Entrepreneurs often joke that they left full-time employment to enjoy more freedom, but ended up trading a 40-hour work week for an 80-hour one. And there is definite truth in that. Running a small business is no easy feat, with a never-ending to-do list stretching from managing operations and internal affairs to engaging customers and running advertising campaigns.
A digital marketing agency can help lighten the load. When you partner with a digital marketing agency for small business success, you’re getting access to a team of experts who can help you thrive, making a smaller budget go further and accessing a wider client base than you may have dreamed of.
Digital marketing agencies do more than “just run ads” and can help small businesses make the most of their online presence. From handling social media to running complex PPC campaigns, a marketing agency takes care of all the nitty-gritty so you can do what you do best — focus on the actual running of your business.
In this guide, we’ll take you through the benefits of digital marketing and some insights of why a digital marketing agency may be just what you need to thrive!
Why Digital Marketing Is Crucial For Small Businesses
It’s no secret that digital presence matters. Whether you’re focusing on a website, Google Local Pack, Substack, or Medium, or even networking and social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest, Facebook, or TikTok, having some form of online presence is pretty much a non-negotiable.
After all, would you trust a business that doesn’t have any digital presence at all?
That said, the only thing worse than a business with no digital presence is a business with a bad digital presence. Think websites that list prices from 2013 or a social media account that hasn’t been updated since 2020, with no post explaining that the business has moved to a different platform.
Keeping an active digital presence is so important, especially if you’re aiming to win new leads and customers. Consider what you do when you need to find quick and easy information, like a tailor near you or the number of an emergency plumber. If you don’t already have a go-to person, you may ask friends for recommendations. But your next step will likely be turning to Google — or even other web-based searches like Bing, YouTube, or ChatGPT. Even though they use different methods of accessing their content, they all rely on one crucial aspect — all of these tools require content to be available on the internet in order to draw their information from.
And if you don’t have content that lives on the internet, you’re missing out.
But actually getting that content online, managing it, and keeping it updated is incredibly time-consuming, and this is something small businesses often struggle with. Lack of expertise and limited budgets also come into play, but not investing in digital marketing will eventually backfire, as other competitors will gain more traction through their social presence.
How Working With A Digital Marketing Agency For Small Businesses Can Help
Digital marketing agencies have all the know-how to get your company in front of the audience that matters most, and they’ll be able to work with you to ensure their small business marketing strategies match your goals.
For example, if your goal is to land at the top of Google search results or in Google’s Local Pack, ensuring someone searching for a nearby service will find you, a local digital marketing agency can help you work on your web-based presence. This would include optimising your website for SEO and GEO for generative AI results, and enhancing your local SEO presence so that you can appear at the top of search results for local business queries.
Or, perhaps, you’re running a business like a patisserie and would like to entice new customers to try your gorgeous cakes and cupcakes and experience the time and effort you’ve put into exceptional decor. Here, a social-focused digital agency would likely optimise your social media presence on visual platforms like Pinterest, TikTok, or Instagram, running both native campaigns on your profiles and working with local influencers or content creators for user-generated content and wider brand awareness.
But digital marketing services go well beyond local optimisation and social media management packages. They can also help your business shine in traditional SEO, fantastic long-form content, or PPC advertising, which can give you access to that lucrative first “sponsored” result on Google. A good digital agency will come up with personalised strategies that work best for you and your business.
Local digital marketing agencies are especially well-positioned to push your online presence within your local market, since they’ll have direct access to the best mass media platforms, local content creators, or Local Pack optimisation tools, but even a more general digital marketing agency can help you achieve your content needs. In fact, studies suggest that 84% of businesses see success and improved revenue when focusing on local marketing content.
Of course, while working with an agency may initially seem more expensive than trying to manage your digital presence in-house, the expert insights, time-saving, and eventual ROI without overspending give you much greater value in the long-term than if you were trying to tackle it all by yourself without really knowing what works best.
And if you already know what works best, then you’ll also know how incredibly time-consuming successful digital marketing campaigns are, making outsourcing to a separate agency a no-brainer.
How To Choose The Right Digital Marketing Agency For Your Business
Even if you know that you need top-notch digital marketing strategies, choosing a digital agency isn’t always easy.
You’ll likely begin with a Google search (testament to the fact that digital presence matters), but even if you have a number of possible agencies to choose from, it’s important to narrow it down.
Luckily, there are a number of key steps that can help you through this.
- Check for experience in your industry or niche: Going for a digital agency that doesn’t have direct experience in your type of business doesn’t mean it’ll be a no-go, but a digital agency with experience in your industry, niche, or even small businesses in your area more generally will be a significant advantage. They’ll already have some knowledge of what works best in the field, have a variety of content ideas, and may already have good relationships with local on-target mass media publications, content creators, or collaborators, which can enhance the success of your digital strategy.
- Look for proven results in case studies or testimonials: Some digital agencies will be able to show a portfolio of their work — for example, they could direct you to websites they’ve created or social media platforms they curate. But they may also be able to provide case studies or testimonials, which can showcase the type of work the agency excels at and the quality of what they create. If possible, it’s helpful to read third-party reviews or chat with previous clients directly, as it’ll give you some insight into how the agency in question operates. Since you, as a small business owner, will likely be quite involved in setting goals for your digital strategy, it’s important to go for an agency that matches your preferred communication style, and reports from previous clients can help instrumentally with assessing this.
- Ensure transparency in pricing: The benefits of working with a digital marketing agency far outweigh any initial costs, but even then, it’s important to know exactly what you’re signing up for. Some agencies may initially have lower fees, but then charge per additional platform or service you require, while others offer great value-for-money, all-inclusive packages. Most agencies will also offer different tiers, so you can choose which package works best for you, and there’s usually the option to upgrade or downgrade further down the line.
- Understand the deliverables: An agency promising 10x traffic within a month or 10,000 new followers in two weeks is likely to scam you or use black-hat methods, but having some sort of deliverables set from the get-go is helpful. A good digital agency won’t necessarily offer you a certain traffic figure, first-place positions, or guaranteed follower growth, but they will set these as their goals and offer deliverables along the way. How many content pieces were published? Which campaigns were run? What was the performance of these campaigns? These are all elements that an agency can track, and they should keep you in the loop by offering monthly or quarterly reports.
By looking at the quality of the agency and also focusing on communication, you’ll be best armed in choosing a digital agency that will work with and for you to help you achieve success.
Take Your Digital Presence To The Next Level
Taking your digital presence to the next level will help you take your business to the next level, too. Digital marketing for small businesses may seem unfamiliar and uncomfortable at first, but it is one of the best ways to help your business thrive and stand out from the sea of competitors.
An agency will save you time, improve results, and drive leads and growth. So if you’re ready to grow your small business with expert digital marketing, contact PrecisionSEO today to explore our tailored solutions.
