Business

Is Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm Worth the Investment?

Published

3 years ago

July 28, 2023

If you’re interested in pursuing digital marketing, you might consider hiring a digital marketing firm. But you may not like the prospect of spending thousands of dollars every month for those services. It’s a big investment, and you’re not sure whether it will pay off.

Is hiring a digital marketing firm usually worth the investment? And how can you tell?

What Is a Digital Marketing Firm?

Digital marketing agencies in Long Island and cities near you are organizations that specialize in providing digital marketing services to business clients. Some agencies specialize in specific strategies or channels, like search engine optimization (SEO) or pay per click (PPC) advertising, but many attempt to offer “full services,” including coverage for almost any strategy you want.

In exchange for an agreed price (usually in the form of a monthly fee), the digital marketing firm will help you plan, organize, and eventually execute and analyze all your digital marketing campaigns. While you’ll need to be a part of the process of establishing your brand identity, your goals, and your strategic vision, hiring a digital marketing firm usually means remaining hands-off during execution.

What Are the Alternatives?

If you don’t hire a digital marketing firm, what are the alternatives?

No marketing. You could decide not to market your business at all. But this is usually a mistake. Marketing is the best way to raise awareness of your brand and attract more customers, and when done properly, it results in a positive return.
Internal marketing. You could also build an internal team of marketing experts to organize and execute your own marketing campaigns. But this is usually more expensive than hiring a digital marketing firm, as well as more time consuming.
Self-marketing. If you want to stay lean, you could try marketing your own business. If you have lots of experience and knowledge in marketing, this may be viable, but in most cases, a digital marketing firm can do it better.
Freelancers and contractors. A final option is to work with freelancers and contractors for your marketing needs. This can be both inexpensive and effective, but it takes a long time to find reliable freelancers that you can consistently trust.

The Costs of Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm

Digital marketing services through a firm can range from $300 to $12,000 a month. That’s a huge range because the types of services you can get are so variable. Accordingly, it’s hard to ballpark exactly what a digital marketing firm is going to cost you. Just keep in mind that spending more money usually means getting more value.

The Benefits of Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm

These are the benefits of hiring a digital marketing firm for your organization:

A full team of experts (in one place). When you hire a digital marketing firm, you’ll instantly gain access to a full team of experts, usually with many different areas of specialty. You won’t have to hunt them down, like you would if you hired freelancers, and you won’t be stuck with a specialist that can only do one thing.
Expertise and guidance. People hire digital marketing firms to get expertise and guidance. These are seasoned veterans who understand the mechanics of effective marketing strategies, and they can make recommendations for how to maximize the value of your tactics.
Robust resources and tools. Most digital marketing firms have access to a robust pool of resources and tools that can make your marketing more effective, including automation software, dashboards, and connections to other firms and individuals.
Ongoing communication and education. Working with a digital marketing firm also grants you access to ongoing communication and education. Your representatives will help you stay updated on what’s going on with your campaigns, and they can teach you how to make your strategies more effective.
Accountability and trust. A good digital marketing firm is going to prioritize your return on investment (ROI). This is arguably the most important marketing metric to analyze since it directly indicates how much value you’re getting compared to what you’re spending. If your ROI is too low, the marketing firm can acknowledge and address this, making tweaks to push your effectiveness higher.

The Importance of Hiring the Right Firm

In general, yes, it’s definitely “worth it” to hire a digital marketing firm. A competent marketing firm will be able to help you see results that far exceed whatever you spent on them in the first place. The only real caveat is that you have to find the right firm for your business. Choose a firm that has expertise in your industry and your favorite strategies, and do your due diligence to ensure the firm has a long track record of success.

Business

Click for Counsel: YesLawyer Wants to Make Lawyers as Accessible as Wi-Fi

Published

5 days ago

April 1, 2026

Matthew Wiles

Photo Courtesy of: YesLawyer

Byline: Andi Stark

For many people facing a legal problem, the most difficult part is not understanding their rights but finding a lawyer willing to speak with them in the first place. Long wait times, unclear pricing, and administrative hurdles often delay even the most basic consultations. YesLawyer, an AI-enabled plaintiff firm operating across all 50 states, is testing whether technology can shorten that gap.

Founded in 2024 by 25-year-old entrepreneur Rob Epstein, the platform offers free intake, automated screening, and, in many cases, same-day conversations with licensed attorneys. The idea is simple: reduce the friction between a client’s first request for help and an actual legal discussion. In this interview, Epstein explains how the system works, where artificial intelligence fits into the process, and what problems the company is trying to address in the broader legal system

Q: When you say you want lawyers to be “as accessible as Wi-Fi,” what does that mean in practical terms?

A: It’s a way of describing speed and availability. Someone dealing with a workplace dispute, a serious injury, or an immigration issue should be able to move from an online form or phone call to a real conversation with counsel in hours, not weeks. YesLawyer is structured so that a client begins with a free case evaluation, goes through automated conflict checks and basic screening, and, in many instances, speaks with a lawyer the same day.

Q: How does the process work once someone contacts the platform?

A: We use a structured workflow. It starts with a short questionnaire and an initial conversation to capture basic facts. That information feeds into conflict checks and internal review. The system then proposes a match with a licensed attorney and provides a calendar link for a virtual consultation, often within 24 hours. After the meeting, the client receives a written legal plan outlining next steps, deadlines, and estimated fees.

Q: Where does artificial intelligence fit into that process, and where does it stop?

A: AI is used for organizing and routing information, not for giving legal advice. It helps with conflict checks at scale, case categorization, and structured summaries so attorneys can focus on the substance of the matter. Every consultation is conducted by a licensed lawyer, and all decisions about strategy or next steps are made by humans.

Q: What problem is this model trying to solve in the current legal system?

A: Delay and cost are still major barriers. Many civil plaintiffs face long waits just to get a first appointment, along with high retainers and hourly billing that make early legal advice risky. We try to respond with faster consultations, flat-fee options, and financing. The idea is to remove administrative friction so lawyers spend less time on logistics and more time speaking with clients.

Q: Some critics say platforms like this blur the line between a technology company and a law firm. How do you describe YesLawyer?

A: We describe ourselves as a national, AI-enabled plaintiff firm that connects clients with independent attorneys. That structure does raise regulatory questions, especially around responsibility and oversight. We focus on licensing verification, attorney-written case plans, and clear communication about fees and services.

Q: You’ve said the main bottleneck is “systems” rather than people. What do you mean by that?

A: The issue isn’t that lawyers don’t want to help more people. It’s that the systems around them make it hard to scale their time. Intake, scheduling, and document handling take hours. Automating those parts means attorneys can handle more matters without being overwhelmed by repetitive tasks.

Q: Does this model risk favoring only the most profitable cases?

A: That’s a real concern in legal technology. Automation often works best for repeatable, high-volume disputes. Our view is that lowering administrative cost can actually make it easier to take on smaller or more complex cases that might otherwise be turned away. Whether that holds over time depends on the data.

Measuring Impact Over Time

YesLawyer’s attempt to compress the timeline between inquiry and consultation reflects broader changes in how legal services are being delivered. As artificial intelligence becomes more common in administrative work, firms are experimenting with new ways to reduce wait times and clarify costs.

The company’s early growth suggests that many clients value faster access to an initial conversation, even before considering long-term representation. Whether this platform-based model becomes widely adopted or remains one of several emerging approaches will depend on regulatory developments, lawyer participation, and measurable outcomes for clients. For now, YesLawyer’s experiment highlights a central question in modern legal practice: how quickly can help realistically be made available to the people who need it.