Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are more cost-sensitive, have fewer in-house marketing resources, and require smarter investment plans and closer collaboration with their digital marketing partner.
As a result, the services the agencies that work with SMEs offer are:
- Cost-effective
- Highly tailored to maximize return on investment
- Growth-oriented and optimized for the client’s particular stage of development
- Dedicated, often acting as an extension of the client’s in-house team
If there’s one defining trait of agencies working with small businesses to be singled out, it would be the combination of affordable pricing and effective services.
And owing to a much wider reach of online platforms, small business owners are guaranteed much better visibility than what they had to rely on in “the old days”, such as newspaper or radio ads.
The cost-per-lead method used by digital agencies is much more effective and cheaper than traditional marketing – something small businesses on a tight budget will always value.
What Services Can You Outsource To Digital Marketing Agencies For Small Businesses?
Companies that offer digital marketing for small business specialize in developing strategies that foster growth and help startups and small enterprises to achieve success online.
Just like other similar agencies, they offer standard online marketing services that include but are not limited to:
- Website design
- Print and graphic design
- Identity development
- Search marketing
- Social media marketing
- Video production and marketing
- Email marketing
- SEO
- PPC
- Content marketing
- Influencer marketing
- eCommerce marketing
- And more
How Much Does Digital Marketing For Small Business Cost?
The expertise of a digital marketing agency for small businesses comes with a price that they can offer in several ways:
- As an hourly-based payment model
- Monthly-based payment model or
- Project-based fee
Frequently, these agencies will have a pricing structure on several tiers – each suitable for different wants and needs. The one-size-fits-all package never works in digital marketing.
The fee per hour can start as low as $5 and can go up to $150.
The average cost per project ranges from $2,500 to $12,000 per month for small-to-midsize businesses.
Why Hire A Small Business Digital Marketing Agency?
Digital marketing agencies for small businesses offer certain unique advantages for their clients.
Some of the most immediate ones are:
1. They Can Increase Your Brand Awareness
96% of small businesses say they use social media in their marketing strategy. (Fundera)
With the growing user base, competition and algorithm changes, the social media environment is becoming noisier and difficult to take advantage of. But the sheer size of the audiences it attracts and the engagement levels make social media worth investing in.
Specialized digital marketing agencies help small businesses cut through the noise and capitalize on the immense opportunities social media platforms offer.
2. They Will Boost Your Revenue (And Cut Down Costs)
Email marketing’s average ROI is 122%, while 47% of small business owners run marketing entirely on their own. (BlueCorona)
Besides social media, email marketing can be a highly effective tool accessible to small businesses. Yet, many choose to keep their email marketing efforts in-house.
Investing in professionally run email marketing campaigns can help small businesses increase open, click and even conversion rates.
3. They Will Lower Your Digital Marketing Cost
Eventual in-house digital marketing operations are much more costly over time than hiring a professional agency.
Unlike in-house teams, digital marketing agencies for small businesses come with no overhead and more flexible contracts, giving you more control over your investment.
4. They Will Help You Understand Your Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a projected collection of common traits that permeates the general demographics (i.e. target audience of your business).
These personas are given a profiling structure, such as age, gender, location, interests, income etc. – taking the collective data of the entire segment of the audience into account.
Digital marketing agencies for small businesses analyze your audience, profiling each and every segment of it to draw deeper insights and devise effective strategies. Knowing your audience in detail makes it easier to create effective marketing campaigns, targeted at all the right people.
5. Your Growth Is Their Top Priority
70-80% of consumers research a company online before they visit a brick and mortar small business store or make a purchase. (BlueCorona)
With their highly efficient teams, smaller client bases and accounts, small business digital marketing agencies help you optimize your internet marketing efforts, from website and on-page SEO to content marketing strategies.
6. Get More Foot Traffic
46% of all Google searches have local intent.
Local, or “near me” searches are rising exponentially. Your prospective customers turn to Google maps to discover local businesses like yours.
Combining local SEO best practices and localized social media positioning, your digital marketing partner can increase your foot traffic, the number of inquiries and well product or service demo requests.
7. You Remain Relevant In Your Industry
Successful digital marketing takes research and skill.
Three key points that you must know all there is to know about are:
- Your industry
- Your competitors
- Your customers
- Marketing trends and best practices
This final point is what a digital marketing agency for small businesses already knows about. They will also dive into researching and identifying the previous three and giving you well-presented feedback on them.
These companies that already have a track record in your niche know how to target and analyze your target audience.
Taking their preferences, habits and behavior into account, well-adjusted marketing strategies can be conceived.
We’ve ranked the best social media marketing companies. Find them here!
How To Choose The Right Digital Marketing Agency For Small Businesses?
The digital marketing agency for small businesses you choose should be able to:
- Implement new strategies to drive traffic to your website
- Improve your in-house marketing by setting good examples and providing insight
The relationship between your small business and a professional online marketing agency is a two-way street: you can provide knowledge about your business (what they need) and they can deliver digital marketing know-how (what you need).
What follows are the steps you need to do on your end to make sure you have chosen the right small business digital marketing agency for you.
Do Extensive Research
Our agency listing above is a good starting point for your research.
This research would entail:
- Checking their website and portfolio (don’t simply rely on the agency page on our site!)
- Talking to their representative on the phone and arrange a meeting
- Taking notes about every agency and comparing them
- Looking for their client testimonials and reviews
The bottom line is:
Never go for the first digital marketing agency for small businesses that you see! Also, don’t cheat your way out of all the options by just simply going for one of the top three.
Set A Budget To Narrow Down Your Options
Being aware of your budget’s limitations is important – however, the good news in the case of small business digital marketing agencies is that they are quite affordable.
Their services are tailored with a price-conscious client in mind, but you’d still need to communicate the total cost of the agency services clearly.
When setting a budget, consider these points:
- What services you need: What marketing channels will you be using, will there be some (re)branding needed, etc.
- What is the projected ROI: How fast would return on investment be realized. Investing a bigger amount of money into a project that will take years to pay off might make your company financially unstable.
Knowing this will narrow your search to agencies that are the best ft, taking the pricing range into consideration as well.
Define The Services You Need
Pay special attention to the agencies’ levels of expertise. Not all of them excel in the same areas.
Your small business may need assistance in certain specific areas: that can be PPC, SEO, social media posting or website design. Make sure that the agency you go for is proficient in exactly what YOU require to take off your business.
Highly valued specialist team members should be available to communicate with you at all times.
They can (should be able to) relay everything that your business can improve at the present moment and how they would go on improving it.
Find An Agency That Is Easy To Work With
Not all companies that offer digital marketing for small business allow the same level of close cooperation.
The one you opt for should have a highly defined company culture, be transparent, personable and have project management well instated in their daily workflow routine.
The detail of communication here is everything: how you relay your concerns and objectives, how much feedback they ask from you and how open they are to brainstorming together – that will make all the difference.
10 Questions To Ask When Interviewing Digital Marketing Agencies For Small Business
When meeting with representatives of a digital marketing agency for small businesses, asking the right questions will help you weed out the top of the line professionals from those that are not.
These include:
Looking for the top content marketing companies? Find them here!
Takeaways On Digital Marketing Agencies For Small Businesses
Digital marketing agencies for small businesses have experience in working with small enterprises and developing strategies that allow them to achieve success online.
They offer various pricing structures. However, the most common fee is the cost per hour that starts as low as $5 and can go up to $150.
To find the best partner for your business needs:
- Do extensive research
- Set a budget
- Define the services you need
- Look for an agency that is easy to work with
Best of luck!
