The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Perfect Creative Agency
by Joey Serohijos • January 11, 2023
You basically have 7-8 seconds to win customers. If this doesn’t look like a posing problem, well and good. If this made you pause and contemplate, this article just might be for you.
We’ll tell it straight: You need a creative agency.
The competition heavily lies in creativity, even more so now than ever. A creative arm will do the marketing for you in a way that your value as a brand is equaled in your power to attract prospects, whether virtually or physical aisles.
What Is a Creative Agency and What Can They Do for You
A creative agency is a company arm that focuses on deploying marketing strategies matched with creative approaches that are specially designed to fit the business goals.
Depending on your needs, your creative agency can cover these to name a few:
✔ Branding ✔ Creative work ✔ Visual promotion materials ✔ Content creation ✔ Social media ✔ Website design ✔ Mobile apps ✔ Email marketing
Why Is Getting a Creative Agency Important
Getting a creative agency is essentially hiring an expert to execute fundamental initiatives in forwarding your brand to your market. Hiring someone who knows what they are doing delivers results—great results.
While your internal team can handle strategies, the creative agency can translate these into visual messages that will not only attract your audience but also relay your message effectively.
How to Identify the Perfect Creative Agency
Many may be present, but only a few would hit the mark. It is nice to understand that it is not all the time that the best agency in the business is the best one for you, especially if their specialty is not your industry. Here are a few things to be mindful of when identifying which agency fits your brand like a glove:
✔ They have a strong portfolio. An impressive collection of creative samples is crucial. It is a collection that backs up their claims as a brand and how they deliver and is a testament to what their designers can do. A strong portfolio is also imperative since it gives an assurance that what you will require from them will be done in a tasteful fashion.
✔ They are recommended by businesspeople you trust. Ask around colleagues who know agencies that have handled projects in your industry. Chances are, they will be recommending a company that they truly believe in—besides, they probably wouldn’t want to scar their reputation.
✔ They are cost-efficient. The most practical question in this whole journey is, “Can you afford their services?” If so, do you think their rates match the quality of work they provide? It’s not always that the more expensive option offers the best product, so oftentimes, it is wise to do the research.
✔ They are recognized as great employers. When they are known for better business housekeeping, it is a good indicator that they have the best employees – great employers are in demand among top talents in the industry. Plus, their retention rate is pretty high, so you don’t have to slow down in projects when they’re already on a roll.
✔ They get along with you and your team. Among the items listed, this might come across as a minor consideration; however, getting a team that gets along with you provides stronger collaboration and better communication system, which contributes to overall work processes.
Jargons that May Be Helpful to Understand
To fully appreciate the process of choosing your creative agency partner, here are some words that may arise during pitches and discussions:
- Ad banners. These are media that are displayed on a webpage or a downloaded application. These can be static graphics, videos, or rich interactive media. This is the most common form of digital advertising.
- CTA (call to action). This refers to a clickable element in any marketing content. It can be a phrase, button, or graphics that invites your audience to take a certain action.
- Conversion. This refers to each time an ad audience takes action based on the set CTA. Conversions might mean they purchased from your website or are as simple as signing up for your newsletter.
- Paid search. Also known as search advertising, this refers to the placement of your ads within the results page of search engines.
- Reach. This refers to how many people saw your ad. If a person sees your ad ten times, it will only be counted as 1 reach.
- Impressions. This refers to how many times your ads were shown, regardless if it is to the same account/person. If your ad was shown to the same person ten times, that will count as 10 impressions.
Where to Find the Best Creative Agency
You’ve narrowed down to what you’re looking for and you’ve also understood the industry lingo, now the question is, where do you start your search?
Here are our recommendations:
- Referral. In most cases, this will be your best bet. A company that is referred to by a trusted and successful colleague, chances are, they received satisfactory service and are paying it forward by sharing the word.
- Social media. Social platforms are the modern battle ring for advertisements. Found an ad that captured your attention and liking? Try to get who their creative partner is. If they perform well on social media, chance
- Online search. A quick search can lead you to recommendations from different websites. Simply choose a reliable source and start from there. Remember that it is possible that these recommendations are paid for, so try to make extra checks from other online reviews.
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