Written by: Marina Kuleš, Head of digital, not ChatGPT
A digital agency is something you can’t do without today, you will – you won’t. That is, you can do without a digital agency, but you cannot do without digital marketing . You can actually do without it, if your goal is not to maintain your business and sell something here and there.
Just think. When you see a brand, want to buy something, book a hotel or flight, order food,… how often do you check it online first? How much do you trust someone whose website or social media doesn’t look good? And how much do you trust businesses that don’t have a website and/or social media?
It’s the same with your customers. They’ll check you out online, and if they can’t find you there, or you don’t look good in that online world, they’ll find your competition. Well, you see.
“I used to get 400 likes on my Facebook for 20 kuna” and why that no longer holds true today
What has changed significantly in the last 15 years, and it’s only getting worse as we go along, is that before, with a relatively small budget, you could sell a lot on digital channels. Today , with much more competition, with much more content and many brands that also invest in advertising, you have to invest in digital marketing just to exist online. Only on that budget will the investment go with which you will overtake the competition.
Digital marketing is a constant job. It’s not about building a website and letting it sit. It’s not about two or three posts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Linkedin, it’s not about investing your budget in a campaign when you have a discount. It’s about maintaining a daily relationship with your customers and those who will become them.
So, now that we’ve concluded that it’s a must-have, if you don’t have a digital team in your company, or a person who deals only with that, you need a digital agency . What should these agencies offer you?
Digital agencies create, maintain and optimize (SEO) websites
A website is your online store . It has to be tailored to your customers, it has to answer their questions and, in an ideal world, it has to give them a reason to visit it often. It has to load quickly, because our concentration is getting shorter and shorter. According to Google metrics, 53% of users will not wait longer than three seconds for a page to load. Today, they don’t have to be expensive, but they have to be well-made.
The other side is regular maintenance, or SEO optimization , which helps someone find your website. That is, when they search for something you do, your website “hits” them. SEO takes a long time, you will only see results after 3 to 6 months, but once you achieve them, it takes someone just as long to remove you from that position.
Social networks – not everything is for everyone and not everyone has to be on everyone
A digital agency should be able to create a quality social media strategy for you. This strategy will be based on an analysis of the market, your customers, and your competition. This strategy will make it clear which channels you need to be on, what the potential of your business on social media is, and what you need to do there.
Not everyone needs to be on TikTok . Not everyone needs to be on LinkedIn. Not everyone will have thousands of followers, nor does every brand need that. Social media is not about posting red flowers because you feel like it. Social media is about reaching your customers and getting them to reach you, and a digital agency is here to do just that.
Advertising and budget investment
As with any other channel, the most sensitive question. What digital channels have in their favor here is that everything is quite predictable and testable. You can test with a smaller budget, with different messages and content, benefits, etc. and see what works. What you can’t expect is to achieve much greater results with a smaller budget than your competition.
Meta and Google platforms (Search, Display and YouTube) operate on an auction basis . You need to have a good online reputation (good website, good audience engagement, people talking about you, etc.), you need to have ad content that resonates with your audience and will engage them, and you need to have a budget.
Newsletter campaigns and influencer marketing
Newsletters and influencer campaigns are two more channels that are most often covered by digital agencies. And those are the two channels that people often make decisions about based on their own preferences. Many of us do not open the newsletter often , but that does not mean that it is not a profitable channel. For example, in the first six months of using the newsletter tool, VOYO recorded an average email open rate of 58%.
It’s similar with influencers. You may like them or dislike them, you may question their budgets, but there are concrete numbers and analyses that show who you should be working with. And a digital agency can do all of that for you.
The bottom line is that most digital agencies on the market offer the same services. It’s important to choose the one that best understands your goals and knows how to achieve them.
