How To Choose What Your Business Really Needs

The Short Answer On Agencies And Consultants

This guide is written for business owners and marketing leads deciding whether to hire a digital marketing agency, a digital marketing consultant, or a mix of both.

What Each Model Does

A digital marketing agency is usually a full-service team. A typical digital marketing agency will plan, create, and run your digital marketing campaigns across channels such as search (SEO and Google Ads), paid social, email, content, and sometimes web design and development. You’re effectively outsourcing a big slice of your marketing execution to a dedicated marketing agency.

A digital marketing consultant is usually an individual (or a small specialist consultancy) who focuses on strategy, diagnosis, and higher-level optimisation. A digital marketing consultant will review what is and isn’t working, build a clear strategy, define campaigns and measurement, and then either guide your team, collaborate with your existing suppliers, or selectively execute work themselves.

In short:

  • Agency = broader team focused on doing and implementation.
  • Consultant = senior expertise focused on thinking, diagnosing, and guiding (with selective doing where needed).

How The Two Approaches Differ

If you’re comparing a digital marketing agency vs digital marketing consultant, you’re really choosing between:

  • Capacity vs seniority: Agencies give you hands on keyboards. Consultants give you senior brains on your marketing.
  • Breadth vs depth: Agencies often cover many services at once; consultants tend to go deeper into digital marketing strategy, performance, and optimisation.
  • Done-for-you vs done-with-you: A marketing agency usually “owns” campaigns end-to-end. A consultant usually collaborates with you and your team, and can also work alongside an agency to keep them focused and accountable.

Both models can be right; the question is what your business actually needs right now. It also depends on how much online visibility you need to build quickly, and whether your company already has people who can execute.

How The Real Difference Shows Up: Ownership vs Execution

The simplest way to understand the difference is to look at who owns decisions, and who owns delivery. A digital marketing agency is typically closer to an advertising agency model: it’s built to deliver ongoing advertising and marketing execution across multiple digital channels, with an account lead coordinating a wider team.  A consultant (or marketing consultant) is usually brought in to set strategic direction, validate assumptions, and ensure the work being done—by your in-house team, an agency, or freelancers—supports growth. If your business needs someone to “do the work” every week, a marketing agency usually fits. If your business needs someone to sharpen the plan, spot what’s being missed, and protect budget, a digital marketing consultant often creates faster clarity.

How Digital Marketing Agencies And Consultants Differ

Scope, Services, And Team Structure

A digital marketing agency usually offers a wide range of services under one roof. Common services include:

  • SEO and content marketing
  • Google Ads and paid social campaigns
  • Email marketing and marketing automation
  • Conversion rate optimisation and landing pages
  • Web design and development
  • Creative, copywriting, and analytics

Behind the scenes, a marketing agency works as a team of experts: account managers, strategists, channel specialists, copywriters, designers, and developers.  You get access to multiple skills, which is powerful if you need ongoing multi-channel work. That breadth can be useful for clients who want one company to manage multiple moving parts without juggling separate suppliers.

A digital marketing consultant typically has a leaner structure. You’re working directly with a senior specialist who:

  • Reviews your current marketing activity and data
  • Builds or refines your digital marketing strategy
  • Designs campaign plans and channel priorities
  • Clarifies KPIs, tracking, and reporting
  • Identifies where you need internal or external support

Some consultants (including consultancies like TwoTwoSix) can also execute selected work—such as setting up campaigns, fixing tracking, or running SEO and PPC—but the engagement is still strategy-led and tightly aligned to your business goals.

Communication, Speed, And Flexibility

With a larger digital marketing agency, you often have one main contact (an account manager) who translates your needs to the wider team. This can be efficient when everything is running smoothly, but can feel slower or less direct if you want quick changes or deeper strategic input.

A consultant is usually more hands-on in conversations with you and your team. Because you’re working directly with the person doing the diagnosis and strategy, communication tends to be:

  • More direct: fewer layers between you and the decision-maker.
  • More agile: easier to pivot campaigns and priorities without a long internal process.
  • More tailored: advice and work are shaped very specifically around your business, not just standard agency packages.

If you want a plug-and-play partner who can slot into your existing marketing meetings, explain what’s going on in plain language, and help you action the plan, a consultant model often suits better.

Cost, Accountability, And Reporting

Pricing models differ more than anything else.

