What does a marketing agency do?

 

What is a marketing agency?

What does a marketing agency do? A marketing agency is a company, or service provider, that works with various clients in one or more areas of marketing. They will assist companies with planning, creating, and executing specific phases of their marketing strategies and goals. 

What are the functions of a marketing agency?

It is said that the functions of a marketing agency can be divided into three categories: 

1. Identify opportunities in the market that match your specific business goals.
2. Execute marketing strategies and particular tactics.
3. Carefully analyse the correct reports and data of said strategies and tactics, and make the necessary changes.

What are the benefits of working with a marketing agency?

Whether you're a small or a large business, turning to a market agency to help increase brand awareness and identify and implement certain strategies is never a bad idea.

Another big benefit of hiring a marketing agency is that it's more cost-effective than hiring someone in-house. This is why a lot of smaller companies, or start-ups, turn to marketing agencies. Think of a marketing agency as a collection of talent. Today's marketing campaigns require many areas of discipline to work effectively.

From SEO, social media, content, branding, paid ads, and so on. Having an in-house department doing all of that is simply not sustainable. Agencies offer diverse specialities and are always up to speed on the latest trends and technology.

In this post, we'll dive deeper into what exactly one can expect of a marketing agency and the services that they offer. We'll also explain the difference between the types of marketing agencies that exist, as well as the difference between marketing and branding.

What is the difference between a marketing agency and a branding agency?

Marketing refers to the tools and processes that are implemented to best raise awareness, and communicate about, a company’s brand, activities, and specific offerings. When it comes to the role of a marketing agency, they are there to discuss and assess with a company what its goals and core values are. They will then try to align an advertising strategy that will connect with the consumers and prospective customers. 

Branding is basically who you are as a company. It’s the personality and identity that your target audience and consumers will associate you with. A strong brand is built on a company’s principles, values, mission statement, brand personality, and vision. A branding agency is there to help you identify your principles and values and give them a face. Your brand is how millions of people will be able to identify your company from the rest. 

What can I expect from a marketing agency?

These are just some of the services that a good marketing agency will be able to provide you with. We've tried to pick what we believe to be the most essential services, but obviously, there are many many more out there. 

• PR (Public relations) 

Public relations refers to the strategic communication used to, again, create, nurture, and sustain a favourable image of a particular company or their goods and services. PR also play an important role in helping to identify and build strong relationships with influential individuals and groups that are responsible for shaping market perceptions in the industry. Marketing agencies will use things like press releases, conferences, articles, or columns as communication methods when it comes to their PR work.

• Social media management and engagement

Like it or not, the importance of having a strong and engaging social media presence these days simply cannot be underestimated. A good marketing agency will connect with potential customers and consumers through online forums, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, and any other form of social media that you can think of. 

• Direct mail marketing and newsletters

Direct mail marketing is a strategy that seeks to engage prospective customers offline by sending them things like printed mailers, postcards, perishable items, corporate swag, or other physical items. Direct mail marketing works because, unlike other forms of marketing, it takes advantage of the positive psychology of receiving an actual gift. In the modern digital world, receiving something tangible can be very powerful when it comes to relationship building.

• Search marketing 

Search marketing is a tactic that is used to gain a successful online presence on search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Divided into two main categories, search marketing involves either search engine optimisation (SEO), which is the process of gaining good search engine rankings via organic and unpaid tactics, or pay-per-click (PPC), whereby listings are placed on search engines via paid advertisements.

• Content writing and marketing

Content writing is the act of creating content for online marketing purposes. Writers will write copy for websites, blogs, social media, ebooks, videos, and a variety of other platforms. They will work with the business or customer to better understand what tone of voice they're looking for, and consistent, high-quality content writing has proved to be an invaluable way to connect brands with their consumers. 

• Website design and user experience (UX) 

Your website is the primary point of contact for customers. It allows you to showcase your business’ professionalism, expertise, and the good market reputation that you have built up. Because of this, website design is so crucial for any digital marketing plan and cannot be overlooked. It is more often than not the first impression of your company. Things like colour choice, fonts, graphics, and certain content are all crucial to think about, so leave it up to the professionals to make sure that your marketing matches your branding and creates trust.

• Traditional advertising 

Traditional advertising speaks to forms of mass media that include things like magazines, television, digital media, radio, and billboards. It is essentially an interruptive form of marketing that allows businesses to showcase their products and or services in front of extremely large audiences, regardless of whether the said audience is interested in them or not.

What are the different types of marketing agencies?

• Direct marketing agencies

This type of marketing agency will assist you with your direct marketing campaigns. They will often provide you with mailing lists that explicitly match up with your target market, and will also design and write your direct marketing campaigns. Direct marketing agencies also handle mailing out items on your behalf, and a good one will measure the consumer reception to the specific campaign.

• Digital marketing agencies

A digital marketing agency will assist you with making full use of the internet, email, and or social media for your marketing campaign. These agencies will give you advice on certain ways to use social media, help improve the SEO of your website, launch e-commerce services, and execute email marketing strategies and campaigns to communicate more productively with customers and leads.

• Telemarketing agencies

As the name suggests, telemarketing agencies provide telephone-based marketing services, often by acting as somewhat of a call centre for your business. For a more in-depth look at what exactly telemarketing is, read our article here. 

• Marketing consultancies

A marketing consultancy agency will put your marketing strategy under a microscope to examine and scrutinise it, and offer up any suggestions or criticisms that they may have. This type of agency is usually not directly involved when it comes to the implementation of a marketing plan. Instead, they are hired to do an analysis and "audit" of your plan and suggest new strategies and tactics that you can implement. 

• Marketing communications agencies

A marketing communications agency will provide assistance with things like brochures, product guides, newsletters, and so on. This type of agency will also provide any writing, design, and or production services that you may require. A good one will also devise a new strategy and method to best reach your target market for any upcoming campaigns or products that you might be lining up.

What does Spirus do as a marketing agency?

At Spirus, we are proud to offer a full range of marketing and communications services. From developing your strategy, mission, vision and values, to implementing and reviewing your marketing campaigns. Many of our customers have commented that they love the fact that we "do the doing" as well as the talking, making us something of a one-stop-shop for all of your marketing and PR needs. We work alongside your existing marketing team and will provide any additional services that you require. Be that writing great copy, designing beautiful graphics, producing engaging videos, running your social media, printing your physical campaign, or liaising with the media, we will get your business out there! 

We work collaboratively in partnership with our clients to bring your brand to life, reach the right people, and ultimately, make more sales. Your marketing activities will have the most impact if they are scheduled for the right time, to make the most of seasonal opportunities, and be aligned with your business needs and strategy. Do not stress. We have you covered!

So, what's next?

We’re available on 01638 741830 or you can email us by clicking here and asking how we can help you with your marketing strategy.

 

We look forward to hearing from you!