It’s no hidden fact that technology has made marketing an ever-evolving, fluid part of marketing in today’s society. Social media, automation, e-mail campaigns, and new trends like virtual and augmented reality are changing the way even seasoned marketers are doing their jobs and spreading the word about their company’s products and services. That’s why many companies — including those that have their own marketing officers and departments — are turning to a digital marketing agency to help them stay on top of their job responsibilities.
Now, before you write off a digital marketing agency as a group of millennials spending their days on Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat, consider the sheer number of users on each of those three social media platforms.
- Twitter: Twitter has 317 million monthly active users from around the world, and on average, they send out more than 500 million tweets every single day. More than 90 percent of their users are on the platform each month — more than half are on there every day.
- Facebook: Around the world, 1.86 billion people are logging in each month, and 1.23 million log in each day (1.15 million are on mobile devices). Five new profiles are created every second and there are millions of pieces of content shared each second.
- Snapchat: More than 158 million individuals use the mobile app every day; each month, more than 301 million people are actively using the app. Each day, 2.5 billion snaps are sent by 60 percent of the daily users.
With so many people using these sites — only three of the wide variety of social networking and media platforms available to your customers — in addition to the plethora of other digital options for businesses of any size, a digital marketing agency will bring your company a package that will enhance the work being done by your current marketing department while elevating your company’s online footprint.
Take a look at the work being done by a digital marketing agency to see how the skills and expertise can take your current marketing levels up a notch.
Website Development
Despite the growth of so many other digital options, Web sites continue to be the base for digital marketing. Driving traffic to your site is vital if you want to see growth and expansion. To do so, though, you need to make sure your Web site can handle a growing number of visitors. In some cases, you might need to rebuild your site. Say, for example, your site was built using Flash — Apple technology doesn’t support that function. If your site isn’t adaptable for mobile devices, you’ll want to rebuild. (Not sure? Check out Google’s mobile-friendly test). Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes. Does your site take a long time to load? Does your site have many redirects or broken links? Perhaps you want to create a more user-friendly content management system that lets you easily make changes and add content without needing advanced programming skills.
In other cases, an update might be sufficient: giving your site a new look helps you to meet the changing demands of customers who want instant, valuable information.
SEO and PPC
More than alphabet soup, these are two of the primary tools that will help drive traffic to your newly-designed Web site. Search engine optimization specialists take their skills and knowledge and help you to move higher on the search engine results page. The closer you are to the top, or the more relevant your content is to the search query, the better chance you have of reaching more customers, either through the results listing or in the featured snippet.
Pay-per-click advertising is another method of reaching customers on search engines. In a nutshell, you set your keywords and when that query comes up, if you are the best match, your pre-written content will be placed in a prominent location on the page. If the user clicks on your ad, you are charged. There is an art and skill that goes along with the strategy for pay-per-click advertising. Specialists know and understand how to build a successful campaign, and have years of practical experience that can be applied to your business.
Social Media
Yes, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat are popular favorites, but what about marketing on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Muscal.ly, WhatsApp, Tumblr, and YouTube? Each of these platforms has unique demographic, content interest, and active time frame. Each has a different focus: LinkedIn is for professionals and business, Pinterest is a DIY-lover’s second home, for example. Each was launched to serve a different purpose, and even if you create, say, a video, the users who watch your video on YouTube aren’t the same as the users who will watch it on Facebook.
Factor in the ability to boost posts, generate social interest, and automate your posts, and social media management alone can be a full-time job with a significant return if you’re looking at the right metrics: unique visits, tags, followers, replies, call-to-action clicks, and subscribers are the areas you can expect — and hope — to see growing.
Content Marketing
Blogs, white papers, podcasts, brochures, and evergreen how-to guides are among the growing pieces of content users are looking for. In an age where just about anything can be found for free, users expect the same from your brand. While the investment in creating and curating content can be timely, the returns, like those of social media, can be important. You might not see someone buying your product after reading one blog post — but they may like your content so much that they sign up for your in-depth guide by giving you their e-mail address and agreeing to receive future communications. Content adds value to their lives, making you more important, and builds your own authority on the subject.
