Are Digital Marketing Agencies Worth it?

Digital Marketing

Gilad Bechar 17 February 2025

Are Digital Marketing Agencies Worth it?

Digital marketing agencies provide a range of services and charge clients for them. While this much is obvious, it’s worth exploring the actual value proposition they offer to determine whether digital marketing agencies are truly worth it.

Why Companies Hire Digital Marketing Agencies

Businesses turn to agencies for several key advantages, including:

Expertise: Access to specialized skills in influencer marketing, web development, UX/UI, social media, PPC, and overall strategy.
Cost-effectiveness: Hiring an agency can often be more affordable than maintaining a full in-house team.
Trend awareness: Agencies stay ahead of the latest digital trends, algorithm changes, and technologies.
Focus: By outsourcing, companies can concentrate on core business activities instead of marketing.
Advanced tools: Agencies often have access to premium marketing tools and analytics software.
Scalability: As a business grows, an agency’s services can scale to meet its needs.

Of course, hiring a good agency comes at the price of paying for its talent and expertise. This can leave many brands asking: Are digital marketing agencies worth it?

What Do Digital Marketing Agencies Actually Do?

To answer this question, we need to define what a digital marketing agency actually is.

A digital marketing agency helps businesses achieve marketing goals through digital channels such as social media, search engines, paid ads, and email marketing. Their role is to drive key business metrics, whether that’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or optimizing conversion rates.

Core Services Offered by Agencies:

Strategy Development: Analyzing business goals, target audiences, and competitors to craft a custom marketing strategy.
Brand Promotion: Enhancing online visibility, credibility, and customer engagement.
Lead Generation & Sales Conversion: Using targeted SEO, paid ads, and content marketing to attract and convert potential customers.

Creative Assets Creation & Management: Producing high-quality blog posts, videos, and social media content that resonate with audiences.
SEO & SEM: Improving organic search rankings while running data-driven paid ad campaigns to maximize reach.
Web Development & Design: Crafting well-optimized, beautifully designed websites.
Analytics & Reporting: Continuously monitoring key metrics and optimizing strategies to improve performance.

These services work together to accelerate business growth—but what kind of return on investment (ROI) can you expect?

The Expected ROI of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

In many cases, an agency can demonstrate concrete ROI for a specific project in terms of revenue generated versus the cost of the service.

But taking a step back, digital agencies have been shown to be extremely successful in improving key marketing metrics that companies have identified as being critical to business success.

Thanks to agencies’ expertise, experience, access to tools such as advanced analytics, relationships with various platforms and channels, and unique perspectives, the right agency can significantly grow or optimize:

Traffic Growth: For example, through SEO, content marketing, and paid advertising campaigns.
Conversion Rates: Agencies increase conversion rates by optimizing the design and content of landing pages, A/B testing different elements of a website, and creating personalized email marketing campaigns.

The Expected ROI of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

Lead Generation: An agency might create a series of industry-specific whitepapers and promote them through LinkedIn ads targeted at decision-makers to generate leads
Customer Acquisition Cost: By, among other things, refining targeting strategies, improving ad quality, and streamlining processes.

These are just a few of the many key metrics an agency can demonstrably improve.

Key Considerations Before Hiring an Agency

When considering partnering with an agency, keep the following in mind:

Your Business Goals – What specific KPIs or growth targets do you want to achieve?
Your Team’s Expertise – Does your in-house team have the necessary skills, or would an agency fill in critical gaps?
The Agency’s Track Record – Do they have case studies, awards, or references proving their success?
Technology & Tools – What analytics and automation platforms do they use to optimize campaigns?
Budget & ROI Expectations – Are their services aligned with your budget and expected returns?

Check out this article for more in-depth information about choosing an agency for your specific needs.

How Agencies Overcome Business Challenges

One thing most businesses can agree on is that the market today is crowded. Standing out and giving across your unique value proposition is harder than ever.

That’s why establishing a strong and distinctive online presence becomes crucial. Digital marketing agencies tackle this by developing comprehensive brand differentiation strategies, including unique value propositions and personalized content marketing, using digital platforms to engage directly with target audiences.

Real-World Example: Truecaller – Expanding U.S. Presence Through Digital Marketing

Truecaller, a leading caller identification service, sought to expand its presence in the highly competitive U.S. market. To achieve this, Moburst implemented a targeted influencer marketing campaign focused on digital platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. By leveraging U.S.-based influencers and allowing them creative freedom, the campaign achieved outstanding results.

Results Achieved:

7.2 million views across digital platforms
367,000 engagements, demonstrating strong audience interaction
14.3% growth in the U.S. user base, expanding Truecaller’s market presence
30% increase in branded searches (YoY), significantly improving brand awareness
The campaign achieved incredible accolades, including a gold MUSE award in 2024 for the “Social Media – Celebrity & Influencer Marketing” category.

This case study highlights how a data-driven digital marketing strategy can drive user acquisition, boost brand recognition, and enhance engagement for your brand.

Another common challenge is generating quality leads and converting them into loyal customers. Agencies address this by employing targeted marketing techniques that leverage paid and organic strategies to attract and convert users and customers. These techniques include data-driven approaches such as analyzing conversion paths on websites, user experience (UX) improvements, and advanced A/B testing to identify the most effective strategies.

Key Takeaways

So, are digital marketing marketing agencies worth it? To answer this question, let’s summarize what we’ve explored so far:

If an agency can deliver immediate ROI—either in revenue or measurable marketing improvements—the answer is a resounding yes.
Agencies provide expertise, advanced tools, and strategic execution that most in-house teams can’t replicate.
The right agency becomes a key partner in scaling growth, optimizing marketing spend, and solving business challenges.

That said, not all agencies are equal. Choosing the right agency is critical to maximizing results and ensuring that your investment truly pays off.

Ready to elevate your marketing? Explore our digital marketing services to learn more, or contact us to build a strategy tailored to your business.

Gilad Bechar

Gilad Bechar is the Founder & CEO of Moburst. Gilad serves as a mentor to rising startups at Microsoft Accelerator, The Technion, Tel-Aviv University, Unit 8200 and for strategic Moburst clients, and is the Academic Director of the Mobile Marketing and New-Media course at Tel-Aviv University.