Oct 3, 2019
Gone are the days of waiting around while your photos get developed. Our smartphones are quick and convenient—everything you need is in the palm of your hand.
Every day, the average person spends four hours staring at that tiny screen. Yep. That’s about a quarter of the time you spend awake, dedicated to scrolling through social media and searching on Google.
Imagine how many photos you could develop in that amount of time. Instead of trying to convince your customers to look up from their screens, head online. Not sure where to start?
Check out these five reasons to hire a digital marketing agency to start your online journey on the right foot.
5 Reasons to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency
1. Really Reach Out
98% of people have at least one social media account. The majority has close to seven. So what do you think your customers are more likely to see: a billboard, or a social media post? If you chose option two, you’re correct. Using digital marketing, companies can reach out to customers whenever, wherever. You don’t have to wait for the exact second they walk by a billboard or storefront anymore.
A digital marketing agency can help you develop tactics to time the moment right. For example, the agency can use geotagging to show an ad on a potential customer’s phone when they’re close to your store. An agency can also develop your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to make sure your website appears on Google while people are in research mode. After all, people are always on the go. We don’t have time to dig a single flyer out from a mess of papers when we could Google a company’s phone number instead.
Without an agency’s help, you might miss out on potential opportunities to reach your customers. SEO and other digital marketing strategies are constantly changing. Instead of keeping up with the latest trends and ranking factors on your own, an agency can do it for you. Automated digital marketing services can even take repeat work out of the equation. With automation, your campaigns can capture leads and send out emails at the perfect time for max engagement. That way, your business is reaching out while still focusing on priorities.
Nowadays, people want content that’s quick to find and easy to consume. A digital marketing agency can ensure you use the best tactics at the right time to reach your mobile audience. With a plan in place, you can prioritize the tactics you need to accomplish your bigger business goals. Pretty soon, that audience will see your timing as convenient customer service.
A digital marketing agency can keep your campaigns focused on your customers.
2. Zoom in on Customers
Online marketing lets you reach out to people, no matter where they are online, but who are you reaching? With most print tactics, you’re reaching potential customers based on geography. Some print materials, such as magazine ads, allow you to get a little more precise with reader demographics. Hiring a digital marketing agency can help you zoom in even more.
Print materials won’t always reach your target customers. In some cases, companies end up spending more than they make. That’s precious marketing spend going to waste. Digital tactics, on the other hand, allow you to pinpoint specific people—those most likely to become paying customers. An agency can even break down larger target audiences into niche buyer personas. With each persona, your digital marketing agency can craft messages, content, and tactics that are relevant to their interests. These personas are made up of a person’s:
- Age
- Gender
- Education level
- Marital status
- Annual income
- Profession
- Buying behaviors
- Past searches
- Interests/hobbies
A digital marketing agency can develop these personas for you, then use them to keep your marketing campaigns focused on your customers. Forget wasting away ad spend. With segmentation and connected marketing services, you’re putting that budget to work. At the same time, you’re also giving potential customers a personalized experience. Personalization can benefit your brand, as well. People are more likely to trust brands that care about their unique experiences. Once you capture that trust, you develop it into brand loyalty and encourage customers to stay around. Whether you do it using pay-per-click ads, social media, or SEO, digital targeting lets you focus on your company’s ideal customer.
3. Competitor Exposure
Your company needs digital marketing. Plain and simple. Without it, your competition is taking all of the customers for themselves. That’s right: your competitors are already online. So why not make the most of it? After all, digital marketing makes it easier for you to find those competitors. Now you can determine what they’re up to online. Researching a competitor’s digital marketing can give you valuable insight into your customers and industry. A digital marketing agency will know what to look for and which tactics can benefit your business. After developing a list of your competitors, the agency will audit their:
- Branding
- Messaging
- SEO strategy (keywords, backlinks, page speed, social sharing, etc.)
- Social media
- Content Marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising
Want to know how they’re getting your customers excited? Check social media or a competitor’s website to see what they’re doing right. If you notice they’re making mistakes (and their content is falling flat), use that to your advantage! Competitor exposure can even help smaller brands compete with bigger ones. When done right, you can get in front of customers and rise above the competition in less time.
A dedicated agency will know your customers as well as you do.
4. Frame It Just Right
You already know your customers are spending time online. How they spend that time can grant you new opportunities to frame your marketing efforts. Recognizing what your customers are doing online can ensure your message is plugged into their experience. Instead of trying to bring customers to you, you head to them. To start, a marketing agency will determine your customers’ micro-moments. These are intent-rich moments when people turn to the phone or desktop for answers. Let’s be honest here: we all do this — a lot.
Once you have the timing right, you’ll need to deliver the right message. According to Google, 69% of consumers say a company’s message changes their perception of the brand. Your messaging must be relevant to the searcher’s intent. For example, a person searching for a lamp doesn’t care about garage door installation. A digital marketing agency will use precise messaging, targeted call-to-actions (CTAs), and enticing language to draw your customers in. A dedicated agency will know your customers as well as you do. That intimate audience research allows the agency’s copywriters to craft messages that stay true to a person’s original search intent.
Relevance doesn’t stop at the initial message. It requires follow-through. People do business with companies they can trust. Show potential customers that you’re legit with:
- An active social media presence (allowing you to instantly engage customers)
- Branded, mobile-optimized, user-friendly web design
- SEO (so your content displays when people are searching for answers)
- Paid advertising
- Social proof through online reviews
Timing, message, relevance, and trust are all essential parts of a connected digital campaign. An agency can tie these digital tactics together to reach your customers and meet their wants and needs.
A digital marketing agency can help you recognize the fast, efficient, money-saving benefits of going digital.
5. Analyze for Apertures
Once a printed magazine ad or flyer is out in the world, it’s out there. Like a Polaroid picture, you can’t stick it back in the machine for a do-over. That means your messaging has to be on point the first time around (and no typos!). A digital marketing agency can help you recognize the fast, efficient, money-saving benefits of going digital. If you create a digital ad one night and decide the wording is all wrong, no stress! Your digital marketing agency can step in and help.
Maybe you’re swamped with new clients and can’t handle more. In that case, the agency can scale your digital marketing back for a while. You don’t have to wait for an ad contract to lapse (or waste money while you wait). Once your ads are up and running, you also have easy access to instant results. Those results can tell you a lot about your customers, what they respond to, and what they ignore. Instead of trying to read and interpret the numbers on your own, your digital marketing agency can review it all and condense the report. With this data, they can redevelop your campaigns and help you optimize for business growth. By going digital, you’re saving time, stress, and money without delay.
Let’s Get Digital: 5 Reasons to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency
Say cheese! Once your business gains new customers online, you’ll be grinning ear-to-ear. A digital marketing agency can help you efficiently reach the right audience and grow your business. Otherwise, you may fall behind and get stuck in black and white.
Fable Heart Media is Here For You.
Whether you own a small company or lead a marketing team, Fable Heart Media can help you achieve your business goals. Our process focuses on driving measurable growth and obtaining results. Of course, we love creating beautiful websites and writing awesome blogs, but for us, nothing tops the feeling of seeing our customers grow online due to our partnership.
We Help You Achieve Measurable Growth
We are Fable Heart Media, a digital marketing agency in Jacksonville, FL, that focuses on driving measurable growth and obtaining results for our clients. Whether you own a small company or lead a marketing team, our team can help you achieve your business goals. We love creating stunning websites and writing awesome blogs, but for us, nothing tops the feeling of watching our clients grow online due to our marketing partnership.