Good morning! I hope this post finds you in good health and overall well-being! Welcome to the marketing agency compendium! Marketers and business owners rarely have a ton of time on their hands, so without further ado, I'll get to it. Let's get started!
What is a marketing agency?
A marketing agency is a company that advertises other companies. Advertising in both physical and digital spaces. This is the simplest and most general definition. In a fast-paced market economy and a highly competitive environment, famous statements like "a good company doesn't need advertising" or "I'll buy it myself" are completely unfounded and are typically made by people who have never run a business. In an overstimulated world, with numerous messages everywhere, companies that are visible win.
Marketing agencies are typically divided into online marketing agencies and advertising agencies, which create physical advertising materials. Is there a comprehensive marketing agency that handles both? Well, I haven't seen one in Poland yet. That's because both environments—online and offline—have become incredibly complex technological mechanisms over the last decade, requiring specialized knowledge. You can't be an expert in everything.
What does a marketing agency do?
The scope of a marketing agency's work depends primarily on whether it operates in the online or physical advertising environment. An online marketing agency typically pursues two primary goals: either marketing activities explicitly focused on acquiring new customers by driving traffic to your website, or marketing activities focused on building reach and impressions, for example, to build brand awareness, generate demand, support PR campaigns, or raise awareness of issues. The means to achieve these goals are paid advertising and "organic" activities. Paid advertising includes things like sponsored links or product ads with small images that you see after entering a keyword phrase in Google search. It also includes Facebook ads , in-app ads, marketplace ads like Allegro, banner ads you see on websites, and influencer activities (which aren't always labeled as paid). Organic activities, on the other hand, include entries on fan pages, creating blog entries (like this one), activities aimed at website positioning, etc., etc. An internet marketing agency also deals with such marketing activities.
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An advertising agency dealing with traditional media typically doesn't focus strictly on direct customer acquisition (as this is very difficult to measure), but on building a broad reach. We're talking about activities like leaflet printing, presence at trade shows, creating banners in public spaces, sampling campaigns in supermarkets, and the like.
Of course, there are also marketing agencies that handle advertising in traditional, well-known media such as press, radio, and television. These are solutions for companies with large advertising budgets and can simply afford to target their messages to a truly broad and less-specific audience. I won't delve into these agencies in detail. Firstly, because there's a huge probability that you're not interested in advertising in these large media, and secondly, because I'm not an expert on this specific topic, and I want to ensure the highest quality in this post.
Digital Marketing Agency – Next Generation Marketing
When searching for information about online marketing agencies, you're probably wondering what makes a good marketing agency stand out. From my perspective (and I've been on both the client and agency side many times), a good online advertising agency is usually one that delivers results, is transparent, and has the feel of a "learning" organization. Personally, I also appreciate bold communication and attention to user experience , but that's a bit out of the question. 🙂
Verseo places particular emphasis on two pillars in its daily operations: people and technology. We believe that a good agency starts with experience, empathy, and partnerships. When there's understanding at this fundamental human level, everything usually works out well. 🙂 The next step is technology. As marketers, we feel it's our duty to keep our clients abreast of the latest changes and approaches to online advertising. We also extensively utilize new AI tools, and since 2015, we've been developing our own, machine-learning-based tools.
There's no turning back from working with the latest technologies. They represent both opportunities for competitive advantage and threats. New methodologies in paid advertising environments have repeatedly been known to potentially burn through budgets or reduce ad effectiveness. That's why human experience and the ability to critically assess situations are so crucial.
A marketing agency also has a third dimension: transparency. And I know what you're thinking – another transparent company that doesn't achieve anything.
And here's the surprise. We simply do it. We publish salary data, our revenues, and employee turnover rates. We publish taxes paid and how we respond to specific threats, such as security issues.
This is our path. But there are others. Some marketing agencies strongly emphasize a personalized approach, creativity, and strategic communication, or compensate for the need for prestige. The assumption is that every agency wants to be effective because its effectiveness determines whether you pay them. Therefore, when choosing a client, you simply need to find that "perfect match" on an emotional rather than a rational level. At least that's what I think. 🙂
Examples of services offered by marketing agencies
What are some examples of services offered by marketing agencies? Let's take a look at these key services from an online marketing perspective.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is typically associated with content and inbound marketing—marketing that addresses a specific user need rather than bombarding them with unwanted messages. The article you're reading falls under the umbrella of content marketing. You want to gain knowledge about marketing agencies, and I'm providing it. Whether the content you've encountered will encourage you to take further action depends on my skills, the language I use, and the graphic design. In the case of this post, I can clearly reveal my cards. When I wrote it, I simply wanted you to find it here and find it helpful. By visiting my website—if you agreed to this in the cookie banner—you've been added to our remarketing list. From time to time, you'll encounter our banners online, reminding you of us. You're looking for information about marketing agencies, so when the time is right, you might consider us. Or maybe not. The point is, this article and subsequent remarketing are our touchpoints, and the more of them, the more likely you are to reach out. Technically, this is called building mental accessibility.
