Consultant, strategist, mentor - the tasks of a digital agency in the course of technological evolution

The first website was launched in 1991. Three years later, the first advertising banner appeared online. Email, once a means of communication for the US secret service, paved the way for another milestone in online marketing in 1994. Google then introduced the SEO market in 1998. Today, the majority of companies have a website and use analytics tools to record and evaluate website visits. SEO and SEA are no longer foreign words. Many companies invest in Google optimization and place online ads. These days, this is the minimum a company should invest in digital marketing.

The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 expanded online marketing to include the mobile sector. In the years that followed, mobile sites and apps were established, enabling new formats for advertising and making online business more complex. Facebook, which became publicly available in 2006, has also grown considerably since then. The first iPad, which was presented in 2010, was another milestone. Over the last eight years, other social media platforms and the video portal YouTube, which has been on the market since 2005, have become established, and so has influencer marketing.

User behavior has changed drastically. People are online - our everyday lives are online. Parallel to these developments over the last 20 years, advertising expenditure on online advertising has increased. This year, investments in digital advertising are on a par with those of TV. This fact is probably also a milestone, albeit not a technological one.

The technology jungle

Advertisers and agencies have been busy for years familiarizing themselves with various technologies, making the best possible use of them, combining them and finding efficient ways to reach their customers online. As the number of channels and advertising spend has increased, so has the number of technology providers. Today, predictive marketing, artificially intelligent algorithms, real-time solutions, automated processes and programmatic media trading dominate the data-driven advertising business - a market full of tools and technology solutions. The ecosystem barely fits into the familiar landscapes and the market is consolidating.

Focus changes

It is precisely at this time that the focus of digital agencies is changing and more and more emphasis is being placed on consulting services. On the one hand, because it is almost impossible for advertisers without a lot of in-house resources to fight their way through the jungle of providers and filter out the right tools for them. Secondly, because they also value the expertise to draw the right insights from their marketing. After all, it has long been important for agencies to do more than just prove in their monthly reporting that the campaigns they have run have met the KPIs and ROI.

Data on target groups reveals much more and is of great strategic value for the further development of products and services. The click and the return on investment are traditionally the frontrunners on the KPI scale. However, at the end of the day, it is not only the sales generated from marketing campaigns that guarantee a company's success, but also the insights gained about its target group. Customer touchpoints are more numerous and diverse than ever before, and the volume of data, optimization and evaluation as a basis for further strategic decisions is correspondingly complex. Whether SEA, email marketing, social media or programmatic media buying - the tools and campaign data must be bundled and evaluated in one place.

Advice in all areas

A digital marketing strategy can only be evaluated efficiently if all measures from all channels are considered holistically. This requires operational experience, technological expertise and strategic know-how, which many small and medium-sized companies lack. They are unable or unable to adequately map the complexity, data handling and technological infrastructure, as well as the pace of change and the requirements to reach their target group in all channels with creativity and targeted content. Nowadays, digital agencies not only provide the resources and expertise for the various marketing measures, but have also incorporated strategic consulting into their core business. Individual consulting - a discipline that no software tool can provide.

About the author

Harald Grabner is the founder and managing director of 123Consulting, a digital marketing agency. 123Consulting is an expert in sustainable and comprehensive digital strategies and supports companies in their implementation. Grabner combines decades of experience in traditional and digital marketing - on both the corporate and agency side. He was already active as a first mover in online marketing and has always followed all developments and trends. The Austrian now specializes in strategic consulting in all online disciplines.