Creative Agency and Full-Service Agency: Are They One and the Same?

by Taylor Bennett

This is a hot-button topic we are often asked to clarify for our clients. There are benefits to working with both types of agencies based on where you are with your business and growth needs. For now, I’ll clarify what these agency styles are, and how MESH fits into the mix.

A full-service agency is capable of handling all marketing aspects of a business, from strategic planning, creative, and production to public relations, social media, digital marketing, and analytics.

Most creative agencies are made up primarily of creative professionals and excel at offering creative and design services. Unless specified, thistype of agencyusually does not offer strategic planning, advertising, PR or technology services (such as web and app development).

MESH is a full-service agency. We provide our clients with multi-disciplined teams who ensure our offerings yield the business goals and objectives set by our partnership–from strategy and branding to campaign development, execution, and reporting. Here’s a summary of our offerings and how these work together to help clients take their business to the next level.

Branding:

We can launch a new brand, or evolve an established brand to be more relevant in today’s landscape. We take clients through a brand summit, aka a day of vision with leadership, and from there we develop the brand from the inside out so all stakeholders are clear on what the brand stands for. Internal messaging, recruitment messaging and external messaging are created to support consistent brand communication and we wrap up with a visual identity review (or creation if it’s a new brand).

Recently we were recognized as a top brand agency by Design Rush.

Marketing:

The next phase is the development of a 12-18 month marketing plan based on the growth goals and objectives of the company. We’ll craft a detailed calendar and budget including marketing, public relations, digital, traditional, social media, search, SEM, lead-gen, events, trade shows, content marketing, and all creative tactics. This will show us where we will put the brand in order for it to be seen and heard and where your dollars are being allocated.

Sales:

Our services support sales and development through website strategy and development, from sitemaps to formalize all navigation and pages to content, design and CMS training so in-house teams can maintain the site. We also develop sales collateral, trade show booths, branded environments, etc.

Advertising, Content, PR:

Similar to sales collateral, our marketing plan outlines the creative, content, and public relations tactics needed to achieve the business goals. Our in-house team will develop everything from animated digital ads, to social management and creation, video, podcasts, blogs, PR strategies, and graphic design.

The key message here is that full-service agencies, like MESH, can take a business to the next level. From strategy and project management to a first-class creative product, our multi-disciplined teams are built around the client with the most competitive talent in the region. As a result, we’re always innovating, even beyond the marketing space. This results in a continuous flow of new ideas, strategies, and tactics to create and accelerate growth for our clients.