When it comes to content marketing agencies, there are companies that specialize in this field, but larger agencies that handle multiple channels typically offer content marketing services or even offer it as part of other services, such as website positioning . However, content shouldn't be limited to blog posts or product and category descriptions in online stores. No, content also includes:
A lot depends on our imagination and the flexibility of our approach. 🙂
SEO
SEO is a marketing activity aimed at increasing a website's visibility in search engines like Google and Bing. It's one of the most popular and arguably the most recognizable services in online marketing, and it's based on three pillars.
The first is in-depth work on the website's technical optimization. This includes simplifying the page's code structure as much as possible, working with meta descriptions, slimming down any images or graphics, and improving page speed. In general, technical optimization aims to ensure that both crawlers and users navigate the website without any problems.
The second pillar is working with text. Search engines thrive on it. The richer, more qualitative, and more skillful the text, the higher the chance that the search engine will appreciate it and place it at the top or near the top of the search results. Content marketing, mentioned earlier, plays a significant role here, as it should balance the audience's interests with SEO (positioning) needs.
The third pillar is links. To illustrate their role, it's best to use an analogy. The more different types of roads to a city, the more important it will be on the national map. The more such roads lead to a given city from other major cities, the higher the reputation of the target city – your website. The number of such roads matters, but so does their quality and whether they lead from thematically related sources. 🙂
Currently, there are over a hundred key ranking factors that are taken into account when setting the search results ladder, as well as over a thousand factors that have an impact, but a smaller or marginal one.
But the most important thing is the foundation. Perfect them, and you'll be fine.
PPC advertising
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is advertising for which you pay only when a specific recipient clicks. This model is commonly associated with Google Ads and Facebook Ads . PPC advertising campaigns offer a number of advantages!
- Budget flexibility – PPC is a solution for both small and large businesses. You can successfully acquire clients with a budget of 500 PLN or 100.000 PLN. It all depends on the scale of operations and the competition,
- Speed of implementation – Ads in this model can start working practically overnight,
- Good for the season – You certainly factor sales seasons like Christmas and Black Friday into your marketing strategy. You can invest more during these times, and even phase out your PPC marketing efforts during the slower seasons.
- Export – PPC advertising campaigns reach all Western markets. They make it easy to scale your business in foreign markets,
- Independence – In theory, you can run advertising campaigns using this model yourself. However, remember that there are plenty of specialists on the market (including us 😀 ) who have cut their teeth on this. A comprehensive marketing agency can efficiently navigate this very complex environment, but starting from scratch will require a lot of time and trial and error.
Social Media
Social media is where we spend most of our free time online. Social media marketing encompasses both paid and organic activities. The former are creatives like Facebook carousels or sponsored reels on Instagram or TikTok . These are typically highly engaging content and increasingly require video creation skills—even amateurs.
Similarly, organic activities require competence, creativity, and systematic approach. It also requires a sense of belonging across generations. Social media, however, is a great place to showcase our brand. Firstly, it allows advertisers to be where their customers are. Secondly, it's a great source of inspiration and encouragement for purchases that don't require much thought—like a new outfit. 🙂
AI Marketing
AI Marketing isn't really a separate category of online marketing, but rather a companion to many others. For example, PPC campaigns on Google or Facebook leverage AI or machine learning to better model the behavior of specific user groups and how our ads might resonate with them.
AI marketing also allows us to improve services like video recordings, when we want to better edit them in terms of audio or image. We can also create a voicebot or chatbot. Ultimately, AI marketing could generate a post similar to this one. Would it be better? I hope not. 🙂
Other
A marketing agency can handle many other things, each only slightly less important than those described above. These include:
- Web analytics – because when we do something, it is worth measuring it in order to improve it.
- Operational audits - e.g. SEO – we don’t always want to hand over the work to someone else, but sometimes we want to get an external diagnosis.
- UX – because driving traffic to a website is one thing, but getting a visitor to make a purchase is another. 🙂
- Websites – oh yes – that's what we often do, and we're happy to build good stores and pleasant websites. 🙂
- Consent mode – to properly run remarketing campaigns and generally collect data effectively.
- And apart from that… Copywriting, influencer marketing, trade marketing, marketing strategy development, trade shows, television, radio, press, apps, offline activities, guerrilla marketing, cause-related marketing, affiliate marketing, word-of-mouth marketing. There's a lot to cover, and I'm probably missing something.
Internet Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing – A Comparison
Comprehensive marketing services once primarily encompassed radio, print, and television. Marketers also had leaflets, unconventional outdoor campaigns, banners, city lights, and similar physical media at their disposal.
The world has changed. The internet has come to the fore. And on the internet, the rules of the game are much more focused on business goals and specific audiences.
A leaflet is great and can do a lot at the local level, informing customers about a restaurant's menu, current promotions, or simply letting them know you exist. Similarly, radio, press, or television at the local or even national level can build broad brand exposure. And that's great. The problem is that we're paying to reach those potentially interested, as well as everyone else who might not be in our target audience at all.
