5 Clear Signs You Need a Digital Marketing Agency for Your Startup

Of the 90% of startups that crash within three years, 22% fail due to poor marketing. These startups struggle with time management, wrong messaging, digital complexities, and financial constraints—all of which hamper their marketing efforts.

So, you may benefit from outsourcing your marketing to a dedicated digital marketing agency for startups. But what are the tell-tale signs you need to do that? We explore the top 5.

Top 5 signs you need to hire a digital marketing agency for your startup

Below are the top 5 signs showing when to get a digital marketing agency for startups: 

1. When you have run ads and seen promising results. Now you want to see more measurable results and ROI: If you have been investing in Pay-per-Click (PPC), for instance, and would like to see better results, you may consider a startup marketing agency and tap into their expertise.

Startup marketing agencies specialize in working with a low budget and building a brand from scratch, delivering exceptional ROI for startups by combining their expertise in tech and human experts. For example, Kaya leverages its proprietary AI technology and team of experienced marketers to launch and manage paid ad campaigns, delivering results as short as 2 weeks. If you need such ROI and measurable improvements, then consider a growth partner like Kaya.

2. When you want to scale up ad spend but in-house expertise isn’t enough: If you have tried to improve your marketing outcomes but lack the right personnel, you may consider a startup digital marketing agency. There are many roles within marketing, such as strategy, paid ads, PPC, email marketing, and so on. It’s almost impossible to find a marketing unicorn to do all roles, and it's expensive to form a team to cover them.

3. Cost-effectiveness of hiring an agency: Despite the merits of having an in-house marketing team, it is costly and time-consuming to put one together. The average cost of hiring is around US$4,700, and it gets higher when you factor in salaries and employment benefits. Add the extra costs of setting up a marketing technology stack. Hiring a startup marketing agency gives you access to the skills and technologies you need without these extra overheads.

4. When you can’t juggle marketing with core business activities: The demands of gathering data for marketing may become a step too far, considering other essential commitments like sales, product development, investor networking, and customer service. As a founder, you’d likely get better leverage by focusing on those tasks and partnering with a startup marketing agency to help out.

5. When your startup needs an efficient marketing system: The goal is to establish a well-oiled marketing machine that can scale cost-effectively through the use of advanced marketing tools.

For instance, Kaya deeply integrates AI in its marketing solutions to provide smarter recommendations, empowering marketers to deliver exceptional campaigns. Their data-driven dashboards and alerts unlock valuable insights for rapid iteration. If you’re looking for innovative marketing tech solutions that produce results at speed, it makes sense to reach out to a competent startup digital marketing agency.

Benefits of hiring a startup digital marketing agency

Experience working with startups: The marketers at startup marketing agencies understand the pace of the ecosystem and startup culture. They understand the need to adapt fast and operate under constraints. They are well-versed in metrics and data, helping you make quality decisions to meet your growth goals.

Grow while being cost-efficient: Startup marketing agencies know how to work with a low budget and build brands and products with low awareness. ie, they can't just follow a playbook. They often invest in talent, AI, analytics and follow the latest trends in tech to keep optimizing their work and pass the cost savings to you. 

Iterate faster, better: Startups are usually lean and have to operate under limited resources. By having a marketing growth partner, you can build on top of their experience and experiment smarter in areas you may not have considered otherwise.

Access to expertise and advanced tools: Startup marketing agencies like Kaya have a range of analytics and AI tools that ease marketing data collection, analysis and decision-making. These processes help you identify growth opportunities and find product-market fit.

The financial aspect of hiring a startup marketing agency

There are financial costs to partnering with a digital marketing agency for startups, and although it is cheaper than hiring in-house, you still need to work out the numbers.

Typical pricing models and service tiers

Digital marketing agencies offer various types of pricing, including:

• Project-based pricing: This type of fixed pricing focuses on projects irrespective of how long it takes. 
• Performance-based pricing: You pay the agency based on the results they deliver.
• Monthly retainer: This is a fixed fee paid every month for ongoing digital marketing services.

There are other pricing models aside from the ones mentioned, such as hourly rates, flat fees, and bundle pricing. Each one has its pros and cons. 

Kaya recognizes that startups are at different stages, requiring tailored pricing solutions. Our primary model is based on a percentage of your ad spend, starting at a USD$3,000 monthly fee, typically with a cap. For those seeking a results-driven approach, we also provide performance-based pricing where your investment is aligned with the campaign's success. This collaboration ensures mutual goals and shared rewards.

Factors influencing the cost of digital marketing agencies

For accurate budgeting, consider five factors that influence the cost of hiring an agency for your startup: 

• Project scope and complexity: Running Google Ads for one month or managing your social media accounts for 3 months would differ in their prices.
• Services required: A full-service arrangement may cost more than a more targeted one, like social media management or paid ads campaign management.
• The agency’s size and experience: Traditional agencies are bigger and charge more due to retainer fees and minimum spend requirements, while startup marketing agencies offer more cost-effective pricing options. 
• Experience level required for the project: Agencies whose team members have experience working at successful startups and large organizations may charge more. 
• Pricing model adopted: Fixed fees may be cheaper than hourly rates, especially if the agency takes time to deliver. Also, agencies may charge slightly higher if you opt for the performance-based model.

