ORLANDO AD AGENCIES VS.
ORLANDO FREELANCERS
by Susan Greene
As a freelancer based in Orlando, Florida, I often get asked
by prospective customers how my services differ from those of
the Orlando ad agencies with which I sometimes compete. The answer,
in a nutshell, is that I offer very specialized services.
I am a freelance copywriter. While many of the projects I do
incorporate graphic design, website design, photography and printing,
I only handle the writing aspect. The other components I either
outsource or refer away.
If your business requires a wide range of advertising and marketing
services, you may need more than a freelancer can offer. You
can always work with several different specialized freelancers,
but be prepared to act as a project manager in that case.
I've seen reports that say that most ad agency
clients have annual budgets in excess of $500,000. Generally
speaking, the bigger the ad agency, the bigger the budgets of
its clients.
If you have a specific project or projects you're looking to
have done versus an entire account requiring multiple disciplines,
you should seriously consider the benefits of using a freelancer:
-
You'll probably save money. Freelancers typically
have a lot less overhead than ad agencies. That savings is
passed on to you.
-
You pay no retainer fee as you might with
an ad agency. You're usually charged per project.
-
You can cherry-pick your specialists. That
is, you can select individual freelancers (copywriters, graphic
designers, etc.) whose style you like. With an ad agency,
you essentially get the style of the agency as a whole. You
may or may not like the talents (or personalities) of the
individuals.
-
With a freelancer, you can be a big fish
in a little pond. At an ad agency, unless your budget is
substantial, you may be treated like a little fish.
