Successful ad agencies need to run like well-oiled machines. A problem in their operations creates a ripple effect that negatively impacts the entire organization, from the teams to the clients. Understanding how to improve the ad agency process can help your agency avoid these pitfalls and deliver better results. This piece will explain the ad agency process, why it’s essential, and how to improve it.
How to Do Ad Agencies Work
Advertising agencies help businesses promote their products and services through paid strategies. They develop ad campaigns and oversee the process from start to finish. Agencies can create advertising for traditional media, such as television, radio, print, and online platforms. Some ad agencies also specialize in certain areas, such as digital marketing, search engine optimization, social media, and other industries.
Working with an advertising agency can help improve your company’s advertising. The experts at the agency can bring fresh ideas and a new perspective to your advertising. They also understand the current trends in advertising and can help you reach your target audience effectively.
How Can an Advertising Agency Help Your Business?
When you hire an advertising agency, you get access to a suite of services and expertise that can help you market your company more effectively, liaising with you through an account manager. A creative firm can help you:
Save Time and Money
When you enlist the help of professionals from the advertising industry, you don’t have to develop the expertise in-house to create your advertising. Agencies usually offer a range of solutions to clients, tailored to almost every kind of budget, with the oversight to ensure that projects adhere to agreed-on timelines.
Develop Your Brand
Ad agencies are experts at telling brand stories. They research a company’s DNA and then create stories that achieve specific business objectives and help build awareness of how the brand differs from its competitors.
Gain Professional Expertise
Either in-house or through partners and suppliers, advertising agencies have a wide range of talent that clients can draw on to provide know-how in different areas, including:
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Copywriting
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Art direction
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Strategy
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Media buying and media planning
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Application development
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User experience (UX) and user interface (UI)
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Creative direction
Expand Your Company’s Reach
Effective advertising helps build awareness and create engagement to extend a company’s reach to new customers. Digital strategies are implemented to reach the widest audience possible. Testing and real-time metrics allow agencies to fine-tune campaigns during execution to deliver the best results.
Improve Your Brand’s Image
Brand image isn’t just a corporate logo; it is a set of associations that determine how consumers think about your business. It is responsible for the first impression when someone visits your website or sees your ad; it makes a telling impression and determines how they view you and whether they want to transact business with you.
Ad agencies are keepers and cultivators of brand stories. By figuring out what makes your brand unique and differentiates you from competitors, they can fine-tune the story to help your business achieve tremendous success.
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Key Ad Agency Process
1. The Marcom Brief: Understanding Incoming Client Information
The marketing communications brief is the first step in any ad agency process. This is where the client provides a clear outline of their campaign goals, audience, and messaging. For example, Coca-Cola briefs its agency to create a campaign for a new product targeting Gen Z consumers, emphasizing sustainability and inclusivity. The brief includes key messages like “refreshing change” and brand tone guidelines.
2. The Creative Brief: Laying the Groundwork for the Creative Process
Next, the agency’s account team refines the client’s brief, translating it into a focused document for the creative team. The creative brief identifies the “big idea” and practical deliverables. For the same Coca-Cola campaign, the brief might emphasize creating a viral social media video with a hashtag like #CoolChange paired with lifestyle photography.
3. Creative Development: Building Out Campaign Concepts
Now, it’s time for the creative team to brainstorm and produce campaign concepts, including visuals, copy, and storytelling elements. The team might propose three ideas for the Coca-Cola example: a futuristic-themed video series, interactive digital ads showing user-generated content, and an Instagram filter featuring eco-friendly themes.
4. Client Approval: Getting Feedback and Suggestions
Before moving to production, the client needs to review the agency’s work, provide feedback or approve the concept for production. In our example, Coca-Cola approves the futuristic-themed video series, with minor tone and color palette changes to match the brand’s guidelines.
5. Internal Approval: Quality Control Before Launch
Before final production, agency departments review all elements to ensure consistency and quality. For example, the agency’s legal team verifies that the futuristic imagery doesn’t infringe on copyrights, while the production team ensures seamless video execution across platforms.
6. Artwork and Production: Going Live with Campaign Deliverables
Finally, the visuals, videos, or ads are created and distributed. This includes digital ads, TV commercials, or print materials. In our example, Coca-Cola’s futuristic campaign launches with 3D-animated social media ads and digital billboards in major cities, all in sync with the #CoolChange hashtag.
