Digital marketing is one of the hottest industries right now. So much so that it can seem like everyone with a laptop and a little experience with SEO is ready to offer digital marketing services. As a business owner yourself, you know where that can lead. The question to ask yourself is what your digital marketing agency does for you. Of course, that is assuming you work with an agency.
Maybe you don’t. Perhaps your company handles all its digital marketing internally. It wouldn’t be the first to do so. Still, that may not be such a wise idea. Digital marketing has become a highly specialized discipline that requires knowledge, skills, and the ability to continually adapt to a changing internet.
That brings us back to the central question of what your digital marketing agency does for you. At the very least, it should do the following five things:
1. Handle All Your SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the foundation of digital marketing. As such, handling all your SEO would be the bare minimum. You and your marketing team should not have to worry about anything related to SEO. Your agency should take care of:
- keyword research and tracking
- on- and off-site optimization
- image optimization
- content creation
- title and meta tag optimization.
Analytics is a key part of SEO inasmuch as it reveals what’s working and what’s not. A digital marketing agency that makes little use of analytics isn’t doing its best with SEO.
2. Manage Your Paid Advertising
Paid advertising may not be as productive as organic search, but it is still important. A digital marketing agency knows this. It also handles all paid ad management on behalf of its clients. Does your agency do so? Whether you utilize PPC advertisements, mobile ads, or something else entirely, ad management should be left to your agency.
3. Engage in Content Marketing
Content marketing wasn’t a big deal a decade ago. It is everything today. At Webtek Digital Marketing, a Salt Lake City marketing agency with a sister office in Austin, TX, a tremendous amount of their marketing resources goes into content marketing. They see content marking as the unifier between SEO and paid search.
Content marketing is more or less the practice of creating content with a marketing bent. It differs from creating content with an SEO focus. A good content creator can combine both but, even if not, some of your content should be marketing related.
4. Manage Your Social Channels
Your digital marketing agency should also have an active hand in managing your social media channels. Whether they handle them exclusively or in partnership with your in-house marketing team, you need their expertise. Social media can be a powerful ally in the digital marketing realm. But it needs to be utilized correctly. Your digital marketing agency should know how to do it.
5. Develop Your Website
Finally, does your digital marketing agency take an active role in developing your website? If not, it should. Your website is a marketing tool in and of itself. To be an effective tool, it needs to offer visitors a pleasing experience. The web development team at your agency knows how to create that experience.
Digital marketing is an all-encompassing service in the 21st century. It reaches far beyond running a few ads and writing a couple of blog posts. When it is done right, it yields very good results. Otherwise, digital marketing can ultimately end up being a waste of time and money.
So, how is your digital marketing agency doing? More importantly, what is it doing?