What Services Do Advertising Agencies Offer?
Top ad agencies often position themselves as one-stop shops capable of handling much of the marketing and advertising needs of their clients.
But depending on the size of the agency, they might offer a huge variety of services, including everything from web design to social media management and traditional print campaigns.
The core services of many ad agencies include:
- Brand Strategy- The very first step in the branding process, the brand strategy involves defining positioning, messaging, and a brand’s unique differentiating factors.
- Naming- Naming is one of the most fundamental elements of branding. Naming strategies may be done for brand new businesses or those looking to pivot in a new direction.
- Brand Identity- A full set of assets and standards, including logo, typography, color palettes, core messaging, and packaging if applicable.
- Creative- Creation of marketing and advertising assets across media, from TV ads to radio spots, banner ads, and billboards.
- Media Buying- Media buying entails placement and positioning of creative according to a strategy designed to target the client’s desire audience of consumers.
- Integrated Marketing Campaigns- Creation and management of branding campaigns executed in a variety of channels.
What Are The Different Types Of Advertising Agencies?
Modern advertising encompasses many platforms, channels, and objectives. Therefore, there are several types of advertising companies.
These include:
- Full-service advertising agency
- Traditional ad company
- Branding agency
- Design agency
- PR advertising company
- Digital advertising agency
- Advertising & marketing agency
- Media buying and planning agency
- Promotional agency
- And more!
21 Questions To Ask Before Hiring An Ad Agency
- How will you analyze our audience to determine their wants and needs?
- What is the process for creating a beautiful yet effective campaign?
- How do team members plan to transform their design aesthetics and modern trends to fit our brand identity naturally?
- What projects have you worked on that solve a similar problem or reach a comparable goal to our business?
- What campaigns have you created and what was their success?
- How will you determine the goals we need to achieve?
- What tools and metrics will you use to measure the results of the campaign? How often will you track the goals?
- If a campaign is not performing as expected, what is your process or plan to get the project back on track?
- What is the structure of the creative team?
- Who is each member of the team and what is their expertise?
- What will each member contribute to the campaign?
- Will these team members be dedicated to our campaign or working on other projects?
- Do you create consistent teams that can continually work with a client on multiple projects or do you create them uniquely for each project?
- Do you charge a flat rate fee or per hour?
- What team members are we “paying” for in our cost?
- How does the pricing for long-term partnerships differ from individual campaigns?
- Do any elements or results factor into the final cost of a campaign?
- What areas of advertising are the most lucrative right now?
- How do you see the advertising industry changing over the next 5 years?
- How do you plan to keep up with those changes?
- How will you create a long-term campaign that will evolve with changing trends?
How To Choose The Top Advertising Agency To Promote Your Brand
Have A Vision
A top advertising agency should be able to provide you with innovative campaign ideas and creatives ways in which to execute them to achieve the best results.
However, you should go into any meeting with a potential partner with some ideas of your own. Before you choose an ad agency, have a vision for where you want your brand to go.
Do Your Homework
Be proactive in gathering information about the best advertising agencies, their previous clients, their successful (or unsuccessful) campaigns, and the emerging trends or elements you’re interested in incorporating into your own campaign.
Not every agency will be forthcoming, so rely on yourself to get the information you need to stay in-the-know.
Understand Company Culture
Although clientele and work experience are important, an agency’s company culture will tell you a lot about the employees they attract, their workflow and process, and whether or not they will be able to adapt to your brand identity throughout the course of a campaign.
Take note -- particularly during in-person meetings and pitches -- of their workspace and the employees around. Do they look like they are inspired, hardworking and enjoying their time at the agency? Chances are, if they align with your business’s beliefs and are upheld, you’ll be able to strike up a positive working relationship.
Know Their Talent Pool
When you enlist the help of an advertising company, you aren’t really hiring the company -- you’re hiring their talent pool. Therefore, it’s critical to recognize exactly who will be working with your brand and what they bring to the table.
Request potential team members’ names, previous experience, area of expertise and prior campaigns during the screening process. This will determine the growth and innovation that the best advertising agency as a whole can foster, potentially increasing its worth.
What Is The Biggest Ad Agency In The World?
There are many big-name advertising companies around the world, such as Wieden+Kennedy and Digitas.
However, bigger doesn’t always equal better for every brand.
Instead, the best ad company for your business will be the one that has experience solving similar problems, can adapt to your brand, and can place your business in front of valuable consumers and drive revenue growth effectively – no matter their size.
Find the right ad agency for your brand in the agency listings above!