Why is this important? Because any ad recipient who isn't even theoretically interested in buying is a waste of money. Online marketing allows you to target ads to groups that are most likely interested in buying.
Another significant advantage of digital marketing is its rapid implementation and the ability to continuously optimize and improve activities. Large, time- and cost-intensive campaigns in traditional media generally lack such opportunities.
Click and learn more about the comparison of online and traditional marketing.
How does a marketing agency work?
Ha! Good question. With a marketing agency – and how it works – it can be different. 🙂
The common denominator among all agencies in Poland is that they started as relatively small entities. Some stayed at that level, others folded or were acquired, and some managed to scale. Therefore, we have boutique agencies in the market that target very large clients, avoiding the need to scale their business with smaller projects that potentially consume a similar amount of time. Such an agency lacks the expertise and capabilities to be comprehensive, so it typically focuses on PPC, SEO , UX, or influencer marketing.
Large agencies are able to bring together specialists from multiple areas under one roof. This is valuable when we want to focus all marketing activities in one place, have a single accountant who coordinates topics for us, provides holistic reporting from multiple sources, and can propose optimizations more broadly than if they had only one service under their wing.
What are the rules for a marketing agency hiring? There's no set rule here. Often, these will be employment contracts, although the best specialists prefer B2B contracts because they can grow financially with their clients. When you're the best, you don't want a financial ceiling that limits you.
Digital marketing agencies typically report their activities every two or four weeks. Be prepared for frequent contact after an initial intensive period of adjustment between the agency and the client's business and the client themselves, but then attenuate after two or three months—assuming the results are satisfactory, of course. This is completely normal and stems from the fact that your account manager typically has other clients under his or her belt, among whom they must divide their time.
The process of creating a marketing campaign
The process of creating advertising campaigns typically begins with an audit of the existing situation and an analysis of the client's needs and the needs of the business's customers. Essentially, we also need to decide which channels to choose. Each channel is chosen based on business goals, budgetary possibilities, previous experience, and, of course, the expertise of either the in-house or the agency. It's worth noting that a marketing agency may also push you toward services that are most profitable for them or in which they are strong, but which may not be optimal for you.
Next, after initially defining the campaign architecture and defining the client's priorities—for example, selling high-margin products or perhaps those that aren't performing as well as others—the campaign enters the learning phase. Systems must learn which environments they will perform best in. Paid ads typically learn in 7-14 days. More advanced ads, requiring more data, can take up to 60 days to learn if seasonality or similar aberrations occur. Similarly, with SEO, it's worth auditing the campaign after three months to determine whether the adopted strategy was successful.
The next phase will be optimization, and it's permanent. At this stage, we delve deeper into campaign effectiveness. An example would be audience groups. If we have several or a dozen of them, we can try to improve ad effectiveness by eliminating groups that convert poorly and boosting budget for those that convert better.
Market and competition analysis
When working with a marketing agency, you'll undoubtedly frequently encounter competition and general market analysis. It's the competition that shapes our expectations, potential actions, and budgets. Market, customer, and competitor analysis allows us to design marketing narratives, outline public relations initiatives, and develop a company's USP and values.
You can delegate the task of tracking and comparing your performance with your closest competitors to a marketing agency. The agency has a number of paid tools that allow for this type of comparison. Take Verseo and its partnership with Google's IGAP program, for example. This program is for the largest agencies with clients running campaigns both domestically and internationally. Hypothetically, let's assume you're planning to conduct business or sell in several European countries. You can then contact us, and thanks to our IGAP partnership, we'll create a comprehensive report demonstrating the potential of a given market and a number of interesting business issues, such as projected spending, cultural aspects, purchasing preferences, competitor profiles, and so on.
Selection of marketing channels
Choosing marketing channels isn't just about which is better – social media or search engine advertising. The best marketing agencies will analyze your business goals, resources, available budget, and competition, and then recommend the chosen marketing channel(s). An experienced marketing agency has the advantage of likely already having clients in your or a related industry. This means they don't have to test hypotheses and potentially learn from your money. They'll have ready-made solutions, which will certainly accelerate your process of reaching your customers.
Each marketing channel can achieve different goals. Some are dedicated solely to sales and lead generation. Others are focused on building reach or increasing the frequency of a given ad's exposure to a relevant audience. Therefore, it's important to speak with an online marketing agency, as they should have the resources, tools, and experience to provide you with detailed information on where to most sensibly allocate your budget and increase sales.
What marketing channels do agencies offer?
Small online marketing agencies specialize in specific areas of operation. You'll most often encounter agencies providing SEO, Google, and Facebook Ads services . Agencies specializing in more niche areas, such as organic social media activity or user experience, are less common. Marketing agencies that specialize in multiple areas are also rare. Full-service agencies are relatively rare. This is because they require a large number of specialists, extensive infrastructure, and the ability to scale a business. However, there are easily at least a dozen agencies in Poland dedicated to a specific area of online marketing.
