According to a study by Smart Insights, 49 percent of business owners don’t have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy. Such business owners usually claim they don’t have the time to invest in learning how to create and execute a digital marketing strategy. If you are one of these business owners, you need to think about investing in a digital marketing agency and let experts help you capitalize on your digital presence. This article will first answer the question of what is a digital marketing agency? Then we’ll discuss some of the services typically offered by digital marketing agencies. Finally, we’ll wrap up with some tips for finding a local digital marketing agency.

What is a Digital Marketing Agency?

A digital marketing agency is a marketing agency that specializes in establishing, optimizing, managing, and amplifying a company’s digital presence. Digital marketing is an umbrella term that includes any type of marketing involving the Internet. Some examples of digital marketing mediums include:

• Company website
• Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more
• Email campaigns
• Mobile apps
• Podcasts
• Blog posts
• Recorded and live video

Some digital marketing agencies specialize in certain aspects of digital marketing, such as search engine marketing, search engine optimization, web design, or social media management. Other digital marketing agencies take a full-service approach and take care of all their client’s digital marketing needs.

The type of digital marketing agency you should choose depends on your needs. If you are one of the 49 percent of business owners who don’t have a digital marketing strategy, then you would benefit most from a full-service digital marketing agency. Let’s look at what you can expect if you bring a digital agency on board.

What Does a Digitial Marketing Agency do?

A digital marketing agency does many things, including:

• Digital branding
• Website design
• Content marketing
• Search engine optimization
• Online Advertising
• Social media marketing
• Video marketing
• Mobile marketing

Digital Branding

All other digital marketing agency services revolve around your brand identity. A digital marketing agency works with you to take what has made you successful offline and turn it into a digital brand identity. This brand identity influences your website design and the tone of your content. An agency then uses your customer data to build ideal customer personas that allow you to create highly targeted digital content.

Website Design

DIY website builders have become all the rage in the business world the past couple of years. The result has been thousands of corporate websites that look like they were made using the same template and stock photos.

A digital marketing agency creates a sleek and sophisticated custom website based on your brand identity. Technical SEO best practices influence every design decision, which sets a new website up for the best chance to rank high in search results.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the act of creating and distributing content designed to increase sales. It includes elements of all the other digital marketing agency services on this list. While content marketing is rising in popularity, not many companies are doing it well. Research by Buzzsumo and Moz shows 75 percent of all blog posts get less than 10 social shares and zero links from other websites.

A digital marketing agency knows how to create content that consumers find useful, and how to amplify that content through some of the following methods.

Search Engine Optimization

Research by Search Engine Journal shows 75 percent of users never go beyond the first page of search results. Search engine optimization refers to the collection of strategies digital marketing agencies use to get your website ranking on the first page for as many relevant keywords as possible.

Search engine optimization includes the following:

• Using keyword research to create a keyword strategy based on buyer personas
• Creating a site architecture with pages that target each main keyword
• Publishing educational blog content on a consistent basis to provide users value while increasing search rankings
• Building relationships with publishers and webmasters to create a strong backlink profile
• Courting niche-specific influencers to amplify content on social media

Online Advertising

While organic search is a much more effective strategy long-term, using paid search strategies gives you a short-term boost to your visibility. This is referred to by digital marketing agencies as search engine marketing.

How it works is like an auction. You set a certain cost-per-click you are willing to pay to display at the top of the first page for a given keyword, and the search engine selects the bid that has the highest chance to get clicked. A similar process is used for Facebook’s advertising platform.

Social Media Marketing

Building relationships on social media platforms has never been more profitable for businesses. 86 percent of consumers say they prefer a company with an authentic and engaging brand personality, and social media is a great tool for showcasing said personality.

Digital marketing agencies manage your social media profiles with a strategy customized to your business. They use social listening tools and techniques to find and engage with your target audience. They also find influencers in your niche and build relationships with them to amplify your content.

Video Marketing

A study by Animoto shows 64 percent of consumers have made a purchasing decision based on a video they saw on social media.

Digital marketing agencies understand how to make use of video capabilities within each social media and video hosting platform in a way that helps tell your brand story.

Mobile Marketing

Last but not least on the list of digital marketing agency services is mobile marketing. Mobile marketing is the future, as mobile internet users are on the rise while desktop users are on the decline.

Mobile marketing encompasses several of the digital marketing strategies we have listed. Digital marketing agencies use responsive design when designing your site to make sure your mobile site looks good on mobile devices and is optimized for mobile search.

How to Find and Select a Local Digital Marketing Agency

Now that you understand what a digital marketing agency does and the services a digital marketing agency offers, you are ready to select a local digital marketing agency to handle your digital marketing strategy.

Nothing speaks louder than social proof. You want to select a local digital marketing agency that can prove they can generate results. Look for testimonials and examples of client websites.

You also want to select a local digital marketing agency that practices what they preach. Look to see if they have an active company blog that is publishing educational content on a regular basis.

Finally, you want a local digital marketing agency that treats you as a team member and respects your ideas. You want an agency willing to break down the Why behind the how so you can see where your marketing budget is being spent.

Titanium Marketing is a digital marketing agency that meets all three of these criteria. Check out our homepage to see examples of client websites and testimonials that speak to the success of our digital marketing strategies. We look forward to having a conversation to prove we are the best local digital marketing agency for you.