agency that has a track record of success with other businesses in your industry is more likely to get positive results for your business than a more generalist digital marketing agency. An agency with experience in your industry will also be better placed to understand the typical nuances and issues found in your area of business.
How can a digital marketing agency help you?
With such a variety of services on offer, there are many ways a digital marketing agency can help your business, and it all comes down to your goals and the problems you’re looking to solve.
Start by asking yourself what the most pressing issues your business is facing are: do you need more leads? Are the people who are landing on your website not converting? Is your business lacking a social media presence?
Being clear about your goals and the areas of your business that need strengthening will help you determine the particular services that will be right for your business. For example, if you’re looking to boost the amount of organic traffic to your site, then you’ll want to find an agency that offers SEO as a part of its service portfolio.
How much do digital marketing agencies charge?
After working out your goals and the services you’ll need, you may well be wondering how much digital marketing agencies charge. The answer to this question typically lies in the amount of work they’ll be carrying out and the length of time they’ll be working on a campaign for, or how long it will take to achieve the agreed goals.
On average, an agency can cost between £1,000 – £5,000 every month. Still, the digital marketing agency you choose should be able to provide you with a comprehensive breakdown of the costs involved with each service they offer and their own pricing models.
Questions to ask a digital marketing agency
If you’re in the process of deciding if hiring a digital marketing agency is right for your business or even talking to some agencies at the moment, there are specific questions you should ask; these include:
While an agency doesn’t need to have experience in your industry, it’s certainly a bonus. A simple way to start finding an agency in your industry is with a Google search.
For example, if you run a law firm in London, searching for ‘law firm digital marketing agency London’, you should get a list of digital marketing agencies that may have experience helping law firms.
You can also look at an agency’s “about” page on their website or their company LinkedIn profile to see which clients they typically work with. You may even find case studies on their website with stories of how the agency has helped similar businesses to your own.
Tracking KPIs are essential to measuring the success of any digital marketing campaign, and the KPIs that an agency measures will typically differ depending on the service they’re offering.
Say an agency is running an SEO campaign for you, you’ll want to make sure the agency is tracking KPIs such as organic traffic, search rankings, organic click-through rate and the number and quality of websites linking to your site.
The digital marketing agency you choose should ask you what your marketing goals are and educate you on what KPIs will be tracked depending on the nature of the campaign you’re running.
A reputable digital marketing agency should be able to give you some idea of what kind of ROI you can expect as a result of the campaigns they’re running for you, and you should ask the question when you’re consulting with agencies that you might hire.
You could also ask to see any case studies the agency might have that shows the results they’ve got for businesses with similar goals to your own. You could also check out their reviews and testimonials to see if past clients have left any reviews in your industry.
Wrapping up
The right digital marketing agency can help grow your online presence, bring you new leads and ultimately grow your business.
Make sure you get a clear picture of the services you require and the goals you want to achieve before hiring a digital marketing business; this will help you choose the right digital marketing agency and get maximum ROI on your investment.
Copyright 2021. Sponsored post made possible by Tom Welbourne of , a marketing agency in London that drives more traffic, generates conversions and increases sales for small- to medium-sized businesses.
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