Which Agency is right for you?

Agency 'A' or Agency 'B'?

There are nuances between agencies, each offering slightly different skill sets, solving different kinds of customer challenges.

In recent discussions with clients, prospects and also at events it has been interesting to articulate where Digital Creative sits, what we do and what our core strengths are.

In this post I thought it would be prudent to articulate the answers as you can get confused with the different agency types around… To help you find the right partner and to help you assess if Digital Creative is the right partner for you I’m going to dissect the Design landscape and look at the types of agencies, the services they offer and the types of clients they typically partner with.

Advertising Agency

Advertising Agencies focus on promotion, therefore supporting the concept, creation and management of campaigns; whether it be for TV, Radio, print, online.

Service offering:

  • Content Creation – photography, content, design
  • Media Planning – across all targeted mediums
  • Impact Analysis – results and optimisations

Advertising Agencies can work with a multitude of business types, large and small.

Branding Agency

Branding Agencies focus in on the origination, creation and launching (as well as re-launching) of brands, whether it be a product or a service. Their primary goal is to convey an organisation’s DNA in order to help them connect with their target audiences, maintaining consistency and impact in order to build trust – driving positive cognitive responses.

Service offering:

  • Market research – competitor analysis, core proposition base, DNA
  • Brand planning – Architecture and Identity
  • Design – brand assets across all mediums
  • Advertising – cut-through campaigns that spread the word

Branding Agencies work with businesses of all sizes but their engagement typically occurs in three stages of an organisations roadmap.

  1. Start-Ups – starting from scratch and need substance and stand out to go to market
  2. Mis-alignment – the organisation has evolved, but the brand is years behind
  3. Plateaued – the business has stalled and needs and injection of some new to get it restarted

SEO/Copywriting Agency

Copywriting Agencies focus purely on content creation. Their core goal is to drive engagement through posts, case studies, thought leadership pieces, whitepapers, digital downloads and more. The content is tailored and structure in a way that it drives conversion.

Service offering:

  • Content Creation – copy, images, ebooks, newsletters
  • SEO

Copywriting Agencies can work direct or through other agencies but can be valuable to businesses of any size.

Creative Design Agency

A Creative Design Agency offers a broader mix of disciplines across marketing, advertising, strategy as well as design.

Service offering:

  • Strategic planning for brand, content, marketing, socials and advertising
  • Content Creation for blogs, case studies, copy, photography, video, presentations, brand, websites
  • Ongoing Communications – PR and Marketing

Creative Design Agencies usually partner with large organisations that have the budgets to invest in more complex and longer term design programmes.

Digital Agency

Digital Agencies partner with you typically to increase traffic, generate new inbound leads and engage new prospects via your website, email or social media. They assess your business plan and objectives and implement strategies accordingly.

Service offering:

  • Content Creation – images, videos, posts across multi-channel distribution
  • SEO – links and content optimisation
  • Email Marketing – targeted campaigns and promotions
  • Social Media – building audience trust
  • Website Design – building simple journeys that convert more leads

Digital Agencies typically work with SMEs. Businesses that are too small to recruit in-house, but need a proactive focus on lead generation.

Digital Marketing Agency

Digital Marketing Agencies focus on the end-to-end funnel experience therefore linking a variety of disciplines together from brand roots and origination, through to ongoing promotional campaigns.

Service offering:

  • Market research
  • SEO
  • Content Creation – video, image, graphics, copy
  • Campaign Management
  • Email Marketing
  • Events
  • Media Planning
  • Media Buying
  • PR
  • Website Design
  • Web Development

Digital Marketing Agencies partner across industries and business types but usually engage in the larger enterprise space where the budgets are available.

PR Agency

PR Agencies (Public Relations) typically manage reputations – controlling the message to the public about the brand, its values and its associations.

Service offering:

  • Media relations (traditional print and digital)
  • Social Media management
  • Influencer Marketing
  • Experiential events
  • Exhibition Management
  • Press Launches
  • Promotional events (sampling etc)
  • Campaign Management
  • Crisis Management (e.g. Product recalls, factory closures etc)

PR Agencies tend to work with businesses of all sizes as they have strong relationships with the media and understand how to pitch stories/ideas that gain coverage.

Product Design Agency

A Product Design Agency, in a digital sense, focus on creating software products that solve key business challenges. They manage the entire product design process, from origination through to development and delivery.

Service offering:

  • Product Design – concept evaluation, design, wireframing, prototyping, MVPs, final build
  • UX Research – audit and research

Product Design Agencies work across Industries as well with Start-ups and Enterprise clients.

Software Development Agency

Software Development Agencies typically focus on solving specific business challenges through the development of custom software solutions. They cover a range of areas from desktop and mobile to web-based and cloud. The end solutions can be large or small and can be at the centre of another businesses core proposition, like a SaaS product.

Service offering:

  • Software Development – web apps, hybrid, native, Spa
  • Dev Ops – IT operations management
  • Digital Transformation – process analysis and optimisation
  • Quality Assurance – testing strategy and automation
  • Continuous Deployment & Integration – automation services

Software Development Agencies work with businesses of all sizes and industries. Their skillset in technology is relevant to every business in the modern day world.

Social Media Agency

Social Media Agencies focus on driving revenue for businesses through lead generation, using only Social Media platforms.

Service offering:

  • Content Creation – videos, imagery, copy
  • Media platform management
  • Pay Per Click (PPC) – Facebook, Google Ads, Instagram etc.

Social Media Agencies usually partner with smaller businesses where there is typically no internal resource but realise there is a need for a voice in niche or local markets.

UX/UI Design Agency

UX/UI Design Agencies focus on the development of intuitive and accessible brand experiences. They structure products/services and other complex information into digestible, meaningful journeys that connect with your users.

Service offering:

  • Branding – identity, origination, ideation
  • UX/UI Design – web apps, mobile apps
  • Website Design – websites, landing pages

UX/UI Design Agencies work across Industries as well with Start-ups and Enterprise clients.

Digital Creative

Digital Creative is not your ‘A’ typical Design Agency. We’re a balanced hybrid blend of the critical skills that are needed in the here and now. We design captivating Brand Identities and deliver dynamic Digital Experiences for innovative organisations, entrepreneurs and enterprises alike.

We’re hands on experienced professionals who work directly on your projects and products. We’re the experienced in-house team that simply work remotely in your business. We don’t delegate or hand over, we come with a team that can deliver for you.

Our services:
  • Branding
    • Discovery
    • Strategy
    • Research and Positioning
    • Personality and Tone of Voice
    • Brand Identity
    • Palette and Image
    • Typography
    • Illustration and Graphics
    • Brand Collateral
    • Guidelines and Brand Books
  • User Experiences
    • UX and Market Research
    • Information Architecture
    • Wireframes
    • UX Design
    • UI Prototypes
    • SaaS Product Design
    • Product Redesign
    • Feature Design
    • Add Ons and Extensions

Our partners

We partner with businesses of all sizes, from Start-ups to Enterprises. Typically if you don’t have a specialised internal design team, or you have a blocked roadmap then we can step in and help bridge the gap.

If you need Branding expertise or need to transform your User Experiences, then we want to hear from you! 

Get in touch or call +44 1491 913 873. Let’s get this conversation started!