Gone are the days when you had to rely on expensive billboard advertising to promote a business. Today, you can get better results with less effort and investment with digital marketing.
Email, social media, and blog posting are some powerful ways to get more eyeballs on your business with minimal upfront investment.
However, because the barrier to entry is quite low you’ve got a lot of competition, no matter which industry you operate in. Your success with any digital marketing campaign relies on skills, expertise, and experience.
It also takes a lot of time, effort and creative energy. I know because my team’s managing about 40 unique campaigns right now! 😅
This is where a digital marketing agency like Webology can play its part. Our team has decades of combined experience working with hundreds of different brands.
That’s a major advantage in terms of value when compared to hiring in-house. We bring knowledge and insights from outside your organization to the table! Admittedly, I’m very biased here but I’d like to point out just what you get with an agency in the mix:
- A bigger talent pool
- Help with heavy lifting on big projects
- No need to manage someone internally
Often an agency retainer gets more work done for less than the cost of a salary and benefits you might pay to a single marketing manager.
In this guide, we’ll dive into the different services you can expect from a digital marketing agency. We’ll also talk about what a full-service marketing agency is and who it is for.
Let’s get going.
What Is A Digital Marketing Agency?
A digital marketing agency provides a wide range of services, including content creation, branding, web design, email marketing, and more to help businesses grow online.
An all-in-one agency offers multiple options or all of these services under one roof.
Generally, companies have three options when it comes to growing online with experts:
- Hire full-time employees
- Work with digital marketing agencies or freelancers
- Assign an employee the role of managing agency relationships and acting in an oversight capacity
That 3rd option often works best from my experience. Owners are often too busy or don’t have a background in marketing. Instead they hire 1 expert who has a good general knowledge of digital to help plan work with the agency team. When it’s a collaborative relationship, things can be done much more efficiently and effectively rather than relying on that one individual’s expertise.
How to Shop Around
Note that not every agency offers all digital marketing services. Some specialize in web design while others focus on email marketing. Each one has a slightly different approach to marketing strategy and in my opinion, the most important thing to remember as a buyer is that you want transparency on everything…
There’s no such thing as ‘marketing secret sauce’
I’ll admit there are limits to my own knowledge in SEO, but I’ve been in this industry for over a decade and for me this is a huge red flag! Whenever I hear an agency try to say they have some sort of formula they can’t tell you about, it’s just a sign that they really do not understand how search engines work and will most likely just take your money.
If you work with Webology, I give you a detailed roadmap to success and outline the exact tactics we use to win. Everything here’s done above board because that’s just good business. If an agency offers services they can’t tell you about in detail, doesn’t that seem sort of shady? It wouldn’t fly in most industries, but for some reason ours gets a pass.
Okay, Rant Over! Here’s What You SHOULD Look For:
A company must identify its needs before deciding on the type of agency to work with. Your strategy will help you decide on the right channels and tactics. Here’s a list of services typically offered by digital marketing agencies like Webology with their descriptions and key benefits.
Blake’s Insights on Agency ServicesService Description Key Benefits
Search Engine Optimization Optimizing website content to rank higher in search engine results pages. Increased visibility, higher web traffic, and better user engagement.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) Running ads on search engines and other platforms where advertisers pay per click. Immediate traffic, budget control, and measurable results.
Social Media Marketing Promoting on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Enhanced brand awareness and improved customer engagement.
Content Marketing Creating and sharing valuable content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. Increased brand loyalty, higher engagement rates, and better organic results.
Email Marketing Sending commercial messages to a group of people using email. High ROI, targeted messaging, and easily measurable.
Affiliate Marketing Partnering with affiliates to promote your brand and sharing revenue with them. Low risk, cost-effective, and expanded reach.
Influencer Marketing Collaborating with influencers to promote products. High credibility, targeted outreach, and increased brand visibility.
Video Marketing Using videos to reach your audience on platforms like YouTube. Enhanced engagement, better storytelling, and increased social shares.
Conversion Rate Optimization Improving user experience to increase the percentage of visitors who complete desired actions. Increased sales, reduced customer acquisition costs, and improved ROI.
Web Analytics Collecting, measuring, and analyzing web data to understand and optimize web usage. Insightful data, better decision-making, and improved marketing strategies.
Online Public Relations (PR) Managing your online reputation through press releases, social media, and other digital channels. Enhanced reputation, crisis management, and media coverage.
Mobile Marketing Promoting products or services via mobile devices using apps, SMS, and mobile websites. Wider reach, personalized messaging, and better engagement.
Agency Credentials Should be Visible
A trustworthy agency offers services they’re properly credentialed in. For instance, my team here at Webology is certified by:
- SEMrush
- Page Optimizer Pro
Just to name a few. We also hold awards from Clutch, DesignRush, and UpCity. If you’re shopping for an agency like ours, be sure to check for trust signals like this. You can also Google search their reviews to see what past customers have to say.
