The Benefits of working with a small agency

With more design startups looking to embrace flexible, agile working they are cornering a part of the market rivalling the big ad agencies. Like many other industries there is a need for customers to know exactly what they’re getting for their money and who they are buying their services from.

Sure, larger agencies have hundreds of employees at their fingertips to spend hour upon hour creating and developing ideas for your brand…if you have a sizeable budget. They are focussed on winning big brand names to deliver big cash benefits and many struggle to offer a personalised approach. A smaller agency is grounded in entrepreneurial spirit and true creative output so will deliver the same standard of excellence no matter how small your budget.

Honest Feedback

Working within a smaller team dynamic, the determination to stay ahead of the curve is a powerful one. Any outstanding reputations are reliant on pushing the boundaries of creative thinking and offering more bold solutions, ones which may not be suggested in a room full of directors for fear of not impressing the client. Giving open, honest yet constructive with feedback can also be achieved in a smaller, more agile agency without as many repercussions. There’s no egos to massage so the team is able to adapt, admit when they’re wrong and act quickly if they feel there is a better solution. This ability to respond and innovate is how successful partnerships are born. After all you’re only as good as your last job.

“Hiring a small agency means you're going to get the time and attention of the firm's leadership and best strategic thinkers – this means more entrepreneurial and creative thinking as well as agility. You're also selecting to work with a team where every client counts, so there will be genuine interest in your success.”

– Lindsay Mullen from Prosper Strategies talking to Forbes 

More attention

The independent agency can imagine more groundbreaking ideas where the person pitching the idea is the same person creating and delivering the work. No passing the brief to a Junior Designer to ‘give it a go’, instead you have the full focus and passion of the Owner/Creative Director no matter how small your project or budget.

Any retainer work is continued by the expert, not the intern, giving continuity to the project and the knowledge that your brand ethos is being followed through.

Real relationships

Trust is built in genuine client relationships where communication is centred on frequent chats giving honest opinion from the same people, instead of dealing with the middlemen to relay information and feedback, which can often be misinterpreted or misconstrued. 

Top talent

In a small boutique agency every person within the team plays a pivotal role in creative production, meaning the work is completed efficiently and conscientiously. Everyone works at a time and place which suits them and their lifestyle, enabling them to maximise their creative potential and produce their best work.

From an agency perspective there’s also the added bonus of being able to choose which briefs to take on, passion projects are just as important in moving the business forward. With a select, hand picked team everyone is striving towards the same goal; to get kicks, not just cash and kudos. 

Small design agencies are becoming increasingly viable for every size of business, many of which have been drawn in by the bright lights of bigger agencies in the past for large sums of money but have been disappointed with the outcome. In a smaller team, focus is placed on the client/agency relationship which is built on trust where the genuine interest in the clients success is just as important to the agency.