What Does a Digital Marketing Agency Do? (Traditional vs. Digital)

By Matt Brown

Summary: Digital marketing agencies help businesses get found online by using strategies like SEO, social media marketing, paid advertising (e.g., Google Ads, Facebook Ads), content creation, email marketing, and website optimization. Their main goal is to help clients effectively connect with their ideal customers, boost client leads/sales, and measure performance using data and analytics to consistently refine results.

Take a glance at the history of marketing and you’ll notice an interesting trend: it adapts with technology. From 3,000-year-old Mesopotamian tablets, to the first advertising agency in the 18th century, business owners have a long history of leveraging communication technology to attract customers.

While digital marketing agencies are relatively new to the historical landscape, they’re following the time-honored tradition of meeting customers where they are. And in this case, it’s the internet.

If you’re curious about what digital marketing agencies do (and especially if you’ve wondered if they can help your business) this article is for you. Let’s dive in.

What Is a Digital Marketing Agency?

A digital marketing agency specializes in marketing products and services online. They offer an in-depth understanding of how to market effectively across digital platforms (think: Google, Facebook, and email newsletters) to help their clients grow. Nearly any business can benefit from working with a digital marketing agency, particularly local businesses, e-commerce stores, SaaS companies, and small businesses.

What Does a Digital Marketing Agency Do?

Digital marketing agencies work with clients to strategically create a robust online presence designed to drive leads and sales. To do this, digital marketing agencies have to be experts in two realms: effective marketing principles and digital technology. Specifically, this looks like:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): a strategy that, “helps search engines understand your website’s content and connect it with users by delivering relevant, valuable results based on their search queries,” according to Search Engine Land.
• Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC): a model where business pay platforms (like Google or Facebook) a fee each time someone clicks on their ad. According to Forbes, PPC is, “a very cost-effective form of marketing that generally yields a good return on investment.”
• Social Media Marketing & Management: From Facebook to TikTok, there are lots of channels to choose from. Picking the right platform helps you stay connected and top of mind for your audience.
• Content Marketing: a strategy that provides audiences with valuable content (think: blogs, white papers, videos, podcasts, and eBooks) that increases engagement, brand authority, and loyalty.
• Email Marketing: delivers targeting messages straight to your audiences’ inbox and drives them to your website, events, or special offers.
• Website Design & Optimization: Did you know that 79% of users will search for another site if the one they land on doesn’t meet their expectations? A functional, beautiful website is a must for effective digital marketing.
• Analytics & Reporting: detailed data that tracks your key performance indicators helps you understand every aspect of your digital presence and double down on what’s working.
• Bonus: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Roughly 61% of Americans have used AI in the past six months. The best digital agencies proactively embrace new technology to keep their clients ahead of the curve.

Not every client needs every element on the list above. An excellent digital marketing agency will take the time to understand the client and their goals. Then, they’ll leverage their expertise to build an approach with the right mix of channels and strategy that helps their clients grow.

What Are Traditional Marketing Agencies and What Do They Do?

Traditional marketing agencies use offline media to reach customers. Their expertise lies in print ads and traditional audio/video production. Examples of typical traditional marketing channels include:

• TV and radio commercials
• Print ads (magazines, newspapers)
• Billboards and outdoor advertising
• Snail mail campaigns

The strength of traditional marketing agencies lies in building brand awareness and reaching a broad and/or offline audience. While these methods don’t lend themselves to specific targeting or high measurability, they are valuable for building brand prestige and local awareness.

What Are the Key Differences Between Digital vs. Traditional Marketing Agencies?

While there is some crossover, digital and traditional marketing agencies differ in their approach, feedback, audience, and more. The table below breaks down the 5 main differences between the two types of marketing agencies.

Should I Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?

Both digital and traditional marketing agencies rely on time-tested principles of effective marketing. Choosing what type of agency to work with depends on your goals, your audience, and your budget. Here are some good indicators that a digital marketing agency is for you:

• Your audience is online: If your customers spend any amount of time online (93.1% of Americans use the internet so chances are high) you will benefit from working with a digital marketing agency. From a functional and beautiful website, to lead-generating Google ads, to brand-building social media campaigns, a digital marketing agency can help build a strategy that converts.
• You need measurable results and ROI: Most business owners want to know if their investments lead to growth. Working with a digital marketing agency means that you’ll get real-time data and analytics to pinpoint your marketing ROI. Even better, this data can be used to quickly refine techniques and strategies so you can do more of what works.
• You want to scale cost-effectively: Digital marketing allows you to reach more people with the same spend as traditional methods. In addition, hiring a digital marketing agency means that you’ll have access to an entire team of tech-savvy marketing professionals dedicated to promoting your business for roughly the cost of hiring one or two full time employees.
• You sell products and services online: About 84.3% of America shops online, so marketing online makes perfect sense. If you sell merchandise or need to generate leads, then digital marketing is the perfect complement to your efforts.
• You want to integrate traditional and digital approaches: Most digital agencies have the expertise to execute traditional approaches like print collateral and billboard design while still serving as experts in the digital realm.

Choose a Great Partner for Your Digital Marketing

Digital marketing agencies help their clients optimize their online presence for maximum growth. It’s an essential tool for business development in today’s modern marketplace. If you’re ready to leverage digital marketing for your business, LeadPoint Digital can help.

We’re a results-oriented digital marketing agency that expertly blends tailored strategy, data-driven expertise, and pitch-perfect creativity. We are deeply committed to understanding our clients, their audience, and the tech to drive growth for our clients like:

• Heavy machinery client: 53% increased ranking for 52 keywords in the top 3 positions in Google.
• Economic development client: 69% increase in website pageviews, year over year.
• Government client: 174% increase in organic social media reach in one year.
• Service Industry client: 81% increase in website leads generated, year over year.

Supercharge your marketing and grow your business with LeadPoint Digital. Get in touch and schedule your free consultation today.