Top 10 Digital Marketing Companies to Hire in 2024

Having a strong online presence is non-negotiable. In the information age, your company and its products or services must be available at the click of a button. But keeping up with digital marketing can be daunting. From creating gripping and relevant content to navigating complex social media algorithms, there's a lot to consider—which is where a digital marketing company comes in.

By partnering with a digital marketing expert, you can take the weight off your shoulders and focus on what you do best: running your business. These agencies possess the knowledge, experience, and resources to develop and execute data-driven strategies that will propel your brand to new heights. So, keep reading if you're ready to watch your website traffic soar and conversions skyrocket.

Our top picks of the best digital marketing companies to hire

1. The Emms - Best overall

2. Casa Media - Best for branding

3. Three Beacon Marketing - Best for DTC brands

4. Trymus Group - Best for social media marketing

5. Zonder Marketing - Best for SEO

6. DigiCom - Best for web design and development

7. Growth Spin Limited - Best for growth marketing

8. The Peachy Company - Best for eCommerce stores

9. Tale Digital - Best for PPC advertising

10. HiFlyer Digital - Best for email and SMS marketing

What is a digital marketing company?

A digital marketing company specializes in promoting businesses and their offerings through online channels. Unlike traditional marketing, which relies on print media, billboards, or TV ads, digital marketing agencies focus on the Internet and digital technologies.

These companies can be a one-stop shop for all your online marketing needs. They typically employ a team of experts who can handle various tasks, including:

• Search engine optimization (SEO): Optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This increases organic traffic to your website.
• Social media marketing (SMM): Creating and managing engaging content for your social media platforms to build brand awareness and connect with potential customers.
• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: Running targeted ads on search engines and social media platforms to drive traffic to your website or landing pages.
• Content marketing: Developing valuable and informative content (like blog posts, infographics, or videos) to attract and engage your target audience.
• Email marketing: Crafting targeted email campaigns to nurture leads and convert them into paying customers.

What is digital marketing and why is important?

Digital marketing is the promotion of a brand and its products and services to online audiences. It involves various digital marketing strategies, including search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, and social media advertising. 

Digital marketing is about bringing more target customers through the marketing funnel. However, if a brand doesn't have a good product or doesn't create a positive customer experience then no marketing tactics would lead to sustainable growth.

Digital marketing efforts come in after that foundation is built. They help business owners increase organic traffic, improve the brand's social media presence, and execute digital campaigns across a variety of digital platforms and marketplaces.

Inbound marketing vs digital marketing

Digital marketing is a broad term that describes all the different ways to target your audience using digital channels. Inbound marketing is a methodology that uses digital marketing assets to attract, engage, and delight customers online. There's a difference between inbound and outbound methods: 

• Inbound marketing focuses on content development on the company's blog and various social media platforms. It includes email marketing campaigns, video marketing, and influencer marketing.
• Outbound marketing includes various performance channels like Google Ads (Google AdWords), native advertising, social advertising, PPC management, and ads on mobile devices.

Which online marketing services are right for my business?

There's no cookie-cutter answer to this, but a good first step is to look at your current channels and see which ones yield the highest return on investment (ROI). Look at what's already working and see if you could improve it. Maybe you need an outside consultant or marketing expert to help your marketing team with a specific channel. Or you might need to manage a digital channel more intensively.

The right marketing service will also depend on the industry you're in. For example, influencer marketing and social media advertising work really well for eCommerce and more glamorous products. A plumbing service may need to use more traditional channels, like developing a good SEO strategy and going all-in on local SEO.

Here are a few helpful questions to ask yourself: 

• What are my most successful digital marketing campaigns? What's working well and what's not working at all? 
• What are the most popular digital channels in my industry?
• Do I need a generalist (like a full-service digital marketing agency) to look at all my channels and see what should be improved? Do I need someone with specific expertise on one channel?
• How is my social presence doing? Am I active on social platforms? Do I get engagement on my social media posts? Do I run social advertising campaigns?
• What are the greatest bottlenecks in my sales funnel? 
• Do I have a content strategy? Am I creating blog posts and other forms of online content to get more organic traffic?
• How big is my marketing department? What skills am I lacking on the marketing team? And what do other digital marketing teams in my industry usually specialize in?

If you're still not sure which service is best for your business maybe it's a good idea to look into getting a professional marketing strategy update and getting an expert to help. 

What types of digital content should I create?

The type of online content you should create depends on the channels you're using and your business goals. Content creation is completely different for PPC marketing than for an influencer campaign for example. Here are the different channels you should be aware of.

• Social media marketing: Improve your social presence with engaging social media posts, video marketing, and some social proof.
• Organic traffic (SEO): Use a good blend of content marketing and technical SEO to create long-form blog posts and guides for your potential customers. An SEO agency or content agency can help you with this.
• Advertising: Ads on social media channels require good copy and creatives to work well. PPC ads require less work on the creative side. If you're heavy on your advertising channels then you might need a performance marketing agency to create and manage your ad campaigns.

How much does online marketing cost?

The average cost of digital marketing services ranges from $2,500 to $12,000 per month. That's for a monthly retainer. Hourly rates vary from $50 to $500+ per hour. The biggest digital agencies like Dentsu International or Publicis Group charge more than $12k per month—but you don't need a fancy firm from San Francisco to do your marketing. You need a marketing partner that has achieved business growth with other clients in your industry, and that has experience working with similar target audiences and marketing budgets.

How to hire the perfect marketing company to work with

By now you're probably wondering: Where do I find the best digital advertising agency for my business? Don't fret, you don't have to waste your time and resources working with the wrong agency. Here's the process you should follow to find the best experts.

Check their success record

Don't just look at the sales deck and customer reviews. Look at the specific clients they've worked with and the results they achieved. Make sure they have proven success working with clients in your specific industry. Don't just take their word for it. Ask to see some names in their client base and talk to those people.

• Do they have experience working with midmarket clients? Enterprise companies? Startups?
• Which industries have they worked with in the past? (healthcare marketing, sports marketing, etc.)

Check their expertise

Look at the range of services they offer and make sure that it matches exactly what you need to accomplish. Make sure they have experience working with your target demographic and business model.

Traditional marketing at advertising companies used to involve billboards, newspaper ads, and TV placements. With the digital revolution, a whole new world has opened up, and there are now hundreds of different marketing specialties. Agencies usually specialize in a wide variety of channels, so always ask about any additional services they may offer. 

• Are they a full-service digital agency or do they specialize in specific channels?
• Do they have proven results in the specific channel that you're looking to grow?

Find out their availability

You should also check how available they are to work on your project. How many existing clients do they have? And how much staff do they have to service those clients? Usually, medium-sized agencies (10 - 49 staff) and large agencies (50 - 100 staff) are really busy and don't give you the time of day. Work with someone smaller and more specialized to get the results you're looking for.

• How many people will be assigned to your project? 
• How often will they report on results and communicate with your team? 
• Do they have a collaborative culture? How much input would you have on the project?
• Where are their offices located?

Find the perfect agency with Mayple

We have some of the world's top marketing companies including agencies that specialize in social media marketing, digital strategy, content marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), direct marketing, and much more. You don't need to work with the world's largest marketing companies to achieve the results you're looking for. You just need the right partner with a proven success record in your niche that's vetted by Mayple.