Did you know that there are currently more than 25,000 marketing companies in the United Kingdom? Ranging from large, fully fledged full-service agencies down to niche, specialised few staffed start-ups. But is bigger always better?…
Having a large digital marketing agency that can do video, animation, Facebook and Google ads all whilst spinning 10 plates and singing their jingle is a very attractive prospect. However, are these big agencies just performing a massive copy-paste across their clients and getting the tasks done mindlessly?
Or are they putting in the extra hours, tweaking and re-tweaking each thing they’re doing, making sure it’s right for your company?…possibly not.
As much as having the big budgets with multiple teams is a luxury, often with bigger agencies things can very quickly get over complicated. With this assistant and that executive who has to feed back to their manager, who has to take a trip around the world, stop off at the water cooler for a 30 minute chat and then log in for your email to get answered…it can all be quite stressful and time consuming.
Smaller agencies don’t have these problems. Often the team is tight knit, well-organised and has open communication with each other so that everyone knows what the deal is. The processes are clear and thought-out, with a regular schedule and responsibilities between the team to make sure that everything gets done on time, and gets done right.
Normally in smaller agencies, there are 1 or 2 people working on all of your tasks, so you always get that familiar face to be in touch with. This means you can build up a relationship and have peace of mind that they will deliver, as well as being upfront and honest.
If a post is a bit off, a small team will jump on it and fix it quickly before anyone notices, whereas in a big company that gets inundated with mail, that message might not get noticed for a day or two, at which point it’s a bit late!
Bigger agencies might also have a strict set of services they offer and how they do them, and may even say to you “this is how we’re doing it” even if it goes against what you really want. (Remember that copy-pasting we talked about earlier…)
Plus, small agencies that you choose to work with will most likely be local, which means you’re helping and supporting your neck of the woods succeed and thrive, instead of filling up some business mogul’s back pocket in a capital city. Bonus points there.
There’s also the possibility that an agency will work together with other smaller agencies to create a network, meaning depending on the situation, you’ll be supporting multiple small agencies around different local areas and reaping all the benefits. Double bonus points!
To close off, think about this phrase that we came across not too long ago coincidentally:
“Small enough to care, big enough to deliver.”
Next time you’re looking for a specialty digital job that you’re not quite sure you can tackle on your own, consider some of the smaller options out there. You might just be surprised at what you get back.
Click here to get in touch with us today and find out what we can do for you in terms of your digital strategy and online presence!
