As an owner of a startup, or a business that is looking to scale, and grow you may find yourself asking if you should hire the biggest, more well-known digital marketing agency in India, or hire someone that’s closer to your scale of operations. It’s a tricky question to answer.
Typically, you would seek out agencies by looking for terms such as “"India's number 1 digital marketing agency near me”, “best digital marketing agency in Mumbai", "best digital marketing agency in Bangalore", “best digital marketing agency in Pune", “best digital marketing agency in Delhi", “best digital marketing agency in Hyderabad" and so on. Or, you would ask your friends to refer you to someone known.
We will table some pros and cons of this approach to help you evaluate the right partner for your business.
The upside, or pros of hiring the biggest digital marketing agency in India
Expertise:
Well-known digital marketing agencies often, but not always, have teams of experienced professionals with a hierarchy of people who can guide their teams on the methods. This team of experts could include practitioners of SEO, PPC, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Google Ads, Google My Business expertise, and so on. But, instead of assuming the expertise levels, it might be important to ask the question of how the team keeps up with an ever-evolving ad ecosystem.
Resources:
Among India’s best and most well-known digital marketing agencies, resources will be aplenty. Access to various tools and technology that can help them create and execute campaigns at scale, and pace might be one of the perks. Additionally, through those tools, you might develop a greater understanding of best practices in acquisition, branding campaigns, or other services.
Industry connections:
Agencies who already have a well-established reputation and credibility often have industry connections that can help your company. This can include relationships with influencers, key opinion leaders, and other key industry figures, which can be leveraged to gain visibility and credibility for your brand. Depending on the nature of the contract, you may ask to be exposed or introduced to complementary clients, too if it serves all parties included. By being associated with a well-known brand name, you are also letting your stakeholders know that you are serious about building your brand and business.
Track Record:
Agencies that have been running branding campaigns, Facebook Ads, or other digital marketing services will either have a portfolio of work which is well-known and easily accessible or have enough third-party websites endorsing their work. In turn, you will know whether they will be able to meet your expectations and also the category of customers they typically work with.
Some downside or cons for a startup hiring a digital marketing agency:
Prohibitive Costs:
Hiring from the list of top 10 digital marketing agencies in India, or other countries can be more expensive than hiring a less well-known agency. The typical reason for this cost is the high number of overheads that need to be accounted for. The same benefits of team experience, size, and tools will typically be passed on to a customer, too. Therefore, unless your marketing budget allows it, a big-size agency might be suited for companies of a certain size.
Limited flexibility:
Many well-known, big-name agencies have standard procedures and processes, which can make them less flexible in customizing their services to meet the specific needs of your business. As a result, you run the risk of having the same cookie-cutter approach which may not even work for your business. It could be as simple, as choosing a different ad platform for your business since one is better than the other.
Mechanical approach:
Because of their size and reputation, some well-known agencies may be less focused on working closely with small-scale clients and giving you more robust feedback to improve your business and digital brand presence. When you hire a small or mid-sized agency, you will typically receive more inputs which may be beyond the scope of work since they are committed to your business success more than a well-oiled team of professionals who will follow a “tried and tested” process.
More process and less personnel driven:
Since big agencies have clear protocols in place, you may have a harder time interfacing with your account management team and limited time with them. There may be less open communication and sometimes it will be difficult to understand what steps are being taken to achieve your goals and their efficacy. After all, if every business could succeed by merely hiring a big digital marketing agency, there would be fewer failed businesses.
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Finally, choosing to work with a well-known agency or one that is relatively unknown is a choice that must be made after considering a number of aspects. Those include your budget, business objectives, timeline to achieve them, level of expertise available in-house, and lastly, but even more importantly: the type of business owner you are. If you are someone who likes to get into the detail of things, a big agency may not be able to accommodate these. On the other hand, if you like to delegate work and leave it to the experts, but have some degree of involvement, a mid-sized agency might be suited to your working style.
