Should you hire one full-service agency or separate specialists?
One full-service agency usually gives you one accountable contact and one report, but it may be less deep in any one channel, and more of your marketing sits with one company. Separate specialists can go deeper in a single channel, but someone has to coordinate them. Either way, keep one lead list with a source on every lead and every account in your name. Specialists suit a business where one channel dominates or someone in-house coordinates.
The trade-off in one table
Neither is better in every case. The related answer on what a marketing agency does lists full-service among the kinds, and the one on hiring a freelancer or an agency compares one person with a team in the same way.
| One full-service agency | Separate specialists | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is accountable | One contact for the whole picture | Each answers for its own channel; someone in your business answers for the whole |
| Reports | Often one report | One each, which you may have to combine yourself |
| Depth | May be less deep in any single channel | Often deeper in the channel each one does |
| Your time | Usually less coordination | More briefing, meetings and chasing |
| Leaving | One handover, but more of your marketing sits in one place | Smaller handovers, one at a time |
What can go wrong with several providers
These problems can appear, as general advice to watch for:
- Two providers each claim the same customer, so the reports add up to more customers than you had.
- Nobody owns changes to the website, so a change made for one channel can undo work done for another.
- Logins can end up spread across several people and companies, and some accounts may sit in a provider's name.
- Reports can use different measures and be impossible to add together.
What can go wrong with one agency
As general advice, these can appear too:
- One weak part can hide inside one combined report.
- More of your marketing sits with one company, so leaving it is a bigger change.
- The agency may be stronger in some channels than others, and the label alone will not show which.
How to avoid it
- Keep one lead list of your own, with a source on every lead and its outcome. Check each provider's numbers against it. The related answer on which source gets the credit covers what to do when a customer used more than one route.
- Keep every account in the business's name, with each provider added as a user. The related answer on who should own your ad accounts explains why.
- Name one person who owns the whole picture: you, a staff member or one provider you ask to coordinate. Tell each provider who the others are.
When each makes sense
Specialists often make sense when one channel brings most of your customers, when you have someone in-house to coordinate, or when you need a narrow skill done well. For when one agency fits, the related answers on hiring a freelancer or an agency and on a consultant or an agency cover the signs.
A full-service label does not show that every part is done well. Ask who does each part and what you will see for it.
Ascent Vision is a full-service company, so read this with that in mind.
Related answers
- Should you hire a freelancer or an agency for SEO and marketing?
- Which source gets the credit when a customer found you several ways?
- Who should own your Google Ads and Facebook ad accounts?
- What does a marketing agency actually do for a small business?
- Should you hire a marketing consultant or a marketing agency?
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