Did you know that the total U.S. ad expenditure has exceeded $250 billion? However, if you look at the industry, you will find it fragmented. Digital channels are increasingly dominating, the channels for marketing spend, and earning scopes are getting varied than expected. This is why it is imperative for brands to understand when they need to shift their focus in response to the need for marketing and get expertise across all channels.
The one-size fits all agency model is almost a thing of the past. Small, boutique digital marketing agency is what is getting increasingly in demand specially in the advertising environment as clients move away from the “agency of record” model but is more interest in more project-based work.
What makes the boutique digital agencies a trusted one?
Personalized, expert attention
Large agencies are mostly equipped to serve large accounts, however, what they may not be able to deliver is the nuanced, personalized attention which the smaller or mid sized clients look for in the specialized projects. This is when the boutique agencies come in and are in a unique position to provide individualized, efficient and expert service to all clients. It is not uncommon for large agencies to make a pitch to the small-to-medium-sized client when they get hold of small accounts. But that can breed inefficiency and also be disastrous in terms of data-sensitivity. Whereas, when the smaller, experienced staff takes care of the projects, it means that top talent touches all accounts. So, companies can actually talk to the CMO or CEO during the onboarding and sales process, and can throughout benefit as long as the engagement continues.
Flexibility and responsiveness
Lack of responsiveness is often one of the biggest complaints which the small to mid-sized businesses speak about when working with the big digital marketing agencies. In a traditional agency, it is at times overwhelming to move the elements of a given campaign and make an impasse through standard channels punctually. The bottom line? No one likes to take ownership of project workflow in big companies which affect the result. Small agencies understand this and knows how to develop close relationships with client touch points. Also, being a close knit team, they can make everyone involved in managing the accounts holistically. Overall, in small boutique agencies, you will never feel the miss of the human component.
Individualized attention and focused expertise
It might seem we are overstating but the importance of the individualized attention can add a lotof value for each client. Boutique agencies have fewer clients than the bigger agencies. This gives them the scope to pay more attention to each and every client more thoroughly. Also, this helps to build skills in specific verticals which makes them perfect to run campaigns. No matter how much hyper-local campaigns you are running, no one can handle it better than the boutique digital marketing agency.
Price
Big agencies will most definitely have big overheads. This will include everything from the cost of office space, employee benefits, salaries and perks along with the cost of the industry tools and technology. Similarly, the sales and on boarding process will also be much expensive for large agencies and will generally look for a commitment that can go on for a minimum time period of six months or more. With boutique agencies, there can be smaller clients for shorter time periods and even payable at hourly rates.
Transparency
Clients that work with large agencies will not always get the details of where all their money is going. Even though there will be analytics available for the digital ad spends, there will always be some intangible factors which will never be seen on paper, for instance the ones that goes into cost of development, media planning, and deployment.
Unless you’re working with a boutique agency, these costs will be there forever because they will have almost all parts itemized and reported on that can help you know the worth.
Fostering transparency between the client/agency relationships can be done when you are working with Top It Marketing. Visit https://www.topitmarketing.com/ to find out more.
