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Before I walk you through the pros and cons of a freelancer and an agency I must give a detailed difference between both. If you decide to start your online marketing journey, it can be difficult to understand the scope of online marketing, and which is best for your business. so therefore, it becomes easy to go down the wrong path which is bad for the growth of your business. Are you still in doubt if your business needs a website now check out this http://netwalkers.com.ng/do-i-need-a-website-for-my-business-yes-heres-6-proven-reasons/

FREELANCER

A freelancer is an individual who works for themselves rather than a company. They take on contracts for companies or organizations so they are self-employed, they are not considered employees for companies they work rather they are called contractors.

Freelancers are entitled to all sorts of privileges that traditional workers do not have, such as their working hours, keeping track of the time they spend on projects, billing clients, and a lot more.

AGENCY

These are business, firm, and organization that provides some certain services for other business, firm, and organization. In most cases, they work for other groups, businesses, or people.

Back to the marketing world, an agency helps clients to implement and manage digital marketing strategies to archive their set goals. They are responsible for all research works, analysis and strategy, branding, and promoting the brand of their respective client. Some key responsibilities of a marketing agency involve personal development, advertising, campaign delivery, implementing new strategies, and setting a goal for a targeted audience for the client’s products or services.

operating, focusing on sales, advertisement, communicating with your staff, etc. There are a lot of aspects to be considered but one of the most important factors to be considered is working with the right expert in digital marketing, web development, software development. If you ensure you make the right decision then the sky is the starting point for your business. But one is a better option than the other a freelancer or an agency.

PROS AND CONS OF FREELANCER VS AGENCY

After knowing the difference between a freelancer and an agency, coupled with the fact that you might have made a lot of mistakes in the past or you are still confused about which one to hire for your business to attain a strong online presence, here are some pros and cons for freelancer and an agency to consider.

SKILLS AND EXPERTISE

Freelancers may be experienced professionals or maybe not in what they do. Some freelancers have plied their trade for one company or the other before deciding to work for themselves. So many freelancers are self taught with little or no real life experience driven to get something started by unemployment. Agencies are most times established by successful freelancers or employees. These give agencies wide knowledge of the digital sphere and the way they look at the business world. When hiring a freelancer, you will definitely see the one for your particular needs such as running Facebook ads, web development, SEO specialist, and so on. However, it will be extremely difficult to come across a freelancer with vast technical know-how in all digital marketing strategy, in most cases, you will need a few specialists so you keep explaining your vision on and on, again and again. 

With an agency, you get an array of different specialists on what they do coming under one umbrella to achieve your business goal so you don’t have to keep explaining your vision to a different freelancer at every point in time. But you won’t get to work with an individual. There is a high success rate working with an agency rather than a freelancer.

METHOD OF SERVICE 

 As I have told you earlier in this post, freelancers are self-employed, that is they work on their own, their pocket is of importance most times, few care about reputation and legacy because they know doing a good job with you will bring about referrals. 

Because they work remotely, they are likely to disappear with no prior notice from them and no traces. They most times are not binding to any legal contract and should they be unable to meet your desired target, You can’t seek for damages.  

Agencies  care about their reputation so much so they work for you with a well structured platform to achieve your set goals. They do a routine check to monitor the progress of your business so as to know the exact step to take

LEVEL OF PRIORITY 

Generally speaking, freelancers have lesser projects than an agency by doing so they tend to prioritize your job. They work on one project at a time which is similar to an in-house marketer. They take a longer time to finish your project due to a lack of resources.

An agency will have all the resources to finish your project but may prioritize a bigger project with big bucks from a larger business over yours, that is if your business is still on a small scale. 

PRICE 

When it comes to pricing freelancers offer a lesser price than an agency. But you get what you pay for. An agency usually charges about 30% higher compared to a freelancing agent.  But pricing will be more when begin to hire freelancers which is most times inevitable as your brand grows.

FLEXIBILITY 

Freelancing agents are more flexible because they don’t work  9 – 5 slots. They still have defined working hours and also work in the condition that favors them. You may incur extra charges if they work on weekends. 

With an agency, you know the position you are in time-wise and can be confident to place your business around it. Your assigned  marketer will not be available after the traditional working hours. If you run a business that works outside the traditional working hours then, an agency might not have that flexibility your business needs. 

SOME HELPFUL TIPS TO AID YOUR DECISION MAKING:

EXPERIENCE IN YOUR BUSINESS 

When you decide to go for a freelancer or an agency make sure to check if they have the experience and technical know-how in your business before hiring. Do background research on the brands they have worked with to know their level of experience.

