• Search Engine Land
  • Sections
    • SEO
    • SEM
    • Mobile
    • Local
    • Retail
    • Google
    • Bing
    • Social
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Mobile
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • More
  • Events
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land

8 billion voice assistants by 2023.

What does that mean?

Find the best new text ads

Here's a script to employ.

Events

Join us at SMX Advanced!

  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Mobile
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Industry

Sign up for our daily recaps of the ever-changing search marketing landscape.

Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms. We respect your privacy.


Client in-housing, competition for talent top digital agency concerns

Marketing Land's first Digital Agency Survey finds the sector is weathering digital transformation well, but the growth of data-driven marketing has made it clear where they need to hire.

Ginny Marvin on January 31, 2019 at 3:00 pm
  • More

SAN JOSE —  Digital agencies have been on the leading edge of digital transformation for several years. They are not, however, immune to the challenges of adapting to changing technologies, advances in automation and evolving client capabilities and staff skill requirements that come with transformation.

To better understand how digital agencies are evolving to meet the needs of their clients and their own businesses, Marketing Land surveyed agency marketers in mid-November and early December 2018. Released Wednesday at SMX West in San Jose, CA, the report found that agencies are sensitive to threats from clients shifting services in-house and cutting agency budgets. Meanwhile, most agencies plan to add services in the coming year and they are hiring — or trying to. Many report having trouble filling positions.

Headwinds: hiring and in-housing of services, tech, budgets

Client behavior, more than consumer or internal agency issues, topped the list of agencies’ concerns. Half of the respondents said that clients moving services in-house is a key challenge, and more than 42.5 percent said client budget cuts is a real challenge in today’s marketplace. More than one-third (36 percent) cited clients adopting marketing technology as a challenge.

Agencies may also be competing with brands for talent. Competition for talent was the second-most cited challenge, behind in-housing, with 44 percent saying it’s a problem. While 70 percent of respondents said their agencies are hiring, nearly 50 percent of that group said they are having a hard time filling positions. Just 20 percent of those hiring said they are able to fill positions relatively easily.

Discover how digital agencies are transforming. Download the eBook now.

Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms. We respect your privacy.

Strategic services will become a greater priority as campaign execution and management becomes increasingly automated. Strategy ranked as the “soft” skill that will be most in demand in the next two years, followed by strong client communication. Seventy-two percent of agency marketers said data science and analysis will be the technical skill most in demand at agencies in the coming years, followed by conversion rate optimization (59 percent) and computer science/AI and technical SEO (52 percent each).

As automation advances and the amount of data available from all angles swells, staying on top of tools, analytics and attribution become more complicated. Among the key issues facing their businesses, 41 percent of agencies said managing data and analytics and 40 percent said keeping up with automation is a challenge.

Opportunities: Automation, strategy, more services and media spend

Agencies do appear to be embracing the transformation that automation is bringing. More than half of respondents said automation has had a positive impact on their businesses, and most plan to adopt marketing technologies in the next 12 months, with marketing automation (30 percent) and business intelligence (25 percent) topping the list.

More than 50 percent of respondents said their agencies will add one or more of the following services in the coming year: video advertising, paid social, Amazon advertising, content marketing, paid search, strategy consulting and SEO. Fewer than one in ten agencies plan to cut any one service, with one exception. Twelve percent expect to cut organic social services. Given the diminished organic visibility on social networks, it’s more surprising that number isn’t higher.

Agencies expect increases in media spend this year, led by Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon and LinkedIn. More than half of the respondents forecast greater spend on these five networks, with 75 percent looking at spending more on Google and 52 percent seeing an increase on LinkedIn. Facebook ranked in the top three for both increases and spending cuts, with 67 percent anticipating more spend and 17 percent planning cuts.

Forward-thinking agencies will need to continue adapting to attract and develop staffs that will be able to deliver strategic value for their clients in this time of change.

Download the full report here (registration required).

More about digital agencies

  • Download the results of our Digital Agency Survey
  • Digital agencies are hiring, focusing on retention in 2019
  • Survey: Local SEO an 'artisanal' discipline dominated by small agencies
  • Why clients in-house and what agencies can (and can't) do about it


About The Author

Ginny Marvin
Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media's Editor-in-Chief, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all of our publications. Ginny writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, she has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

Popular Stories

SEO survival in 2019: Words of wisdom from Moz’s Dr. Pete Meyers
Google Search Console adds Products to enhancements reporting section
SEO vs. PPC: Differences, pros, cons & an integrated approach
Changing domain names in 2016: 10 easily overlooked steps that can save SEO

Related Topics

Business IssuesChannel: IndustryGoogle: AdWordsLinkedInMicrosoftSearch AdsSMX® - Search Marketing Expo & Conference SeriesStats: Spend Projections

Sign up for our daily recaps of the ever-changing search marketing landscape.

Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms. We respect your privacy.


We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Attend Our Conferences

April 2-3, 2019: SMX Munich

May 21-22, 2019: SMX London

June 3-5, 2019: SMX Advanced

June 12-13, 2019: SMX Paris

Sept 30 - Oct 1, 2019: SMX Advanced Europe

November 13-14, 2019: SMX East

×

Attend SMX - Click Here


Learn More About Our SMX Events

Gain new strategies and insights at the intersection of marketing, technology, and management. Our next conference will be held:

April 3-5, 2019: San Jose

September 16-18, 2019: Boston

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • Four Steps to 1:1 Customer Interactions
  • The Ultimate Guide to Site Search User Experience
  • The Marketing Analytics Buyer’s Guide 2019
  • Mission Possible: Quality Content Marketing
  • 2019 Marketing Trends: Nine factors reshaping marketing and how you can stay ahead of them
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • How to Use Intelligent Site Search to Increase Conversions
  • Google’s Black Box Bidding Solution: A look under the hood
  • 2019 Martech Trends You Need To Know
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Account-Based Marketing Tools
  • Enterprise SEO Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
  • Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms
  • Local Marketing Automation Tools
See More Research

Search Engine Land’s Guide To SEO

Search Engine Land’s Guide To SEO
Sign up for our daily newsletter.
Search Engine Land
Download the Search Engine Land app on iTunes Download the Search Engine Land App on Google Play

Follow Us

© 2019 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.