Jack of all trades, master of none! Came across that one, right? As a matter of fact, many small businesses and startups live this saying. Multitasking is all fun and games until you realize that it is restricting you from tapping into your optimum potential. Imagine running a company, looking into sales, marketing, people management, finance and a million other things. No department will get 100% of your attention and you will just be running from pillar to post endlessly.
A task master ALWAYS delegates smartly!
In today’s cut-throat world, every entrepreneur needs a strong marketing strategy to stand out, and opting for an in-house marketing team can prove to be expensive. It’s fair to say that it all depends on the scale at which you operate. But we can unanimously agree that getting your ducks in a row when it comes to marketing is super important for every business. So, how do you go about building a marketing team? Do you assemble an in-house team from scratch, do you hire freelancers or do you tie up with an advertising agency?
Here’s a simple guide to help you decide.
But let’s understand the terminology first. While a freelancer is an independent individual specializing in one area of expertise — graphic designing, copywriting, or web development; an advertising agency is a group of professionals from respective fields working on a project towards one outcome.
Agency
Freelancer
With that out of the way, let’s start weighing the options.
1. Pick your battles
Being the boss means looking after every aspect of your business. Attending incessant calls from various freelancers will consume a great chunk of your time and leave the other departments feeling left out. On the other hand, one point of contact guarantees a smooth exchange of information to and fro.
So, to be fair, simply choose an agency that keeps you as involved as you need to be.
2. Let your deliverables decide
It makes sense to hire a freelancer if you want a logo design, but when you are seeking a bigger solution, like branding, it’s best to go for an agency, i.e., one team to take care of the logo, the letterheads, the website, the UI/UX, basically everything your business needs.
Tip: Long-term, complicated and multi-layered projects are best achieved via an agency.
3. Don’t derail your budget
Paying in installments is a tricky business. You think it’s easier at first but then, BOOM… one day you sit down and total your expenses only to realize you have exceeded your budget.
As is the case with freelancers, think of each freelancer as an installment. In the process of paying them separately, sometimes extra due to added working hours caused by revisions and delays, you lose track! When an agency allows you to pay for the meal, why pay for your burger, fries and cola separately?
4. No time for Chinese Whispers
It’s much more reassuring to receive a message directly from the sender. All the Chinese Whispers just delay the delivery time and create grounds for ambiguities. Such is the challenge with freelancers. Although, Cialis Cos’è when it comes to an agency, the luxury of inter-team and intra-team communication boosts efficiency, avoids confusion, and promises speed with accuracy.
Now that we have led the proverbial horse (i.e. you) to the water, the choice is yours.
But wait! Don’t pop open your champagne just yet. Even though it’s clear that an ad agency is a better match for your marketing needs, you might still have a demanding task at your hand, aka, which ad agency? Will it be a glorious, fancy big one? Or the one on its accelerating slope of the growth curve?
Here’s a Knock-off
| BIG AGENCIES | GROWING AGENCIES |
| With experience comes set frameworks and a threat of rigidity | Expect innovation, agility and out-of-the-box thinking |
| Bigger the bucks, more the attention; you might get sidelined if your budget is small | Become the top priority; experience a much more personal interaction |
| Too many people working on the project, longer communication chain; delayed delivery | A handful of people giving their heart and soul; faster delivery |
Summing up
In the sea full of fish, we at Thinking Partners, are your bluefin tuna. Having tasted the corporate life and knowing the flavors organizations prefer, we serve an “all under one roof” platter curated to suit your requirements. From research and brainstorming to execution and feedback, experts begin to work on your project to formulate the magic recipe for your success, and ours. We want you to have a lasting impact on your audience, and have one of ours on you.
The fact that you are here itself means that you need a partner to think with; from your lens and your audience’s — someone to make your brand communicate its true essence and to get you the bang for your buck. We have simplified the selection process for you, now leave the complicated bit to us. Let’s collaborate, so we can make your passion project ours, and mutually start escalating up the ladder of success.
To know how we can bring your brand to life, connect with [email protected].