Startup companies are often besieged by a multitude of problems. These typically include limited resources, understaffing, and the inability to deal with tasks beyond their core skills. Furthermore, they must establish a reputation – this isn’t just about brand building, and it requires a comprehensive marketing strategy that incorporates market introduction, marketing funnels, and marketing channel optimisation.
Digital marketing agencies possess the talent and resources required to help startups with these unique challenges. They provide both generalised and specialised digital marketing services, partnering with their clients to plan, advise, and implement highly efficient digital campaigns.
The main differences between specialised and generalist marketing agencies are; they offer flexible and cost-effective pricing plans. Their experience with young companies uniquely positions them to identify and overcome the specific challenges they experience. They typically operate as an extension of your in-house marketing team for optimal results and seamless collaboration
Why you need a digital marketing agency that specialises in startups
They target the most appropriate channels. Startup success is built on optimisation. Specialist digital marketing firms assess each startup company’s business model, target market, business goals, and budget to choose the right channel mix. This will save your business a lot of time and resources. They may focus on some or all of the following channels

• Web content optimisation
• Blogs posts
• Paid and organic search
• LinkedIn
• Instagram and other popular social media
• Email marketing campaigns

Digital marketing strategy for startup companies is unique in the sense that it must be carefully customised to suit their clients. All marketing efforts must be integrated to enable the brand to achieve a consistent, unified messaging voice. This is precisely what specialised digital marketing agencies help you do.
Specialist marketing companies build lasting brand identities
Because they are so effective at helping startups, specialist marketing agencies will get your communications and audience interactions off to a good start. They will help your in-house team with market research, buyer persona development, and audience segmentation.
They create web-optimised, high-value content
Quality content doesn’t just improve brand perception. It will put your young company at the top of the search engine results pages and draw in quality leads. Some of the content such companies will help you produce includes; blog posts, podcasts, video content, downloadable resources like e-books and whitepapers, webinars, and infographics.
Throughout your partnership, your agency will identify which types of content resonate most with your audience, and they will focus more on them.
Market funnel optimisation
All instances of your company’s online presence must be synchronised and optimised to ensure consistency and maximise page rank. Startup specialists help you achieve this by identifying all the market segments relevant to your business, developing buyer personas, mapping buyer journeys, and studying each part of your company’s marketing funnel.

How to choose a specialist digital marketing agency for your startup

There are several digital marketing agencies whose speciality is working with startups, but the fact remains that you can only choose one, and it must work for you. To help you make the best choice, here are the qualities that the top digital marketing agencies for startups possess.

Study the market

Start by evaluating the market to gain a clearer understanding of the skills, experience and rates marketing companies charge in your area. Digital marketing reviews are an excellent starting point because their lists are vetted for authenticity. Here are some factors to consider as you create a short-list.

• Location. As a young company, you’ll want to cultivate a close partnership with your digital marketing agency for hassle-free integration with your in-house team. This often requires regular in-person meetings or video conferences. Your partner agency should have offices in the vicinity or at least be in the same time zone.
• After you’ve created a list of potential partners, check their pricing, and compare that to the services they offer. You may discover that some charge more for the same services. This doesn’t mean they’re unfair. It may imply that they are more thorough than their counterparts.

Check their reviews

You’ll want to look for testimonials or reviews from previous clients. You can do this by merely typing the agency name + review into Google or your preferred search engine. You’ll likely discover several forums and review sites where the company is mentioned, and what you find will give you insight into how the agency handles clients. Remember, a few bad reviews do not necessarily mean the company did terrible work, especially if there’s no evidence the aggrieved party actually its services.
Testimonials are also a reliable indicator of success. They may include positive experiences from happy customers. If there are many of these, and they can be verified, then it’s probably a sign of success.

Transparency

Your digital marketing partner should be transparent about both the results you should expect and what it will cost. It would help if you didn’t believe agencies that promise implausible results in short periods. For instance, if a marketing company promises a 100% increase in web-traffic in one week, it’s probably never going to happen.
It would help if you also looked out for extra costs and hidden fees. The agencies listed pricing shouldn’t mislead you in any way. The best agencies will not try to trick their prospective customers.
Growing a company has never been easy. For the owner, it often means lots of self-sacrifices, and for employees, filling multiple roles outside their expertise. The professional help of a digital marketing agency can rid you of a heavy burden, so if you have the resources, it’s worth your investment.