What is The Structure of a Full-Service Advertising Agency?

Advertising agencies always have a knack for meeting industry needs and evolving with technology. They are among the most efficient companies that will handle clients’ advertising, marketing, and promotional requirements, using the latest and most appropriate strategy and technology.

Still, the structure of these firms has mostly remained the same throughout the years and will only differ slightly. Whether we’re talking about small agencies or large agencies, they more or less will have main divisions that are responsible for running the company cogs. In this article, we’ll go through the essential division functions and discuss some notable mentions that have taken center stage in the world of advertising.

Basic Divisions in an Ad Agency

Account Managers

When looking at the basic structure of a full-service advertising agency, you will generally have your account services teams that will manage relationships with existing and new clients. In the case of larger companies, you may find account executives, assistants, and directors. Typically, these teams develop overall advertising strategies to help clients achieve their advertising goals.

Apart from this, these teams will also be more or less responsible for holding creative briefs or meetings that help creative teams perform their jobs the best. These briefs usually include client background information, main advertising objectives, target audience identification, and other facts/metrics/insights that will get the project more familiar with the customer, i.e., help with advertising and marketing tasks. Creative briefs typically include a set of specific deliverables and a deadline by which the teams have to “deliver” or achieve the set advertising goals.

Once this is over, account managers will usually stay involved in the project, serving as a link between creative teams and clients to settle any arising issues and ensure that the clients are satisfied with the direction the creative team is taking.

Creative Teams

These are the groups who actually develop the products, such as advertisements and marketing materials. Whether clients are looking for traditional print campaigns, television, radio, or digital marketing, the creative teams are the driving force behind the actual marketing material that will help the client achieve their goals.

Depending on the company, a creative team may consist of copywriters who create the right message and a designer or art director where experts develop the design and the look of the deliverables. There’s also a production department that takes both of these to the final stage.

Needless to say, no matter which creative team we’re talking about within the department, they have to ensure that the predefined deliverables are entirely in line with the client’s brand, visual identity, and needs, but still be able to bring something new to the table that will be able to “shake up” the client’s brand and raise awareness among target audiences.

Depending on the client’s wishes and the agency’s expertise, creative teams may use different layouts, storyboards, content, imagery, and video material for the client to review. Clients may even meet up with the account manager and creative teams for several brainstorming sessions to achieve the perfect blend of brand recognition and innovativeness to ensure that long-time brand ambassadors and new prospects alike will be able to identify with the client’s ad campaigns.

Media Specialists

In an agency structure, you will have media specialists who are responsible for selecting the proper media channels for each project and client. More often than not, this “channel selection” will start with the media experts learning the client’s details and their services and products. They will perform an in-depth market competitive analysis and will also study current media trends.

These professionals will closely examine past strategies to see what works best when trying to get the message out. These teams will also consider the client’s advertising budget and will aim to bring the most out of said budget while working within those parameters. Media specialists take care of short- and long-term media plans, promotion schedules, media buying, and monitoring.

Knowing specific budget limitations, media teams may also work closely together with creative teams to help them establish specific guidelines when creating campaigns and marketing products.

Another important aspect of these teams is their expertise in understanding the right media outlets for each client. While the creative team’s design and slogan may be truly revolutionary, if it’s placed in the wrong medium, it can go unnoticed or may evoke the wrong response. In the arena of digital marketing and running online campaigns, media experts are taking lead roles in several areas and are often called differently as well, and we will get to that in a second.

Traditional Advertising Structures

There are three basic sections that come with their own set of specialties and roles within a given creative agency. While the standard model might not work for all agency types (which you will see below), it tackles the essentials:

• A team of experts who are keeping in touch with existing clients and acquiring new ones, such as sales or client services.

• A marketing department responsible for setting up promotional campaigns and marketing strategies defined by the client’s needs and budget.

• Experts who create the deliverables and ensure that the client achieves their media goals.

Digital Marketing Agency Structure

Usually, you’ll have the founder at the organization’s top who will oversee essential company aspects such as team productivity and work culture. In smaller full-service teams, founders may also double as financial experts and quality control specialists. Larger agencies will often have directors to oversee the work of different departments as well as in-house marketing experts performing specific activities.

Because of the intricate nature of digital marketing, several important positions should be highlighted in contrast to standard advertising structures to understand just how complex things can be in the digital arena.

Marketing Strategists

As the name implies, these experts manage the overall digital strategy, creating marketing plans and budget allocation. They deeply understand how different digital channels work, what target audiences are looking for, and the overall impact of a well-designed digital ecosystem.

Data Analysts

They help interpret strategy KPIs and other key metrics that showcase whether the current campaign is running optimally or needs refinement. They can also create comprehensive reports from the pulled data.

Developers

The development team is responsible for building your website and coming up with unique digital solutions, whether it’s a custom WordPress development or unique web application development.

Web Designers and Graphic Designers

These experts will design how your website or web app looks and create stunning visuals that represent your brand. Web designers often develop unique brand design languages and entire branding identities. They play critical roles in creating how a brand feels and looks, working with content specialists and strategists to find the best visual representation of a company’s vision, mission, and voice.

SEO Experts

These are the professionals who specialize in helping your website and brand become visible to your target audiences. Handling keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building, these experts ensure that search engines will rank your website and content higher, making it easier to reach your audiences.

Content Marketing Specialists

They are those who forge the client’s content strategy, creating the most inviting copy, site content, blogs, infographics, and other digital material that will help a business with online visibility, building credibility and reliability on the way.

Social Media Managers

These experts take care of social media and all related tasks, spanning from creating content for social channels to managing engagement on these channels, often also doubling as customer support in some instances. Social media managers optimize clients’ social profiles, develop social marketing campaigns, use social tools, and continually strive to create meaningful relationships with users through engagement.

Paid Media Experts

PPC specialists do digital advertising, planning, and running paid media campaigns using different platforms like Facebook Ads and Google AdSense. They will often work with social media experts and content specialists to ensure that the social media ad strategy is optimized and that the ad copies align with the client’s advertising needs.

Project Managers

In essence, project managers are the link that connects everything. They ensure that the project is efficient and cohesive, ensuring all deadlines are met, and quality guidelines are upheld. They also work as mediators between clients and other teams, trying to find the golden mean between client requests, budgetary limitations, and team capabilities.