Business Owners: Does It Cost More Money To Hire An Ad Agency?

How many calls per week do you receive from someone trying to sell you some form of advertising? Whether it is an unexpected visit from one of the account executives from the print, radio, or television outlets, or it’s a phone call from Google, Facebook, or YELP (to name a few), keeping up with all the advertising options can be overwhelming. When you are running a business, you have enough distractions and interruptions to occupy your time, so the likelihood that you have the time or energy to discuss marketing or advertising is slim. As an expert in your particular field, it is better to invest your time on managing your business rather than speaking about ratings, cost per thousand figures, and circulation numbers.

In fairness to the media executives, there are many opportunities that are the right fit for your company. Even if you had the time to sit down and discuss these options with each media rep, do you have the expertise and ability to make the best decision for your company? I know, how hard can it be, right? Often times, these decisions seem extremely easy and straight-forward, but in reality, making decisions on how and where to place your advertising and marketing dollars is an extremely important one. Furthermore, most advertising investments require a substantial transaction and should not be treated lightly. The optimum way to ensure a sound decision is made with your advertising is by partnering with a qualified advertising firm.

The agency team has the time and expertise required to make the wisest investment for your company. All the time spent answering emails, phone calls or requests from media reps is transferred to your agency, which frees you up to focus on the company. Because ad agencies communicate with media reps daily, we are familiar with both the product offerings and the individuals selling them. If the ad agency hired is similar to BlinkJar Media, it is likely staffed with individuals who have sold advertising for local media in the past, so they will have the built-in competency and proficiency to handle all the responsibilities required to place the advertising for your company. The agency will keep you up-to-date with relevant opportunities and will save you time by presenting a recommended plan for your company in an understandable format.

If you enjoy working with media reps and keeping up with the latest opportunities in local media is something that excites you, fair enough. There are a few business owners who are in the same boat, and we get it. There are other ways partnering with an advertising agency can save you money.

Most agencies, such as BlinkJar, work on a commission. The commission comes out of the total dollars you spend with any form of advertising. When you place a print ad directly with the print publication for $1000, you write a check for $1,000 to the print publication for the ad. When you place this identical $1000 ad with the same publication through an ad agency, the cost of the ad is still $1000. With an agency involved, the only difference is how this $1000 is broken out. For example, when you use an agency for the $1000 ad, you are paying $850 (85%) to the print publication and $150 (15%) to the agency. The magazine doesn’t increase the price, in this case $1,000, because they are saving money by not having to do the creative production work for the print ad. Essentially, the agency is making life easier for you and the media rep by handling the communication, creative production, placement, and management of these ads.



Let’s look at another example. If you spend $2,000 on a local radio station, and your company has partnered with an agency, your company would owe $1700 to the radio station and $300 to the advertising agency. You are still investing $2000, but this $2000 is now divided between two parties. If you decide to work with the media and only have the agency handle communication and creative with the media outlets, it still costs you nothing more than what you would pay in the first place.

Over the past few years, the advertising options for a local business have increased dramatically. A number of years ago, a business owner did not have to consider advertising options on platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, YELP, BING, and more. While your advertising options have increased dramatically, your advertising budget has largely remained the same. More advertising options translate to more sales reps. More sale reps mean more interruptive phone calls, emails, visits, and meeting request. All of this presents an extremely unique quagmire for business owners today.



Which opportunities are correct for your company? How do you know if your advertising is working? Is the investment you made in advertising the right one? Should you continue with the current advertising plan or change it? What opportunities are you missing? When presented with these same questions, most media reps will provide you with an answer that is biased towards a certain product offered by their station. On the flip side, ad agencies are not tied to any single product or outlet.

When you partner with the right advertising firm, they will present advertising and marketing opportunities that target your consumer, produce qualified leads, and most of all, they are presented in a way that speaks your language. Effective advertising agencies have the ability to digest the advertising analytics and translate them in a language that makes sense for your business. By eliminating the guess work that exists in your current advertising, an advertising agency doesn’t cost you money. It saves you money. Does an advertising firm cost you more? The answer is no. In fact, a good ad agency will save you time and money, which will allow you to get back to what you do best, running your business.