You’ve got a product or service that you want to sell. It’s time to start advertising and marketing it, but where do you begin? Why use an advertising agency?
Most small businesses don’t have the money for an in-house marketing team or advertising agency. This means that they need to find ways of getting their message out while working on other aspects of running their business.
The good news is that there are plenty of options available when it comes to using outside agencies or freelancers for your marketing needs. In fact, some companies can even offer services at lower rates than what you’d pay internally!
Why use an advertising agency?
Advertising agencies exist to create compelling ad campaigns. They are experts in the field of advertising, which is why they are tasked with creating ads on behalf of their clients.
They employ creative professionals who do nothing but come up with new ideas to sell products and services while persuading consumers to buy them.
Advertising companies work with consumer data, demographic information, psychographics, and other data to figure out how to get their product in front of people who might be interested in buying it.
They create ads for television commercials, print ads, billboards, online ads, digital marketing campaigns – whatever the client needs to get his or her message across.
Agencies also have relationships with media companies that can help clients place their ads where they need to be seen.
For example, a medium-sized advertising agency might handle ad placement for smaller clients, such as new businesses and local products, while larger agencies manage ads for major corporations such as automobile manufacturers and consumer electronics companies.
Agencies Have More In-House Expertise
When it comes to marketing, the best of breed is always going be an agency with specialists in each medium.
They’re able to take on projects that would never otherwise get done because their breadth gives them a significant advantage over business owners or single media reps who only specialize within one area.
You’ll find very few people can understand all aspects and intricacies involved with advertising – this includes you as well! But don’t worry: there’s no need for your knowledge if we have enough firepower at our disposal which covers most bases so long as creativity stays high.
The Time-Value Savings an Agency Provides More Than Offsets Their Fees
Business owners who go direct regularly spend significantly more time during the week on their marketing.
They get bogged down in the minutia of each individual campaign when they don’t let an agency do it for them, but this is a wasted opportunity to focus solely what should be done with your efforts: overseeing and making sure that plan aligns with company goals!
An Advertising Agency is More Objective When Choosing Marketing Techniques
The agency is more at liberty than the opposite is true for a television or radio salesperson because they don’t have any constraint in which media outlet to use.
This means that there are no limits on what can be done with marketing campaigns and advertisements, unlike newspapers who constantly need advertisers by selling certain things every month so management’s quota will not get missed out on during this period of time called “Quota Month”.
An Advertising Agency Can Negotiate Lower Media Rates
The media industry is a tough place to work for those who have been branded as “losers.” Media reps are under pressure from their management, and they’re often given the choice between all stations that market to whatever demographic you want.
It can be hard when there’s fierce competition in this business but at least with an advertising agency things aren’t quite so bad because we get special rates!
Advertising Agencies Have More Relationships at Media Outlets
Media buying can be an emotional process.
The relationships that are cultivated over time between agencies and the various media outlets they work with become invaluable tools for success when negotiating prices or getting better terms in exchanges, but it also has its downsides as well due to competition from other brokers vying to represent your business’s ad space at any given moment.
This makes knowing who you know deep down inside a valuable resource because there might not always be another person out here willing make these introductions on behalf of yourself!
Agencies Are Not Under Pressure to Sell You a Specific Kind of Media
Media professionals are under immense pressure to sell, and media outlets will often have “fire sales” where they offer discounted rates for certain advertising packages.
The broadcast representatives must do everything within their power in order not just meet but exceed expectations on these deals; even if the agency doesn’t think it’s a good fit with your company or product line-up – as long as there is enough demand from customers such promotions occur again next year!
Agencies Only Succeed if You Succeed
The pressure for sales reps to bring in new business is immense, which results in high turnover rates. As most stations are rewarded based on the amount of NEW clients they get rather than keeping an existing customer base intact or growing it
There will always be someone ready and waiting at your doorsteps with an open offer from competitor station A who has already purchased advertising space B times ago (and may also happen to have just bought another company).
Advertising Agencies Are Often the Same Price as Going Direct
With many agencies negotiating lower media rates from vendors, clients are often able to secure an agency fee that saves them money.
In other cases where the advertising firm is getting 10-15% off of its own cost with each vendor purchase as part of an exclusive discount agreement in place between both parties involved; this allows for both sides win!
Agencies Are the Buffer Between the Business Owner and All the Media Sales Reps
While some business owners find it exhilarating to be approached by sales reps, most would prefer if their efforts were left unmonitored and unchecked.
These are times where you can see how media companies get an ego boost from these interactions with potential customers who know what they want without being pestered for more information than necessary – a rare quality in this day and age!
Advertising Agencies Can Provide Trusted Counsel to the Business Owner
Marketing is important for any company, but it can be difficult sometimes when you need someone outside the organization with marketing expertise.
It may seem like they are only there to answer questions and give advice in their own self-interests rather than yours; however, I believe that’s why these “expert” outsiders exist – so we don’t have biased thoughts or opinions on what will work best!
Media Outlets and Stations are Hunters; Advertising Agencies Have More Farmers
Media sales reps are under pressure to bring in new customers all the time.
They’re not always rewarded when they get repeat business from their current ones, and sometimes an account executive will have a client that has been advertising for some amount of time – but then find themselves with less work because it gets given off-shore or shifted elsewhere within your company at random without any warning!
