Advertising Agencies
Advertising is a powerful tool to reach your target audience and grow your business. It's almost a given that all businesses, regardless of their size, will need to use some form of advertising to elevate their growth.
Have you been wondering how to get ahead inadvertising? Perhaps you’re a new business that’s looking to start exploring the best advertising options available to you in your local area, or you could be an established business wanting to gain a fresh perspective on your current advertising techniques.
Whatever it is you’re looking to do, you’re in the right place.
We’ve covered all the important information you need to find and hire the best advertising agency for your business.
But firstly, let’s recap.
What is advertising?
Advertising is a promotional activity that is used to influence consumer behaviour by persuading them to purchase your products or services. The goal of advertising for businesses is to attract more customers and increase sales.
Who is advertising for?
Advertising is for any business that wants results to accelerate its marketing activities. When done effectively, advertising is a way that businesses can reach customers quicker, generate more sales, promote the business and stay ahead of competitors.
What are the benefits of hiring an advertising agency?
In an increasingly competitive market where consumers want to know why they should choose your products or services over a gazillion other brands, hiring an advertising agency can give you a competitive edge. Here are just some of the benefits of hiring an advertising agency:
- Access to expertise and professional recommendations for your business
- Develop unique campaigns to compete with competitors
- Time and cost-effective
- Develop consistency throughout your brand
As a small business, it can be overwhelming to think about the best ways to tackle advertising and get your business out there in your target market. Working with an advertising agency can give you an upper hand in promoting your business.
What is an advertising agency?
An advertising agency is a team of advertising professionals who are trained in how to plan, create and execute advertisements for your particular business. With a team of people who are experts in particular industries or areas of advertising, an advertising agency knows when, where and how adverts should be delivered to reach your target audience and sell your products or services.
That’s the general gist of an advertising agency, but when you look more closely there are various types of ad agencies you can work with.
What are the different types of advertising agencies?
When you start looking for advertising, you may come across several types of agencies. We’ve broken them down here:
A full-service ad agency does what it says on the tin. It has a full team of experts to cover a comprehensive range of services in both digital and traditional advertising channels.
Who is a full-service ad agency for?
Whatever it is you want to achieve with advertising, a full-service agency has got your back.
A traditional agency works predominantly with traditional media forms such as print, television, newspapers and radio.
Who is a traditional ad agency for?
Traditional agencies are best suited to businesses who want to target a local audience via offline advertising channels such as print, radio and TV.
A digital ad agency specialises in advertising in the digital realm, including SEO, social media marketing, email marketing and marketing automation. A digital ad agency may have some knowledge of traditional advertising, but the online world is their jam. A digital ad team usually consists of online ad specialists, graphic designers, content specialists and web developers.
Who is a digital ad agency for?
A digital ad agency is best suited to businesses that want to target a niche or harder-to-reach audience due to the advanced targeting capabilities of digital channels. A digital agency is also a great option for companies who are looking to build their overall online presence.
- Public relations (PR) ad agency
A PR agency manages the public image and reputation of a business. They will focus on getting appropriate and relevant content featured in the public domain, e.g news, blogs and websites to increase or improve the public awareness of a brand or business.
Who is a PR ad agency for?
A PR ad agency is a great option for enterprise-level businesses who want to focus on elevating the awareness of their brand, particularly for businesses who are regularly in the public view.
Social media ad agencies focus on all things social media. The team will have the expertise to advertise on all social channels, and they may also have experts in single channels like Facebook and Instagram. As well as social media ad experts, they may also have content producers, a creative team and photographers.
Who is a social media ad agency for?
Social media ad agencies are a great fit for businesses who have a clear objective such as selling a particular product through a social media platform.
A creative ad agency focuses on branding and graphic design for a range of collateral including logos, print materials and business cards. A creative ad agency team usually consists of creatives who look after design and strategists who look after the strategy and execution.
Who is a creative ad agency for?
A creative ad agency is well suited to businesses who want to create new marketing and advertising collateral or businesses who want to refresh their materials to create a cohesive look throughout their brand.
A media buying ad agency specialises in planning and buying media for specific channels, such as a television station, blog or magazine. They establish time frames, estimate budgets, negotiate the price and identify the best target markets and ad placements. A media ad agency typically works with an advertising agency once they’ve designed a campaign to determine the most effective place for the ad to reach the target audience.
Who is a media buying agency for?
A media buying agency is for businesses that only need to use a single advertising channel.
What services are offered by advertising agencies?
Regardless of the type of advertising agency you hire, all agencies cover these core areas:
- Research
An advertising agency will work with you to gather and analyse information relating to your business and your products/services. This might include competitor analysis, your position in the market, customer preferences, audience demographics, features of your product/service, etc. - Planning
The planning stage is when an agency uses research and analysis to carefully plan advertising strategies and/or campaigns. The research is essential in determining which channels will be most effective for a particular campaign. An agency determines the key objectives and outcomes of a strategy/campaign in the planning stage. - Creation
The creation stage is when the plan is put into action and brought to life through copywriting, videos, graphics and other creative media. The team combines creativity and strategy and may produce variations and alternatives of a campaign. - Media selection
Media selection is really important as it affects the impact and the cost of advertising. During this process, an agency evaluates which combination of media channels will be most effective in terms of cost and target audience exposure. - Budgeting
A good agency will ensure that your spending is as cost-effective as possible by allocating the right budget to the different areas of a campaign. They’ll evaluate and provide an estimate of exactly where your funds will go and the expected ROI. - Coordination
Advertising agencies coordinate the launch of a campaign right the way through until the end. An agency ensures that the timing for a campaign launch and the content delivered to align with your business and your consumers.
How do I hire the best advertising agency for my business?
When hiring an advertising agency, it’s important to hire an agency that can share and work towards your vision. At the same time, a good agency should be able to offer their expertise in a way that can give you a fresh perspective and on what successful advertising could look like for your business.
Here are some key considerations to hire the best advertising agency for your business:
- Get clear on your goals as a business
- Research and review case studies
- Make sure they measure results
- Ensure the advertising agency understands your goals
- Determine a budget together
How much do advertising agencies charge in Australia?
Advertising fee structures vary depending on the type of campaign, media outlets, campaign duration, integrated services, etc. Generally, advertising fees are broken as follows:
- Service fees
Agencies charge a set hourly fee for account management, creating adverts, buying media, etc. They also charge a markup or handling charge on the services they buy in, such as hiring a photographer to shoot the images for a campaign. A service fee reflects all work that’s been done by the agency and is billed at the end of the set period. - Project fees
A project fee is a fixed fee that covers all costs and time needed for a specific project or campaign work. Unlike service fees, this is an agreed fee set prior to commencing any work. - Commission fees
Agencies sometimes charge a percentage of the money spent on media such as newspapers which reflects the time and money it costs to create and administer a campaign. - Combined structure fee
A combined structure is a mixture of service, project and commission fees based on the advertising result such as an increase in sales or leads generated.
Are you ready to hire an advertising agency? Tell us about your business and we’ll help you find the best advertisers specialised in your industry. You can also compare our range of offers onadvertising software and tools, which have been curated with small businesses in mind.
