As the internet continues to grow and diversify, businesses are scrambling to create a winning digital marketing strategy and therefore, the role of digital marketing agencies is crucial.

It’s no wonder when over half of the world’s population is on the internet. Of the 4.4 billion users, about 3.5 are active on social media.

Digital marketing agencies have learned that understanding the statistics of the most popular social media websites is important. By understanding this information, they can create an informed marketing strategy that will target a specific audience. Check out our article on How Can A Digital Marketing Agency Help Your Company Succeed for more details on that.

With consumers having access to more information than ever, at the tip of their fingers, they are doing more research before making a purchase. A business should be striving towards creating value for their customer.

We think that Philip Kotler said it best when he said, “Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value.”

What Should a Digital Marketing Company Cover?

Marketing at its core is understanding what customers value, and what they need. Marketing covers many different areas in business including market research, consumer psychology, pricing, and design.

Digital marketing takes these philosophies into our current digital age. There are 7 main areas that internet marketing can be broken into.

7 Areas of Digital Marketing

Each area in digital marketing is continually growing and evolving, so it’s important to stay on top of market trends. Here is a quick overview of what digital marketing encompasses.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is probably the thing that comes to mind when digital marketing is mentioned. This type of marketing focuses on creating unique content through a social media campaign for social media platforms.

Businesses are taking notice of the importance of social media in our culture. It’s hard not to notice when in April of this year social media users grew by 202 million.

Social media platforms include the following:

  • Facebook
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • WhatsApp
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn

Each of these social media platforms has millions of users. By using social media, businesses are increasing their reach.

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is what it sounds like. Businesses will find various avenues on the internet to advertise.

In 2018 businesses spent $74 billion on social network advertising alone.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Google is the single most used website on the internet. 92.42% of all internet searches are conducted by Google. This means that Google carries out 100 billion searches every month.

Search engine optimization is the process of improving your businesses’ organic rankings on search engine websites. Different techniques will help increase traffic on your website.

Content Marketing

This type of marketing takes advantage of a long-term strategy. Content marketing focuses on creation as well as the distribution of content.

The content is molded to be engaging, educational, entertaining and value-adding. The purpose of the content created is to help potential customers.

Mobile Marketing

The mobile marketings goal is to connect brands to consumers via smartphones or tablets. This could be via apps or websites.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is the practice of sending promotional and commercial content via email messages. These emails are typically sent to those who have voluntarily signed up for emails.

Web Analytics

Web analytics is the process of collecting, measuring, analyzing and reporting web data and could be seen as one of the most important aspects of digital marketing.

By understanding this data, businesses can further optimize web experiences for their customers.

Digital Marketing Agencies

As digital marketing continues to grow, it becomes more complicated and difficult to navigate. Hiring a digital marketing firm will free up time and energy for your company to focus on things like research and development, or rewarding your hard-working employees.

There are many digital marketing agencies out there. How do you know which ones are worth hiring for the job?

How to Choose a Digital Marketing Agency

Hiring a digital marketing agency can free up a lot of your time. Before you choose an agency to work with, you will want to address your companies specific needs.

Ask the Right Questions

There are some questions that you need to ask yourself, to make sure you can make the best decisions.

  1. What are our goals with digital marketing?
  2. What is the most important feature for our company with digital marketing?
  3. Could we save time with automated services?
  4. What is our budget for hiring a digital marketing agency?
  5. If automated, which tasks, would save us time?
  6. What is the cost of working with a digital marketing agency?
  7. Are we looking to work with someone short term or long term?
  8. Do we need something new, or can we add features to what we already have?

Not sure how to answer these questions? We’ve outlined some example answers you may find fits your situation!

  1. Our companies goal is to increase traffic on our website and to convert leads to customers.
  2. The most important feature for our company is the ease of access. We want to be able to track our progress.
  3. Right now we are tracking our customers and trends with excel spreadsheets. If we could automate this tracking, we could save hours each week!
  4. We could save time each day by having an automated system that will send emails to us. Right now we have to manually send it out, and we are spending a lot of time doing it.

Once you have your goals lined out, and the desires you have for a digital marketing firm, you will better be able to find an agency that will fit all your needs.

