Content Marketing
Working with a Marketing Agency: 13 Types of Marketing Agencies to Know
From full-service to content to SEO, branding and influencers, PPC and more, learn all about the different types of marketing agencies.
The right marketing agency can make a world of difference. However, there are many different types, and their services can overlap.
How do you know if you should work with a full-service agency versus one that specifically works with PPC or influencers?
In this guide, we’ll demystify the different types of marketing agencies. Get insights into what each one does and how they can help your business.
Keep in mind that marketing agencies aren’t rigidly segmented into exclusively these types of services. An SEO agency, for example, might also offer PPC marketing, for example.
Let’s take a closer look and break down what it all means.
Think of a full-service marketing agency as a “one-stop shop” for all your marketing needs.
From branding to content and everything in between, these companies do it all.
They often encompass many (if not all) of the work of other specialized agencies, such as email marketing or media buying.
However, keep in mind that when choosing a full-service marketing agency, it’s possible they may have more expertise in certain areas. So, take a look at their portfolio and follow up with client references to make sure they’re aligned with what your business is looking for.
Full-service marketing agencies are great for businesses who simply want to outsource everything related to their marketing to a third party and let them manage it.
If your business doesn’t have an in-house team or you need an all-in-one solution, a full service agency is a fantastic choice.
Digital marketing agencies help companies build their presence on the internet. These agencies almost exclusively use online channels to drive traffic and visitors to websites and convert leads to customers.
Digital marketing agencies use a variety of methods and techniques to do this, including:
Some of these agencies also specialize in web design and development, handling all aspects of creating your online presence.
For businesses who want to increase their visibility online, drive more traffic to their offers, and turn more prospects into happy customers, working with a digital marketing agency is a great option.
Creative agencies handle the visual side of a business, including branding, logo design, and graphic design.
They build up your entire “business as a brand” and work to generate interest in that brand by way of multimedia campaigns. You’ll often see creative agencies involved in digital marketing and traditional (offline) marketing, such as graphic designs for print ads and billboards.
Creative agencies, just like digital agencies, may also concentrate on a certain area. For example, they may strictly work with businesses that promote to other businesses (B2B), or they may work with businesses that promote to customers (B2C) or both.
You’ll often find that TV and video production, as well as online video marketing and copywriting, fall under the broad umbrella of creative agencies. Creative agencies can also give you direction on ad campaigns to ensure your ads resonate with your target audience.
If you need help with the artistic, visionary, and branding side of the business, a creative agency is your best bet.
Search engine optimization (SEO) agencies became an asset shortly after search engines like Google began to gain popularity as a way to find things on the web.
During that time, SEO was mainly concerned with things like keyword research. Today, as search engines have become more sophisticated, SEO agencies have had to step up as well.
SEO agencies specialize in what’s called on-page and off-page SEO.
On-page is related to the content and structure of your website.
As noted by Semrush, Off-page SEO covers things that directly contribute to driving web traffic:
There are agencies that specifically work within these smaller “sub niches” as well, but you’ll often find SEO agencies that do it all.
Essentially, SEO marketing agencies focus on making sure your pages are as finely-tuned as possible for search engines while helping you build links and take other actions that improve your ranking in the search engines over time.
Social media marketing agencies are concerned with building and managing a business’ presence on major social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
Not only do these agencies create and launch campaigns, but they also help manage communities (answering comments and replying to messages) on your behalf. They also handle paid social media marketing campaigns.
These types of agencies are ideal for businesses that want to engage with their audience on popular social media platforms.
PPC (pay per click) ad agencies are professionals who handle the day-to-day management of pay-per-click ad campaigns on a variety of search engine and social media ad platforms, including:
Their goal is to generate sales through paid advertisements while ensuring you get the most out of your allotted budget. These types of marketing agencies typically handle the setup and the management of the PPC campaign.
They may also do keyword research and bid management on your behalf, handle the ad creative or copy, and design direct retargeting campaigns for prospects who were interested but didn’t take any specific action.
If you’re looking to drive traffic and conversions to your offer, working with a pay per click marketing agency can get you up and running quickly.
Content marketing agencies create engaging, interesting, and relevant content for your business. They’re often in charge of your overall content strategy, as well as creating the content itself.
Typically, they write high-quality content like blog posts and articles, but they may also be in charge of writing more in-depth pieces like white papers and ebooks. Additionally, they may script entire webinars or podcasts and handle graphic design, like infographics, or video production.
Businesses looking to build long-term customer relations and become thought leaders through their content are those best served by working with a content marketing agency.
The rise of social media has also meant the rise of influencers and influencer marketing agencies. Influencer marketing is a great way to leverage social proof and get your product in front of an engaged, and often highly-targeted audience.
Influencer marketing agencies handle the outreach and negotiation with the influencer(s) as well as creating and launching the relevant campaign. They handle content collaboration and approvals and report on campaign performance and ROI.
Working with an influencer marketing agency is a great choice for those companies who want to increase their brand awareness by collaborating with an influential personality in their niche or industry.
Public relations (PR) agencies work hard to maintain a positive image of your brand with the general public. They typically manage media relations and public communications, as well as crisis management. The best PR agencies help solidify and safeguard a business’ reputation in the eyes of the public.
Generally, they handle press release creation and distribution as well as media outreach, but they can also help address issues such as brand misinformation if needed. Some PR agencies also help with the development of thought leadership.
For businesses that want to improve their public image and build brand awareness, a PR agency is a must.
Email marketing agencies focus on creating high-converting, engaging email campaigns. They handle everything from list segmentation to automations, optimizing subject lines, and evaluating campaign results with analytics.
These types of marketing agencies will typically create the email marketing strategy and design the emails. They’ll set up list segmentation and personalize the emails as well as split test various subject lines to see which converts best.
Email marketing agencies can also handle automation building for things like a welcome email series or abandoned cart retargeting.
If your business wants to boost customer engagement with more targeted email campaigns, an email marketing agency is who you want to work with.
Branding agencies overlap somewhat with creative and design agencies in that both target the visual side of your business in terms of branding.
However, where branding agencies differ is that they focus more on the messaging and positioning of the brand. They handle logo design, color scheme and typography, but more specifically, they develop brand messaging, tone of voice, and guidelines.
For companies that need to establish or want to refresh their brand, working with a branding agency is a smart investment.
What if you’re just starting to launch your business and don’t know exactly what you need?
Then you need a market research agency. These companies offer in-depth analysis through things like surveys and focus groups to help you understand who you’re targeting.
Market research agencies typically do SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), do research into marketing trends, analyze your competitors and help you come up with a unique selling proposition.
If your business is looking to make informed marketing decisions backed by data on what real customers and prospects are talking about, a market research agency is your best bet.
Last but not least, we have the media buying agencies. These types of marketing agencies buy ad space on behalf of your business across TV, radio, print or digital mediums. They then negotiate the pricing and positioning and optimize the placement to make sure you get the most eyeballs on your content for your budget.
These marketing agencies specialize in:
If your business is looking to get your product or service in front of a wider audience through the media, you’ll want to have a media buying agency in your corner.
Choosing the best type of marketing agency for your business goals is a fantastic way to boost brand engagement, drive conversions, and expand your audience!
With the rise of AI, it’s important to clarify the agency’s AI policies right from the beginning. Although AI has a number of benefits, there are pros and cons to AI content. Google may penalize AI content that doesn’t provide value to its audience.
By discussing an agency’s policies and how they balance the innovations of AI with human expertise, you can ensure everyone is on the same page right from the start.
