What is a Digital Agency & What Can They Do For My Business?

There are two ways to handle your digital marketing efforts. You can conduct your marketing in-house or you can outsource your marketing and hire a digital agency—or a combination of the two. Before deciding which route to take, let’s first answer the following questions to give you a better understanding of what a digital agency is and what they can do for you:

1. What is a digital agency?
2. What services does a digital agency typically offer?
3. What makes a good digital agency partner?
4. What are the benefits of outsourcing to a digital agency?

What is a digital agency?

A digital agency is a business you hire to outsource your digital marketing efforts, instead of handling in-house. They can provide your business with a variety of digital solutions to promote your product or service online and help you hit your marketing goals and grow your business.

They typically have a number of other clients and work with each company to understand their business goals, all while providing recommendations and services tailored to each unique needs.

What are the services a digital agency typically offers?

A digital agency has a team of experts that specialize in modern digital marketing techniques. So instead of traditional marketing, like newspaper ads and billboards, they provide services geared towards the use of technology so you can directly connect and interact with your target audience globally.

Here are a few digital services that a digital agency might offer:

1. Strategy services
   • Market and competitive research
   • CRM & sales funnel strategy
   • UX consulting
   • Marketing strategy
   • Brand positioning & messaging
   • Automation
2. Marketing services
   • Content creation
   • Digital marketing campaigns
   • Branding
   • Marketing personas
   • Paid media
   • Lead nurturing
   • SEO
3. Design services
   • User testing & personas
   • UI design
   • UX design
   • Wireframing and prototyping
   • Graphic print design
   • Website design
   • Animations
4. Development services
   • Website building
   • Website maintenance and hosting
   • Platform and data migration
   • CRM implementation

Something to note is that some digital agencies offer what’s called “full-service digital marketing,” which means they focus on the entire company’s online presence. While other digital agencies may specialize in a few very specific marketing services like SEO or website development. Be sure to look at all the services a digital agency offers to make sure it’s in line with what you have in mind for your business.

What makes a good digital agency partner?

A good digital agency works with you throughout the entire process and is considered more of a partner instead of a contractor. Beyond good chemistry, a good digital agency partnership must also be based on a solid foundation of mutual understanding. Here are a few traits that make for a successful digital agency partnership:

1. Open communication & collaboration—You know your company better than anyone else, so it’s important that your digital agency keep you involved throughout the entire process. And as experts in digital marketing, your agency partner should help you discover your KPIs and be honest with their recommendations from day one.
   
2. Trust—Can you rely on your agency partner to keep product-related secrets and meet deadlines?
   
3. Adaptability—Let your agency partner help you explore new ideas you wouldn’t pursue on your own. And on the flip side, a good agency will make sure your voice is still being heard.
   
4. Conflict resolution—An agency partner is there to help you meet your goals, but they can’t do that if you aren’t clear with expectations. Provide feedback, comments, and suggestions early and often.
   
5. Quality time—It’s important to meet regularly to ensure everyone is on the same page and the results are exceeding expectations.

What are the benefits of outsourcing to a digital agency?

We talked about what a digital agency is and what they can do, but you might be asking yourself, “why don’t I just manage my digital marketing in-house?” 

Long story short, digital expert Neil Patel states, “At the end of the day, the only reason you should outsource should be because you can make more money by outsourcing than by not outsourcing.”

Yes, at the end of the day, digital agencies are there to help you grow your business and reach your marketing goals. But there are many reasons why businesses choose to outsource.

Here are some of the top benefits to why a business might consider outsourcing to a digital agency:

1. Cost savings
2. Save time and money on hiring in-house
3. Ability to focus on your business and what you do best
4. Team of industry experts
5. Insights into the latest trends & resources
6. Project flexibility—long-term, short-term, small or large
7. Outside perspective
8. Discovery and business recommendations
9. Growth and scalability
10. Data-driven results

How do I choose the best digital agency for my business?

Switching from in-house digital marketing to hiring a digital agency can be a huge step. Many reasons prevent small and medium-sized businesses from hiring a digital marketing partner, including concerns about increased spending and reluctance to trust a third party. Hopefully, by now you can start to understand the value of hiring a digital agency. Which leads us to our next question, “how do I choose a digital agency that’s right for my business?”

First, we recommend checking out some digital agency review sites like Clutch.co to get started on some options. You can filter your search by their average hourly rate, project size, or location, etc. Then take a look at the reviews to see if their client stories resonate with you or not. Or, we also recommend the good ole’ fashioned referral. Ask around and see what agencies people you know have used in the past.

Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a few options, we recommend taking a look at each website and the services they offer. You don’t have to take advantage of every service, but it’s nice to know that they have the ability to offer what you need now and in the future.

Next, take a look at their recent work page. Every agency should have an “ou work“ page that showcases their client work—what the client challenges were, the services the agency provided and the results they were able to deliver for them. This should help you visualize what it would be like to work for that agency and the kind of results you might receive as well.

Lastly, reach out directly for a quick discovery call. It might sound a little intimidating, but you’ll get the chance to speak with a real-life representative to discuss your needs and ask questions. They’ll be able to briefly provide you with some solutions they can offer you, and you’ll get a sense of what it would be like to work with them as well. 

We’ve rounded up nine signs to see if you should hire a digital marketing company. The signs are also typical problems our clients seek our help with. Check them out – perhaps some will sound familiar to you.

Start your search with Pyxl

To help you get started on your search, here’s everything you need to know about Pyxl’s digital agency:

• Client Reviews—First, take a look at our reviews on Clutch.co. We’ve got a score of 4.9/5!

• Our approach—We seek to understand your unique business needs in addition to your customers. We workshop to collaborate and discover the solutions to achieve your brand’s vision and business goals. We believe our success is driven by your success. And lastly, we have a team of industry experts in all the fields crucial to building and maintaining a great brand and product that resonates with your users.

• Our services—We leverage our full-service strategy, design, and web development expertise to create elegant solutions across your project lifecycle. Here’s an overview of all of our strategy, design, development, and marketing services we offer. 

• Our work—Next, take a look at some of our award-winning partner projects. Here are just a few results we’ve been able to deliver to our client partners:
  • Developed and designed five new responsive, SEO-optimized websites for AC Entertaiment and received two Addy Awards for two of the five websites.
  • 115% Achievement of revenue goals for QTS.
  • 2017 Addy Award for video production for the United States Air Force Academy.
  • A cutting-edge new website that encompasses T5 Data Center’s growing services.

• Discovery call—And lastly, contact Pyxl today for a quick consultation to discover how we can take your business and digital presence to the next level.

Need some help choosing the right agency partner? Download our Guide to Hiring a Digital Agency. It’s an interactive workbook that provides different exercises throughout the hiring process so you can understand your needs and take notes when comparing and selecting your partner options.

Updated: Jul 18, 2024