E-mail Marketing
When done correctly, e-mail marketing is a top way to increase the loyalty of your current customers, raise brand awareness among new customers, and achieve brand exposure to prospects and potential customers. One report shows that 80 percent of marketers said that e-mail is a core component of their business. It personalizes your message, especially when automated, so that customers feel that you care about them and their own individual interests by sending information that pertains to them. E-mail is easily accessible on mobile devices, quickly shared, and highly trackable.
Automation
Who has the time to send thousands of individual, personalized e-mails a day? No one — but the right marketing software can do that in a few seconds. A digital marketing agency will help you select, or use their own, automation software, to help you meet customers at their exact spot along the funnel. It sends timely content that invites them to take the next step, and it gives highly-detailed reports that help you best use your time and resources.
Strategy, Analysis and Reporting
If you don’t know where you’re coming from or where you want to go, you can’t create the map that will get you there. A flexible marketing plan that accounts for your current and proposed activities while tracking and adjusting for current results will help you create the best possible digital future. Digital marketing specialists know how to take these unique metrics for each media type and apply them to your company’s future growth and success.
How a Digital Marketing Agency Can Help You Grow
- On the Internet, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Fortune 500 company that has a large marketing department filled with skilled marketers of all abilities, or a one-person company selling custom, hand-made pieces. When you choose to implement digital marketing, everyone has the same opportunities when it comes to organic (non-paid) efforts to reach customers. Sure, large companies might have the ability to shell out more for their boosted posts and PPC advertising, but with a focused strategy and carefully, thoughtfully implemented steps, a small company can build to first or second place on the search engine results page, can unite a powerful target audience, and can make a significant impact. A digital marketing agency can help by creating and putting together a plan that pinpoints the exact followers you need to grow your company.
- Want to see a better return on your investment — with less investment? Call a digital marketing agency. Organic reach is the number of unique people who saw your piece of content without you spending a cent on advertising. By assessing the demographics of your audience, a digital marketing agency can help you figure out the best use of the marketing budget you have for digital advertising — or can help you create and publish content that will get you a wider reach without paying for the piece’s promotion. In fact, more than 40 percent of marketers said that they saw savings because of their digital marketing activities.
- Digital marketing gets results that you can’t necessarily see — or track — with traditional marketing. Sure, a customer might bring in a coupon they received in the mail (many do, actually — 2.5 billion coupons were redeemed in 2015). Short of that, though, it can be hard to tell if someone heard your radio ad, saw your flyer, or read the brochure. When you incorporate digital marketing, especially automation software, you have a list ready for your sales team of prospects at each level. As they move further down the funnel, you can see exactly who is where, and the next steps that should be taken. These conversions make a difference: digital advertising alone grew more than 17 percent from 2005 to 2015, with a 100 percent compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015. The billions of dollars being generated each year? All impacted by digital advertising and, in many cases, being directed and implemented by a digital marketing agency.
- With more people using smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, a digital marketing agency can help you keep your online platforms updated and prepared for the unique needs of that specific group of customers. They’ll help you build awareness while creating a positive reputation and relationship with your audience, and can take your content to develop a compelling call-to-action that moves your followers to a closer relationship with your company.
- A digital marketing agency continually monitors new developments and technology releases, upgrades, algorithm updates, and the connectedness that composes the Internet of Things.
- From bridging the knowledge gap to protecting your daily flow, creating focus to maintaining flexibility to scale, outsourcing your work to a digital marketing agency is more than hiring a 20-something to sit in front of a computer every day. It’s opening the doors to a creative, data-based partnership that will lead your company into the future with a strong presence and positive forecast.
Not Sure Where to Start?
It all sounds great — but your budget and skepticism might be louder. Once you’ve done your research and found a digital marketing agency, start with one project. You’ll get a feel for how they work and how you will work together. You might find that the results exceeded your expectations — fantastic! Take the next step and see what the agency can do to help your company grow. If you weren’t pleased, there’s no shame in seeking out other options.
Once you’ve found the digital marketing agency that meets your needs, you’ll have found a partnership that helps you company grow by leaps and bounds. They’ll be able to take your goals and put them into concrete action steps while still being able to respond to needed direction changes at short notice.
If you’re ready to see how a digital marketing agency can shape your marketing future, will you give Business Marketing Engine a chance? Contact us today to see how our skilled experts will focus on your growth.