Advertising Agencies – Their Role
A full service advertising agency put all its energies into not just building a brand, but also creating demand for their client’s product or service in an exciting manner through creative strategy and marketing. Here are some common roles every advertisement plays:
The first step is often to create advertisements based on information collected about the company’s goods that will appeal most widely among potential customers.
Next research must be conducted detailing everything from your products benefits down right nitty gritty details regarding price points- how much do I need? What features make this different than competitors offerings?
The Advantages of Using an Advertising Agency
Available Expertise
Marketing is a tough job. It’s not just about advertising your business, but making sure that it stands out from the competition and new challenges arise on an ongoing basis- this takes creativity!
And with so many different mediums for marketing (website design? social media posts?) you might be wondering which one will give best results in terms of getting customers into stores or driving them away altogether.
Saving Time
Hiring an advertising agency is a great way to save yourself valuable time and energy by hiring someone who can help you create ads for your company.
This means the staff doesn’t need as much training, which saves them from additional work in creating campaigns themselves!
Most businesses owners are too busy running their business on top of all else they have going could benefit greatly if hired out like this; it also frees up valuable resources we should invest elsewhere such as marketing funds or employee hours spent doing creative tasks instead.
Saving Money
You might think that hiring an advertising agency will be expensive, but the savings can make it worth your while. Agencies often receive discounts from publishers and TV stations which they pass onto you as a client with lower rates than what one would pay if dealing directly.
They also know how to redesign ads in order for them be kind of “fit” better on paper or screen; this saves both parties time so there’s more money available when ad placement takes place!
Brand Development
A brand is a powerful thing. A business’ identity, what they stand for and how people perceive them can make or break success in the marketplace today with so many different competitors vying to be noticed above all others!
The Advantages of an Advertising Agency
Cost Advantages
The use of an advertising agency can help your business avoid the costs associated with adding a full department. In addition, you will be able to cut down expenses on salary and machinery for top-talent individuals by hiring them through this service.
Professional Experience
Selecting a reputable advertising agency ensures that your marketing campaigns will be developed by the cream of the crop in this industry. They hire top talent who get more experience through specializing specifically on developing and maintaining advertisements for wide range clients.
Industry Insiders
Established advertising agencies have the advantage of networking with people in different industries, which can help them find advertisers for your product or service.
They may also know more about how to get media coverage than an inhouse marketing department does–and they’ve probably cultivated these relationships over many years!
Strategic Control
Advertising agencies will work with you throughout the campaign development process. At each stage, they can help make sure that your satisfaction is not only met but exceeded!
They’ll get to know all there needs about who you are as an organization and what speaks best for how unique or valuable it is in order create a successful advertising strategy tailored specifically towards clients like yours.
The Disadvantages of Using an Advertising Agency
It is often difficult for businesses to accurately determine how much money should be spent on advertising. When the business decides not to do all of its own advertisements, it can save time and benefit from working with an agency.
However, if the company has an ineffective advertisement campaign, there are at least three disadvantages to using an advertising agency.
Advertising Agencies Are Expensive
An advertising agency typically charges a percentage of the total spend on the advertisement, and that percentage can vary depending on factors such as whether or not it is local or national advertisement and whether or not it includes media buying.
The money-saving aspect is when an ad agency recommends cutting costs by reducing the frequency of advertisement, getting rid of the ad campaign or scaling back what it does.
Advertising Agencies Can Lose Creativity over Time
If a business has used an agency for several years, the company will probably start to feel like it can run its ad campaigns by itself.
There are countless businesses that have successfully done just that, but they often forget that the company still needs to spend money on advertising. If a company distances itself too much from an ad agency, it can lose popularity and fail to meet its sales goals.
Advertising Agencies are Subject to Government Regulations
When local or state governments have laws in place intended to protect consumers, those laws can affect what an advertising agency is allowed to do.
For example, the Food and Drug Administration has strict guidelines for producing advertisements that are aimed at children so that they are not falsely advertised.
This does not mean that advertisements are not allowed to be seen by kids, but it does indicate exactly how businesses can advertise to children.
Difference Between Using an Ad Agency & Not Using One
Focus
An advertising agency will try to get you onto their radar, but no one knows your business like yourself.
They may feel they need a more generic strategy that can be tailored for all of the clients in order to help them out and offer something unique on top- which would work well at first because it’s new.
However as time goes by this evolves into an issue where any change implemented needs permission from above (the headshots) before proceeding with certain plans/ideas or else risk losing resources altogether if someone doesn’t like what was planned beforehand due largely since anything could’ve gone wrong while executing such.
Costs
When you hire an advertising agency, your hard-earned money is no longer going directly towards paying for ads. Instead of simply giving them a one time lump sum upfront payment or contract deal as some companies may do with their employees, this service usually requires monthly retainers which can add up quickly if not careful!
But make sure to consider whether hiring has less benefits and more drawbacks than doing it yourself before committing any long term gigs like these so we don’t end up regretting our decision later down the line.
Ethics
Your reputation is the greatest asset you have. When doing your own advertising, it’s important to choose a message carefully and only advertise in places where people are most likely want see what kind of company they’re getting themselves into before making that decision with their money!
Using Freelancers
If you’re looking for a more hands-on approach to marketing, freelancers offer an excellent alternative.
With writers and designers available on demand as needed in any field of expertise from advertising to graphic design there’s no need to hire agencies or pay retainers before getting work done that doesn’t meet expectations.
You can monitor their progress which will give insights into how best we move forward together!