Pro Tip: Also take some time to browse their blogs and see what their own content marketing efforts look like. Many agencies invest a lot into their own marketing, so that’s a good benchmark to evaluate what you might get from the partnership. You can also check out their Glassdoor profile for unfiltered employee reviews, which might be insightful.
What Services Does A Digital Agency Provide?
Knowing the services digital marketing agencies offer helps you understand how they can help your business grow online. Plus, the information gives you a clearer picture of where should your marketing budget go. Not all agencies are the same, so you also get to pick the one that’s a perfect fit for your goals and budget.
Here are the most popular services offered by digital marketing agencies. I sorted this list based on the usual priority levels for starting a new company. You need a strong website first and then you can move into channels like social media and paid advertising. Get the basics in place first and your advanced strategies will have a strong foundation to rely on.
Web Design and Development
One of the first things a business owner should do is create a professional website design. Since the process is a little technical, you’re better off letting a digital marketing agency do it for you.
Web design and development, as the name suggests covers everything from comping up with a design idea to creating the website to publishing it and making everything work on your live site.
As your website stays live for a few weeks, it may require ongoing maintenance which is another agency service you can invest in. Open sourced CMS platforms like WordPress require frequent security updates. Otherwise, you risk having your site hacked and losing sensitive data. That’s why Webology’s hosting and maintenance plans are popular add-ons. It gives you peace of mind and lets you focus on your core business.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is a huge industry comprising technical, on-page, and off-page factors. The goal of developing and implementing a strategy here is to gain long-term visibility on Google.
Effective search engine optimization requires an in-depth analysis of where a website stands and how to improve it. For new websites, the process involves identifying a niche or/and keywords to work on.
Your website’s individual pages are then optimized for specific keywords to help it get traffic from organic queries. For instance, a haircut business in Birmingham AL would want to rank for the key phrase “Best haircut places in Birmingham”.
Since it’s a volatile and unstable industry, an important aspect of running an SEO campaign is tracking and optimization. Therefore, you’ll have to hire someone on a monthly basis to help you stay in the good books of Google. Organic traffic will go up and down in the short-term, but your overall trend in a SERP tracker should consistently improve with time.
Search Engine Advertising
SEA or search engine advertising refers to using ads to promote a product or service. It’s based on the per-click advertising model, which means you pay the search engine for every click on your ad.
Here’s an example of how a search engine ad looks to the searcher:
As you can see, there is text above those two results to differentiate them from the regular organic results on the rest of the page. Advertising on search engines can be risky as it involves upfront investment and requires expertise. By working with a reputable digital agency, you can rest assured that your budget will be spent wisely and efficiently. They know what works and don’t need to spend as much time on trial and error.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a perfect way to build an audience around your business. With most other marketing strategies, you don’t own your audience. For instance, if you lose your Facebook page, you lose your audience as well.
That’s not the case with an email list! Nobody owns your email list except you. Plus, you have more control over how you market your business through email.
However, building an email list of relevant people and converting them into lifelong customers is a challenge most business owners aren’t prepared to take on. This is where a digital marketing agency that offers email marketing as a service comes in handy.
We help our clients avoid problems they aren’t even aware of. One good example of this is that we always advise you to set up what we call a ‘burner domain’ to do outreach on. Outreach is different from sending out a newsletter to your opted-in audience, but it can be highly effective as well.
Why would you need a new domain for this? Because you might get flagged for spam even if you’re following all the rules. So, you don’t want to risk your business communications from your main emails going to a customer’s spam folder. That’s a mistake that could cost you potential customers and damage your reputation.
By using a burner domain, you can isolate your outreach emails from your main business emails. This way, if the burner domain gets flagged for spam, it won’t affect your primary communications. It’s a simple yet effective strategy to protect your business. And that’s just one pitfall we’ve saved clients from over the years since we started offering agency services.
Social Media Marketing and Advertising
According to Statista, more than 6 billion people actively use social media on a monthly basis. So, whatever business or industry you operate in, your audience is present on social media platforms.
Of course, not all social platforms are right for marketing. You need to pick the ones where your target audience spends their time. For instance, B2B businesses are more likely to find their audience on LinkedIn. Consumer packaged goods companies might do better on Instagram or TikTok. Which one is right for your brand?
A social media marketing agency takes care of everything from identifying the right platforms for your business and building your presence on them. Advertising on social media platforms is often a part of social media marketing services. It involves both organic posting and running paid ads to reach your target audience.
Long gone are the days where you could just rely on organic reach in social media. The established platforms have all moved to an engagement algorithm that prioritizes content that users are actually interested in. This means that businesses need to invest in both organic and paid strategies to get their content seen by their target audience.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
A website with good conversion optimization has a better chance of converting visitors into leads and/or sales. CRO refers to optimizing different elements of a web page, including the design, copy/content, and navigation.
Digital marketing agencies help business owners generate more leads by implementing CRO best practices. An example would be Webology’s CRO services.
We help with advanced tactics like heatmapping and user testing to determine which parts of a website are performing well and which ones need improvement.
