Why Big Businesses Are Using Micro Agencies
It’s fairly logical to think that it’s the big-name marketing agencies that secure all the big contracts with the famous big brands. With offices around the country, if not around the world, procurement teams ready to impress household name clients, and a portfolio of global marketing, surely they’re the go-to for big brands and businesses?
However, all is not as cut and dry as it may seem, as more and more brands are taking their business to smaller, micro-agencies, less bloated by bureaucracy and huge departments.
Some brands have been actively searching for these leaner micro agencies, small collectives of marketing experts and creatives, and disparate and diverse remote-working colleagues who are looking to disrupt the normal order of things by providing something quite different.
Small, But Scrappy!
These micro agencies are unconventional in their organisational hierarchy and how they operate, which gives them the freedom to seek out new ways of working, explore different approaches and processes, and with a smaller core team, faster and more efficiently.
A micro-agency is typically a small group of leaders, veterans of the larger national/multinational agencies, with all the right connections to freelancers and contractors of all the necessary disciplines – a little black book of the go-to people with the right skills and experience to get the job done fast.
Whatever it is you need – copy, graphic design, photography, marketing strategies and campaigns, advertising, digital or print – they’ll know the right person for the job, someone they trust to get it done right, on time and budget. Most of the time, these contacts would not be available via the larger agencies; it’s about making the right connections for the job in hand, not keeping everything in-house.
There’s little complacency in a small agency, not only do they want your work, they’ll fight hard for it, they’ll stake their reputation on it, and they know you’ll be back for their services again.
Pandemic Positives
Pre-pandemic, brands wanted to see the big agencies, with their football and pool tables, beers on a Friday afternoon in the open plan, brightly coloured office, with bean bags, quiz nights, and the trendy office ‘culture’ fostered by all the big name agencies, eager to stand apart from the rest while doing just the same as the next big agency down the road.
In the post-Covid landscape, the industry has changed and adapted. Clients are not as impressed by all the fancy office culture culture, or even the need to have to travel for meetings when it could be easily done on Zoom, and there is far less importance on how or where you work.
This became a huge levelling-up moment for the smaller brands, placing them on the same playing field as the big names.
The micro-agencies are still happy to see global brands go to the full-service big global agencies, with an army of corporate copywriters and campaign planners. Many of the smaller agencies provide a scaled-back service, narrowing down their specialisms and positioning themselves as experts in their particular niche, giving themselves an edge over the bigger firms.
Work With The People Who DO The Work
With a smaller agency, brands find they are working directly with the people who do the work, not a senior partner in the firm who essentially acts as a go-between. It makes it easier for micro-agencies to become involved deeper with the brand, with enhanced access and agility.
While many big agencies are still trying to navigate the post-pandemic world and remote and hybrid work, micro-agencies are already up to speed, already conjuring ideas and strategies on the fly, their inherent stripped-down hierarchy giving them speed and agility while some big brands are still trying to find their place in the ‘new normal’.
It all leads to a greater level of collaboration between brands and micro-agencies, more meaningful communication, and stronger relationships, instead of confusion and lack of context as the message gets passed from the client to client services to managers to the drones that do the work.
The brand gains access to the senior leadership of the agency and the people who perform the job at hand in one swoop; they’re not simply talking to the senior team who gets the credit for the hard work done by unseen juniors, and it’s this transparency that can be highly appealing to big brands.
An agency could have 200+ people working for it, and the brand communicates with up to 10 directors, sales personnel, and client services, but there’s only a small handful of unseen people who are actually working on the project.
With a micro-agency, there might be a core leadership of three or four people, but they’re also the ones with their hands on the controls. A simple project could take weeks with a large agency, as the gears of bureaucracy grind ever slowly, whereas your project is given directly to those who will get on the job ASAP with a micro-agency.
More Committed To Their Clients
A micro-agency will above and beyond with their clients, regardless of their size, while big agencies can often concentrate on their bigger clients, sometimes unfairly treating small to medium businesses as mere options.
Micro-agencies are always passionate about helping their clients succeed and providing a level of dedication and immediacy that can be lacking from larger agencies which are handling hundreds of accounts, all fighting for attention.
A micro may have as little as four or five clients that they work with consistently to produce fantastic results. Your success actually matters to a micro-agency on a personal level, not just on a business level.
Reasonable Costs
A big agency has more staff, more payroll, overheads, resources, and office costs, which inevitably leads to charging higher prices for everything. But there’s little, if any, added value to that; you’re not getting any additional focus, any more specialised expertise, if anything, you’re paying for the prestige of working with a named, branded agency.
With a micro-agency, you know who is working on your project, and they will be more upfront and transparent about their pricing. This transparency and familiarity can provide confidence about the work being done and the knowledge you’re not simply paying over the odds for a fancy office and the ‘culture’ employee perks.
Is It Time You Looked At A Micro-Agency?
Looking for a fresh approach to your marketing needs? A micro-agency could prove to be a leaner, meaner, and more efficient way of handling your projects and campaigns, with increased collaboration, and a personal and bespoke approach designed to meet any business’s needs.
If you’d like to know more about how a smaller agency could be of greater benefit than becoming tangled in the machinations of a large agency, then come and talk to us at Tonic today!