A digital marketing agency often charges:

  • Monthly retainers tied to a set of services and deliverables
  • Minimum terms (commonly 6–12 months)
  • Additional fees for projects like website builds or new campaigns

You’re paying for the agency’s overhead, office, tools, and the entire team’s time. That can be great value if you’re using a lot of services and running complex campaigns, but it can feel expensive if you only need focused support.

A digital marketing consultant typically offers:

  • Project-based pricing for audits, strategy, and setup
  • Hourly or day rates for flexible advisory work
  • Ongoing retainers with more flexible scope and shorter commitments

Because the structure is leaner and there’s less overhead, you’re paying more directly for senior expertise and the specific work done. Reporting is often simpler and more transparent: you agree up front what will be measured, how often, and who is responsible for each part. Ask for reporting that’s clear enough to share internally, so your company can see what’s driving results for customers, not just vanity metrics.

In both cases, you should expect clear reporting that connects digital marketing activity to KPIs and business outcomes—not just platform screenshots.

How To Choose Based On Your Funnel, Platforms, And Growth Targets

A practical test is to look at your customer journey and your platform stack. If your business relies on multiple platforms (for example: Google Ads, Meta, email automation, analytics, and a CMS) and you need consistent optimisation to support growth, a digital marketing agency can provide the operational rhythm to run that system. If results feel random—traffic without sales, or sales without predictable lead flow—a digital marketing consultant is often the better first step, because they’ll diagnose where the funnel breaks, set measurable targets, and define the few initiatives that will drive growth. In both cases, ask how they connect platform metrics to customer outcomes, not just clicks and impressions.

When A Digital Marketing Agency Makes Sense

Multi-Channel Execution And Larger Campaigns

A digital marketing agency makes strong sense when you need heavy execution across multiple channels at once. For example:

  • Always-on SEO, content, paid search, and paid social
  • Complex eCommerce campaigns needing constant optimisation
  • Large creative campaigns needing design, video, and production

If your business wants a team to build and run everything—from media buying through to landing pages and creative—a digital agency company can take that off your plate.

In-House Gaps That Need Extra Capacity

If you have a marketing manager or small internal team, a marketing agency can act as your external production arm. You set the strategy internally and use the agency to:

  • Build and optimise campaigns
  • Produce content and creative
  • Manage daily budget and bids
  • Handle technical SEO and development tickets

This is especially useful when your internal team is strong on brand and messaging but doesn’t have time or specialist skills in every digital channel.

Projects That Need A Wider Team

Some projects simply need more people. A website rebuild, large-scale rebrand, or national launch campaign may require:

  • UX and web designers
  • Developers
  • Media planners and buyers
  • Copywriters, designers, and analysts

Here, a full-service digital marketing agency brings the right mix of skills together. A consultant can still play a role—overseeing strategy, ensuring the scope is realistic, and keeping everyone aligned—but the heavy lifting will sit with the agency.

When A Digital Marketing Consultant Makes Sense

Strategy, Audits, And Diagnosis

If you’re unsure what is and isn’t working in your digital marketing, start with a consultant.

A digital marketing consultant can:

  • Audit your channels: SEO, PPC, social, email, website, and analytics
  • Diagnose leaks in your funnel and wasted spend
  • Build a clear, prioritised digital marketing strategy
  • Define campaigns, budgets, and KPIs based on your goals
  • Create an action plan your team or suppliers can follow

This is ideal if you feel like you’re “doing lots of marketing” but not seeing consistent results—and you want senior thinking before you do more online execution.

Flexible Support Without Long-Term Lock-In

Many businesses in Australia (and beyond) want expert help without being tied into long-term agency retainers.

Consultants usually offer:

  • Short-term projects (e.g. 4–12 week strategy or audit engagements)
  • Ongoing advisory calls and optimisation support
  • Option to pause, increase, or reduce support as your needs change

You get access to senior digital expertise when you need it, without having to hire a full-time senior marketer or commit to a large agency contract.

An Extension Of Your Internal Team

A good digital marketing consultant (or small consultancy like TwoTwoSix) often works as an extension of your team, rather than an external supplier. That can mean:

  • Joining your regular marketing meetings
  • Coaching and upskilling your internal marketers
  • Helping you brief and assess agencies or freelancers
  • Overseeing existing suppliers to ensure they’re focused on the right strategy

Consultants and agencies can also work together very effectively. A common and powerful setup is:

  • Consultant: owns overall digital marketing strategy, measurement framework, and periodic audits.
  • Agency: executes campaigns day to day, reports on performance, and implements recommendations.