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Add integrations like Slack and webhooks to customize your setup and deliver a branded experience. Enhance your service with a platform built to grow alongside you. Try Orchestra for free and develop your productized service today!
14 Tips to Streamline Ad Agency Process
1. Use Orchestra to Streamline Your Agency's Operations
Consider using Orchestra to help launch and manage productized services when improving your ad agency process. Orchestra is an all-in-one growth toolkit that helps creatives scale their businesses. The software comes with a white-labeled client portal, task management, real-time analytics, and more, so you can streamline your workflow, collaborate with clients, and maintain a private workspace for your team. Use integrations like Slack and webhooks to customize your setup and deliver a branded experience. Enhance your service with a platform built to grow alongside you. Try Orchestra for free to develop your productized service today.
2. Why You Should Focus on a Niche
Ad agencies can streamline operations by focusing on a specific niche. When you specialize, it reduces the amount of information your team needs to juggle when working with different clients. Each niche has its processes and methodologies, so the more you can hone in on one area of expertise, the better. For example, if you focus on local businesses, it's likely a plug-and-play model you can scale nationwide. - Bryan Citrin, Chiropractic Advertising
3. Ensure Proper Delegation to Improve Agency Efficiency
Another way to improve ad agency operations is to ensure proper delegation. Managers must know their responsibilities and delegate tasks to ensure the best results. Implement standard operating procedures and guidelines and make a well-organized library of resources accessible to the whole team. Real delegation isn't about dumping tasks but driving people to achieve the desired results, despite lacking resources. - Joon K Lee, Inquivix
4. Go Paperless to Streamline Ad Agency Processes
If a company aims to improve operations and create a more efficient workplace, its offices should become as paperless as possible. When this is done, digital assets and documents are moved to databases easily accessed by team members from anywhere and at any time. This also allows for the streamlining of processes and for more automation. - Henry Kurkowski, One WiFi
5. Empower Staff To Make Decisions
Delegation without empowerment can handicap your operations, especially when staff is in short supply. This doesn't mean assigning someone a significant task for completion and letting them run with it unchecked. Encouraging critical decision-making by your staff and supporting those decisions when they can share a thoughtful rationale will make operations more efficient. - Annette Sally, Blue Sky Agency
6. Rely On Proven Systems And Automation
Stick with a proven system and leverage automation as much as possible. Stacking my days and being strict about time-blocking in 45-minute sprints—and teaching our team to do the same—helps tremendously! - Vix Reitano, Agency 6B
7. Train Your Team
The most significant project, time, and people management tools can only deliver value if the team is trained to apply them effectively. Then, they can better sort the workload and make aligned decisions, and you can hold them accountable. - Jim Heininger, Dixon|James & Rebranding Experts
8. Set Daily Micro Goals And Weekly Macro Goals
By having team members set daily micro goals and weekly macro goals and discuss them during daily morning huddles, all parties can see the scope and scale of projects in the pipeline. It allows for adjustments so team members can focus on working together to tackle higher priorities and gain a sense of accomplishment daily and weekly as those goals are completed. - Jonathan Schwartz, Bullseye Strategy
9. Revise Or Reprioritize Time, Quality And Resources
Effective project management involves controlling time, quality, and resources. Changing any of the three requires revision of the remaining components. Delivering a project faster requires more resources or puts quality in danger; shrinking the team increases the delivery time or needs a scope revision. If nothing can be changed, prioritization remains the only viable option. - Oksana Matviichuk, Performics
10. Set Up A Process For Accurate Time Tracking
You must know where the hours are going. Proper time tracking requires a process to follow and monitor. Your gut feeling about what's needed for a deliverable must be more accurate. You'll be shocked at the amount of time menial tasks often need. You can then develop new processes or automations to cut that time down—or identify clients who aren't charged enough, which usually inhibits hiring to proper staffing levels. - Brian Walker, Statwax
11. Break Tasks And Projects Down Into Specific Behaviors
When your team is understaffed, it is critical to break down tasks and projects into specific behaviors that can be done and will lead to the outcomes desired. Then, you must prioritize each behavior by associating them with a specific person, action, and time frame. The goal is not to overwhelm anyone but to make it easier for people to do what is needed. - Roger Hurni, Off Madison Ave
12. Initiate The Morning Standup Meeting
As a creative staffer who transitioned to agency owner, I can appreciate a quick reaffirmation of
priorities when the team is short-staffed. Of course, new things will come up during the day, but knowing the top few milestones that must be hit on a given day helps keep projects moving and the agency paid. - Patrick Nycz, NewPoint Marketing
13. Deprioritize Internal Nice To Haves And Put Clients First
Successfully allocating your company's resources is essential to efficiency. Identify pleasant tasks and put them on the back burner until everything critical is handled. The client comes first, so anything internal that is optional should be deprioritized. No task should impede an employee from contributing to the business's essential operations. - Tellef Lundevall, Accelerated Digital Media
14. Keep Meetings To A Minimum
Over time, it's common for the number of meetings a team has to balloon, but this is often to the detriment of efficiency. Try to consciously review the volume of meetings your team is attending quarterly or half-yearly and find ways to pay back. - Chris Martin, FlexMR
Challenges in Ad Agency Processes
1. The Talent Challenge: Finding the Right Professionals for Your Agency
Ad agencies make their money by selling the ‘hard work’ of their talented professionals. The agencies make arbitrage on talent by charging a markup on the time consumed by the designers.
