What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is a broad term used to describe a wide range of online marketing functions. Overall, the primary goal of a digital marketing company is to do 3 things:
- Increase your online presence.
- Conduct market research.
- Integrate your business's online profiles and platforms.
What Does a Digital Marketing Company Do?
What does a digital marketing company do? Within the 3 main goals mentioned above, many tasks are performed. While you may not want all these services from an external company, or they may not all be necessary for your business, digital marketing includes the following functions:
- Website design
- Website optimization
- Content optimization
- Content creation
- App development
- Search engine marketing
- Social media marketing
- Mobile marketing and integration
- Online ad placement
- Marketing on other platforms
- Email marketing
- Digital and online branding
- Reviewing ROI reports from digital strategies and tactics
These are just a few reasons you might turn to an external marketing company. When choosing an external company to work with, it is essential to review what they create and distribute online. No one knows your company and brand better than you, and you don't want to risk misinformation being created on your behalf. In fact, online misinformation results in at least 88% negative perception of all companies, even if the incorrect data stems from an honest mistake. The value of outsourcing digital projects is very high, with the digital agency market in the UK expected to grow by 30% in just 2014, so it is crucial to find a balance between outsourcing and in-house participation.
Can you perform some of your digital marketing in-house? Yes, you can absolutely perform some of your digital marketing activities in-house; you just need to determine which skills within your digital marketing strategies can be successfully executed by your team. As a small business owner, your team may not be large enough to fill all full-time marketing positions or full-time digital marketing positions, and your team is likely composed of employees who are directly focused on your industry. However, you might have someone who can execute some of your digital marketing tasks part-time, even if they spend most of their time on job-specific duties. Here are a few examples of tasks you might be able to keep in-house. Have an external company design your website, but update your pages, content, and blog posts yourself. To ensure all communications are designed to best represent your brand, manage your social media posts yourself, but have an external company manage your paid social marketing. Create press releases, blog content, and online articles yourself, but have an external company distribute your online content. Hire an external company to create professional marketing videos, but you place them on your website, social media, and online profiles. Hire an external company to create your email marketing content or other online content, but manage the distribution yourself. Your in-house marketing team creates your marketing topics and materials, but you rely on an external company to manage and implement online and cross-platform marketing. An external company conducts your market research, including reviewing relevant keywords for the quarter.