Which channels will be most effective for a given industry?
Individual marketing activities across the channels used will make sense for specific industries and business types. Let's imagine you run a roadside assistance company. It's obvious that a tool like remarketing doesn't make sense for you, because people expect help HERE and NOW.
This rather extreme example was intended to illustrate that marketing strategies depend on many factors. However, in general, advertising such as Google Ads on the Display Network and Search Network, Facebook Ads, and local ads have broad justifications and are therefore widely used by many different types of businesses. You should consult experienced marketing agency specialists about which channels will be most effective in your case.
Who works at a marketing agency?
From a technical perspective, internet marketing agencies employ the best in the market. Okay, that's a strong statement to argue with, so it's time for my arguments. 😉
While in-house departments are great at delivering content marketing, social media activities, creative challenges, event organization, and the like, in my opinion, there is no way for someone in-house to handle paid advertising or web analytics at the level of an experienced specialist from a marketing agency with similar experience.
An in-house specialist has seen a single type of business, at most a few different advertising approaches, over their time at a given company, and it's unlikely they have any external motivation to continually expand their knowledge. Such a specialist also earns significantly less than an expert from an advertising agency who manages a few, a dozen, or even dozens of smaller clients.
This range of clients, combined with the knowledge exchange of specialists working alongside them and the undeniable market pressure to continually expand their knowledge, means that a specialist at an online marketing agency will simply be better. And they will be better not only in terms of effectiveness but also financially. Let's say that with a Google Ads budget of 10.000 PLN per month, the agency fee averages 1500-2500 PLN. If we were to retain someone with similar skills in-house, we would probably have to pay around 10.000 PLN, which is the entire media budget. The savings are staggering.
Organizational structure of a marketing agency
Since no two advertising agencies are alike, it's difficult to expect a single, correct answer to the question of a model organizational structure. Therefore, without delving into theories, I'll present the structure of my agency.
At the top of Olympus, we have two CEOs, closely supported by the operations manager, sales manager, and SEO department head in terms of process development and task execution. Next, we have head of team leadership positions, which directly supervise specialists at various levels. The Verseo marketing agency is divided into the following departments:
- Commercial,
- Service (paid campaigns),
- IF THE (website positioning),
- Analytics and optimization,
- UX,
- Automation and CRM (we implement Hubspot in other companies),
- Administration,
- Marketing (in-house).
Of course, other agencies may have a completely different setup and operate with equal success. At Verseo, for example, a sales representative was also responsible for managing the day-to-day running of advertising campaigns. It was an unusual model, but it worked very well for years. Only the scale of our operations forced us to make structural changes in this area.
Tasks and roles of marketing agency employees
A marketing agency team may look monolithic on the surface, but when you delve into the details, you'll naturally see nuanced competencies and the different stages of each process. After choosing a marketing agency, while you typically interact with a sales representative who will assess your needs to prepare and present the offer, after signing the contract, you're placed under the wing of a dedicated advisor.
Depending on the agency, your account manager may be either the direct executor of the activities or a project manager who aligns the activities of other specialists within the agency. At our agency, your account manager combines both functions. This means they can manage Google or Facebook Ads for you, but if you also hire us for SEO, they can coordinate that area for you. This is a great solution if you're interested in a comprehensive approach and enjoy seamlessly integrating various disciplines.
Our marketing agency also has a dedicated PPC campaign team that periodically audits and critically analyzes our campaigns. In other words, it double-checks what we do for our clients. This allows us to maintain high-quality services.
What are the benefits of working with a marketing agency?
The primary benefit for your company from using a marketing agency is, of course, positive sales or lead generation. While the results of our efforts are our greatest treasure, there are many more benefits to working with a marketing agency. Here they are!
Increasing brand recognition
By undertaking marketing activities, in addition to activities strictly focused on customer acquisition, you also build brand recognition. It's crucial that your marketing communications not only inform customers about the type of product or service, but also about the benefits of working with you. This can be anything and doesn't have to be rocket science. In the case of online stores, even the announcement of free shipping can be a powerful magnet, prompting customers to make a purchase.
When advertising on Facebook or the Google Display Network, you display banner ads. Most recipients won't click on them—as simple statistics suggest—but most are likely to remember them, i.e., remember your brand.
Cost optimization
By working with a marketing agency, you save a significant amount of money. Hiring an in-house specialist with similar skills and experience to an agency specialist can result in a monthly salary of 10.000 złoty. Hiring an agency will be significantly cheaper. Furthermore, you also save on things like configuring basic web analytics and accessing paid tools available to a marketing agency, which are essential for running effective online campaigns. Working with a marketing agency, therefore, saves several thousand złoty, which can be invested strictly in your media budget.
