What Is a Marketing Agency Vs a Digital Marketing Agency

Every business wants to know the secret on how to get more customers. Well, here you will learn how to fill the gaps in your marketing approach. After reading this article you will know all about marketing agencies and the different types of marketing.

First of all, let’s just clarify that there is no difference between the terms marketing agency, marketing company, or marketing firm; they’re the same thing. However, there is a difference between a marketing agency vs a digital marketing agency…

Put simply:

• a traditional marketing agency will typically specialise in offline marketing activities
• sometimes you may find marketing agencies who can help with all areas of marketing including both online and offline solutions, whereas
• a digital marketing agency specialises in online marketing via SEO, PPC, social media marketing, email marketing and so on

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the landscape for marketing agencies in general, how each type is similar, and how they differ.

So What Is a Marketing Agency?

Regardless of the type, the term “marketing agency” is often an umbrella term to describe a team of trained professionals who work together to help a client attract customers by creating and implementing strategies that lead to businesses achieving their goals. Agencies can vary in size, and also the services they offer so you should always check their website to make sure they do what you are hoping for before scheduling a meeting or committing any money.

Traditional Marketing Agencies:

Traditional marketing agencies typically focus on offline marketing activities. This may include:

• print advertising (posters, leaflets, etc),
• public relations (such as creating and distributing press releases),
• branding,
• direct mail,
• TV advertising,
• radio, and
• trade show activities (such as designing exhibition stands, event clothing, or activities to help the company stand apart from the competition).

Digital Marketing Agencies

Digital marketing agencies focus on online marketing activities such as:

• SEO (search engine optimisation) - optimising websites to rank higher in google or other search engines results pages (SERPs)
• PPC (pay-per-click) advertising - paying a fee each time your ad is clicked on
• Content marketing - creating strategic, relevant content to reach target audiences
• Social media marketing - creating engaging social media campaigns
• Web design & development - some agencies will just design website visuals for separate external development companies to build, and some will provide a full solution which includes design and build
• CRO (conversion rate optimisation) - optimising and maximising the rate at which visitors become customers

As of 2023, digital marketing accounted for 79.7% of the total UK ad spend/, reaching £34.7bn. In addition, a survey in 2024 of over 3,000 marketers revealed that 28% of companies outsourced their digital marketing functions to external agencies.

Advertising Agencies

Advertising agencies specialise in the creation and execution of ad campaigns only. They focus on short term impact with interesting and compelling designs to capture the attention of target audiences.

Other Specialist Agencies

You can also find even more specific types of marketing agencies, for example a public relations agency which helps manage person or brand messaging and perception , public speaking events, outreach, and so on; or a sales agency which focuses on advertising and managing sales traffic of a certain product.

What Can You Expect From a Marketing Agency?

No matter the kind of marketing they do, a marketing agency should always work closely with you to clearly understand your needs, and help you achieve or exceed your marketing goals.

Generally the process of working with an agency, regardless of the type, will typically follow the following rough process:

1. Initial consultation - getting to know you, your business, and your goals (both in terms of as a company, and specifically for a given campaign)
2. Strategic planning - this stage can vary in scale but will typically include competitor analysis and creating a plan of action including timeframes, resource requirements and costs
3. Implementation - Actioning all of the various tasks - whether that be creating content, designing assets, and so on, and testing elements where appropriate
4. Deployment - Putting the various actions or assets live
5. Live Testing / Analysis - During this stage, performance is typically measured to see if a campaign performed as expected, with data analysed to better understand either items to improve upon, or things to replicate in future campaigns when performance has been particularly strong
6. Debrief - A cumulative review of the entire process to help inform potential improvements for future campaigns. The process is then repeated for the next campaign, and so on.

4 Reasons to Work With a Marketing Agency

1. Expertise. They are a team of experts with specialised knowledge in various areas of marketing that you might not know or understand, with many years of experience shared by a group of people familiar with the industry.
2. Access to Professional Insights. Agencies often have access to specialised resources and tools used to analyse the efficiency of marketing campaigns, and to understand your audience. The costs of some of these can run into tens-of-thousands of pounds every year, which puts them out of the reach of most small businesses
3. Cost-effective. Are you spending wisely? You may be wasting money on adverts that are not hitting the right audience, which a marketing agency could filter out and transfer your spending into a more useful direction. In addition, if you pay a certain amount per month to an agency, it means you don't have to think about salaries, training, or benefits, as they work alongside you as a different company, rather than in your employment.
4. Time saving. You can outsource marketing-related tasks to the agency so you and your business can focus on and spend more time on other important aspects.

Improve your Digital Marketing Today

As one of Oxfordshire’s leading digital marketing agencies, we can help you improve your online presence and maximise the success of your campaigns, enabling you to stretch your marketing budget further.

Don’t hesitate to contact us today on 01993 835432 for a friendly, no obligation chat with a member of our team, and we will be more than happy to help.