Hiring an Ad Agency Vs Maintaining an In-House Marketing Team in Delhi

In-House-Vs-Ad-Agency

The dilemma that marketers of all size are often confronted with is whether to hire an external ad agency or employ an in-house marketing team. Large companies want to exercise a greater degree of control in how their marketing campaign is planned and hence are often left debating between an advertising agency (greater specialization) and in-house team (greater control) while smaller companies also face the same debate because of financial constraints. The best way to understand the benefits and drawbacks of hiring an ad agency or giving the responsibility to an in-house team would be to analyze the pros and cons of both and illustrate the situations where one can be preferred over the other.

The main points of contention which had to be considered while making the choice between ad agency and in-house team in Delhi are as follows:

  1. Specialized Skill Set – The Company would get experts from every field working on its campaign starting from creative professionals like artists, designers and writers to experienced professionals in other fields like website developers and media planners if it chose to hire an advertising agency. However in certain cases an organization is not interested in using the full bouquet of services that an agency offers but is just looking for a particular utility function like creating a jingle for an ad or social media marketing. In that case it might be more prudent to look within the ranks to see if someone can fulfill the role instead of hiring one of the larger full service ad agencies because they need not necessarily attract the best professionals across all fields. The other option available to the organization is to hire a creative boutique or a SEO agency to do its job but they can sometimes seem too low key or small for bigger organizations.

    The-Pros-&-Cons-of-an-Ad-Agency-and-an-In-House-Team
    The Pros & Cons of an Ad Agency and an In-House Team
  2. Cost – The cost is possibly the most important determinant for most organizations while selecting between ad agency and in-house talent. The immediate cost of hiring an ad agency is always more than assigning existing employees newer responsibilities to develop different facets of the marketing campaign. So, it is important to consider the opportunity cost rather than the actual cost. It has been observed that in the long run the cost of paying a regular salary and other benefits to a permanent employee becomes much more than paying a hefty retainer to an ad agency for a short period of time.

    When-Ad-Agency-is-preferred
    When Ad Agency is preferred
  3. Duration of Project – This ties in directly with the cost factor explained above. If the advertising needs are periodic in nature then wasting resources training existing employees to perform a job which would only be needed for a short period of time does not make any sense. On the other hand a large organization which has some marketing need or the other to attend to throughout the year might very well be inclined towards developing the skills of its existing employees to ensure it is not always depending on an outside agency to meet its deadlines.
  4. Level of Control – The level of control desired by the organization also becomes an important factor while choosing between outside agency and inside resources. An outside agency won’t be as familiar with the brand personality which might make the organization uncomfortable about giving them full creative control of the campaign. The company personnel will be aware of its objectives, attuned to its needs and most importantly the organization would maintain complete control over the direction and the content of the campaign but they might be suffering from a lack of expertise.

    In-House-team
    In-House team

 

The decision ultimately boils down to the company’s need of the hour and its scope. If the campaign the organization is undertaking is for a long term project over which it wants to maintain a strong level of control, then in such a case it is best to use in house resources. An Ad Agency might however be the preferred option if a company is looking for a large scale campaign albeit one that will run for a limited time.

An Indian ad agency which is making great strides is releaseMyAd. It has already become the premier ad agency in Delhi offering a large variety of services such as media planning, media buying and creative designing among others. It offers ad booking over a variety of mediums like newspaper, radio and cinema. To book ads in Delhi across any medium you may email book+delhi@releasemyad.com or you can also call 09830629298.

The various services provided by an Advertising Agency in Delhi

Services-provided-by-an-Ad-Agency

Advertising agency provides a variety of different services to ensure its client’s product or services have the greatest chance of reaching as many end users as it can. They used to focus exclusively on preparing a commercial and releasing it. However with the changing nature of the market and increased competition their responsibilities are increasing. Its basic function involves planning, preparing and placing of ads. But nowadays agencies are branching out and focusing on advisory services which are traditionally non-advertising in nature such as market research.

The main functions of an Ad Agency in Delhi can be grouped under the following headers:

  • Account Management – Every individual client held by the agency is known as an account to the agency. The number of agency executives assigned to a client depends upon its size with large MNCs getting at least a couple of them while at other times a single account manager is tasked with coordinating with two to three smaller non-competitive companies. Their responsibilities initially include scouting for clients, locating them and negotiating a contract with them. Later their responsibilities involve working closely with those clients to develop their ads ensuring the client’s needs are looked after and their interest’s met. They assist the client in determining ad budget, mode of marketing communication and look after their regular administrative needs ultimately acting as a link between the rest of the ad agency and the client themselves.

    Account-Management-Component
    Account Management Component
  • Creative – These include all the activities which are aimed at creating the actual advertisement or commercial irrespective of medium. The creative team includes artists, designers, script writers, directors who shoot the ad in case of TV advertisements. Their talent levels often determine the success of an ad agency as they are tasked with what is possibly the most important service provided by an ad agency, building the actual ad itself. Their main job is to make sure the advertisement is appealing and attractive and the information the ad wants to convey to its target audience is done in a simple yet interesting manner.

    Advertising-Agency
    Creative Example
  • Market Research – Market Research had established itself as an increasingly important function in today’s competitive corporate world and all ad agencies are being pushed to provide this service as it is useful in more than one phase of a marketing campaign. Firms are using it before the launch of the product to understand buying habits of the target market, level of existing competition present in the market. After launching the campaign market research is used to measure its effectiveness so that additional steps could be taken to improve it. Finally after the campaign had run its course the data collected through marketing research is used to evaluate whether it had successfully achieved its objectives.

    Market-Research-Components
    Market Research components
  • Media Planning – Every advertising medium (newspaper, TV, radio, Internet, etc) has got its own unique set of Pros and Cons and cost and reach constraints. It is important that the ad agency takes the initiative to properly understand the client’s requirements and frame a media plan which suits its needs because it has the potential to make or break a campaign. This activity includes selecting the right media channel for the right marketing tool (same company may use different mediums for advertisement and sales promotion) and determining the media budget for its clients. For example, a local FMCG producer would only end up wasting resources if he buys an ad spot on a national TV channel while a MNC manufacturing FMCG goods would similarly derive little benefit by advertising only over the radio. This shows how media plans can vary to great extents even within the same sector.

    Media-Planning-Components
    Media Planning Components
  • Branding – The main aim of all advertising is to build brand recognition and ensure the true message of the brand connects with the consumer. So one of the long term services that ad agencies are expected to provide is build a brand loyalty among its target market. A coordinated effort between various departments of the ad agency is a must to achieve this. The data collected by the market research department regarding what the target market prefers is in turn used by the creative department to build a suitable, catchy slogan.

    How-to-Develop-a-Brand
    How to Develop a Brand
  • Public Relations – It is one of the ancillary services provided by the ad agencies. It mainly involves maintaining goodwill between the clients and other important stakeholders such as consumers, middlemen, media owners etc. It can be done by organizing media events and sponsorship fairs.

An Indian ad agency which is making great strides is releaseMyAd. It has already become the premier ad agency in Delhi offering a large variety of services such as media planning, media buying and creative designing among others. It offers ad booking over a variety of mediums like newspaper, radio and cinema. To book ads in Delhi across any medium you may email book+delhi@releasemyad.com or you can also call 09830629298.