Agency, freelancer, or the cheaper shop down the street?
After a great first meeting with a prospect, we heard their team asking each other: "Why wouldn't we just use the other company for everything?"
Honestly? Sometimes you should.
Hire for the problem you actually have
If you already have a plan you trust and you just need someone to execute it, a freelancer or a smaller shop is often the right call. They've got less overhead, so they can charge less. That's a real advantage.
If you need someone to figure out the plan, that's a different job. That's strategy. And that's where a senior team earns its fee.
A quick gut check
| If you need... | We'd look at... |
|---|---|
| A logo refresh or one landing page | A freelancer |
| Posting from a content plan you already have | A freelancer or small shop |
| Positioning, messaging, a rebrand | A strategic agency |
| Brand, ads, content, and events all working together | A strategic agency |
You can mix
Plenty of businesses use a strategic agency for brand and direction, and a lower-cost partner for day-to-day execution.
That works great, as long as someone owns the strategy and everybody else builds to it.
It falls apart when nobody owns it. That's why we offer an Agency of Record partnership: one team handling brand, content, social, and ads, with a monthly strategy session and a weekly report.
Three questions that settle it
- Who's deciding what we say, not just making it?
- Who's on the hook if the numbers don't move?
- Who's connecting the ads to the website to the sales follow-up?
If you're weighing your options, call us. If a freelancer is the better fit for you, we'll tell you.