Are you torn between using a design agency to support your marketing efforts over against attempting to do it yourself or hiring an in-house designer? Well, take courage because you’re not alone!
Having come across many busy marketing managers and business owners facing this challenge we decided to explore what an agency actually is and why hiring a design agency could be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made! Here goes…
Firstly, what is an agency?
You’ve probably heard talk of creative agencies, marketing agencies, design agencies, digital agencies, advertising agencies and the like, but what really is an agency?
Oxford Dictionaries define an agency as:
“A business or organization providing a particular service on behalf of another business, person, or group.”
So what are the benefits of using an agency?
The advantages of hiring a design agency are many and varied – we’ve listed five key ones below:
1) Knowledge & Expertise
It stands to reason that a close-knit team of talented professionals will have greater synergistic strength than a “go it alone” individual. When choosing to work with an agency you’re effectively hiring an entire team of people who bring to the table a wide range of skills, very often supported by decades of combined experience. When it comes to creative expertise, there’s definitely strength in numbers.
2) Creativity
It’s a fact – we’re not all blessed with extraordinary creativity. Not only does a design agency attract some of the most creative people there are, it provides the perfect platform for them to interact, collaborate and bounce ideas off each other. Seriously, when these people get their heads together, sparks of inspiration fly and creative juices really flow! First class creative ideas lead to bigger, better and faster results. For us, great design is about great business.
3) Time Efficiency
Consider this for a minute. Few of us would attempt to service our own car, so what do we do instead? We pay a professional to do it for us. Why’s that? It’s probably not that we’re incapable of learning the skills and obtaining the necessary qualifications to service our own vehicle, but it’s just not worth us investing the time to do so! Put simply, it’s not what we want to be focusing on so we leave it to the professionals. So why should design work (which supports your marketing efforts which in turn helps to achieve your business goals) be any different? We recommend that you leave it to the professionals and free yourself up to focus on your priorities.
4) Reliability
A well-run design agency will have systems and processes in place to ensure that projects run smoothly and are completed on time and within budget. Downtime is another important consideration. An agency doesn’t take time off – they’re available to help you five days a week, (just about) every week of the year. In a nut shell, more people = more creativity, more flexibility, more capacity and more capability. What’s not to like?
5) Value for money
Of course, cost efficiency runs arm in arm with time efficiency. Before deciding to handle your own design work or hiring another member of staff to do it for you, consider the cost implications carefully. If you’re a business owner it’s difficult to put a price on the benefit of being freed up to work on your business rather than in it. And bear in mind that with a design agency you’ll often be able to hire a whole team of experts for less than the cost of one full time employee. With retainer based agreements offering further budgeting and cash flow benefits, hiring an agency is often a no-brainer.
So there we have it – lots of great reasons to seriously consider working with a design agency. Admittedly, we’re biased but we hope you’ll find this article helpful in your decision making process.
If you’re looking for a design agency offering all of the above benefits then please get in touch. We’re blessed with an amazing creative team who care passionately about our clients’ success and would love to help take your marketing to the next level!
Our passion helps to drive your success.
Beneath our relaxed and friendly approach there’s extraordinary dedication and energy which ensures we exceed your expectations, every step of the way.