Increase in sales
By hiring a marketing agency, you can count on starting to attract clients. Of course, in most cases, the agency is primarily responsible for driving significant traffic to your website and doesn't handle matters strictly related to things like your store's prices or customer service standards. However, an experienced and creative marketing agency can advise you on many aspects of running a business, thanks to its extensive client portfolio. Creating advertising campaigns is, of course, a key aspect of their work, but they can also, for example, evaluate website design in terms of user experience, conduct a social media audit from the perspective of the content consumer, analyze public relations activities, and audit your competitors to provide you with interesting benchmarks.
Save Time and Resources
A single agency that brings together several marketing services under one roof is a super convenient solution. Your account manager aligns all your projects, reports comprehensive data, and can—if you so desire—allocate budgets wherever it makes the most sense at any given time. Meanwhile, you save money and stress.
Specialized knowledge and experience
I don't know about others, but our agency has a very strong "vibe" of a learning organization. We value ambitious individuals who continually expand their knowledge—not necessarily in their own marketing field, but also in related topics like project management, UX research, and the like. In fact, "keeping our finger on the pulse" allows us to maintain a competitive advantage over other companies in terms of both technology utilization and critical evaluation. I've worked at several companies before, and I've never encountered such a strong need to implement new solutions as I do at the marketing agency where I currently work.
What to expect from a marketing agency?
This is a very good and important question that should be asked at every introductory meeting between a potential client and an agency, or even a freelancer. If I were the client and the agency salesperson referred this question to me, I would respond that I expect the agency to:
- Initiative and courage in testing new solutions,
- Reminding me to prepare for the sales season and the most important occasions,
- Monthly reporting with an overview of results + 24/7 access to the results panel,
- Results at a pre-determined level. For example, a specific ROAS, ROI, or simply a break-even point in nominal campaign revenue,
- I would also like them to relieve me of the responsibility of preparing any graphics and texts,
- And you know – it's good to be surprised sometimes. 😉
Defining marketing campaign goals
The marketing campaign objective is the starting point for defining all subsequent activities, as well as data analysis and reporting methods. Therefore, clearly defining it is crucial for both implementation and satisfaction with the collaboration with the marketing agency. What are our primary goals?
1. Building Brand Awareness
The goal is to increase brand recognition among potential customers. These activities aim to inform the market about the brand's existence, its values, and the products or services offered. Effectively building brand awareness contributes to increased customer trust and loyalty, which can translate into increased sales.
2. Lead Generation
It involves capturing the interest of potential customers and encouraging them to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading educational materials, or filling out a contact form. Lead generation is a key element of a marketing strategy focused on identifying those interested in an offer and gradually guiding them through the sales funnel until they make a purchase.
3. Increasing Sales
The primary goal of most marketing activities is to directly or indirectly increase sales. This can be achieved through promotions, special offers, word-of-mouth marketing, personalized offers, or social media activities. Focusing on conversion and effective sales closure is crucial to company revenue growth.
4. Building customer relationships (Customer Relationship Management)
These goals focus on building and maintaining long-term customer relationships. This includes activities aimed at increasing customer engagement, satisfaction, and brand loyalty. Two-way communication, loyalty programs, and personalized offerings are examples of activities that can help build strong customer relationships.
5. Brand Positioning
It refers to the strategy of positioning a brand in consumers' minds so that it is perceived as possessing unique characteristics and benefits compared to the competition. This goal is achieved through brand communication that clearly defines the brand's identity, mission, values, and unique value proposition (UVP). Effective positioning helps differentiate a brand from its competitors and build a strong market position.
Achieving these goals requires a well-thought-out marketing strategy tailored to the specific market, target audience, and company business goals. Appropriate tools, tactics, and distribution channels are crucial to effectively achieving these marketing goals.
Adapting activities to the company's needs
Advertising methods are selected based on the goals described above. Some activities are designed for short-term effectiveness, while others are designed to generate long-term sales. For example, Google Ads and sponsored links typically have a relatively quick and short conversion path, while classic content marketing can be just as effective in the long term, while also building an expert image.
An experienced marketer will ask about your goals or help you define them, and then suggest appropriate channels to achieve them. 🙂
Effective communication and collaboration
A proven marketing agency typically tailors its communication and collaboration to the client's preferences. For the lowest budgets, weekly meetings to discuss results and next steps are usually out of the question, as this would make it difficult to retain the specialist. However, for medium- and high-budget companies operating in dynamic and highly competitive environments, 24/7 reporting is essential. Additionally, meetings may be held once or twice a week, and monthly meetings summarize activities to ensure the marketing strategy is being implemented.
Communication with an agency is typically particularly intense at the beginning of a collaboration, when many questions arise from both sides. Typically, after the dust settles, the intensity diminishes. Reports are usually generated automatically during ongoing operations. Verseo also offers its clients a client dashboard that presents live campaign results with 24/7 access.
To communicate effectively with an agency, two things are necessary. First, you need to trust the agency. This is absolutely paramount. Second, it's good to have knowledge that allows you to understand and control what's happening. For small companies, achieving this level is obviously difficult, but for someone responsible for marketing at a given company, it will be required. Then, you simply work more effectively.
