Digital marketing and SEO are considered two distinct and separate disciplines. However, they often overlap in the modern digital world. They overlap so often that companies like Webtek tend to provide services in both categories. Many agencies hire specialists in both disciplines, specialists who collaborate on behalf of clients in order to both boost SEO performance and achieve the desired marketing goals.
Webtek Digital Marketing is a Salt Lake City company with a sister office in Austin, TX. They market themselves primarily as a digital marketing agency. But Webtek also provides SEO services. In fact, the company was originally founded on SEO.
The Basics of Digital Marketing
The term 'digital marketing' is a fairly broad term that covers all the marketing strategies within the digital space. Digital marketing also utilizes multiple channels to reach customers, including:
With so many channels and a much larger box of tools compared to the analog marketing of the 20th century, today's digital marketers need to be equal parts creative and technical. They must know their way around the internet just as well as they know how to create marketing messages that engage.
The Basics of SEO
Known formally as search engine optimization, SEO is not nearly as broad as digital marketing. Its primary focus is the search engine. It is in the name. SEO was originally developed as a set of tools and strategies web developers could employ to increase the chances that their websites would rank fairly high on search engines like Google and Bing.
The SEO of the 2020s is far more involved than the SEO of the early 2000s. Nonetheless, it is still distinctly different from digital marketing. Where the main focus of digital marketing is to connect people with marketing messages that hopefully encourage them to buy something, SEO's main focus is to direct customers to a company's website.
When combined in a collaborative effort, both SEO and digital marketing services can increase sales, boost customer loyalty, increase website traffic, and more.
An Agency That Does Both
Because digital marketing services and SEO overlap, it is not unusual for agencies to do both. Likewise, it might be in a company's best interests to hire such an agency. Combining both types of services under one agency leads to more cohesive strategies and greater efficiency. It can save money as well.
The trick to hiring an agency is to find one that devotes equal attention to both disciplines. A good agency has digital marketing experts on staff. The same goes for SEO experts. A good agency puts time and effort into things like keyword research, technical SEO, content marketing, and other proven strategies designed to both increase website traffic and drive sales.
It is also possible to purchase à la carte services rather than hiring a single agency to do it all. For example, some companies have accomplished digital marketing departments and only need help in the SEO department. Other companies need help with keyword research (for SEO) and digital marketing. They can handle technical SEO on their own.
Pay for What Your Company Really Needs
To wrap all of this up, it is important that your company pays only for what it needs. Digital marketing services are distinct and separate from SEO services. If you don't need both, don't pay for both. If you do need both, service providers are ready to help. Just know what you are paying for before you sign on the dotted line.
