Discussing the Value of Agency Expertise in Digital Marketing

Unless you have a large business with a substantial marketing team, it’s impossible to have all the expertise you need in-house. In today’s world of multichannel marketing, there are simply too many areas to focus on and different ways to optimize. If you want to keep your marketing campaigns streamlined and effective, investing in specialized third-party services is the way to go. 

A great many small-to-medium businesses work with marketing agencies in lieu of hiring their own team. The vast majority of marketing organizations harbor strengths and weaknesses in particular areas and agencies likewise have different experiences, knowledge, and technologies to help with certain channels and strategies. Finding the best agency to complement your internal team’s skills will empower you to build a comprehensive strategy that plays to everyone’s strengths. Here, we take a look at the many benefits that come from partnering with an accomplished performance marketing agency.

Skip the learning curve 

The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing. There are new channels, marketing strategies, and tools to optimize your efforts. Keeping up with these changes can seem like a full-time job in and of itself. It’s part of an agency’s role to keep up with the latest trends and identify new opportunities for performance marketing. With their help, your business can dive right into new opportunities without having to learn the ropes first. 

Save money 

Employing external marketing experts is likely to be more cost-effective than expanding your internal team. Hiring someone new means recruiting, paying them a salary, onboarding, training, and dealing with the possibility of churn. When you hire an agency, they have all the knowledge and tools you need in place. They’re able to get right down to improving results, saving you the time and investment that comes with looking for new employees. 

Gain a new perspective 

Your business and marketing team are effectively siloed from the rest of the marketing world. Working with an agency is an opportunity to get a fresh perspective from new minds working on the project. You might identify a new approach that would have otherwise been missed. 

Get access to valuable tools 

Marketing agencies don’t just come with expertise, they also come equipped with their own tools. These can include analytical solutions, marketing automation technologies, CRMs, creative applications, and more. Rather than buying and learning how to use these yourself, you can take advantage of your agency's suite of tools. 

Improve productivity 

Learning and operationalizing new marketing strategies takes a lot of time. When you work with an agency to fill in for areas your internal team doesn't have expertise in, that frees them up to focus on other important strategical tasks. 

Drive better results 

Most importantly, partnering with an agency can significantly improve the results of your marketing program. Agency success depends on the success of their clients, so they’re motivated to work relentlessly and deliver results that drive revenue for businesses and improve other marketing goals.

Scale quickly

Another major benefit of hiring an external team is that it allows you to increase the capacity of your marketing strategy beyond what your internal organization can handle. Once you start seeing results from your agency’s efforts, it’s easy to scale and grow your business with better marketing. 

Areas of Expertise to Consider in a Marketing Agency 

Agencies can specialize in certain areas of expertise or offer services in a variety of marketing areas. Here are some of the different areas of expertise you might want your marketing agency to have: 

Website and Creative

Building mobile-friendly websites optimized for search engines to promote your business. Creating content such as landing pages, product page copy, blog content, and more.  

Branding

Some agencies offer branding services to help you build brand awareness and deliver a clear message to your audience. They can help with positioning your brand compared to your competitors, developing your brand’s voice, and more. 

Paid Search

This includes optimizing data-driven PPC campaigns to help reach target audiences through search ads. Providing AdWords certified specialists and software tools to automate and optimize PPC bidding. 

Social Media

Building social media campaigns to reach and engage audiences on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. May also include YouTube video marketing and paid social media ads.

SEO

Creating target keyword lists for organic search engine optimization and developing strategies to improve domain authority and rank. Agencies can manage SEO and PPC together to ensure the respective strategies complement each other. 

Public Relations

Public relations services include messaging, reputation management, media relations, and content marketing. They help your brand to elicit a positive image and help mitigate negative PR on the web.  

Email Marketing

This involves developing email campaigns to nurture leads, drive traffic back to your website, and earn sales. Can include providing email automation software services. 

eCommerce

Some agencies specialize in helping eCommerce businesses build and manage their website and marketing. This can also include Amazon marketing services. 

~

These represent just a few of the main areas of expertise a marketing agency may have. You can find a full list of services on an agency’s website. Then ask for more detailed information pertaining to your needs. 

Finding a Good Fit 

If you want to take advantage of agency marketing expertise, be sure to shop around to find the right fit. There are lots of factors to consider when selecting an agency to partner with, namely their capabilities, how many clients they have, and how they communicate with you. You should also consider how well the agency gets along with your own team.

When vetting a potential agency to work with, be clear about your needs and ask to see examples or case studies illustrating their expertise in these areas. A good agency will tell you if their area of expertise doesn’t match your needs. However, you should still do your due diligence to ensure you choose an agency that offers the most value to improve your marketing outcomes.

~

Interested in gaining access to Centro’s team of dedicated performance-driven digital experts to help solve your biggest challenges? Get in touch with us today!