Choosing the Right Agency for Your Business Needs
When it comes to digital marketing, web development, or SEO, businesses face a tough decision: should they work with a specialist agency that excels in one area, or a generalist agency that offers a suite of services. Both have their merits, but the choice often boils down to your business goals, budget, and long-term strategy.
We’ll break down the benefits and challenges of both approaches to help you make an informed decision.
The Case for Specialist Agencies
Pros of Hiring a Specialist Agency
Specialist agencies focus on one thing—and they do it exceptionally well. Here’s what you gain:
- Deeper Expertise: Whether it’s SEO, branding, or social media marketing, specialist agencies bring very specific knowledge to the table.
- Cutting-Edge Techniques: They generally stay ahead of trends, algorithms changes, and macro events to optimise their area of expertise.
- Niche Insights: Specialists understand your specific industry challenges, helping you to stand out in crowded markets.
Cons of Hiring a Specialist Agency
However, working with a specialist isn’t always smooth sailing:
- Limited Scope: They excel at their niche but may lack an understanding of how their work fits into your broader goals.
- Costly if Multiple Needs Arise: Hiring separate agencies for SEO, web design, and branding can strain your budget and complicate management and your time to manage multiple agencies.
- Integration Issues: Coordination between multiple agencies is often extremely poor and can lead to misaligned strategies and missed opportunities.
The Case for Generalist Agencies
Pros of Hiring a Generalist Agency
Generalist agencies are like the Swiss Army knife of digital services. Here’s why businesses and organisations choose them:
- One-Stop-Shop: From PPC to software development and digital marketing, you get all the services under one roof.
- Holistic Strategy: Generalist agencies understand how each service impacts the other, ensuring the individual cogs contribute to the greater machine.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Bundled services often come at a lower price than hiring multiple specialists as well as minimised management between agencies.
Cons of Hiring a Generalist Agency
That said, generalist agencies come with their own set of challenges:
- Lack of Depth in Specific Areas: Their broad focus might mean they don’t have the cutting-edge expertise of a specialist, however, with generalist agencies, they tend to possess up to 90% of the same knowledge and experience, so that remaining 5% is really for edge cases.
- Generalised Solutions: Your business might get a cookie-cutter approach rather than a tailored strategy. However, a cookie cutter approach is not always bad, as it means there is already a known and documented solution for your problem.
- Varied Quality: Some services may outshine others, leaving you with inconsistent results. But at least you can lean on their other skill sets more. You’ll have a similar level of varied quality if you hop around to sample different agencies.
How to Decide: Key Considerations for Your Business
What are your objectives? or What is the problem you are trying to solve?
If your only business objective is to dominate search rankings, a specialist SEO agency might be the better fit as they can narrow the focus down into only boosting your rankings.
However, most businesses we work with tend to have multiple problems, as forms aren’t working, analytics aren’t being attributed correctly, or key staff have left and a void is left behind. That’s why we’ve created the Ample Tech solution where you can receive over 55 digital services that businesses need to thrive.
What’s Your Budget?
Specialists often come with premium pricing for their expertise, whereas generalists may offer cost-effective bundled solutions. For example, our current subscription fee at time of writing (Dec 2024) is equivalent to a starting six figure salary in AUD. And for that price, you get a team that executes your objectives, regardless of the type of work, one task at a time until it’s finished.
How Important Is Integration?
If seamless coordination between services like web design, SEO, and social media is critical, a generalist agency might be the way to go as you don’t need to actually manage the communications between external agencies, follow up with each of them, and work to multiple delivery schedules.
However, if you already have in-house teams to manage integration, a specialist agency could be a smart choice as you can just get the one service you need without extra overheads.
Specialist or Generalist – What’s Right for You?
By now, you’ve likely thought about the pros and cons within the confines of your own business, but ultimately, the choice between a specialist and generalist agency boils down to your business priorities. If you have a specific, singular, high-priority goal, a specialist agency would be the best option. But for fast moving businesses in the digital world, needing an all-encompassing approach, a generalist agency offers convenience, cohesion, cost savings and more importantly, speed.
If you’re struggling to decide, why not hit us up for a quick chat to discuss your options.