PROVEN PERFORMANCE

After doing your background research, make sure to know if your freelancer or agency can provide their performance data but not everyone can provide this, but some agencies can provide specific data to the business owners that track their past campaign performance.

RECOMMENDATIONS 

It is important to get an actual review from real customers, that can provide a detailed insight on working with the freelancer and an agency.

At the end of it all, you might decide to work with a freelancer or an agency, in both cases, you might end up with high-quality performance. The question is how did you get there was the journey smooth or rough. 

During your start-up phase, it might make more sense for you to do your marketing all by yourself which allows you to save more money for other things. But as the years go by there is a lot to handle and you also want to take your business online then this is the right time to hire a freelancer or an agency to help establish a strong online presence. 

Below is an overview of what a marketing agency will do for your business:

• Sustainable Marketing Strategies – Marketing agencies work with clients to visualize sustainable marketing strategies for their products or services in order to improve the business and also maximize the return on interest ( ROI ).
• Improve Marketing Solutions – Once there is a sustainable strategy, marketing agencies implement, execute, and manage the marketing campaign for the client’s products or services.
• Evaluating The Results – Marketing agencies monitor the marketing campaign and also create a way of improving on the results.

PROS AND CONS OF FREELANCER VS AGENCY

After knowing the difference between a freelancer and an agency, coupled with the fact that you might have made a lot of mistakes in the past or you are still confused about which one to hire for your business to attain a strong online presence, here are some pros and cons for freelancer and an agency to consider.

SKILLS AND EXPERTISE – Freelancers are well-experienced professionals in what they do. Most freelancers have plied their trade for one company or the other before deciding to work for themself. These give a wide knowledge of marketing and the way they look at the business world. When hiring a freelancer, you will definitely see the one for your particular needs such as running Facebook ads, web development, SEO specialist, and so on. However, it will be extremely difficult to come across a freelancer with vast technical know-how in all digital marketing strategy, in most cases, you will need a few specialists so you keep explaining your vision on and on, again and again. 

With an agency, you get an array of different specialists on what they do coming under one umbrella to achieve your business goal so you don’t have to keep explaining your vision to a different freelancer at every point in time. But you won’t get to work with an individual. There is a high success rate working with an agency rather than a freelancer.

METHOD OF SERVICE

As I have told you earlier on in this post, freelancers are self-employed that is they work on their own, their reputation is of utmost importance to them as well because they know doing a good job with you will bring about referrals. Because they work remotely, they are likely to disappear with no prior notice from them and no traces. They don’t agree to a contract to avoid legal issues should they be unable to meet your desired target.  

Agency cares about their reputation so they work for you with a well structured platform to achieve your set goals. They do a routine check to monitor the progress of your business so as to know the exact step to take,

LEVEL OF PRIORITY

 Generally speaking, freelancers have lesser projects than an agency by doing so they tend to prioritize your job. They work on one project at a time which is similar to an in-house marketer. They take a longer time to finish your project due to a lack of resources.

An agency will have all the resources to finish your project but will prioritize a bigger project with big bucks from a larger business over yours, that is if your business is still on a small scale.

PRICE

When it comes to pricing freelancers offer a lesser price than an agency. An agency usually charges about 30% higher compared to a freelancing agent. 

FLEXIBILITY

 Freelancing agents are more flexible because they don’t work  9 – 5 slots. They still have defined working hours and also work in the condition that favors them. You may incur extra charges if they work on weekends. 

With an agency, you know the position you are in time-wise and can be confident to place your business around it. Your assigned marketer will not be available after the traditional working hours. If you run a business that works outside the traditional working hours then, an agency might not have that flexibility your business needs. 

SOME HELPFUL TIPS TO AID YOUR DECISION MAKING:

EXPERIENCE IN YOUR BUSINESS

When you decide to go for a freelancer or an agency make sure to check if they have the experience and technical know-how in your business before hiring. Do background research on the brands they have worked with to know their level of experience.

PROVEN PERFORMANCE

After doing your background research, make sure to know if your freelancer or agency can provide their performance data but not everyone can provide this, but some agencies can provide specific data to the business owners that track their past campaign performance.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is important to get an actual review from real customers, that can provide a detailed insight on working with the freelancer and an agency.

At the end of it all, you might decide to work with a freelancer or an agency, in both cases, you might end up with high-quality performance. The question is how did you get there was the journey smooth or rough. 

We are NETWALKERS NG, a Ikorodu Lagos based digital marketing and web development agency. We are committed to taking your business to the next level by providing you with modern digital marketing solutions such as:

• Web and app development
• Relevant content creating
• Web Development/Software Development
• Meaningful blog post
• Running social media ads ( Facebook, Twitter, Instagram )
• Google ads
• YouTube Channel.