At first glance, a full-service agency may be tempting over a niche agency. This is mainly due to perceived convenience. Communication volume is lessened, and most marketing queries can be answered by one point person at a full-service agency.
But, does this strategy work for most skilled trades and functions?
- Would you hire a generalist repair person to do a major plumbing upgrade? No?
- Well, would you recruit a generalist writer to draft technical guidelines? No, still?
- Okay, would you turn to a general practitioner to handle a major operation? Of course not!
In reality, the benefits outweigh the inconvenience of using niche paid agencies vs their generalist counterparts. Let’s take a look at why…
Transparency
First of all, what you see is what you get with a niche paid media agency. Specialized agencies mean your point of contact within the agency is likely the same person who is managing the work and an expert themselves in the field.
Within full-service agencies, tasks are often outsourced to, you guessed it, niche paid media teams. Full-service agencies are also known to have ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, deployed depending on the tone of your situation, and there’s no way to know which team they’re supplying to you.
At a specialized agency, you know you’ve got their best and only team at your service and a direct line to the individuals implementing your PPC strategy.
Better Performance
The data talks. Niche paid agencies are back in the equation for brands.
Statista has determined that it’s most common for companies to hire at least 2-3 agencies, suggesting that hiring niche agencies is a practice many brands turn to for success. As far as the PPC (pay per click) niche, in particular, in 2016 48% of agencies outsourced their PPC tasks. Niche paid agencies like ours are becoming a solid, measured trend within marketing.
What’s pushing the trend? Brands are realizing that the person-to-person contact, acute focus, and results-oriented strategies of niche paid media agencies give them an advantage over full-service agencies.
Beyond leaving a favorable data trail, niche paid media agencies have more value-per-dollar. A specialized agency’s focus on one aspect of digital marketing allows it to keep up with the ever-shifting face of the digital world. It’s capable of taking a marketing approach that is both personalized and cutting edge. See our case study for a great example of the increase in SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads) our individualized attention provides.
Unrivaled Expertise
A niche agency is optimal due to its subject matter expertise across the organization. The best practice of last year (or maybe last month) may no longer apply, and niche agencies are the first to re-write the book when major shifts in media occur.
Niche agencies have the best chance of staying abreast of constantly changing trends since they are able to double-down on a singular aspect of paid media. Full-service agencies often struggle to remain experts in all of the various fields required of them. They are stretched thin amongst PPC (pay per click) social media optimization, SEO (search engine optimization), email marketing, mobile marketing, analytics… the list goes on. A jack of all trades is master of none.
The Bottom Line
A full-service agency cannot promise the focus of a specialized agency. Working with a niche paid media agency will give you direct contact with the experts bringing you tangible results. If these qualities in a media agency are your priorities– transparency, performance, and expertise– then the trade-off in communication volume will be well worth your choice of niche paid media agency over a full-service agency.