Budgets are important for every company. When it comes to working with a digital marketing agency you will want to go where you get the best value for your money. Take into consideration the agency’s expertise and the ease of doing business with them.

Take Your Time

Be sure to take your time! Do your research! Find a digital marketing agency that fits your companies style. This will ensure that you create a partnership with an agency that will produce results.

Our final tip is to look for the firm that will offer the best value, not the best price. Everyone knows the saying, you get what you pay for. Don’t settle for a better price to get a strategy that doesn’t work.

Where to Look For a Digital Marketing Agency

Don’t worry! We have scoured the internet to find 15 of the best digital marketing agencies in the US and Canada. Check them out below!

Cheeky Monkey Media

Cheeky Monkey Media is located in Kelowna, Canada (with another office in Moncton, Canada). Founded in 2008, this digital marketing agency has continued to grow.

They have worked with clients like Corban University, San Francisco SPCA and the National Hemophilia Foundation. Cheeky Monkey Media typically works with small business clients in the education and non-profit sectors.

Services Offered: Web design & development, search engine optimization, graphic design, marketing, and application development.

Silverback Strategies

Silverback Strategies is based in Alexandria, VA (with another office located in Philadephia, PA). Founded in 2007, this performance marketing agency walks alongside your business as a team member.

With a growing team, Silverback Strategies can work with each customer, from local shops to large e-commerce leaders, to create a specialized plan. They have worked with clients like Discovery Education, Strayer University and Mattress Warehouse.

Services Offered: Web design, data analytics, content marketing & social media, and search engine optimization.

Dreambox Creations

Dreambox Creations is located in Diamond Bar, California, with an additional location in Vancouver Canada. Founded 20 years ago in 1999, this full-service digital agency has many large enterprise clients in the foodservice industry.

Dreambox Creations has worked with clients such as Black Angus Steakhouse, Cafe Pinot and the House of Blues. Whether your a small or large restaurant, Dreambox Creations will work with you.

Services Offered: Branding, analytics, digital marketing, photography for marketing, technology consulting, social media content, and email service.

Brandlume

Our 96% customer retention rate speaks for itself! We work hard to give our customer the best value and have been featured by Inc., Forbes, ABC, Entrepreneur, Google news and more.

Our USP is that we offer a contract-free partnership, for less than an in-house salary. This means no long term commitments. Your marketing strategy can grow and evolve, just like your company.

We will work with you to decide which solutions work best for you. With a highly customizable relationship, you’re sure to fall in love! Allow Brandlume to “illuminate your brand” through marketing, branding and website services.

Services Offered: Search engine services, reputation management services, pay per click marketing services, video marketing services, social media marketing, brand identity services, packaging & label design and web hosting services.

Brolik

The team at Brolik considers themselves “growth strategists with a digital marketing sweet spot.” Founded in 2004, Brolik has continued to excel at positioning clients before the right audience.

Their office is located in Philidelphia, PA. Brolik has worked with many ambitious clients such as MLS Players Association, React Physical Therapy and Summit Steel & Manufacturing, Inc. They work with both large and medium-sized organizations.

Services Offered: Branding, digital marketing, video production, and web design.

Northern Commerce

Northern Commerce is based in London, Canada with a second office located in Toronto, Canada. This e-commerce agency was founded in 2015 and has grown to a team of over 40 people in the last 4 years.

Northern eCommerce solution has proven to substantially increase clients ROI’s. Northern Commerce has worked with clients such as Western University, Rexall and the City of London. They typically work with mid-sized companies.

Services Offered: Web development, design & marketing.

Echo&Co

Echo&Co builds and designs digital experiences, services, and products for their clients. Their goal is to connect the people who care to important causes. As Echo&Co works with clients, they provide human-centered expertise.

They are located in Somerville, Mass., with satellite offices in Michigan, British Columbia, Louisiana, and Virginia.

Echo&Co is a full-service digital agency, focusing both on UX and UI. This means that they focus both on user experience and user interface design.

They have worked with many clients such as the University of Chicago, Greenpeace, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. They typically work with midmarket businesses.

