So, you run a business and you have an excellent product or service, and on top of that, you have an audience and your business is doing well. The next step is to expand, and your marketing and advertising efforts are the ideal way to do this.
However, if you don’t have the capacity in-house to help you do this, or, if you don’t quite know how to take your marketing and advertising to the next level, maybe it’s time to look into hiring an agency.
This itself can throw up a lot of questions, such as, what does an agency do? What agency should I use? Should I use a specialist agency or a full-service agency? Well, if you’re looking to expand your business, a full-service agency is probably the best way to go, which is why we’ve highlighted everything you need to know below.
What is a full-service marketing agency?
You’ve probably used this term before, after all, it can be thrown around quite liberally. However, it’s important to remember that some agencies outsource their work. For example, the agency may have always specialised in creative output, but, noticing the need for social media marketing or digital advertising have offered this type of work to their clients to keep them happy, before outsourcing it while working on expanding their team and knowledge.
This could result in you having to pay out more money to these agencies, as they have to cover their costs for the work they can’t readily do in-house.
However, a full-service agency does exactly what it says, it offers a full service. Therefore, you’ll be able to have all of your marketing efforts, from print and digital to graphic design, photography, copywriting and social media planning done under one roof. This helps to create more consistency through your branding and messaging, while also being much more cost-efficient.
It also offers you the opportunity to start small with these agencies before expanding what you do with them. For example, you may start with some print work before opting to venture down the road of a new website or even a full social media plan.
What services does a full-service media agency provide?
As mentioned above, a full-service agency offers a full service, but, if you’re new to the world of media agencies, or even marketing and advertising, you may not know what this encompasses.
The kind of services you can expect from a full-service agency includes;
Strategy – from planning and client profiling to creating a positive user experience, all of this will be offered
Creative – being consistent throughout your messaging is hugely important, and a full-service agency can offer branding, copywriting and graphic design for print and online
Digital – whether it’s creating a new website, generating new leads or creating and implementing a killer SEO strategy, a full-service agency will be able to offer all of this
Social media – the key to the success of most business these days, having a social media presence is key and a full-service agency can offer everything from planning and strategy to social media management and paid advertising
PR and media – good PR is key for all businesses, whether it’s getting TV and print placements or reputation management, a full-service agency will be able to bring this to the table, while also helping to create media to be featured in print titles.
Full-service marketing agency v specialist media agency
Of course, you may be sat thinking ‘I only need a social media strategy’ or ‘I only need a good SEO plan’, which could lead to you using a specialist media agency.
While this may be tempting, due to the agency working in one specific area, this doesn’t always mean it’s the best option. All agencies have employees that are experts in their field, and while a dedicated social media agency may have several experts under one roof, so will a full-service agency – although, maybe not as many.
However, a full-service agency and a specialist agency will both be able to complete what you’ve asked for, but, what about further down the line. In six months, you may want to build a new website or opt for a killer PR strategy, which may not be offered at a specialist agency, meaning you could end up using several agencies at once, causing inconsistency in your branding and messaging, higher fees and a potential breakdown in communication due to talking to several places at once.
Meanwhile, a full-service agency will have all of this knowledge in one place, ready to talk to you when the time comes. They can even offer advice about what you should and shouldn’t be doing as your business grows, which can only be good for you and your business.
If you’d like to find out more about what a full-service agency does and how it could help you, get in touch with us today and a member of our team will be more than happy to help.