If your business is in need of design services, a creative agency may be the best fit for you. Keep reading to learn about the benefits of hiring a creative agency over a graphic designer.
When your business or organization is in need of a new logo, a new website—really any new art or design element—you probably automatically think about searching for a graphic designer or design firm that you can hire for the project. This is an obvious choice when you don’t already have in-house graphic designers. But graphic designers and design-specific firms are not your only option, and may not be the right choice depending on your needs.
Whenever you are thinking about outsourcing graphic design work, you should also consider contracting with a full-service creative agency. Here we’ll take a look at the differences between the two options, some of the key functions and services offered by each, and a few of the reasons why creative agency services might provide more benefits for your company.
Comparing Graphic Design Services to Creative Agency Services
To get started, let’s talk about what services a graphic designer will be able to provide. As mentioned above, you can always work with a graphic designer when your company needs a new logo. Maybe you’re launching a new brand within your company, or your latest product launch needs a proper logo. You may also need packaging designs for the product, or web design for a whole new website that establishes your brand. In all of these cases, a graphic designer can be a very helpful and valuable partner. These are only a couple of examples, though; if your company needs new art or design elements, a graphic designer can be a terrific choice.
A creative agency, however, can offer your business a much more robust list of services. They will almost always have graphic designers as part of their team, of course, but your project may benefit from a number of additional services that a creative agency provides. For example, you may not only need design; your product, brand, or business may benefit from a true brand exploration. From taglines to television commercials, brand identity to audience research, and more, creative agencies can combine a host of critical brand and creative functions to help your business make the biggest impact.
What are the Most Valuable Creative Agency Services?
This is a tricky question, because your company’s needs may be completely different from project to project. But among the broad array of services offered, there are a few that might be considered particularly important for almost any company. These include:
Brand, Content, and Social Media Strategy
Whether you are getting ready to launch a new product or a new ad campaign, creative agencies have a number of resources including creative directors, marketing strategy experts, and more that can help your brand and your business reach your target audience.
Performance Monitoring and Analytics
You’ve got to know how well your efforts are doing, and many creative agencies include people dedicated to monitoring campaign performance and providing you with detailed reporting.
Design and Content Creation Services
While a graphic designer can provide the design skills we mentioned above (and others), a creative agency will be able to offer much more. From blogging to video production to social media content (influencers, anyone?) and more, you’ll be able to get all of the multimedia deliverables you need from a full-service creative agency that includes copywriters, art directors, project managers, user experience experts, and so on.
Media Buying and Ad Spend Services
An incredibly valuable service, especially for smaller companies, is that of media buying, budget monitoring, and ad placement services. Many creative agencies will also be able to help you plan and execute a full campaign across any and all media outlets, and provide you with insight and tracking of the campaign’s performance as well.
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Are There Different Types of Creative Agencies to Choose From?
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for your company’s accounting or HR needs, right? The same is true of creative agencies. There are countless options available, including different types of agencies and different services they offer.
Full-service creative agencies or marketing agencies will likely offer all of the services we covered above, as well as many more. A digital creative agency will usually be dedicated to managing the strategy, implementation, and reporting of any digital advertising efforts. Graphic design agencies will be heavily focused on graphic design services and design projects, but with select additional capabilities. And an advertising agency or specialty ad agency may specialize in messaging, strategy, and execution while subcontracting for the graphic and digital design components.
Again, depending on what your company needs, one or more of these types of creative agencies may be the right partner to work with. Fortunately, there are several agencies in each category that can provide you with outstanding results.
Hiring and Getting Started with a Creative Agency
Before you choose a creative agency to hire, there are a few steps you can take to help make the choice easier.
First, ask what your project, product, or brand really needs, and then gather input from your marketing team and PR staff. This will help you determine what type of creative agency to search for and will get you started on planning and strategy.
Then, put together a list of great questions to ask as you meet with creative agencies. For instance, “What is your experience in our industry?” or “Have you worked with businesses like ours before?” give you a sense of their knowledge and experience working with your field. Asking about past projects that they have worked on and that they are proud of will give you an insight into their capabilities, as well as areas where they truly shine.
Specific to your partnership, you should also find out if there will be one person managing your account, or several. Finding out who to contact and how to get a hold of them will be an important piece of any collaboration.
One of the more interesting and informative questions is to ask creative agencies about a time they were unsuccessful with a client or campaign. Their response will help you understand how they respond to difficult projects or situations, and what adjustments they make when something is not working the way it should.
These are just a few examples, and you can probably think of several other questions that will help you pinpoint the right creative agency to work with. Your questions will also be stronger when you have spent time organizing your needs, your strategy, your goals, and any other information you can provide.
Next Step: Get Creative
As you can see, there are distinct differences between hiring a graphic designer and hiring a creative agency for your small business, startup, or brand. While there is some overlap in what each offers, creative agencies have many more services they can provide and as a result a larger potential impact. And with the different types of creative agencies to choose from, there will almost certainly be a great partner available to help you make the biggest splash possible.