 Should you build an in-house team or hire a creative agency? Top companies hire creative agencies, here's why...When you first launched your business, you probably had a vision where all your employees lived and breathed your company brand. While this is great in the beginning, there will naturally come a time when you need a different perspective.
Having an in-house design team does have its advantages. An in-house team knows your culture better than anyone. They feel a sense of ownership toward your product and take on the responsibility of shaping your brand’s image. However, having all your branding and marketing needs handled under one roof may not be all it’s cut out to be. Here’s why hiring a creative agency for your marketing is better than maintaining an in-house design team: Time-Saver A creative agency’s dedicated resources and specialized tools mean not losing time and money to the learning curve. By leveraging their vast experience and expertise, a creative agency can help you save time and ensure you’re not wasting money on advertising trends and branding efforts that don’t work. An in-house team may seem like they can deliver results faster because they have intimate knowledge of your brand and product; however, this is rarely the case as they’re not paid based on results. Because you pay a creative agency to create and run your marketing campaigns, they will be stricter with deadlines and know their reputation relies on delivering results when and as promised. No Training or Learning Curve Choosing to hire the services of a creative agency saves you the trouble of recruiting and training new employees. Much time and money are lost as new people try to catch up with learning new tools and strategies. A creative agency has already mastered these tools and has extensive experience in generating successful ad campaigns. You don’t have to worry about training them; all you have to do is help them understand your brand’s mission and goals so that they can use it to create campaigns that align with your vision. Save Money Hiring a creative agency only when you need their services saves you money on branding in the long run. When you employ an in-house team, you not only have to pay for their individual salaries but also have to spend on their taxes, healthcare, and benefits. Remember that an in-house design team will include managers who will likely have hefty monthly salaries. Fresh Perspective The problem with an in-house design team is that they may have been living and breathing your brand for so long that it’s hard for them to look beyond what they already know and explore other possibilities. A creative agency will have a fresh outlook and help you identify marketing windows an in-house team may have overlooked because they’ve been sitting too close to the project. Because a creative agency comes in without any bias, they won’t just see your brand’s potential but also identify its flaws. Ultimately, working with a creative agency means your branding is in the hands of a highly competent team of people with specialized experience in the type of creative challenges your business faces. At NUEX Creative, we are an A-team of professionals obsessed with creating unique experiences. We help businesses build better brands, launch products, and connect with more customers. We are limitless, in our quality and client experience. Get A FREE Assessment of Your Business Today!
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 This question comes up a lot, should I hire a marketing agency or a creative agency? What is the difference?With things changing and evolving so fast, people often get confused when they come across new terms. Are you wondering what the difference between a creative agency and a marketing agency might be? How can they help you on your road to success? We are here to paint a clearer picture and remove the doubt in your mind so you can move your business in the right direction.
Creative Agency Creative agencies are essentially branding experts. They are the best at product and marketing design, and they focus on two things:
Marketing Agency? Marketing agencies don’t have to deal with the design of logos, videos, advertisements, and such because they already have these elements in place. When you meet with a marketing agency, you will discuss your core values and company goals with them, and their job is to align your marketing strategy that will connect with your target audience. It is possible only when a creative agency has completed the branding process. A marketing agency conducts market research (to increase sales), creates and implements a marketing strategy, looks for ways to build a relationship with your ideal consumers, and increases your company’s overall exposure. A marketing agency will put your company’s name out there, help your clients and potential customers see your business in a new light, and communicate your brand message to explain what and who you are. The Differences Let’s put it this way – marketing is there to help you in short or mid-term, while branding is done for the long term. Some marketing techniques may work today, but next month, you might see an entirely new approach to marketing that shows better results. To continue the marketing process, you need to get immediate (short-term) effects – attract more people to show interest in your business. With branding, it’s about developing long-term relationships. That’s where a creative agency comes into play. Branding is about the bigger picture – your company’s purpose, motivations, story, and the desire to help your consumers. It is about creating coherent, trusting, reliable, and consistent relationships by defining notions, ideas, and perceptions about your company or product and service. Startups and companies that want to perform a complete rebranding of their business should first go to a creative agency for help. After they get a full branding and visual solution for the company, they should proceed to a marketing agency to get the word out about the business or new product and service. NUEX Creative is a creative agency that can help you with branding and telling your story in a unique and fresh perspective. Take a look at the services we provide and see how we can elevate your brand. Get A FREE Branding Assessment and Strategy Session Today!  Should you hire an in-house creative team or hire a creative agency?As businesses have increasingly been using digital platforms to connect with customers, the value of creative and marketing services has grown immensely. Social media marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, digital advertising, and web design are critical to business success. However, with startups and SMBs, this can create problems because these companies must decide whether they should outsource for help or distribute those tasks to their in-house staff. In today’s world of remote work and high turnovers, we want to bring you the benefits of hiring a creative agency for these tasks.
