An advertising agency is the best place for a new business owner to go for branding and marketing help for their business. Existing businesses also seek the assistance of an ad agency when they want to take their business to the next level.These are some of the most frequently used services offered by a full service advertising agency:

1. Logo Design
2. Website Design
3. Brochure Design
4. TV Commercial Production
5. Media Buying
   
6. Magazine Advertising
7. Promotional Products
8. Corporate Apparel
   

Let's consider some advertising agency services. You could look for individual businesses to help you with each marketing project that you have or just go with a reputable, full service ad agency and they will be able to help you with every ad agency service listed below.

When someone seeks the help of a graphic artist they are looking to pay someone by the hour and maybe get a nice business card designer to do some work for them at a reasonable cost. Everyone likes to keep costs down so hiring a graphic artist instead of an ad agency seems like a great idea at first glance. There are two problems with this idea. The first problem is that there is an assumption that hiring an advertising agency will automatically cost more than hiring a graphic artist. Many ad agencies charge by the hour but many also charge by the project. This is the option we prefer and recommend. The problem with paying a graphic designer by the hour is that you aren't sitting there watching so you don't actually know how many hours might go into your design project. This method of payment is similar to giving the designer a blank check and telling them to write in an amount when they are finished. When you pay by the project there are no surprises in the cost. The next thing to consider is that a graphic designer is going to look for your advice and suggestions. A full service advertising agency will make suggestions on what would be best for your business. The ad agency will have a staff of not only professional graphic artists and designers but also highly skilled individuals who are trained in marketing.

If you are starting a new business then the first thing you'll need is a logo designer. The logo design is the key to everything and nothing else can be produced until the logo design has been finalized. Many people make the mistake of trying to make a logo look like something that will tell people what the business is all about. This is of course why we have brochures. Our logo only needs to be something that people will recognize and it must be easy to remember. The logo shown here is one of these examples in which the client insisted on some design related to the business itself.  If you think about some of the largest companies in the world their logos are just icons and sometimes just text spelling out the company name. It is rare that you find a big company with a logo that tries to tell the story of what the business is all about. However, this is the most common mistake new business owners will make.

You could search the Internet for professional website designers or just have a trustworthy ad agency handle this for you as well. We always suggest the one stop shopping of an ad agency not only because it is easy for the business owner but also for branding reasons.

You could hire several different people and end up with business cards that don't match the brochure design and get a website that looks nothing like the brochures.

With a full service ad agency your branding remains consistent from one project to the next. Thanks to the Internet we can find anything we want within minutes and files can be moved back and forth with ease so we don't need to find a Miami website designer or a Hollywood website designer or a Fort Lauderdale website designer depending upon where we live. The website designer you select could be located anywhere at all and that is the good news. However, that is also bad news if the website designer is doing a poor job and your only means of contact is an email address. Of course there are great advantages to dealing with someone in your local area. When you can walk into the office of a website design firm and meet with them face to face it is often easier to communicate with each other. If a problem comes up then you know where the website designer is located so you can just show up at the website design company office.

When you select an ad agency to be your website designer you generally get a "Big Picture" approach to the project. Small website design firms are often a one person shop in which the designer is the programmer and he or she will ask you to provide all of the text for your website. With an ad agency working on your website you generally have four different people working on the project in addition to a project manager to oversee the entire development process. While the graphic artist is working on the design, the copywriter will be creating the text. The programmer builds the entire site using the design provided by the graphic artist and the SEO or search engine optimization professional takes over at the end. Some website development projects are too large or complex for smaller website design firms and in that case an ad agency will offer the best options. Many website require additional marketing and a web 2.0 marketing campaign may be beneficial.

A properly designed website shouldn't cost you money it should make you money.

Although we are a full service advertising agency we look a lot like a website design firm because this is a big part of our business.  Every business owner will want a website but not every business owner will want or need a brochure or TV commercial.  This is the main reason that we keep our website designers very busy.

One of the things our clients like the most is the CMS or Content Management System which is only available in a database driven website.  Please watch the two videos below and you'll see why this is such a popular feature.

When we give a brochure to a potential client we want it to help us make a good impression.  The brochure can help make or break the sale between you and your potential clients.  Therefore finding a professional brochure designer is critical.  Just to compare; a brochure is handed to people that you've already met and the website is often found by people that are searching for the products or services you offer.  So the website has to do more of a job of selling the clients on why they should contact you.  The brochure's job is to reassure the prospective client that they have come to the right place.  If your website or salespeople have brought a prospective client into your office you will want to be certain that your brochures do a great job of presenting your company as a serious player in your field.

We like brochure designs that backup and reinforce the information found on the company website.  We like a consistant look and feel for all of the marketing materials.  When all of your branding and marketing materials have a cohesive look and feel then you are presenting your company in the best possible light.

Not every business is an ideal candidate for TV advertising. Some types of businesses do better with TV advertising than others. For example automotive TV commercials are certain to be seen on TV everyday. This is because cars are expensive so selling a relatively small number of cars will cover the cost of the TV ads. However, we also see inexpensive items that are successfully sold on TV such as soft drinks. We can buy a soda with small change that we keep in our cars so how can the soda companies afford to advertise on TV as often as they do? The answer is related to the number of potential clients. On any particular day there are only just so many people that might be thinking about buying a new car. But everyday that we are alive we are going to drink something so advertising soft drinks is very effective because millions of people will decide which soft drink to buy every day.

Business to business services don't do as well on TV as business to consumer products and services. For example if your company offers computer networking solutions for small to medium sized businesses we wouldn't recommend TV advertising for your business. The problem is that most people watching don't own a business. The second problem is that of those who are watching and do own a business (a very small number compared with the total population in an area) the odds of them needing help with the networking of their computers is slim.

A good ad agency will not only make your TV commercial but will also have a professional media buyer with the knowledge and skills to place the spot on the right networks.  With the advanced TV rating system available to us today we have a wealth of information about the demographics of the people who are watching TV.  With a good media buyer on your side you'll get a great TV advertising schedule that will maximize your advertising dollars.  The important thing to keep in mind with regard to media buying is that we are trying to get your spots to be seen by a large percentage of the population (Reach) as often as possible (Frequency).  Less reputalbe firms will try to confuse matters by showing a large number of spots for a given price but they won't mention the Reach and Frequency.  For example if your spot runs 1,000 times on TV with one agency for $X and is seen 2.2 times by 5% of the population then you should expect very poor results.  However if our ad agency took the same $X and we had your spot run on TV only 100 times but it was seen 9.3 times by 20% of the population then you should expect good results.  Don't be fooled by companies that offer you a large number of spots.  With TV advertising what maters most is Reach and Frequency.