When is it worth using the services of a marketing agency?
It is good to use the services of an agency when:
- We don't have the expertise in a given area, and time doesn't allow us to acquire it. For example, I'm strong in content marketing and email marketing, but I know that building a solid Google Ads presence takes years of work. Instead of learning them from scratch, I can outsource them to someone who already knows the field.
- We want convenient reporting and connecting several channels at the same time,
- When we want to save on hiring a specialist in a given area in-house,
- When we want to test new hypotheses, we can easily outsource one-off activities (e.g. SEO audit, CRM implementation, analytical implementation).
How to choose the right marketing agency?
To choose the right online marketing agency, you need to conduct thorough research. To do this, carefully review reviews in various places like Google Maps, Clutch, and client case studies typically available on agency websites. The offer is crucial – what the agency offers for a typical fee and what the potential results might be. It's also worth considering who will manage your campaign, who you'll be communicating with, and what the reporting process looks like.
Contracts are crucial. Contracts, like all contracts, are worth reading before signing. Pay attention to termination notices and potential contractual penalties, access to accounts after the end of the relationship, and retention of completed work.
It's crucial to trust the agency or a specific caregiver. You're looking for a long-term partner, so if you value your intuition, it's a good idea to stick to it when choosing an agency. 🙂
Market research and agency references
Researching the marketing agency market isn't an easy task because, unfortunately, the market isn't transparent. Case studies with specific companies are scarce, and it's not always clear how many people a given agency employs. Reviews can often be false – both positive (when an agency is buying) and false (when a competitor is behind the review). Therefore, only by asking for recommendations, screening offers, and establishing a foundation of trust can we be relatively confident in our choice.
For my part, I recommend asking for success case studies. Videos and PDFs featuring real brands and real-life people who testify to the agency's work are a great way to get a feel for the agency and see it from the client's perspective.
Defining the budget and scope of activities
Typically, a client comes to an agency with a budget already in place, and that's perfectly fine. Rarely do clients come to an agency asking for their own budget. Sometimes, a client will say "offer something" when making a proposal, and the agency will consider it. It's important to understand that this is often a red flag for an agency. A savvy client simply needs to know upfront how much they can actually afford at a given stage and what return on investment they're hoping for, which would be a measure of success. Typically, with such a generalized proposal, the client is discouraged because they received an overly priced offer.
That's why, before starting talks with a marketing agency, you should arm yourself with knowledge about the goals, budget, ROAS that you want to achieve from a given channel, and ideally also prepare information about business development plans for the next six months (e.g. development of a certain product category).
Choosing an agency that aligns with your company values
Typically, clients want effective advertising, good and proactive customer service, and transparent reporting. During the selection process, every agency will ensure these three core values, and this will be a match with the client in 98% of cases. What else can you consider? For example, you can focus on certifications or the transparency of a given company. Companies also typically strive to communicate "what they're all about" beyond simply offering advertising. We prioritize knowledge and technology, while others might, for example, focus their narrative primarily on online stores.
In other words – everyone plows as best they can. 😉
Does every company need a marketing agency?
No. A marketing agency won't be ideal in some cases. First of all, if, for example, you have a small marketing budget, it's a shame for the agency's management to consume half of your total marketing expenses. It makes much more sense to consult with someone about the right channel and then try it out yourself, thus scaling your business to a level where the agency's fees don't exceed 20-30% of your total budget.
For large companies, it's worth keeping some tasks internally—for example, social media management, content marketing, influencer marketing, or email marketing. In theory, large companies can afford to maintain a full spectrum of marketing competencies when operating in multiple markets.
Challenges and Limitations of Using a Marketing Agency
It's worth realizing from the outset that using the services of a marketing agency must cost a reasonable amount to ensure quality. If the agency's fees are low by market standards, they'll likely pretend to work, and you'll pretend to pay. Good work simply needs to be paid fairly. If this approach characterizes both the client and the agency, you've already achieved half the battle.
Most agencies want to be effective for their clients. The better results they deliver, the longer the client's lifespan with their company. The longer a client's lifespan with the company, the lower the cost of acquiring them relative to the earnings. And acquiring clients in the agency industry isn't cheap. 🙂
Long contract terms and notice periods can be a challenge. This is because a lot of work is done at the beginning of an SEO project or an Ads campaign, and in the following months, the agency compensates for the hours invested "over" the budget.
A classic example of challenges and the mismatch between client expectations and agency expectations is the issue of success fees. Some clients believe they should pay a percentage of acquired customers, rather than pay upfront for "unknown" activities. It's worth remembering that the entire purchasing process isn't solely dependent on the agency. The agency is typically only responsible for directing traffic to the website, but it has no influence on customer service, pricing policy, complaints, and a number of other variables that determine the client's final shopping cart and its completion. Therefore, the success fee carries risk for both the agency and the client.