1. Lower costs The cost of outsourcing for services eventually ends up being more economical (in most cases). It is because the actual cost of hiring in-house staff is typically overlooked – there are overhead and payroll expenses, taxes, benefits, equipment, office space, training, and vacation/sick days. Salaries account for 70% of an employee’s entire wage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Creative agencies can be used whenever you need them, while in-house teams need to be re-assigned or downsized. 2. Time efficiency Creative agencies are much savvier when it comes to utilizing different strategies for accomplishing clear marketing goals. Therefore, it is always more efficient to outsource for help (in terms of time). To keep the savvy workers, the company would have to deal with employee training and turnover – and that’s an additional responsibility. Agencies incorporate the required tools and resources in bulk to finish the daily track, they have experience with versatile projects, and know how to implement the latest trends to a company’s creative and marketing solutions. 3. Work efficiency Launching a new marketing campaign means a lot of work and deadlines to be met. Instead of hiring in-house staff and getting them overwhelmed, you can outsource with several teams that won’t need to bypass other tasks or work long hours to get your assignments finished on time. That way, you will get much better results. 4. Getting a different perspective Getting a fresh perspective is extremely valuable, especially to a business that got stuck in a rut regarding how they approach their problems and come up with solutions. Bringing new hires in-house will bring fresh eyes, but individuals often assimilate into the group quickly. On the other hand, hiring an external team means getting many different perspectives from a group of professionals that aren’t going to get tangled up in your office politics. 5. Result-oriented Hiring an expert should be done when you want to see tangible results in the shortest time. Creative agencies spend a lot of their resources to find out what works and what doesn’t and they regularly track results to make sure their clients see a positive return on investment. If you pressure your in-house staff to finish all the tasks within a short timeframe, it may end badly. The employees may become interested in taking other job opportunities, or their work will be shoddy. Agencies, however, want to be recommended by their clients and are often motivated by great success stories. Ultimately, you won’t have to worry about letting people go in case you need to scale your efforts down. Once you are done stabilizing your business growth pattern, hiring new, in-house staff would be an excellent idea. Welcome to NUEX Creative, where we all work together to take your brand further. We are here to create unique experiences by helping businesses with their advertising, product, web/app design, and branding endeavors. Want to take your brand to the next level? Get A FREE Strategy Session Today!  Now that we’re settling nicely into 2019, it’s a good time to re-examine our advertising strategy and see if we’re headed in the right direction. Did the 2018 predictions come true? Did some trends prove to be more impactful than others? Are there some tactics worth exploring this year? Here’s what we know:
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) We already use artificial intelligence in our everyday lives without even realizing it. You use AI when you interact with Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa. But did you know that AI is what filters your emails in Gmail, improves your social media experience, and makes recommendations when you shop online? In the world of advertising, AI is helping marketers become more consumer-focused. AI is helping enhance user experiences, enable personalization, and automate complex tasks faster and more efficiently. And with less time spent on testing multiple creatives and conducting surveys, marketers have more time to innovate and think creatively about their next campaign. With AI doing the heavy lifting involved in gathering data and insight, marketers focus their energy on delivering relevant and compelling ads and driving results. Marketing Automation With the rise of AI-driven technologies comes more marketing automation. Through automation, we can better track customer activity across multiple channels. Customer profiling is improved, giving us a more precise picture of our target audience. Marketing automation also gives us the tools to track the performance of our advertising campaigns quicker and more accurately, allowing us to make adjustments immediately. With valuable insight gained through marketing automation, you minimize second-guessing or making risky decisions about advertisement design, content creation, or merchandise branding. The Dominance of Video Consumers are spending more and more time on their smartphones consuming videos. According to the 2019 statistics infographic by Digital Information World, 52% of marketing professionals name video as the type of content with the best ROI. And according to 70% of the marketing professionals surveyed, video converts better than any other medium. And a whopping 92% of shoppers say that visuals are the most influential factor affecting their purchase decisions. If you haven’t added video to your advertising yet, 2019 is the year for you to leverage the medium to engage old and new audiences. Think along the lines of in-stream video ads on YouTube, Facebook Video, and Twitter Video. Start using Facebook Live and Instagram Stories. Create product or service promotional videos or product demonstrations, explainer videos. Encourage your audience to create videos about your products. Go live with interviews or share video captured from your corporate events or product launches. While technology seems to be the answer in this increasingly digital landscape, it’s not enough to use the tools and rely on them to make the hard decisions for you. Creativity is still king. Successful advertising still demands innovative thinking and smart campaigns. At NUEX Creative, we know how to dissect insight and data and implement them in your advertising strategies. Let us help you focus on your branding and delivering impactful user experiences. Improve Your Advertising Today! Get A FREE Strategy Plan  Branding has the power to impact everything from your reputation to your bottom line. Unfortunately, too many companies haven’t quite grasped the importance or understood the impact of branding and end up committing branding mistakes that hurt their business.