Thrive Agency

Thrive Internet Marketing Agency is based out of Arlington, Texas. They focus on WordPress web design. Thrive Agency’s goal is to build their client’s online presence.

They have worked with clients such as Mood Fabrics, Wells Fargo and Wix. Thrive has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, Forbes, and business.com.

Thrive Agency works with both B2B and B2C clients. They work with clients in many different industries from plumbing to banking.

Services Offered: e-commerce optimization, web design & development, WordPress, video marketing, social media marketing, and more.

Belo + Company

Belo + Company was founded 20 years ago in 1999. They are located in Dallas, Texas. This digital marketing agency approaches marketing from a holistic perspective.

By helping their clients to understand their customers, they can then help influence the marketing strategy in a way that engages customers.

Belo + Company has worked with clients such as Sprint, Greyhound, and Terminix.

Services Offered: Web design, analytics, search engine optimization, pay per click marketing services, social media and more.

Icona

ICONA Inc. is a marketing agency based in Calgary, Canada. They have offices in Montreal as well. Founded in 2005, their sweet spot is servicing Canadian lawyers and law firms.

They have worked with clients such as Cuming & Gillespie Injury Lawyers, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and The School of Public Policy. Icona typically works with small businesses.

This digital marketing agency is very relationship-focused, as they believe that their clients continued satisfaction is the most important thing.

Services Offered: Brand & Communications, website development, user experience, and inbound marketing.

Kobe Digital

Kobe Digital is a programmatic marketing agency. This means that there is automated bidding on advertising space in real-time. Kobe seeks out the opportunity to show an ad to a specific customer.

They are based out of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 2016, Kobe Digital continues to learn and grow. Kobe works with all sized clients.

Kobe has been featured in publications such as Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes and The Huffington Post.

Services Offered: Search engine marketing, social media, and website design & development.

COGO Interactive

Cogo Interactive is a digital marketing agency based in Chantilly, Virginia that helps its customers build a website that doesn’t just look great but works for their customer’s needs.

They were founded 10 years ago in 2009 and have worked with clients such as Pond Roofing & Exteriors, Annandale Millwork/Allied Systems, and Libby King & Associates.

Services Offered: Inbound marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, LinkedIn marketing training, and website design & development.

talonX

TalonX is a design agency that was founded 10 years ago in 2009 in Calgary, Canada and has offices in Chicago and Berlin as well. They have a small team, complete with their mascot, with big ideas.

talonX continues to grow, adapt and change, to offer the best digital marketing strategies to their customers. They typically work with mid-sized businesses.

They have worked alongside clients such as Quintera; Drilling, Dynamic Source Manufacturing Inc., and the ONYX Collective.

Services Offered: Branding, advertising, web design, marketing & strategy, 3D & animation, and search engine optimization.

Scorpion

Scorpion Internet Marketing was founded in 2001. This marketing firm is based in Valencia, California. With their 750+ employees, they are sure to optimize all the data to create a winning digital marketing strategy.

They have worked with clients such as The Cleaning Authority, Pro Power Services Inc., and Goodman Acker. Scorpion Internet Marketing has formed partnerships with Facebook, Google, and Bing ads.

From law firms to health care to small businesses, regardless of the size of your firm, Scorpion can help.

Services Offered: Digital advertising, online reputation monitoring, live chat services, website design, search engine optimization, and content & social media marketing.

Berk Labs, LLC

BERK Labs is a full-service marketing agency. They are located in Houston, Texas. BERK Labs was founded in 2013.

Over the past 6 years, Berk Labs has worked with clients such as the American Red Cross, Samsung, Google, and Heineken.

Although their focus is on small businesses, they have ventured across a variety of sectors (and have been very successful).

Services Offered: Marketing, speaking engagements, translation, design, legal, and audits.

Create Your Partnership Today!

Each of these digital marketing agencies offers a unique customer experience. Digital marketing is a great way for you to add value to your customers.

As digital marketing continues to grow, it becomes more complicated and difficult to navigate. Hiring a digital marketing firm will free up time and energy for your company to do what it does best.

For more information about digital marketing check out our blog!