Similarly, clients sometimes want to rank their website "for results." This is a simple way to pay for phrases in the top 3 or top 10, which don't bring us any business benefits. An agency signing such a contract will either target easy-to-obtain phrases that may not be valuable, or... they'll never rank anything at all, leaving you waiting months, years, or even decades for results. 😉
When is it worth using the services of a marketing agency?
It is worth using the services of an internet marketing agency when:
- you are starting a business and wondering how to drive traffic to your website or to your stationary point,
- when you want to scale your store or services to higher revenues,
- when you want to expand your business to new channels,
- when you want to gather several channels in one place with holistic reporting,
- when you want to optimize marketing costs and cut costs with the intention of keeping revenues at a similar or even higher level,
- when you don't have time to do marketing yourself,
- and last but not least – when you want to increase conversion rates or other campaign parameters and you simply don't know how.
Examples of Marketing Agency Activities – Verseo
An effective marketing strategy developed by a digital marketing agency places particular emphasis on omnichannel. Of course, many companies and stores start out with, or have budgets that don't make sense to divide them into different channels, instead focusing them strictly on the channel that yields the best short-term results. At Verseo, we understand the challenges inherent in this stage of business, but our goal is always to scale such businesses and expand the fields of contact with potential customers, engaging them across multiple channels simultaneously. By combining the latest marketing technology with the experience of our specialists, we demonstrate that channels that work together perform significantly better than if they operated separately.
Below you'll find examples of our work. We always strive to clarify our clients' needs and goals, then propose and implement solutions that—in our experience—will best achieve success.
Case Study of Marketing Campaigns – Examples of Successes
If you're interested in case studies of successful marketing campaigns, you've come to the right place. We have the largest database of successful marketing campaign examples, which you can find here.
What are the costs of using a marketing agency?
Different agencies price their services differently. Costs also depend on the activities undertaken. An SEO agency will generate different costs than a social media agency. But okay – you're here for the knowledge, so I'll try to outline it per service.
The cost of running a PPC campaign (e.g., Google , Facebook , or Bing ) typically ranges from 15 to 25% of the media budget. For example, investing 10.000 PLN in Google Ads ads may incur an additional 20% fee, or 2.000 PLN for service. Agencies sometimes offer discounts for running additional channels, so combining Google Ads with Facebook Ads can be somewhat cheaper than hiring both services from two different advertising agencies.
SEO costs are typically fixed and divided into packages. A small local business can expect to invest around 1000-1500 PLN per month, while large online stores can invest upwards of 10.000 PLN per month.
The costs of UX audits and implementations depend on the size of the store/site and the agreed-upon scope of activities. They can range from 8.000 to over 40.000 PLN.
The costs of analytical activities – e.g. implementing and configuring Google Analytics 4 – can reach several thousand zlotys.
You can price or order additional services separately, such as copywriting, link building or SEO audits.
Principles of pricing marketing agency services
Marketing agencies price their services based on business experience. They typically tailor their price lists and offers to best meet the needs and capabilities of their core client. If a small agency builds an image of prestige and accessibility, it's likely to attract large clients and alienate smaller ones at the consideration stage. This may mean they're taking on well-established companies looking to scale further.
There are also agencies that promise top-notch marketing for as little as PLN 199 net per month… You can believe in it, just as you believe in the Smurfs.
Pricing depends on the specialists' hours of work on a given campaign. Typically, you can expect costs ranging from 200 to 400 PLN per hour. If the agency fee is, for example, 2500 PLN, then, at the lower end of what I mentioned earlier, you can expect the specialist to dedicate about 10-12 hours per month to our campaign and support. At the beginning of the collaboration, this may be more—especially with SEO services. However, the intensity of the work may taper off later. Each agency has its own unique practices. 😉
Factors influencing the costs of marketing activities
The key question is how much will it cost? It depends on many factors, the most important of which are:
- Campaign Goal: Defining whether the campaign goal is to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or direct sales influences the selection of tools and strategies, and therefore the costs,
- Target audience: The more specific and narrow the target audience, the higher the cost of reaching it may be due to more targeted marketing activities,
- Selection of advertising channels: Costs vary depending on the selected channels (e.g. social media, Google Ads, advertising in traditional media), their popularity and competitiveness,
- Campaign scope: The size and geographic scope of a campaign (local, national, international) can significantly impact its costs,
- Campaign duration: Longer campaigns involve higher costs, both direct (e.g., maintaining ads for longer) and indirect (e.g., managing the campaign),
- Content and creativity: Designing and producing creative advertising materials (video, graphics, texts) can significantly increase campaign costs,
- Optimization and testing: Processes such as A/B testing and optimizing campaigns for conversions require time and resources, which impacts the overall budget,
- Seasonality: During periods of high demand, campaign costs may increase due to increased competition for consumer attention,
- Media costs and purchasing advertising space: The direct costs of purchasing advertising space on the Internet or in traditional media are crucial,
- Management and agencies: Costs associated with hiring advertising agencies, specialists or consultants to manage the campaign,
- Technology and Tools: Investments in technology and analytical tools that help manage and optimize campaigns are also part of the costs,
- Legal and Regulatory: Meeting legal and regulatory advertising requirements, particularly in highly regulated industries, can generate additional costs.