An agency counts on the designers’ talent! Many challenges come with sourcing talent from outside the agency. First, it is never easy to justify a profitable price if the talent is poor. The quality of the team members is what sets apart an agency from the other, which further makes retaining and acquiring talented professionals indispensable to an organization.
Solutions
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Enhanced Screening Process: Develop a multi-stage hiring process, including skill tests, portfolio reviews, and live tasks, to assess technical expertise and creative thinking.
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Use of Talent Platforms: Leverage platforms like Behance, Dribble, or LinkedIn to scout specialized talent with a proven track record.
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Focus on Niche Expertise: If your agency serves a specific industry, seek professionals with relevant experience to align better with client expectations.
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Internship Programs: Create internship opportunities to groom young talent and identify future stars.
2. The Talent Challenge: Retaining Quality Employees
Opening your borders and opening the applicants to more than just your geographical area is essential. The upside is that you get access to a bigger pool of applicants. There could be many challenges, which come with the chore of managing remote workers, but these challenges might be worth the trouble. Try paying a fair rate. Talented people know their worth and expect to be compensated for what they bring to the table.
If employees feel underpaid, there is a high chance that they could produce unsatisfactory work. Incremental raises in remuneration can remind an employee of how much you value his/her labour. Listen to your employee’s ideas and make them feel valued! Brushing off their suggestions or not taking their grievances can drastically reduce your company’s work output.
Solutions
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Flexible Work Arrangements: To attract global talent, offer hybrid or remote options. Invest in tools like Slack or Asana for seamless communication.
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Regular Feedback & Recognition: Conduct monthly one-on-ones, celebrate milestones, and acknowledge achievements through rewards or shoutouts.
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Professional Development: Provide resources for upskilling (e.g., online courses, certifications) and allocate budgets for conferences or industry events.
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Transparent Career Growth Plans: Define precise growth trajectories with periodic reviews and promotions.
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Compensation Strategies: Conduct market research to offer competitive salaries. Introduce performance-based bonuses to keep employees motivated. Offer non-monetary perks, such as health benefits or paid sabbaticals, to show long-term commitment to employee well-being.
3. What Makes Your Agency Stand Out?
The creative agency model usually needs a better barrier to entry. It might be easier for a group to get together and portray themselves as an ‘agency.’ An agency must gauge its way out to stand apart from the crowd for continuous success. Most agencies claim they offer ‘powerful ideas,’ ‘integrated approach,’ and ‘full service,’ but that might not give you an edge over the competition. The initial step to making your agency successful is understanding yourself. Whom do you target? How do you think to serve your customers and price my services? If you have been building websites for brick-and-mortar businesses, this could be your niche. Focus on a narrower enterprise instead of creating random business sites. This can help you communicate and add more value to your customers. Make a commitment to bettering your core strengths.
This could mean sticking to corporate or print design and creating a process that carefully insulates the client from tedious work. Gather information like logins, colors, contact information, and preferences all in one go without dripping questions on the client. Create relationships with contractors so that I can provide work for my client, which isn’t my specialty. Take a unique position on all projects, such as introducing pricing models that appeal to my target audience. Be an industry thought leader, and do everything to position your agency as an expert. The ideal way of differentiating yourself is figuring out what your clients value the most and striving to be that!
Solutions
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Identify and Build a Niche: Specialize in a specific industry or type of service (e.g., healthcare marketing or animation).
