What is a Full-Service Advertising Agency by Definition?
A full-service advertising agency will take care of all of your advertising and promotional needs. With a full-service agency, there’s never a need for outside resources as they can provide all aspects of planning and implementation in-house.
Full-service advertising agencies offer advertising services such as creating, planning to production of the advertisement. Created research of services is performed, media selection, and purchase are typically included as well. Other related services include, content creation, branding, promotional planning, marketing communications, and implementation.
Determining if one should utilize either a full-service advertising agency that uses a team of in-house staff members to complete a job from start to finish can be tricky. While many will advise that going with a boutique Modular agency is your best option, we at Chop Media tend to disagree.
Neither one is better than the other, it is all about getting the optimal result for whatever it is you’re trying to achieve. If you’re in a position where you find that your business is ready to take the next step forward or maybe you’ve become too wrapped up in making the business run that you just don’t have the time to dive deep into the world of advertising. Whatever your reason may be, it is best to search out numerous advertising agencies and find out the one that best suits you.
Our belief is that our clients should be an extension of our family. Comfort is a big thing when it comes to trusting your brand with an advertising agency.
Common Full-Service Advertising Agency Questions
Here are some of the most common questions that we at Chop Media are often asked. When searching for your full-service advertising agency, you might want to find out the answers to these questions:
What types of services do you offer?
While this can be a very broad question for a full-service agency, it is still pertinent to understand exactly what the agency considers when referring to full-service. as previously stated, being full-service doesn’t let you know what you’re getting yourself into. You can view our services here for an example.
What are your advertising strengths?
While most will be able to provide you with a multitude of services, it is important to analyze their strengths to determine which agency would best suit your needs.
Where can you place my advertisement?
From billboards to magazines, television commercials, social media, podcasts, influencers, DA sites, email, radio, mailers, etc. There are many avenues to place an advertisement, with research provided be sure to select the right one that will give you the exposure you’re seeking.
What is the cost and how can I pay?
Some companies use different pricing packages whether it be Project-based fees or Retainer-based fees. Each fee structure has its advantages.
Generally, retainer-based fees focus the entire team on the project giving you a broader range of services. Retainers are great for receiving ongoing support and continual growth for your business. Budgeting is key to retainer-based fees with some companies requiring a minimum of $100,000 or more to even be competitive.
Project-based fees are typically outlined completely with clear a deliverable and services rendered. The timeline for a project-based fee tends to be shorter and once the project has been completed, services will cease being rendered. Projects are best for performing one-time improvements to your business. Whether it is branding or re-branding the company, developing a website, mobile app, or setting up your social media pages, a project typically has a clear goal, defined budget and structured timeline.
How do I stay informed?
Often clients want to stay in the loop as to the happenings of the projects or the current status of a campaign. We encourage our clients to keep in contact and we’re always reaching out keeping our clients up to date. There are agencies that aren’t very responsive and you won’t hear from them until the project has come to it’s conclusion. Constant communication and having a direct point of contact are important factors we take into consideration as should you.
Do you have previous work I can see?
Viewing an agency’s previous work is important when making your selection. Versatility can be important but it is important that you can view work that you deem worthy of your brand. We’ve seen brands work with an agency that doesn’t necessarily match up with their dynamic and as you can imagine, the results were less than desirable. Closely examine the work, make sure you can visualize your company working with the prospective agency. For examples of our work, click here.
Key Factors for a Full-Service Agency
Create: The ability to become fully immersed in the project. We create. The foundation of Chop Media is our ability to create content and not only create content that translates but content that is appealing to both the mind and the eyes. Today is a much more immersive environment and we understand that ideology. Creativity is where the magic happens. Chop Media considers itself a creative agency first and foremost.
Strategize: Without a technically sound game plan the execution will always fall short. No matter how creative and how spectacular a product can be with all the bells and whistles intact, if there isn’t a plan in place to effectively market and advertise the product, it will fail. Having market, media and brand positioning strategies are essential to a successful campaign.
Communicate: You should feel comfortable with the full-service agency you decide to go with. We never want our clients to feel like they can’t call us whenever they feel. An open line of communication is something we strive to uphold. Communication between the product and the consumer should be just as valued. It is important for us to communicate to your customers successfully.
Produce: Print media, digital media, data processing, web development, brand development, results. View samples of previous works and be sure to do a quality control check on the agencies you’re attempting to hire. No matter the amount of services a full-service agency may offer it is important to be able to produce. Never a pixelated image, never a cut-off word, never any downtime or data lost, perfection is important when it comes to production. Everyone is after what we like to deliver, results.
Analyze: Using wide range of marketing tools to deliver the best results to clients fast and efficiently. We like to use visual metrics from multiple data sources that visualize customer engagement, site behavior or ad campaign performance by combining data across all marketing services – from website and landing page performance to email marketing to social media.
Roles of a Full-Service Advertising Agency
- Create advertisement based on product.
- Research and statistical analysis of company and product as well as customer base.
- Media planning to determine where to best place advertisement and for how long.
- Gathering feedback and making changes or adjustments to improve campaign.
Anyone can make ads, print or advertise them on other media outlets, or even manage the accounts. So, what is the purpose of advertising agencies? Here are just some reasons to hire an advertising agency:
- Knowledgeable team and staff that is attentive to your needs.
- Having a multitude of staff members allows for optimal effectiveness when running campaigns.
- Allows business owners to focus on running the business.
- Most agencies have leads to grow your business.
Here Are Four Common Types of Advertising Agencies.
- Full service Agencies
- Usually a larger staffed agency.
- Handles all aspects of projects.
- Various departments provide for vast expertise.
- Gathers complete data and analysis.
- Interactive Agencies
- Advertisements generally placed on modes of communication.
- Online advertisements, SMS on mobile phones, commenting, etc.
- Advertisements are geared towards receiving an interaction by the customer.
- Creative Boutiques
- Usually creative boutiques focus on innovation and creativity.
- Advertisements tend to be conceptually different.
- Smaller in size, creative boutiques staff their agency with in-house designers, directors, copywriters and other creatives.
- Media Buying Agencies
- Specialize in buying and selling places to advertise.
- Determines the amount of time and cost an advertisement will be up.
- Buys slots on television, radio and other media outlets.
- Monitors and tracks the advertisement making sure it is run as well as measuring the impact.
Advertising can be daunting and a nuisance for small business owners, and is why a full-service advertising agency tends to be their best option. Ad agencies that offer a range of services are able to handle every facet of planning and implementing an advertising campaign, leaving business owners to concentrate on running and growing the company.