Video Marketing
Video content is inarguably the most popular type of content, making it a perfect lead generation tool for most small businesses. There are two types of popular video formats:
- Vertical format (Short video platforms, such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok)
- Landscape format (YouTube long-form videos)
Smart businesses use short videos to get more eyeballs and long-form videos to build authority in their niche. A video marketing agency helps them find popular topics, create the right type of content, and use analytics to improve their video marketing results.
And it’s often the case that video and paid ads work hand in hand. For instance, we’re working on an awareness campaign for a State agency that wants to leverage programmatic advertising with a compelling 15 second non-skippable commercial.
Our paid ads team and Videographer had to communicate on things like audience targeting, call-to-action placement, and video length. That collaboration and attention to detail is what helps you get the best ROI possible from paid advertising efforts.
You May Also Like: How to Evaluate a Digital Marketing Agency?
How Much Do Digital Marketing Services Cost?
The price of services from a digital marketing agency can vary based on several factors, such as the:
- Experience of the agency
- Services you need
Whether it’s events marketing, web development, or PPC ads, each service has its unique pricing structure. For instance, effective SEO requires tools for keyword research, on-page optimizations, and more, which can impact your overall budget.
At Webology, we spend thousands each month just on tool subscriptions. That cost gets split up between multiple projects, giving our clients access to so much more than they could affordably purchase on their own. That’s a big part of the value we provide along with our expertise, and it’s also something we have to factor into our pricing structure.
Right now, we work with budgets between $1,000 – $25,000 monthly. Be very cautious working with anyone offering highly discounted marketing services! Often, you end up doing more harm to you brand than good and don’t get any value out of it.
Get Custom Pricing
An all-in-one digital marketing agency offers a range of packages designed to boost traffic and generate leads, each with different costs. It’s best to get in touch with the agency you want to work with and get them to create a custom pricing plan for your needs.
If you want to grow your business on multiple marketing channels, going with a full-service digital marketing agency would be the right thing to do. Working with a full-service agency offers multiple benefits, including:
- Comprehensive expertise
- Cohesive strategy
- Cost-effectiveness
- Time-saving
- Consistent branding and content
However, if you have a tight budget, investing in specific digital marketing services or hiring freelancers would be more suitable until you have more resources.
Who Needs Digital Marketing Services?
Small business owners normally wear a lot of hats. They don’t want to add “Digital Marketing Expertise” to that list as it demands a lot of time.
Growing companies and small businesses need agencies to take that burden off their shoulders. Working with a marketing agency lets them focus and handle other parts of their business.
Other entities that need digital marketing services include:
- Larger corporations seeking specialized expertise or fresh ideas
- Those lacking time or technical skills for effective online marketing
- Any business wanting to improve their digital performance but unsure how
Related Post: Signs It’s Time to Fire Your Agency
What Services Do Digital Marketing Agencies Offer: FAQs
Let’s discuss some frequently asked questions about services offered by a typical digital marketing agency.
Q: What services do digital marketing agencies typically offer?
A: Digital marketing agencies offer a variety of services, including content marketing, web design and development, social media marketing and advertising, PPC ads (Search engine advertising), video marketing, CRO, and maybe more.
Q: How can a digital marketing agency help my business?
A: A digital marketing agency can help your business by creating tailored strategies to reach your desired ROI. The goal of these services is to achieve certain business goals, such as engaging target audiences and driving more leads. For instance, SEO boosts your search engine rankings, while social media marketing increases your brand’s reach.
Q: What Services Does an SMMA Offer?
A: A Social Media Marketing Agency (SMMA) typically offers social media strategy development, content creation, social media management, and paid social advertising. SMMAs also handle community engagement and provide analytics and reporting to measure and improve performance.
Q: What is a Full-Service Digital Marketing Agency?
A:A Full-Service Digital Marketing Agency is your all-in-one solution. They handle everything—PPC, content creation, social media, email marketing, paid TV ads, and more. With their expertise, you get maximum online visibility.
Q: How Do Digital Marketing Agencies Measure Success?
A: Digital marketing agencies measure success with KPIs like website traffic, search engine rankings, conversion rates, social media engagement, and ROI. Tools like Google Analytics help them track progress and make the necessary adjustments.
Conclusion: Services Offered by a Digital Agency
Your digital marketing agency is like your business partner. Think of us as a fractional CMO with an entire department at their disposal, ready to help your brand thrive online. We grow when you grow. Working with a reliable agency lets you outsource many of the technical and management aspects of your online presence.
The most common services offered by digital agencies include web development, content marketing, social media marketing, search engine ads, video marketing, email marketing, and CRO.
A full-service digital marketing agency will offer most or all of these services, but they tend to be expensive. The good thing is you can start with specific services and expand your horizons as your resources grow.
Webology offers a range of digital marketing services, helping local business owners achieve their desired ROI efficiently.
Put Our Team to Work for Your Business – Let Us Know Your Marketing Needs:
Schedule a Call Today