What Is A Full-Service Digital Agency?
The best full-service digital agencies combine a group of experts from all areas of:
- Branding.
- Design.
- Technology.
- Marketing.
- Global industries.
The services of the best digital agencies in the world range from branding services to web design to digital marketing and beyond.
What’s more, 75% of small business owners find Internet marketing to be “effective” or “very effective” in growing their business.
How Do I Choose A Digital Agency?
Determine Your Own Business Needs
Ultimately, the point of hiring an award-winning digital agency is to fulfill a specific business need.
So, before you even begin searching for a digital agency or setting up pitch meetings, you need to assess your own company goals.
Determine what you want to accomplish, shortlist the platforms that you think will help, and assess your internal manpower. This will help you find the agency that will complement your brand identity and help you achieve your objectives.
Discover Each Digital Agency’s Primary Strengths
Although the best digital agencies have a wide variety of expertise, no one is an expert in everything. There will always be one or two areas that an agency particularly excels in. Look at their portfolio, case studies and clientele and examine the work that they have done for them.
Plus, a digital agency doesn’t necessarily need experience in your specific industry. More importantly, they need to demonstrate prior experience solving business growth problems that are similar to your objectives.
Understand How They Attain Results
The top digital agencies have high success rates with clients because they place a strong emphasis on a consistent and reliable process.
This process includes a dedicated point of contact, regular meetings, a cohesive team and plenty of internal and external communication.
Since 46% of employees rarely or never leave a meeting knowing what their next steps are, this organized process is imperative.
Create A Fair & Secure Contract
An airtight and comprehensive contract is the most crucial logistical element when forging a partnership with a great digital agency.
Work with your legal department or applicable representative to draft (or oversee) a fair, legally-binding document. It should outline important information such as the project’s time frame, any applicable deliverables, who your team members and point of contact will be, and what information is under non-disclosure.
10 Questions To Ask A Digital Agency Before You Hire Them
Before you hire a digital agency, ask targeted questions to determine if they can help your brand grow effectively.
- Who will be working on our project and what is their expertise?
- Who will our point of contact be at the digital agency?
- What clients have you worked with and what services did you provide?
- What is your process for determining a roadmap, deliverables, and an achievable timeline?
- How will you determine the goals of the project?
- How will the goals be measured (traffic, conversions, SEO ranking, revenue, etc.) and how often will you report results?
- What tools, tactics or strategies will you utilize to reach our target goals?
- How will you charge us?
- What deliverables are included in the cost of the project?
- Does the pricing include meetings and phone calls to touch base on the project’s progress and questions?
What Does A Digital Creative Agency Do?
The best digital agencies around the world offer a wide range of services.
If the agency is truly full-service, they should be able to handle all of your company’s digital marketing and business growth needs in-house with a high level of technical skill and experience.
Top Digital Agencies Manage Branding & Logo Design
When it comes to logo design and branding, reputable design agencies do it all. They can manage:
- Logo design.
- Business or product naming.
- Branding and rebranding campaigns.
- Key brand messaging, such as mission statements and core values.
- Creating brand books to maintain a consistent identity.
- Rolling out new brand identities to the public.
- Corporate identities.
- And more!
In fact, 77% of marketers say proper branding is imperative for future business growth.
Digital Agencies Create Personalized Marketing & Advertising Strategies
Top digital companies can create a comprehensive marketing strategy. These include:
- SEO optimization.
- Social media marketing.
- Display advertising.
- Content marketing.
- Email marketing.
- Paid search.
- Pay-per-click ads.
- Experiential marketing campaigns.
- And more!
The Best Digital Agencies Build Custom Websites, Mobile Apps & Platforms
Leading full-service digital agencies offer start-to-finish custom website design. This includes:
- Strategy.
- Information architecture.
- Design.
- Development.
- Post-launch support.
In addition, digital firms offer custom mobile app development. When digital agencies are hired to build applications, they incorporate a process of:
- Strategy.
- Prototyping.
- Design.
- Development.
- QA testing.
- Maintenance.
Well-designed digital platforms are crucial for modern brands. After all, global e-commerce sales are expected to surpass $4.8 billion annually by 2021.
However, 38% of users will stop engaging with a website if the layout and design are unattractive.
This means that a profession, beautiful and high-functioning custom website is imperative to business growth.
Digital Agency vs. Digital Marketing Agency: What's The Difference?
You may hear the terms 'digital agency' and 'digital marketing agency' used interchangeably. But while it is easy to lump the two together, these firms actually offer different services.
Ultimately, a digital marketing agency provides services in, well, the digital marketing realm. They help businesses promote their brand through campaigns, social media, SEO, content marketing initiatives, PPC, native advertising, and other online marketing operations.
But digital agencies encompass much more. In addition to offering digital marketing assistance, typical digital agencies provide full-service assistance in other online campaigns outside of marketing, too. This includes:
- Branding
- Logo design
- Web design and development
- App design and development
- Emerging technology integration
- And more!
All in all, digital agencies have experts that span wider areas of business growth and can facilitate strong ROIs in more arenas than a digital marketing agency, which only focuses on marketing.
How Much Does A Digital Agency Cost?
The amount that a digital agency will charge you largely depends on the scope of work you need them to complete. Nonetheless, there are some general figures that you can keep in mind when hiring a digital agency.
First of all, digital agencies can invoice in a few different ways. These include:
- Hourly rates
- Per-project
- Results-based fees
- Monthly retainers
An hourly rate is the most common way that a digital agency will charge a client. Essentially, you will be paying an hourly fee for every person and every hour spent on your account or project.
Typically, United States digital agencies charge about $125-$200+ per hour.
Meanwhile, digital agencies in Eastern Europe can cost between $35-$75 per hour.
Often, per-project invoices are also determined by hourly rates. Digital agencies are simply dividing each project they are working on for you into its own dedicated invoice.
A results-based fee is contingent upon achieving a specific goal, objective or key performance indicator.
And finally, monthly retainers are typically flat fees that allow you to work with digital agencies on more of a consultation basis.
Monthly retainer fees from US-based digital agencies can run from $500 to $5000 or more, depending on the projects you will be working on.
How To Know If A Digital Agency Is Right For Your Business
Ultimately, the best digital agency for your business is the one that has the expertise and qualifications to help you achieve your goals in a timely manner.
The right digital agency will have:
- The ability to understand your brand inside and out
- Experience solving similar business problems
- Creative and technical expertise
- Successful case studies and portfolios
- Clear transparency and a roadmap to success
- The ability to deliver a return on investment within your budget
When you find a firm that checks all of those items, you’ve likely found the digital agency that can grow your brand effectively.
Check out the best digital agencies from around the world in the table above.
