Hiring the right ad agency can be really tricky. There are many options out there, many different types of agencies, and it’s difficult to know what you are really getting before you start working with them. In this article, we will give you a complete guide to make sure you hire the right advertising agency for your business.
The advertising industry is huge. The global advertising market size reached $615.2 billion in 2022. It is projected to reach $834.9 billion by 2028.
Major players in the global advertising industry are ad agencies, or as some would call them - advertising companies. Their job is to help businesses get the best possible results out of their advertising efforts. Ad agencies are tasked with coming up with advertising strategies, designing campaigns, creating ads and commercials, and media buying.
But, it’s not easy to find the right agency for your company.
One major problem is that there are too many options. There are nearly 14 000 marketing and advertising agencies in the US alone. They employ close to 200 000 people. Most of them are unknown. There are just too many options to choose from.
Another problem companies have when dealing with agencies is the quality of their work. Let’s be honest, most of the agencies are not very good at what they do. Usually advertising companies are decent at media buying, but when it comes to creative, they usually lack skills. Sometimes the problem is in timely delivery. A lot of agencies are trying to get as many clients as possible while keeping their expenses to a minimum. That way they end up short-staffed, and the quality of work and the timeliness of it suffer.
Lastly, ad agencies can be really expensive. Advertising agencies can charge hourly, give quotes per project, or sometimes ask for retainers. Add on top of that your media buying budget, and you have a huge expense. An advertising agency in the United States can cost anywhere between $100 and $600 per hour.
What if your ad agency was a subscription?
Presnt is a full service ad agency on subscription. We won’t bill you hourly, or per project. Instead, you pay one fixed monthly subscription, and you have an ad agency. With each plan, you get access to all of our services. There is no limit to how much work you can request per month. You get a custom dashboard to request, track, and manage all our work. With a subscription, you end up saving a huge chunk of your budget on agency costs. Plus, you can cancel at any moment.
Not all ad agencies are the same. There are a few different types:
Now that you understand what advertising agencies are, what types are out there, and what they do, let’s get into the details of how to pick the right one for you.
The first step in hiring an agency is understanding your own goals and needs. You have to ask yourself what it is that you actually want to accomplish. What are you hoping to achieve with advertising? Are you launching a new product and you need awareness, or are you looking to grow your sales?
The choice and approach of hiring an ad agency will depend on your goals and needs. For example, if you are just starting out and you need a logo and visual design, hiring a digital advertising agency is not the best choice.
However, if you want a creative ad campaign on Twitter, and you want it to lead to your website in order to drive more sales, then a digital ad agency is a perfect choice for you.
Understanding your own goals, needs, and internal processes will determine what type of ad agency you actually need. Now that you narrowed down your agency type, it’s time for the next step.
When you are trying to hire a top advertising agency for your business, you have to do your due diligence. As we previously mentioned, there are tons of ad agencies available. That’s why it’s quite easy to find a lot of that that fit your type. There are tons of companies that connect businesses like yours with vendors that provide all sorts of services, like advertising. You can also check out ad agency directories to find the right fit for your business. These platforms offer the ability to filter lists based on what’s important to you. Another option is to simply Google terms like “top advertising agencies” and go from there.
Conducting thorough research on available agencies will give you a good idea of what it is that they can do, what industries they work with, what types of clients they serve, and what their customers say about them.
All of this will help you determine if an agency is the right fit for you.
After going through the lists or directories, you want to compile a short list of a few agencies you liked the most. You should already have a decent grasp of what they do and how they can help you. Then it’s time for the next step.
One of the most important things when hiring an agency of any kind is the synergy they will have with your company. That’s why this step is so important. When you meet with agencies on your short list look if they “click” with your business.
A good fit will understand the problems you are struggling with, they will be able to relate it to the previous work they did and how they helped their clients succeed. They will carefully listen to your goals and needs, and offer a solution. You also get a pretty good idea of what kind of people are going to be working on your account.
Big 🚩: If an agency spends most of the time talking about themselves instead of how they can help you solve your problems, the experience of working with them will probably be poor.
You never know what the experience is going to be like and how good they actually are until you start working together. That’s why we enable you to try our agency for free. Activate your free trial with Presnt and become a client for 30 days, completely free of charge.
👉 Click here for a free trial.
Another great way to make sure you choose the right ad agency is to ask for their previous work. Most of the agencies will have their case studies or portfolios ready, or even available on their websites.
You want to look for what sort of challenges they had to deal with, how they overcame them, what solutions they came up with, and what results they managed to achieve. Ideally, these will match your goals and needs.
👉 Check out Presnt’s Case Studies.
Hiring an ad agency can be quite costly. After the meeting with your shortlisted agencies, you should have a full understanding of how much it is going to cost to achieve your goals. As we mentioned before, different ad agencies have different pricing methods. Some will charge you per project, some will charge you hourly, and some will require retainers.
Some media buying agencies will take a cut of your ad spend. It can range anywhere between 3% to 15%. That means if you spend $100 000 on your advertising, a media buying agency can take up to $15k.
The cost will vary depending on the type and size of an agency. Branding agencies can cost anywhere from $20k to $50k in total.
We at Presnt decided to go in a different direction. We really don’t think you should overpay for mediocre advertising. That’s why we charge a fixed monthly subscription to work with us, and you have full access to all our services.
To understand how it’s different than traditional agencies, look at this example:
Whatever agency you end up going with, make sure you understand the costs and the budget you need to achieve your goals. Most agencies will help you formulate the budget you need and plan the spending.
As we said before, there are tons of agencies out there. Options are basically unlimited. This of course means that there will be a lot of shady business going on. It is very easy to start a marketing agency. You don't have to be particularly skilled or good at what you do. In order to not fall victim to any bad actors, here are the things you should watch out for:
🚩 They are not willing to showcase their previous work - This should be a warning sign. If they are good at what they do, and they are confident they can get the job done, there should be no problem sending you a presentation with their portfolio, or displaying it on their website.
🚩 They won't mention clients they worked with - Sometimes, agencies are bound by Non-Disclosure Agreements. If they can't mention client names or show logos, they should at least be able to share the size of the company, their industry, and type of work they did for them.
🚩 They focus on vanity metrics - It is really easy to get 1.5 million impressions on an ad. That's not an impressive result. If they are not mentioning any real business results they achieved for their clients, be weary.
🚩 They talk more than they listen - We mentioned this before, but their main focus should not be on bragging about what they can do. It should be on listening to your needs, and working out the best path forward to achieve your goals.
🚩 They don't offer solutions unique to your business - Every business is different. Companies can have similar goals and needs, but their processes and capabilities will differ. If they don't take a personalized approach to your business, it's a red flag. That's why at Presnt, each client gets a custom dashboard where they can request anything from our services. The dashboard itself can be adjusted to the client's needs.
Finding the right advertising agency is challenging. It can take a lot of time, and a few meetings until you find the right one. It helps to first put down on paper what your goals and needs are. This will help you define what type of agency you need. After that, it will be much easier to look for them. When you shortlist the agencies you liked the most, make sure you meet with them, and understand the team, process, and costs behind your project. Now you are ready to find the right fit for your business.
Stefan is a marketer with 8 years of experience of working with various B2C and B2B brands.
If you want to learn more about how Presnt works, and how we can help you grow your business, click the button below and book a short call.
Presnt is headquartered in: Podgorica, Montenegro.