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Develop Unique Offerings: Offer something distinct, like subscription-based design services or rapid-turnaround packages.
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Thought Leadership: Publish blogs, host webinars, or speak at events to establish authority in your niche.
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Innovative Pricing Models: To appeal to different client segments, use tiered pricing, bundled services, or value-based pricing.
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Exceptional Client Experience: Simplify processes, provide clear timelines, and offer extra value (e.g., additional edits or priority support).
4. Client Servicing
Creative agencies overlook the processes they are used to while managing projects. Though they don’t want to think about structure, they have few processes. The inability to manage projects effectively can negatively impact an agency’s progress. A strong mindset is what you need for an excellent method. Every team member needs to understand the purpose and benefits of a project management system.
Solutions
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Defined Workflows: Create standardized operating procedures (SOPs) for project management and outline the steps from brief intake to final delivery.
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Centralized Project Management Tools: Adopt tools like Monday.com, Trello, or Basecamp to streamline task assignments, feedback loops, and deadlines.
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Regular Client Check-Ins: Schedule weekly or biweekly updates to keep clients informed and engaged.
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Feedback Mechanisms: Use tools like QuickReviewer or Frame.io for efficient review processes.
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Transparency: Share timelines and milestones with clients to manage expectations and avoid last-minute surprises.
5. Most Common Project Management Challenges
Also, you need the right tool which you can use conveniently. Try experimenting with tools like Basecamp and Trello to track project status. Arrange your process so the work is flawless without miscommunications and interruptions. Use tools like Quick Reviewer to track reviews and feedback on creatives so you can deliver projects faster. Using tools and processes will help free up your time to focus on creativity and new clients instead of firefighting, tracking feedback, and project status.
Start a project with a proposal and a statement of work, and then the complete phase of the project. Making the project transparent and visible to everyone is better to avoid any deadlines or confusion. The habit of sending proposals and marketing your agency should always continue. Your aim should be to seek more revenue, even when enough money flows. Always remember that an enterprise that isn’t growing is dying. Also, convince your clients to pay for regular services. In most cases, you might earn less in an hour, but predictable income will help your business grow smoothly.
Solutions
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Clear Proposals: Start each project with a detailed proposal, including deliverables, timelines, and payment terms.
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Break Projects into Phases: Implement agile methodologies, focusing on iterative deliverables to maintain quality and meet deadlines.
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Dedicated Project Managers: Assign a specific individual to oversee each project and ensure smooth coordination.
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Automated Reminders: Use tools like ClickUp or Asana to set automated reminders for deadlines and approvals.
6. Lead Generation
The first step in lead generation is to turn to clients who are fit for your agency. To confirm this, you will have to start doing some research to find out who your targets are. Interview the best clients that you have already, and make a rough sketch of their background and goals. Also, try to know where they spend their time online and the processes they go through before hiring an agency.
In this manner, you get to know more about the target prospects, and after that, you can mold your marketing campaign accordingly. Creative agencies must streamline their process to put more resources into pruning their client book. Challenges can never be tackled with luck or the right client group! Approaching problems objectively can help you counter the challenges systematically.
Solutions
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Client Personas: Develop detailed personas based on existing clients, outlining their goals, challenges, and preferences.
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Inbound Marketing: Create targeted content (e.g., case studies, blogs, and social media campaigns) to attract potential clients.
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Networking Events: Attend industry conferences and events to connect with prospects and establish credibility.
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Referrals and Testimonials: Encourage satisfied clients to provide referrals and publish testimonials to build trust.
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Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Tailor marketing strategies for high-value prospects using personalized outreach.
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Streamlining the Process: Use tools like Orchestra or Salesforce to manage and track leads efficiently. Regularly analyze lead quality to refine targeting strategies.
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Try Orchestra for Free to Grow Your Productized Service Today
Orchestra is an all-in-one growth toolkit to help you launch your productized service effortlessly. Designed for creatives ready to scale, Orchestra lets you stay organized as you streamline your new operations. With Orchestra, you get a branded, white-labeled client portal, task management, and real-time analytics, with no coding needed, just your Stripe account.
Whether you’re a designer, developer, or copywriter, Orchestra streamlines your workflow. It lets you collaborate with clients seamlessly while maintaining a private workspace with your team. Add integrations like Slack and webhooks to customize your setup and deliver a branded experience. Enhance your service with a platform built to grow alongside you. Try Orchestra for free to develop your productized service today.
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