Brandie Neagles
In a world where everything is online (including marketing and advertising), the idea of a “digital marketing agency” almost seems redundant.
But many companies still use traditional marketing techniques like print, television, and radio, so we want to explain how a digital agency is different than a traditional marketing company.
Is it really that complicated?
The idea of a “digital marketing agency” is not a new one. And, in theory, no, it’s not that complicated. But it’s a phrase that has been overused (and often misused) to the point that it’s starting to cross over into buzzword territory. We think “digital marketing agency” is the simplest way to describe Coyote Creative, so we understand how important it is to explain exactly what that means for our audience.
So what is the difference between a digital agency and a traditional creative agency?
A traditional creative agency or marketing company tends to focus on presenting the business in the most visually pleasing way. They use various combos of advertising techniques like TV and radio ads, print ads, and direct mail campaigns. These campaigns are still pretty popular but have significant drawbacks:
1. It’s really damn hard to track results. When you run a commercial on TV, how do you know how many eyeballs were watching? If the network shares viewership data, then you can make a guess. But in the end, you have to rely on your gut reaction to gauge campaign performance and ROI.
2. It’s impossible to effectively target your specific audience. Traditional agency rates are typically based on CPM (AKA Cost Per Thousand impressions). While you have the potential to reach a huge audience, how many of those thousands are actually potential customers?
The hallmark of a digital marketing agency is their focus on the technical and functional aspects of a campaign. While it’s important to be visually appealing, a digital agency spends more energy to create an effective, measurable marketing campaign. So instead of traditional advertising, a digital marketing agency will use more precise practices like SEO, digital marketing, content marketing, social media, and UX/UI web design.
Advantages of Digital Marketing
There are many advantages to using digital marketing tools and techniques:
1. You can target your exact audience. With digital marketing, there are many different ways you can target your ideal audience. In online advertising campaigns, you can choose whether to deliver your advertising campaign to a specific group based on all kinds of different factors. Age, gender, location, demographics, interests, behaviors, job title.
In content marketing, you can create relevant content to attract potential customers based on the exact words they’re using in Google searches.
2. You can personalize your message to each audience. Let’s say you sell a product that solves problems for two very specific audiences: single moms and new college graduates. If the product works for them, they must have something in common. But they probably have very different priorities. The beauty of digital marketing is, you can personalize your campaign to each of these two audiences to show that you understand their specific needs, and that your product is just for them!
3. You can measure results. You can track everything from first impression to purchase. You can accurately say: This particular sale was a result of that particular ad campaign. Armed with this kind of information, you can further optimize your digital marketing efforts to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time.
Thinking about hiring help? Here’s how to choose the right marketing agency for your business.
