How To Compare Advertising Agencies
Every brand needs a great advertising agency to ensure they stay top of mind in a busy market.
While you have many levels of expertise within your own organization, it is always beneficial to get a third party to help ensure that you are successful in everything you do. Sometimes when you live and breathe something so closely, it is hard to look at it from a different lens other than your own personal one.
This is why advertising agencies are so important. They come in from a third-party perspective and can help create robust strategies and plans to truly take your company to the next level and ensure that all your marketing and advertising efforts are nothing short of successful.
But how do you go about finding the right agency for you, especially when there are so many to choose from and so many different types of them? It is important to do your research upfront and make sure that you pick one that will implement the right approach for you, meet your budgetary needs, and save you a ton of headaches and extra work!
To help with the decision-making process, we are revealing all the tips and tricks when it comes to finding the perfect advertising agency and the factors to compare when you are doing so.
The Types of Agencies
First of all, there are so many different types of advertising agencies out there. This means that you will want to figure out what your goal is with advertising first before diving any deeper into the assessment.
The types of advertising agencies out there range from digital advertising agency to out of home advertising agencies. Here are the variations between them all to help you figure out what ones you need.
1. Full-Service Advertising Agencies
There are full-service advertising agencies that literally do it all for you. This means they develop your advertising strategy and goals, manage the digital and social campaigns, do the creative and copywriting, and set up your email campaigns. This is certainly one of the most convenient agencies to engage in, especially if you do not have an in-house marketing team.
But it is important to remember that with a full-service agency you will likely have a hefty price tag to pay too. They are providing you with a ton of services, so you certainly want to get the biggest bang for your buck too.
If you are considering a full-service agency, make sure to do your research and ask for client references and some of their case studies. That way you can be sure of the results they are capable of producing before you sign yourself up for a very expensive contract!
2. Digital Advertising Agencies
One of the most cost-effective and results-driven options for you in terms of engaging with an agency. The majority of advertising campaigns take place in the online world, so it makes sense to engage with a digital advertising agency that is an expert in all things online!
This means that you will be working with an agency that is proficient with websites, backlink articles, Google Ads, and social media campaigns. One of the best parts of engaging with a digital advertising agency is that their work is something that can easily be managed and you will be able to measure the ROI of your investment—hopefully also with some promising sale leads too!
The actual cost of digital advertising agencies will vary so it is important to have some due diligence when it comes to the work they are doing and the expectations you have of their performance upfront.
3. Traditional Advertising Agency
Out-of-home advertising is still very much necessary in today’s world. This means that there will be times, depending on what your goals are, that you will want to get the expertise when it comes to physical advertising campaigns like billboards, movie theaters, and magazines.
These traditional agencies often come with their own in-house creative teams too. This form of advertising is usually best reserved for when you want to run brand awareness campaigns, especially as it is harder to track specific campaign results as you can do online.
The budget for these types of agencies varies, with many having higher fees as the result of the complexity of the creatives they are producing. While it may cost minimum to create and run a Google Ad, producing a television commercial or a large billboard is more time-consuming and requires a special type of expertise.
Other Factors to Consider
Once you have figured out the type of agency that you want to engage with for your own advertising purposes, the next step will be researching a few that fit your budget and have clients similar to your brand. From there, you should ask for an official proposal and make your decision!