What does a marketing agency do? For a local business, it plans and runs the ways new customers find you and choose you: search, maps, ads, social, email and the website. This article walks through each, how the work is usually organized, and the things no agency can honestly do.
Marketing Company Denver is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.
The main services
| Service | What the agency does |
|---|---|
| SEO | Improves your site and content so Google can find and show your pages |
| Local SEO | Keeps your Google Business Profile complete, accurate and inside Google’s rules |
| Search ads | Runs Google Ads: searches, ads, bids, budgets, target area, tracking |
| Local Services Ads | Sets up pay-per-lead ads for eligible trades |
| Social | Posts, short video and paid social ads |
| Messages to customers, inside the CAN-SPAM rules | |
| Website | Designs, builds and maintains the site |
| Branding | Name, logo, colors and voice |
How the work is organized
- Discovery and audit: learning your business and checking what you have.
- Plan: which channels, in what order, with what budget.
- Setup: accounts, tracking, fixes to the site and profile.
- Running: ads managed, content written, posts published, reviews asked for honestly.
- Reporting: what was done, what it cost and what came of it.
What you should keep
Whatever you hire an agency for, keep owner access to your domain, website, Google Business Profile, ad accounts and email list. The agency works as a user. Then the history stays with you if you change agencies.
What no agency can do
- Pay Google for a better ranking. Google “doesn’t accept payment to crawl a site more frequently, or rank it higher.”
- Buy a better spot on the map. Google: “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.”
- Guarantee first place. Google: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.”
- Buy reviews or followers within the rules. Google’s policies and the FTC’s rules ban both.
Want to see what an agency would do for your Denver business? Send the form for a free proposal.
Agency, freelancer or in-house
A freelancer can be a good fit for one job, such as a website. An in-house marketer knows your business best but rarely covers every channel. An agency brings several skills together in one firm. Many owners mix them: an agency for ads and search, and someone in-house for social. What matters is that someone is responsible for making the pieces fit.
What an agency needs from you
Agencies do their best work when the owner stays involved. Expect to be asked for some of these:
- Access to your website, Google Business Profile, ad accounts and analytics.
- Photos of your work, your place and, if you choose, your people.
- Answers to the questions customers ask you, so the site can answer them too.
- Quick approvals, so ads and posts go out on time.
- Honest feedback on which leads turned into customers, because only you know.
That last point is easy to skip and costly to miss. An agency can count calls and forms; only you know which became paying customers. Telling it lets it spend more on what works and less on what does not.
How to tell if it is working
Ask for reports in plain terms: what was done, what it cost, and what came of it in calls, forms, bookings or sales. Be wary of reports full of figures you cannot connect to customers. Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO includes asking “How do you measure your success?” Ask it at the start, and hold the agency to the answer.
If you are in Denver, the digital marketing agency in Denver page sets out how a full program fits together, and how to choose a marketing agency in Denver gives a checklist.
Questions people ask
Do I need a marketing agency?
Not always. If you have the time and skills to run your profile, site and ads yourself, you may not. An agency makes sense when the work is more than you can do well alongside running the business.
How are agencies usually paid?
Arrangements vary, and this site prints no prices. Make sure any proposal shows the agency’s fee separately from what you spend on ads.
Can an agency do SEO and ads together?
Yes. Many do, and the two work well together: ads bring customers now, and SEO builds visits you do not pay for per click.
Is a marketing agency the same as an advertising agency?
The words overlap. An advertising agency usually focuses on paid ads; a marketing agency often covers search, the Google listing, social, email and the website as well. Ask any firm to list exactly what it would do for you.
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