Good things in small packages: Why smaller agencies are more creative

Marketers are faced with many challenges. Traditional marketing models are disappearing, fragmentation is growing, and new disruptive players are appearing. 

So why are smaller agencies more creative and delivering better campaign ROI?

Out of the box thinking

Some think bigger is better when it comes to creativity. A bigger agency has a broader offering and a larger team with more resources. However, with more pressure to please internal stakeholders and conform to the agency’s mission and values, your creative thinking might be restricted. 

On the whole, smaller agencies, without these pressures, are more willing to take risks. Also try new ideas and come up with more out of the box thinking.

Quicker creative process

Although big agencies have a larger team of creative thinkers, the creative and review process is often slower and more complicated. A great idea might get distorted, diluted or even become stale after it’s been through a long cycle of internal approvals. 

At a smaller agency, your idea is more likely to stay fresh with a quicker process and less people involved.

Tighter relationships with clients

At a larger agency, you may meet the famous creative gurus in the pitch. Then once the contract is signed, you deal with a completely different team day to day. 

At a smaller agency, the hierarchy tends to be a lot flatter, so the team you meet in the pitch will be your team on your account. Therefore, clients build a stronger relationship with all members of the team. This tighter relationship means you’re more likely to bounce ideas off each other. With the agency acting as part of your extended team. 

More agile 

Smaller agencies are often more agile in their approach. With a flatter structure, less layers of process and more employee flexibility through increased remote working, they can potentially move faster and respond to creative briefs more quickly.  This in turn might maximise ROI by enabling you to launch your campaign earlier. 

Better campaign ROI

As the client’s business represents a larger portion of their overall revenue, smaller agencies tend to be more motivated to see their clients succeed. 

At a larger agency, results might be measured in terms of winning awards and meeting revenue targets, whereas in a smaller agency, the focus is on client satisfaction. As a result, clients might end up getting better campaign ROI from a smaller agency, and potentially for a smaller budget.

Smaller is better

With brands under pressure to stand out and achieve strong ROI on a tighter budget, there seems to be a trend towards opting for smaller projects over retainers and employing smaller more specialist agencies to handle different parts of their work. Not only does this provide significant creative benefits for clients, but also gives a big opportunity for smaller agencies to flex their creative muscles and help brands innovate, evolve and stay competitive.