Here are the seven most common branding mistakes you should avoid: 1. Failing to Align with Your Brand’s Mission Your business is only trustworthy if it stays true to who and what you claim to be. Your audience is watching, and if you make a move that contradicts your mission, vision, and values, you disappoint your customers and hurt your reputation. 2. Not Tracking Your Efforts It doesn’t matter if you have the most amazing products or offer exceptional services if you’re a business who has confused branding with marketing or advertising. You will inevitably commit mistakes and ultimately hurt your sales. If you’re not tracking your branding efforts, then you’re not identifying where you are failing and where you are succeeding. Marketing and branding should not be confused; however, they do work together and knowing how your branding affects your marketing and vice versa is crucial to business success. Remember that your branding is who you are while marketing is your tactical strategy to build awareness around that image. 3. Not Doing More to Stand Out Differentiating yourself from the competition is how to get attention. With so many brands who are doing what you’re doing, you need to let the world know how you’re doing it better. Your branding should express what makes you unique and why they should make the switch. 4. Lack of Consistency The quickest way to confuse your audience and lead them to question the legitimacy of your brand is to be inconsistent with your messaging and imagery. Everything from your colors to your voice should be consistent. Your company visuals should match across all social media platforms, marketing collateral, and your website. Your company should use the same name, colors, logo, and taglines both on and offline. Not only will consistency help your audience remember you, but it builds trust. 5. Not Realizing That Everything Is Now Global The Internet and social media have given all brands a global platform. When you put yourself out there, you allow the whole world access to your image and voice. Be careful with topics that touch race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, politics, and so on – unless your brand is built on controversy and aims to invite debate and unleash firestorms. 6. Employees Who Don’t Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk Your brand goes beyond what you see on social media, your website, on billboards or TV. Your brand isn’t just the products on the shelves. Your brand extends to all your people. So if you have employees who are poor representations of what your brand stands for, your company will suffer. Engage your employees and give them a sense of pride to represent your brand. Give them a reason to be ambassadors who proudly spread your message. 7. Not Knowing Enough About Branding Business owners know their product, logistics, finances, hiring the right people, and all things related to operations. What they may not be so great at, is defining their brand and establishing a differentiated presence in the market that makes them attractive and memorable to customers. Ultimately, the biggest mistake businesses make in branding is not knowing where to start and how to achieve its success. Let NUEX Creative help you stand out and create a unique experience that leaves your audience breathless and wanting more. Differentiate yourself from the competition. Let us help you tell your story in a new perspective. If you’re ready for takeoff, get your FREE consultation today.  Are you embarking on a brand identity journey? Or have you decided it's time to change directions and rethink your whole image?
Whatever your reasons for focusing on branding and logo design, understand that there’s so much more to it than reaching for your sketchpad, doodling designs, and deciding which one is your favorite. It takes careful planning, research, and strategy to differentiate yourself from the competition. Create a powerful and memorable brand identity that communicates effectively with your target market by focusing on the visual and emotional elements. Here are five branding and logo best practices to help you move through the branding and logo design process: 1. Simplicity is Key For your logo to have the most impact, you shouldn’t overwhelm it with too many elements. A complex concept may confuse your audience and keep them from understanding your brand’s core message. Simpler logos are also more scalable and flexible, making them easier to apply across all your marketing collateral. Aim for simplicity by using fewer words; tight taglines are also much easier to remember. However, don’t strive to be so simple that you end up becoming forgettable. Yes, there is beauty in brevity, but creativity and distinction are also crucial. 2. Decide Your Design Direction Trendy or Timeless? You may like the old-school charm of vintage fonts or prefer something bolder and more modern. But does your logo preference reflect the nature or your business or company culture? Each business has a unique personality; their branding and logo should honor that. Understand the different styles, fonts, and graphics. Learn about the psychology of colors. With so many existing, successful logos out there, it’s impossible not to be able to name a few that have captivated you. The goal isn’t to replicate but to gain inspiration. 3. Consistency Avoid confusing your audience by keeping all your marketing collateral consistent. Everything from your images to font colors to graphics should complement your logo. Your logo has a specific color scheme and moving away from that palette when designing your marketing materials will only puzzle people. It will make them question who you are and what your brand represents. 4. Research and Strategy Apart from knowing what you like, you also need to know what to avoid. Do your research before sitting down with a designer and going straight into the discussion on typography, colors, and symbols. Start by compiling the logos of all your competitors and ensure you don’t end up creating one based on what you thought came to you in a dream – only to realize later you had seen it before. The last thing you want is being accused of copying someone else’s work or looking like an existing brand knock-off. 5. Dig Deep The secret to developing a memorable logo and branding is knowing who you are, what you stand for, and whose attention you want to attract. Define what makes you different and what you value most. Your logo doesn’t necessarily need a symbol that represents what you do. An abstract image works just as well and may even leave a more lasting impression. However, whatever shape or color you decide for your logo, it needs to be something that captures who you are as a brand and conveys the message you want to share with the world. At NUEX Creative, we believe that design and strategy matter, and that they should never be an afterthought. We offer a branding strategy and logo creation services. Let us help you tell your story. Get a Free Consultation. If you liked this article, make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for daily branding and advertising tips! |
Join our 100X Growth Program!AuthorJ. Sanders is a branding and advertising guru, as well as a PMP certified Project Manager. He has worked with top companies and startups to improve their branding over a decade. Archives
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