The Small Agency Advantage

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By: Mike Krass

When considering a digital media agency to take on your brand's latest assignment, have you ever considered the size of an agency to be an advantage/disadvantage? For example, do big agencies produce better work? Can small agencies keep up and deliver an equal or better service for their clients? Well, I'm here to set the record straight: small agencies are absolutely FANTASTIC. Here's why.

Small Agencies are More Specialized
Small agencies don't have the luxury, personnel, or time in the day to be able to deliver every single solution a client needs. Instead, they need to focus their efforts on the specialized skills/abilities they can provide for clients.

Great examples of small-agency expertise include:

SEM/SEO
Creative shop
Strategic consultant(s)

Focus your core offering on the strong suits of your team members. What are the most specialized talents you can package and sell to your existing/potential client base?

Small Agencies are Nimble
Big agencies have a lot of bureaucratic red tape to put up with: interns, planners, supervisors, directors...the list goes on.

As MKG Media Group puts it, by reducing the number of "cooks in the kitchen," you're able to cut down on response time, deliver instructions to key players, and get the work done in a more efficient manner.

This results in less "he said, she said" conversations and more actual...work. Now doesn't that sound much more productive?

Small Agencies turn Trends into Revenue
As this Ad Age article points out, small agencies love to help turn new trends into new service lines/forms of revenue.

Take social media marketing, for example:

Starts as a fad: "Let's upload pictures of our friends!"
The masses appear: Facebook ropes in 600+ million users
The brands appear: If the masses have gathered, why don't we speak to them?

Small agencies are able to toy with the concept of social media marketing on their own brand. Using their results, they were able to transfer the formula to paying clients before anybody knew what hit them!

By definition, small agencies tend to limit the scope of their offering to specialized service lines that require a particular amount of expertise. That being said, small agencies are able to produce a superior product to large agencies because they're specialized, nimble, and able to turn trends into revenue as a result of the first two discussion points. Next time you have an assignment, seriously consider the advantages a small agency can deliver on when awarding the business.

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About the Author

Mike Krass is the founder of MKG Media Group, a Bay Area digital media shop that specializes in measurable media solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. When not walking his puppy or sky diving around the US, his personal musings can be read on Twitter at @mikekrass.

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