Summary
Phew – that's it. 🙂 I hope this post has provided you with knowledge and a better understanding of what a marketing agency is, what it does, and how it works. I think it's good that you're reading articles like this because it gives you the confidence to put your advertising campaign management in potentially the best hands. To do this, you simply need to know a lot about the subject, and this article – I hope – will help you achieve that.
And remember, you can ALWAYS contact us with any questions – for example, via email, by filling out the contact form, or by messaging us on Facebook. There's a good chance I'll be the one to answer. 🙂 In the meantime, I wish you all the best and thank you for your time!
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What are the most common questions asked online about marketing agencies?
What benefits can I gain from using a marketing agency?
You'll save money by not having to hire a dedicated specialist in-house. You'll also save on analytical tools, which typically cost several hundred złoty per month. You'll also benefit from the convenience of working with a consultant who can manage multiple tasks for you simultaneously. You'll also benefit from ongoing work on your accounts and optimize your operations.
What are the costs of marketing agency activities?
The cost of marketing agency operations depends on the allocated budget and the type of service. For paid advertising, it's approximately 15-25% of the media budget. SEO audits range from 2 to approximately 10 PLN. UX audits range from 8 to as much as 40 PLN. Web analytics involves too many variables to provide even a rough estimate.
Is a marketing agency for me?
If you value convenience, knowledge from various industries, and saving money, then yes – a marketing agency is a great solution for you.
How do I choose the best marketing agency for my business?
Analyze the offers carefully, including what, how, and for how much. Analyze draft contracts to make sure everything is clear and that the terms are acceptable to you. Most importantly, choose people who also suit your personality and those you simply like. Intuition is important.
What are the most common mistakes made by marketing agencies?
In online marketing, many mistakes can be made, both in campaign architecture and execution. Mistakes also arise from activities not being tailored to the business—for example, focusing on different products than the client intended. Sometimes, an agency specialist leaves too much to the automated system and burns through the budget. Sometimes, an agency proposes a channel that's bad for the client but good for the agency (financially 😉)—this strategy is short-lived, but unfortunately, such strategies still exist in the market.
Frequently asked questions about marketing agencies
A marketing agency (often operating in a 360-degree model) is an external company specializing in comprehensive brand promotion. They develop strategies, plan, implement, and optimize advertising campaigns, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on the core aspects of running their own business.
A good business partner doesn't start by "burning through" their budget. The first step is always a thorough audit of the company's current operations, understanding its business goals, and analyzing the competition and target audience. Based on this, experts develop a dedicated marketing strategy and define a timeframe for achieving initial results.
The choice of channels (the so-called media mix) is not random. Experts select them based on the client's industry and the online presence of their target audience. These may include organic search results (SEO), paid PPC campaigns (Google Ads, Bing), social media activities (Meta Ads, LinkedIn, TikTok), or email marketing.
Professional digital marketing activities are based on hard data, not intuition. Effectiveness is assessed using key performance indicators (KPIs)—e.g., the number of leads acquired, conversion rate, or return on advertising spend (ROAS). Clients should receive transparent and understandable progress reports on an ongoing basis.
There's no single, universal pricing plan. The total cost depends on the scale of the client's business, the competitiveness of their industry, and the number of channels supported. Agencies most often use payment models such as a fixed monthly subscription (fee), a percentage of the advertising budget, or hybrid models (base + bonus for achieving specific sales results).
Working with an agency saves you time and money (no recruitment, training, or expensive analytical tools). You gain immediate access to an entire team of specialized experts (from SEO specialists to analysts and copywriters) who constantly monitor changes in algorithms and test the latest market solutions.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- A marketing agency advertises companies online and offline, dividing them into internet and advertising agencies.
- Deals with customer acquisition and building brand awareness through paid and organic advertising.
- A good agency stands out for its results, transparency, learning culture, and focus on people, technology, and AI.
- Services include content marketing, SEO positioning, PPC advertising, social media and AI marketing supporting various activities.
- The process includes an audit, needs analysis, channel selection, campaign training phase and permanent optimization.
- The benefits include increased recognition, cost optimization, increased sales, time savings and access to specialized knowledge.
- Campaign goals include brand awareness, lead generation, sales, customer relations and positioning through tailored channels.
- It is worth using when starting a business, scaling, developing channels, combining activities and optimizing marketing costs.
- The choice requires reference research, case studies, budgeting, reviewing contracts, and trusting the caregiver.
- Costs: PPC 15-25% of the budget, SEO 1000-15000 PLN/month, UX audits 8000-40000 PLN, specialist's quote 200-400 PLN/hour.
- Costs are influenced by objective, target audience, channels, geographic scope, duration, content, optimization, and seasonality.
