High performing businesses know that they'll no longer ignore the importance of their web and digital initiatives as marketing and communication platforms for connecting with their customers and target markets. The challenge for these businesses when looking for a supplier for web design, development and online marketing services, is how exactly to isolate the 'right' supplier from the thousands in the market. An eight year old can build an internet site today (yes, I've seen it), so what do businesses intent on succeeding online need to find?
In accordance with Wikipedia, a digital agency is a business that generates services for the creative and technical development of Internet based products. These services add the more generalist such as web design, e-mail marketing, company logo and micro sites, to the more specialist such as custom built content management systems, ecommerce, web application development, social media marketing, mobile compatible web development, internet search engine optimisation, and systems integration services.
Digital agencies tend to vary from their more traditional advertising agencies and their marketing agency counterparts in they tend to deliver only certain types of web complimentary off-line services such as company logo, icon design and graphic design. Some advertising and marketing agencies do however attempt to deliver digital work but you will find numerous shortfalls for businesses which can be intent on online solutions utilising their services.
Over these last few years much has changed in the marketing landscape. Now I might be wrong by saying this, but my feeling is that recently, traditional marketing agencies which have moved toward the web landscape still have a cheap grasp of it. Almost all outsource online services to other experts and are struggling to survive the growing demand for businesses to incorporate more technical net based marketing solutions. Alternatively they might manage to offer basic web related services but struggle when their client's requirements are more technical or custom.
Digital marketing agencies have already been evolving to define themselves in the ever changing online world. Digital agency services cross so many of the traditional service lines including advertising, graphic design, web design and development, online marketing and internet search engine optimisation that before the digital agency was coined, there wasn't really a method to describe them without merging service streams.
The entire service digital agency is unquestionably one of the Internet's best kept secrets. Businesses intent on succeeding online will benefit exponentially from a successful partnership with a high end digital agency. This is well demonstrated in the Google trends graph below. The word digital agency has been on the rise since the start of 2005 and it growing every day, whilst the definition of "advertising agency" has been in steady decline.
So how does a business choose when looking for a marketing solution that incorporates digital online media?
I know view digital agencies as the right catalyst to simply help businesses consolidate these outsourced web, design and online marketing services? Take for instance a business that's trying to commission a fresh website to be designed and developed and need to ensure the brand new website will rank full of the search engines. Many people would consider separating the web site design from the SEO and end up commissioning two different service providers to hold out the work.
This may work, however a digital agency is capable to service these two requirements and make certain that the 2 services are properly integrated through the entire project life cycle.
And also this reduces the entire costs of the project because the businesses details, their goals and the relationship with the provider are typical vested in a single place.
Another example is when a business has a long haul relationship with a creative or design agency to support the company's brand. The business enterprise decides it is time for you to launch their website and brief their agency on the requirements. The creative agency might have an in-house web developer that has basic programming skills so suggests to the client that they should handle the project. Unfortunately the client is unaware that like a clock, an internet site is made up of many components and it requires skills in a variety of areas to make a truly amazing website.
The competency and skills required include: Front end developers, system architects, web designers and developers, usability specialists, online marketers and SEO experts, back end and database programmers and much more. Ideally the videography team in Michigan located under one roof with everyone working together and sharing their knowledge so that together they could create a superior quality solution that fits the client's expectations.
As a result of devoid of a digital agency with a pool of skill sets, the business' website is made and developed by a "jack-of-all-web" web guys that does a regular job but doesn't excel on any front. To get a truly impressive website, a variety of skills and expertise is required.
Hence, when considering the design and development of a fresh website, a digital agency is really a much smarter choice since they do have the entire suite of expertise and know what they're talking about.
The important thing benefits to dealing with a Digital Agency:
1. Centralising your online requirements with one supplier. This may result in cost reductions and savings from combining services such as your online development together with your online marketing or graphic design.
2. Dedicated account manager - Anyone to call or contact for every one of you digital needs. Whether it's an email marketing campaign, latest analytics reports, new email account, hosting upgrade or better internet search engine ranking - you simply make one call.
3. If anything is going wrong together with your website, you understand who to call. One phone call and everything is taken care of.
4. Pool of expertise. In a digital agency, you find a wide variety of men and women with specialised skills in each and every facet of the net and online industry.
So, now I have that off my chest and you have the most effective explanations why you must choose a digital agency for your next web project or social media strategy, there's never been a better time to get in contact with a committed team that can't wait to work well with you.