Introduction

With the Internet as widespread of a presence as it is, it comes as no surprise that companies have dramatically shifted the strategy from physical marketing (think billboards and park benches) to increasing brand awareness through solely online channels. There are over 3.1 billion users of the Internet, contributing to the $200 billion valuation of the digital advertising market.

For some, digital marketing can be a seemingly complicated venture (what even is SEO anyway?), which is why it is an extremely common practice for companies to turn to the help of a digital marketing agency.

Today we’ll cover

• What is Digital Marketing?
• What is a Digital Marketing Agency?
• Common Services of a Digital Marketing Agency
• How a Digital Marketing Agency Helps You
• Why Is a Digital Marketing Agency Necessary?

What is the definition of Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the practice of using online channels and strategies to spread brand awareness and increase traction to your company. It’s a form of marketing that encompasses usage of any and all technological channels for promotion and distribution.

What is a Digital Marketing Agency?

Digital marketing agencies are companies that exist for the purpose of helping other companies market themselves online. Because there are numerous ways the Internet can be utilized to attract more traffic to your brand, digital marketing agencies specialize in a vast array of helpful services that can be tailored to your individual company.

A full-service digital marketing agency will help you curate a brand from the ground up, working with you to develop an identity, website, and ensuing marketing tactics to complement your company’s goals. Digital marketing agencies will also work with pre-existing brands by performing a comprehensive assessment of said brands, and then developing advertisement and content strategies.

Common Services of a Digital Marketing Agency

No two digital marketing agencies will be the same, as companies may choose to take a unique approach based on what they believe to be the most effective marketing tactics. However, there are several services that are common to most traditional marketing agencies.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

SEO is a fundamental aspect of any company’s online traffic. When people use an online search engine, what comes up is a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The appearance of the initial SERP is based on what the search engine deems the most relevant and high quality results, so it’s imperative that your site be search engine optimized if you wish to have a quality influx of organic traffic.

On-Page SEO

The optimization of web pages, through content and HTML source code updates, to make it more attractive for Google’s SERPs.

Off-Page SEO

Building up the website’s credibility and trustworthiness by bettering public online brand reputation.

Technical SEO

Improvements to the technical infrastructure of a website, so that not only it runs extremely smoother for visitors, but appears attractive to Google’s crawlers and algorithms responsible for creating the SERP.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

PPC ad campaigns are a classic and proven way to get target traffic straight to your site. These campaigns can be run using platforms like Google Ads, are able to be fully customized according to your brand, and benefit heavily from efficient bidding strategies and knowledge of keyword use.

Social Media Marketing

The influence of social media is one of the most defining aspects of the modern age. As such, marketing tactics that strategically maximize use of social media is integral to a complete approach to brand awareness.

Organic Social Media Marketing

Utilizing your own social media accounts is a great, free way to get your brand out there. Posting relevant, high quality content is rewarded by the algorithm, helping get your content in front of millions of users’ eyes at once.

Paid Social Media Advertising

Social media platforms are built to showcase users relevant content, so paying to have your own content be promoted for a certain demographic can be a boon for quality website traffic and brand awareness.

Influencer Marketing

The most popular influencers have wide audiences that can be mobilized in your favor. Collaborating with such influencers adds credibility to your brand, and can provide you with an increased customer base.

Content Marketing

Content can and should be specifically tailored not just what is attractive to the online algorithms, but also by what is most engaging for your audience. High quality articles, infographics, and videos help would-be customers learn about your company in a manner that is entirely favorable to you.

Email Marketing

Almost every single potential client/customer has an email, making it an easy and convenient point of contact for your entire customer base. Devising an eye-catching and engaging email marketing campaign can get eyes on your brand at no cost to you.

Web Design and Development

Consider your website your home base or central hub of operations pertaining to your audience’s exploration of your brand. This means your website must be well-designed to operate at the confluence of ease of use and efficiently delivered information. A poorly put together website reflects badly on your company as a whole.

How a Digital Marketing Agency Helps You/The Steps Of Digital Marketing

Creation of Strategy

Preliminary Market Research

Industry Analysis

When designing your digital marketing strategy, it is imperative you understand the space you are trying to break into. Having an in-depth understanding of both current and prospective growth trends will help you not only stay ahead of the curve but also ensure you remain at the top of ongoing market trends.

It is also necessary to be aware of your competitors. Maintaining awareness of those who are actively working in the same space as you are allows you to keep up with the pace of a rapidly shifting industry. Conducting SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) tests on both your own company and competitors provides valuable insights on where to differentiate from other companies, as well as how best to improve your brand.

Target Audience Research

Knowledge of your ideal customer base is essential to marketing your brand; having a limited perception of who you’re marketing to means lacking the necessary foundations to construct an optimized marketing plan. Understand your target audience by profiling exactly who it is that your company aims to serve, gathering feedback, and identifying habits and preferences of your demographics. Capitalize on your findings by providing convenient solutions for your audience’s pain points and filling in opportunity gaps le

1. Creation of Customized Strategies‍
2. It is here where the digital marketing agency will call in their expertise and specialization. Armed with the knowledge acquired from exhaustive market research, they will identify the optimal advertisements to run, niches to target, and changes to implement. Taking a tailored approach to digital marketing allows for the least competition with other companies while simultaneously maximizing qualified traction to your site.

