Is An Agency Right For Your Business?
When deciding if an agency is right for your business, it is important to consider your time and budget. Entrepreneurs wear many hats! They are accountants, social media managers, web developers, human resource managers, and customer service experts. Different areas may be easier to take on than others. Some may relish the idea of designing the perfect Instagram post, while others may find it overwhelming to keep up with the many different aspects of their marketing.
If you find your marketing tasks are often finding their way to the bottom of the pile, or that your final design products just aren’t up to snuff, you may be considering one of two options:
- Hiring a marketing professional internally
- Hiring an agency
The important thing to consider is your budget, needs, and accessibility.
Ask yourself:
- Do you have the budget to hire out your marketing?
- What exactly do you need?
- How available do you need this entity to be?
Things to consider when hiring an employee:
- 100% Accessible
- One person is dedicated solely to your organization
- Information flow is simple, as they are usually working right in your office
- Limited to the skills of the single individual hired
- Employee turnover can put a grinding halt to your marketing efforts and consistency
- Costs can be higher when considering equipment, software, training, salary, benefits, CPP, WCB, and Insurance
Things to consider when hiring an agency:
- Access to a variety of skill sets from an entire team of trained professionals
- Ability to have all facets of your marketing handled in one place
- Services are completed regardless of employee turnover
- Longevity of contract
- A team of experts is more likely to have experience in your industry compared to a single employee
- Information flow can be challenging
- Agencies have multiple clients, and account managers frequently have more than one account to manage
There’s no wrong answer.
Regardless of which decision you make, having someone dedicated to your marketing efforts can be a huge benefit to your business. As you grow, having a combination of both agency and staff working on your business’s marketing can be a great option for maximizing your objectives.
What to Expect
When you first hire an advertising agency, it is important to ensure that your goals are clear and that you prioritize your marketing during the initial onboarding process. The more information and assets you can provide your agency with, the easier it is for them to understand who you are, what your needs are, and start implementing your services.
Onboarding with an agency can feel time-consuming, but this initial “pain period” is short term. Your agency is getting acquainted with who you are, and what your business is all about. If this is done thoroughly at the start, you will have much better long term success.
Perspective Can Help
You are in your business every day. You have an intimate understanding of the inner workings of your company and the customers you currently serve. While what you do and who you are is crystal clear to you; the rest of the world may have a different view.
That is where an agency can help. They are coming at your branding from an outsider’s perspective and can clearly see the gaps in your marketing. They can help you see where any misunderstanding may be and how to solve those problems.
The Cumulative Skills of a Team
One of the best features of hiring an agency is getting access to an entire team’s worth of skills. Collectively, they will ensure that your assets are professionally produced and follow the industry’s best practices.
This is imperative when comparing hiring an agency to a single staff member. A single person only has so many skills; whereas an agency has professionals that can tackle each aspect of your different initiatives.
Assets Your Business Can Use
As an entrepreneur, you have probably seen or used DIY software. This can be an excellent entry point when it comes to your first website or designing social posts. While these tools are very simple to use, they are also limited in functionality, and as your business grows, you will more than likely outgrow them.
By hiring an agency to design assets (such as your logo or website), you can ensure that you have a professional standard product. For example: by having your logo professionally formatted, any designer can utilize your logo file for various promotional materials such as billboards, clothing, and other fun giveaway items.
It means that your product has been created following industry best practices, and of course, looks great.
Someone to Ask
Owning your own business is challenging. You face many decisions in a day and sometimes you just need someone to help you bounce ideas with or confirm your thoughts. Essentially, an agency is your extended team to help you achieve your goals.
How Ello Can Help
Regardless if you’re a startup looking for advice or a corporation looking to grow, our team is here to help. We offer a variety of services from DIY software to fully managed solutions.
If you have further questions or are interested in what our agency can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact our team. We would love to hear about your company!