WHAT IS A
DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY?

A digital marketing agency can help boost your company's online visibility, traffic, and profit. 

Digital marketing is a subset of marketing that uses the internet and online technologies to promote products and services and generate sales for companies. A digital marketing agency uses online methods to help you achieve your marketing goals. What tools and techniques do they use, and what should you expect when you hire a digital marketing agency?

Table of Contents:

• What Does a Digital Marketing Agency Do
  • When Might You Need a Digital Marketing Agency
• Digital Marketing Agencies vs. Inbound Marketing
• Should You Choose a Digital Marketing Agency

What Does a Digital Marketing Agency Do?

As you might guess, a digital marketing agency uses online (i.e. digital) channels to attract attention to your business. This includes:

• Online advertising (as in pay-per-click ads, banner ads, etc.).
• Search engine optimization (SEO).
• Content marketing (i.e. blogs, email marketing, video marketing, etc.).
• Social media marketing.
• Website design/development.

It’s important to note that digital marketing can include all forms of online engagement, including anything delivered over desktop or mobile devices.

Digital marketing can also help you adapt to multi-channel or omnichannel marketing. Multi-channel marketing is simply using various online channels to promote your business; however, it’s largely been replaced by omnichannel marketing, which strives to produce a seamless customer experience across all channels. You can, of course, choose to use a digital marketing agency for one or two channels, or you can collaborate with them to shape and guide your entire online marketing efforts.

When looking for a digital marketing agency, look for one with deep experience in online marketing tools and techniques. They should also be aware of how to leverage the latest trends – while still staying aligned with your brand image. And, as with any type of marketing agency, soft skills like communication, adhering to deadlines, organization, and customer service will make any project more successful.

When Might You Need a Digital Marketing Agency?

• For online marketing and lead generation.
• To grow web traffic or social media presence.
• To boost brand awareness and reach.
• If you’re just launching your business.
• If you’re getting started with social media, online advertising, etc.
• If you don’t have anyone in your marketing department

Digital Marketing Agencies vs. Inbound Marketing

Given that inbound marketing and digital marketing operate in the same space, it can be difficult to understand the difference between them. 

First of all, digital marketing and inbound marketing are not mutually exclusive; a digital marketing agency may use inbound techniques. And inbound marketing agencies use a lot of the same digital channels. But there are some significant differences between the two:

• Digital marketing agencies may use inbound marketing tactics – or not. While some folks say that digital marketing is part of inbound marketing, we can all point to digital marketing experiences that were closer to traditional advertising than customer-driven marketing.
• Inbound marketing is a set of techniques and principles that can be applied to many different marketing activities.
• Some digital marketers focus more on visual design than on information and content. While design is certainly important, content is always king in inbound marketing.
• Inbound marketing relies heavily on content strategy. And the content is always tailored to where the customer is in their own journey – not just to what the business wants to share.
• Digital marketing can be interruptive and company-centric, e.g. pop-ads or banner ads.
• Inbound is always customer-driven. One of the key practices of inbound marketing is education via delivering information that the customer needs.
• Digital marketing can be short- or long-term.
• Inbound marketing works best over the long haul.

Should You Choose a Digital Marketing Agency?

If you want to boost your business’ online presence, a digital marketing agency can get the job done. But before you make your decision, think about whether you want to apply the principles of inbound marketing to your efforts. If you do, an inbound marketing agency is probably the safest choice, as they do many of the same things as digital marketing agencies in a more customer-centric way.

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