Implementation of Strategy

Initial Implementation

Once extensive research and comprehensive analysis have been performed on the market, digital marketing agencies may use a combination (if not all) of the aforementioned services. A customized strategy will by crafted with your brand at the forefront, complete with specifically chosen marketing channels, unique materials for advertisements, and a definitive message you want associated with your company.

Continuous Improvement

The online space is an ever-changing one, making it important to continuously monitor the performance of your marketing campaigns. The last thing you want is a carefully curated strategy to be optimized for a specific market, only for that market to shift to a completely new algorithm for rewarding content. Digital marketing agencies will work to continuously monitor and improve the quality of your marketing campaigns using a combination of the following methods:

Performance Analysis

Prior to campaign optimization, you should understand exactly what it is that needs optimizing. Once you and your digital marketing agency have determined the most appropriate KPI’s with which to measure progress, consistently track the data from your campaigns. Get a clear view of what is going great, what is going alright, and what is going poorly.

For example, an e-commerce store might set a certain number of purchases as a determinant of success. Is the marketing campaign getting people to the site but not purchasing? Or are people purchasing, but then complaining and returning? This is an invaluable time to learn about the preferences of your customer base.

Conversion Rate Optimization

If you see trends that indicate your campaign will result in a net positive growth, congratulations! From there it’s time to think about how to scale that strategy upwards. Things might be going good, but there’s always space for improvement. A strategy should never have a limit on how much can be gained.

If it looks like your campaign will fall a little short of where you need it be, figure out where the main problem areas are and alter them. There’s no need to scrap the entire campaign and start from scratch—sometimes all you need is a few tweaks to get everything running smoothly.

A/B Testing

There’s no singularly correct way to market, so it’s worthwhile to experiment with several variations of your campaign at once. Different and creative advertisements can have varying levels of effectiveness, and once you’ve gathered data from all campaigns, compare to learn which one suits your goals the most. Most of the time you will go with the campaign that brings in the most conversions and traffic, but some campaigns are better at targeting certain demographics, and that may be the one you prefer to scale up.

Measuring Results

Website Traffic and Engagement

How many more people come to your website? More importantly, how many more people engage with your website? In order to be memorable, you want your prospective clients to put time into learning more about you, your brand, and what you represent.

ROI

Ideally, you’d be receiving more money than you spent to run your campaigns. Overall profitability is a common and objective way of gauging the success of your marketing efforts.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Divide the cost of your marketing campaign by the number of new customers brought in by that campaign. This provides you with the CAC, or the amount of money it takes to get a new customer. Customers can be judged by purchases, sign ups, or by those who fill out forms. For however you define a customer, you should ensure that the cost to obtain one does not exceed the revenue that customer will bring in.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customers are of significantly higher value if they’re interested in your brand long term. Putting effort into retaining customers will increase CLV and contribute to the longevity of your brand.

Why are Digital Marketing Agency Necessary?

Scalability

The goal of digital marketing is to grow your brand. But your digital marketing endeavors shouldn’t halt just because you reach a certain level of success. Growing your strategies in tandem with your company development ensures a consistent cycle of improvement and maturation. Having the flexibility of a digital marketing aid can be a boon to company health and happiness.

Furthermore, digital marketing strategies need to be well thought out and executed, otherwise there is a risk of negative effects on your company. Sunk costs and a volatile brand reputation are among some of the possible consequences of poorly designed marketing.

Access to Advanced Tools and Technology

As the online space grows increasingly complex, the cognitive load required for digital marketing can be offloaded onto professional tools designed specifically for your companies needs. These technologies do wonders for efficiency, and can provide pristine results in a timely manner.

Time Efficiency

Digital marketing is quintessential to getting your company’s name in the eyes and minds of the public. But it can be a lengthy and strenuous process due to its required research and analytic procedures. Utilizing a digital marketing agency cuts much of that work from your to-do list. Having a digital marketing agency help out means that you can leave the difficult jobs to the professionals, while you can focus on other aspects of growing your brand.

What if you didn’t need to choose a digital marketing agency?

With thousands of digital marketing agencies available, it can be overwhelming to determine which one is the best fit for you and your business. There are several factors to consider, including price, complementarity of personality, and necessary services. With so many things to keep in mind, interviewing and researching individual agencies can be a strain on your temporal and financial resources.

That’s why certain businesses, like StyleAI, are aiming to completely replace digital marketing agencies for small business owners. With top tier AI tools that maximize time efficiency for prices that aren’t hard on the bank, StyleAI has taken all of the stress of deciding away from you, letting you sit back, relax, and let your business grow organically.

Conclusion

The essence of marketing is getting your company’s name in the minds of the public. In a time where the zeitgeist is centered around the online space, it is an intuitive practice to similarly shift your marketing efforts to become primarily digital. While digital marketing consists of many components (with not all of them easy to understand), the use of a digital marketing agency can significantly lighten your load while escalating the growth potential of your brand.

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