8 Crucial functions of an advertising agency

It is a well-known fact that advertising agencies hire individuals who stand out from the crowd. Smart, creative and original are a few characteristics that are common among those working in an advertising agency. Each and every employee of an advertising agency holds a certain level of importance, and also facilitates in the smooth functioning of the agency. An agency may comprise of a research team, a copywriting team, a design team and a media team, and these teams together come into service of the client.

Every brand is unique in its own way and strive to bridge the gap and better the communication with its consumers/target group. Advertising agencies come into play when brands and organizations require expert advice and execution of ideas to advertise and promote their brand. Advertising agencies have always reflected the prevailing trends, and running or even working in an advertising agency requires one to be creative, smart and witty. The functions of advertising agencies are numerous, and thus, it is also greatly accounted for the success, as well as the failure, of a campaign.

Functions of advertising agency includes:

Understanding the needs of the client

First and foremost, it is essential that the agencies understand the needs of the client. Expert guidance and execution can carry a brand forward. Communication between the client and the agency is usually open ended, and the advertising agency first understands the marketing objectives of the client and creates a campaign that would fulfill the requirements of the clients in a way it is most successful way. The reputation of the brand is built largely by their advertisements, and agencies assure to meet the needs.

Research

Advertising agencies are contacted by clients from different backgrounds who have different needs. Thorough advertising research is essential as it ensures good results and also consumes lesser time. It is done through a process, which involves systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data related to the effectiveness of an advertisement. It becomes rather simple to create a creative ad, if the research and analysis is substantial. Keeping up with the on-going trends and also the traditional is therefore very important. The team works on around the theme suitable for the client and generate substantial amount of data which can be used and prove beneficial for the client, as well as the agency.

Media planning

After understanding the requirements of the client, an advertising agency strategically handles and plans the advertisement’s shipment into the river of media possibilities. The job of media planning is to determine the best combination of media to achieve the marketing campaign objectives. It is an application of strategy and planning to facilitate the advertisements’ reach to its target group (TG). Media planning is crucial as an advertisement’s potential can reach its 100% only when it’s streamed down the right lane. Advertising agencies make sure that their clients cater to their TG in the best of the ways, making the ad campaign a success.

Preparing creatives

The process of preparing creatives begins mainly after the research. An ad agency requires the creative team to be very creative, intelligent and original. An advertisement has the potential of standing out and marking itself unique, and all this would be all because of the creative team of the ad agency. An advertisement is created jointly by a copywriter and an art director. The brief or requirements of the client is transformed into an idea that has clarity and creative depth. The design team creates the creatives and gives life to the idea.

Coordination and execution

After shortlisting ads from a series of campaigns, the next function of an ad agency is to coordinate with the client. Receiving feedback from the clients on the prepared creatives is the most crucial step of the process. Coordination is important because it is important that both the ad agency and the client are on the right track. Lack of communication and coordination can lead to a failure ad campaign. On the other hand, no joy is bigger than a perfectly made creative which meets a client’s expectations.

Execution of the decided ad campaign is then done with full thought. Prior steps like media planning help ease this process. The expertise of the ad agency guides the flow of the prepared campaign and decides its execution in a way it is most profitable.

Reach and Traffic

Newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and brochures were seen under a different limelight after the introduction of print advertisements. Although with the advent of digital advertising the range has become wider, traditional advertising has still held onto its importance in the ad publishing stage. Generating traffic is the main goal of the clients and ad agencies therefore strategically plan the execution of the ad campaign. Agencies help the clients to reach their desired reach and traffic. The traffic an ad receives has the power to even make the campaign viral!

Accounting

The matters involving finance and accounts is very crucial, and thus, a team is designated to work on it. Advertising agencies tend to work with different clients at the same point of time, and it becomes important to invigilate the transactions. From managing the salary of the employees to keeping record of un-cleared payments, the accounts department handles everything.

Public Relations

The PR team at an ad agency has the job of managing relations with the clients and their target groups. Keeping record of consumer feedback helps both the client, and the ad agency to work better and more efficiently. This gives them clarity and understanding on how to improve their existing campaigns, and maps out a route for their next move.

Also read: Structure of an advertising agency