This hybrid model gives you the best of both worlds: the capacity of a digital agency with the independence and senior oversight of a consultant. It can also work well when your consultant acts as an independent partner, while the agency handles delivery with the right specialists.

A Cost-Effective Hybrid Model: Consultant Oversight + Agency Delivery

For many clients, the most cost-effective approach is a hybrid model: hire a consultant to own the strategic roadmap and measurement, then use a marketing agency or specialist firm to deliver channel execution. This can lower cost because you’re not paying an agency to “figure it out” while also paying for production time. It can also improve accountability: the consultant can audit performance, pressure-test reporting, and keep the agency company focused on the work that drives growth.  If you already have an advertising agency or a digital marketing agency in place, adding independent oversight can be a clean way to reset direction without restarting from scratch.

Questions To Ask Before You Choose

What Results And Experience Can They Show?

Whether you’re talking to a marketing agency or consultant, ask:

  • What types of businesses and industries have you worked with?
  • Can you walk me through specific campaigns or projects similar to ours?
  • How did you measure success, and what changed as a result of your work?

Look for clear explanations, relevant case examples, and honest discussion of challenges—not vague promises of “more traffic” and “brand awareness” without numbers and context that matter to clients.

How Do They Report, Communicate, And Work?

Misaligned expectations often come from unclear ways of working. Before you sign anything, clarify:

  • Who will I actually be working with day to day?
  • How often will we meet or review performance?
  • What will reporting look like, and what tools will you use?
  • How quickly can we change campaigns, budgets, or priorities?

With a digital marketing agency, make sure you understand how strategy decisions are made and who has the final say. With a consultant, make sure they are available at the cadence you need and are comfortable collaborating with your team and suppliers.

What To Clarify Before You Hire: Responsibilities, Deliverables, And Contacts

Before you hire an agency or consultant, get clear on who owns each part of the work: strategy, setup, ongoing management, creative, approvals and reporting. Then check that the written scope of work (SOW) spells out the details. It should name the deliverables, channels, people responsible, timelines and reporting cadence, as well as what is excluded. Confirm how approvals and handoffs will work, how extra requests will be handled and priced, and what happens if performance stalls. Ask who your day-to-day contact will be and what they plan to deliver in the first 30 days. Clear responsibilities and measures of growth help you assess whether the proposed digital marketing support fits your needs. A consultant or small firm may be able to adapt quickly, while a larger agency may offer more team capacity.

Marketing Agency Roles and Services

What Level Of Support Do You Actually Need?

Finally, be honest about your real need:

  • If you lack any internal marketing capacity and want someone to “just handle it”, a digital agency is often the right fit.
  • If you have people who can execute but need clarity on strategy, priorities, and performance, a digital marketing consultant (or consultant plus a slim set of external services) can be more effective and cost-efficient.
  • If you’re already working with an agency but aren’t sure you’re getting value, a consultant can independently review their work and help you reset direction.

Marketing Agency Roles And Services: Turning Inputs Into Outcomes

“Full-service” can sound the same across providers, but the value is in how services translate into outcomes. A digital marketing agency should be able to provide a clear breakdown of roles (account lead, channel specialists, creative/design, development support) and what each person will deliver month to month. The questions are practical: will this work improve brand consistency, reduce wasted advertising spend, and increase sales efficiency for the customer?  If you only need one or two channels, you may not need the overhead of a full team. If you need coordinated work across SEO, paid, content, and conversion improvements to hit growth targets, an agency model is often easier to run.

Australian Marketing Consultant Usage and Pricing Guidance vs an Agency fee structure?

Pricing varies by provider and scope, and hourly, media-spend and service-level fees can apply to either an agency or a consultant. When comparing options in Australia, request quotes in Australian dollars and check the total cost against the agreed deliverables, advertising spend, setup fees and contract terms. Confirm whether GST, tools and ad spend are included, so you can compare like for like rather than assume one model will always cost less.

  • Hourly fee: a team may scope your project and come up with an amount of hours they will dedicate to the project each month
  • Percentage of media spend: A provider may look at your total media spend and deem it necessary to take a percentage of your overall spend as a management fee.
  • Expertise or service level: Some businesses may have a level of service that is designed by the expertise required for your campaign or based on your campaign complexity, budget, amount of ads running, or industry.

If you’d like a senior digital marketing consultant to review your current activity and help you decide what support model makes sense, you can start with a focused audit or strategy session and build from there. No long-term lock-in required.