Tips for budgeting digital marketing services

Follow these tips to budget for digital marketing services for startups: 

Start small and scale smart: Begin with a modest budget and focus on a single platform or campaign. Analyze results closely and iterate your strategy based on data. As you gain confidence and optimize your campaigns, consider scaling your budget for even greater impact.

Consistency: Marketing results take time. A common pitfall for marketing budgeting is not having enough to sustain through a period and giving up too quickly before seeing results. For paid ads, it's best to commit to at least a three-month budget, even if the initial Return on Investment (ROI) falls short of expectations.

Marketing budget amount: If you’re just starting out, consider allocating an amount that's manageable enough to risk yet substantial enough to collect meaningful data. Low budgets lead to slower ad optimization by the ads platform, and that translates to poor performance and slower learning for you.

Tools for digital marketing performance tracking

When working with a startup digital marketing agency, you can also monitor their marketing performance. Depending on the metric you are tracking, these tools provide valuable insight:

• Kaya competitor ad intelligence tool: Track your ad performance and that of your competitors.

• Google Analytics: Track website traffic, user behavior, and demographic data. ‍
• SEMrush: Tracking SEO performance, such as keyword ranking, organic traffic, etc.

Knowing the services you need for your startup

Depending on what problems you’re facing or the stage of your startup, here are marketing services that you may need from agencies.

SEO services: Marketing agencies help you with targeted keyword research and content strategies to reach early adopters.

Social media marketing: Social media is a strong platform for building product awareness after a launch. If you want more awareness for your MVP, a startup marketing agency can help out with that.

Paid ads: If you have sorted your product-market fit and need to scale customer acquisition, paid ads are an excellent way to do it. 

PPC advertising: Most startups struggle with balancing precision targeting and rising costs. So, hiring an expert PPC management agency can help you fix this. 

Email marketing: E-mail marketing offers a US$36 ROI per dollar invested. So, if you want high ROI and direct communication with your customers, you may consider a specialist agency to manage this.

Choosing the right startup digital marketing agency

Although each agency offers unique digital marketing services, here are three steps to choose the right one for your startup:

1. Identify marketing needs and goals: Identify your pain points. That could be a low reach, low ROI on ad spending, ineffective campaigns or time constraints for marketing activities. 

2. Research potential agencies: Consider agencies that have worked with a startup of your size or level. Also, look at the ROI and their achievements with past clients.

3. Set clear objectives and manage expectations: Contact agencies and let them know your needs and expectations. Create agreements around those issues.

Follow our more detailed guide to help you through the process of choosing the right startup digital marketing agency.

How to establish a great partnership with a digital marketing agency

Working with a startup digital marketing agency can be very rewarding. Use these tips to build a strong partnership and get great marketing ROI.

1. Avoiding communication gaps: There may be communication gaps since they are not part of your internal setup, especially during the early phases. Ensure you establish communication channels and work with an agency that responds faster to queries. 

2. Focus on product knowledge: An agency may not have sufficient knowledge of your product at first, which is normal. Ensure you put them through your product features and benefits. This ensures they can craft targeted messaging that resonates with your unique audience.

3. Ensure resource sharing: While you may withhold data considered confidential, ensure you share relevant information and data with the agency. Let the agency know what data they will work with, and vice-versa. This way, you avoid data ownership issues.

4. Outline objectives and define roles: Assign clear tasks and roles on both sides. Also, establish direct communication with agency staff managing your ad accounts.

5. Encourage collaboration: Offer comprehensive details of your products and share any data that will help the agency deliver good results.

6. Be flexible: Learn to adapt to changes and, in some cases, make compromises to ensure a smooth relationship—so long as those compromises do not have a negative impact on your business.

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At Kaya, we understand the unique challenges faced by startups. Our approach is centered around building strong partnerships with our clients. By following these guidelines and leveraging our expertise, you can unlock the full potential of your digital marketing efforts.

Let's explore some real-world examples of how Kaya has helped startups achieve remarkable results.

Case studies

Bristle

As marketing started taking up ample time, Bristle knew it was the right time to engage a startup marketing agency. Kaya helped them harmonize their data, streamlined the analytics reporting, and delivered paid ad results.

Kaya has been a lifesaver for helping us better manage our paid ad channels and avoid time-consuming report pulling.

Brian Maurer

Co-founder, Bristle

Fella

Fella needed help to manage their social ad performance to enable them to focus on other essential business tasks. Partnering with Kaya allowed them to do that, resulting in better analytics and improved marketing outcomes.

When we signed up for Kaya I was expecting a little more insight on our Social Ad performance with a few dashboards. What we got was an extension of our team, linking data from various systems to create completely automated reports and dashboards that span the whole business.

Dave Lane

Head of Growth, Fella