Consultant, Strategist or Full-Service Digital Marketing Agency: Which Does Your Australian Business Need?
If you have no marketing staff, a full-service digital marketing agency is usually the closest fit, because it both decides what to do and does it. A digital marketing consultant or strategist tells you what to do, and a specialist agency does one part of the work well. The right choice depends on whether you need advice, delivery or both.
This guide explains what each of the four provider types delivers, where each one stops, and when each is enough on its own.
Star Digital Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency in Spring Hill, Brisbane, that works as an outsourced marketing department for small and medium businesses across Australia. We’re one of the four types below, so we’ve tried to say plainly when one of the others is the better choice.
The four types of marketing help, compared
Each type of provider covers a different share of the work, from deciding what to do through to doing it every week. The table sets them side by side.
Provider | What they deliver | Where they stop | Tends to suit |
Digital marketing consultant | Advice, audits and recommendations on what to fix or try | Usually not the ongoing work itself | A business with staff or freelancers who can carry out the advice |
Digital marketing strategist | A plan: goals, audiences, channels, budget and messages | Doesn’t usually run the channels | A business about to launch, rebrand or change direction |
Specialist agency | One discipline done in depth, such as SEO, ads or design | Other channels, and how they fit together | A business with one clear need, or a marketing person to coordinate several specialists |
Full-service agency | Strategy plus delivery across several channels, under one plan | What you keep in-house: your goals, approvals and customer conversations | A business with no marketing staff that needs several channels run |
Creative agencies, which focus on branding, design and campaign ideas, are a kind of specialist agency.
What is the difference between a marketing consultant and an agency?
A marketing consultant gives you advice, while an agency gives you advice and then does the work. With a consultant, the plan is yours to carry out. With an agency, someone else carries it out and reports back.
A consultant suits you if you have people who can act on what they say, such as an office manager who runs social posts or a freelancer who manages your ads. If nobody is free to do the work, a good plan can sit unused.
The two can overlap. Some consultants also carry out the work for a fee, and some agencies sell advice on its own. Ask any provider which of the two you’re paying for.
Do I need a strategist or someone to do the work?
Most small businesses need both, in that order: a clear plan first, then steady work to carry it out. A digital marketing strategist is someone who sets the plan: who you’re trying to reach, which channels to use, what to say and what to spend.
A strategy without delivery doesn’t produce enquiries. Delivery without a strategy tends to scatter effort across channels that don’t connect. The business.gov.au guide to a marketing plan shows what a basic plan should cover, which is useful whichever provider you choose.
At Star, the strategy comes first. Our first conversation is diagnostic: what a customer is worth to you, how many more you can handle and where your enquiries come from now. Our director runs businesses of his own, so recommendations start from your margins, capacity and cash flow, not from a channel checklist.
Not sure which kind of help you need? Call 1300 859 066 or email sales@stardigitalmarketing.com.au and tell us what you’re trying to fix.
When is a consultant enough?
A consultant is enough when you have someone to do the work and you need an expert view on what to change. That’s often true for a business with an in-house marketing person, or one with a capable freelancer who lacks direction.
A consultant is also a sensible first step when you’re unsure what’s wrong. An outside audit can show whether the problem is the website, the ads, the offer or the follow-up, before you commit to ongoing work.
Google’s own guidance for hiring help with search, Do you need an SEO?, suggests asking any provider for examples of past work, how they’ll measure results and what changes they’d make. At the time of writing, those questions apply just as well to consultants and agencies outside search.
What is a full-service digital marketing agency?
A full-service digital marketing agency plans and runs your marketing across several channels under one strategy, with one point of contact. A full-service digital marketing agency does what an in-house marketing team would do, without you hiring one.
The value is in the joining up. When one team runs every channel, each informs the others. At Star, ad data shows which keywords convert, and those get priority in SEO. Specialists in the same team, such as an ads manager and a copywriter, work from the same plan instead of separate briefs.
What does “full service” actually include?
“Full service” has no fixed definition, so ask each agency to list exactly what’s included. At Star, it means seven services: SEO, paid advertising on Google and Meta, social media marketing, copywriting, email marketing, website hosting and security, and domain registration.
Full service doesn’t mean you have to buy everything. We tailor the work instead of selling bronze, silver and gold packages, so you take the services that matter for your business and leave the rest.
Want to know which services your business needs? Book a free strategy call and quote, or call 1300 859 066. The call runs 30 minutes with no obligation, and you get a written action plan to keep whether or not you go ahead.
Which type fits a business with no marketing staff in Australia?
For a business with no marketing staff, a full-service digital marketing agency is usually the closer fit, because a consultant or strategist leaves the work with you. A specialist agency can work too, if you only need one channel run.
Some common worries about agencies, answered plainly:
- “An agency will cost more than a consultant.” It may cost more each month, because it does the work too. Compare it with a consultant plus whoever would carry out the advice, including your own time.
- “I’ll lose control.” You should own your ad accounts, analytics, domain and website. Our clients do, and they stay theirs if we part ways.
- “I won’t understand the reports.” Ours is a short plain-English monthly summary: what we did, what it produced and what’s next.
- “I’ve been burned before.” Keep the accounts in your name and ask for reporting in enquiries and dollars, so you can always see the results.
- “How long will it take?” SEO takes months, while ad campaigns take weeks to optimise. Be wary of anyone who promises faster.
How Star combines strategy and delivery
As a full-service digital marketing agency, Star covers both halves of the question: strategy first, then a team that does the work. Getting started takes three steps:
- A free strategy call. 30 minutes, no obligation.
- A written action plan. A plain-English plan that’s yours to keep whether or not you go ahead.
- Build and launch. Our team carries out the parts of the plan you choose.
If the plan shows you only need a consultant’s advice, or one specialist, we’ll say so. We’d rather you spend on what works than on what we offer.
Find out what kind of help your business needs
The first conversation is diagnostic. We ask what a customer is worth, how many more you can handle and where your enquiries come from now. Then we tell you whether you need advice, a specialist or a full-service team.
Book a free strategy call and quote, call 1300 859 066, or email sales@stardigitalmarketing.com.au. It’s 30 minutes with no obligation, followed by a written, plain-English action plan that’s yours to keep whether or not you proceed.