What’s the difference between Ad Agencies vs Consulting Firms?- TheDigitalFellow
Ads Agencies

What’s the difference between Ad Agencies vs Consulting Firms?

Whom Should You Hire for Solving Business Challenges after Covid-19? Now hear carefully and Know the difference with the help of comparison and contrast. 1. Area of Expertise Ad Agencies work on Specific marketing domain Consulting Firms work on Specific business domain market 2. Area of Knowledge Base Ad Agencies work on Creative-driven solution approaches to branding […]

20 Oct, 2022

Whom Should You Hire for Solving Business Challenges after Covid-19?

Now hear carefully and Know the difference with the help of comparison and contrast.

1. Area of Expertise
  • Ad Agencies work on Specific marketing domain
  • Consulting Firms work on Specific business domain market
2. Area of Knowledge Base
  • Ad Agencies work on Creative-driven solution approaches to branding & Marketing
  • Consulting Firms work on Knowledge, Intelligence, Insights, forecasts, and a Data-driven approach to Markets, Industries, Segments, Category & brands.
3. Area of Guidance & Advising
  • Ad Agencies work with the Marketing team in an organization for marketing ROI
  • Consulting Firms work with Senior management for business performance
4. Area of Core Problematic issue Identification
  • Ad Agencies help Identify core marketing problems
  • Consulting Firms help Identify core business problems
5. Area of Goal setting in business
  • Ad Agencies Design brand communication for achieving marketing goals
  • Consulting Firms Provide objectivity while setting business goals
6. Area of Goal achievement
  • Ad Agencies Help achieve marketing goals.
  • Consulting Firms Help set overall business goals.
7. The Need to Hire Them
  • Ad Agencies work on Customer facing solutions that are primarily design oriented.
  • Consulting Firms work on Business & customer-facing challenges.
8. Reason for Hiring
  • Ad Agencies drive Creative supply & help Design the look & feel of the brand.
  • Consulting Firms To drive business strategy.
9. Solutions Provided
  • Ad Agencies work on Solving marketing challenges only.
  • Consulting Firms work on Solving all business challenges.
10. Who Can Hire Them?
  • Ad Agencies are generally Hired by CMO/Marketing Head.
  • Consulting Firms are generally Hired by CEO/MD/ Shareholders/Core stakeholders.
11. Approach to Work
  • Ad Agencies Work with CMO.
  • Consulting Firms Work with CEO/ Founder/MD CXO.
12. Supplement to Team
  • Ad Agencies Supplement the marketing department in an organization.
  • Consulting Firms Supplement all departments in an organization.
13. Initiating Change
  • Ad Agencies Help/ upgrade/ the last mile connect between brand & customer experience.
  • Consulting Firms Helps upgrade people, process, product, and technology.
14. Approach to Knowledge
  • Ad Agencies With creative knowledge fuel marketing speed & efficiency.
  • Consulting Firms Use industry/category/ segment knowledge to fuel business growth.
15. Approach to Client’s Teams
  • Ad Agencies Cannot resize/ train/ any team, including the marketing team.
  • Consulting Firms Can advise business leaders for resizing / training/ upgrading personnel across departments.
16. Method and Competence
  • Ad Agencies are Creative driven.
  • Consulting Firms are Business, data & Knowledge driven.
17. Work on Strategy
  • Ad Agencies Work on sales & marketing strategies.
  • Consulting Firms Work on business strategies.
18. Area of Influence
  • Ad Agencies Seek to influence a client’s customer through ads.
  • Consulting Firms seek to influence all groups of clients, especially stakeholders.
19. Interaction with the Client Team
  • Ad Agencies work with the marketing teams & processes, market stakeholders, and customer base of a client, touring the marketing dept.
  • Consulting Firms work with all departments in a business organization, meeting the directors, and CXOs, touring the facility and auditing the finances.
20. Larger Frame of Reference
  • Ad Agencies drive Brand mission & vision.
  • Consulting Firms drive Organization’s mission & vision.
21. Capacity to Audit
  • Ad Agencies May conduct a brand audit to identify marketing strengths & weaknesses.
  • Consulting Firms Conduct overall business audits including brand audits, financial audits, people audits, process audits, and tech audits to identify strengths & weaknesses.
22. Approach to Client’s Business Assets & Liabilities
  • Ad Agencies May not be invested in setting the client’s business assets & liabilities.
  • Consulting Firms Consider managing a client’s assets & liabilities as part of their scope of work.
23. Approach to New Market Opportunities
  • Ad Agencies: May develop advertising solutions for new markets.
  • Consulting Firms Predict, forecast, and Identify new market opportunities for a business & develop the feasibility & impact of its business plans for the same.
24. Persistence Required
  • Ad Agencies Need to be persistent with the client in the face of demands for further options in design and creatives.
  • Consulting Firms Need to be persistent when meeting resistance from top management regarding key decisions involved in business strategy.
25. Methodology
  • Ad Agencies do Micro level execution.
  • Consulting Firms do Macro and micro-level strategy, advice, recommendations, and executions.
26. Main KRAs
  • Ad Agencies work on Marketing goals, marketing ROI, and metrics of customer acquisition & retention.
  • Consulting Firms work on Business growth, year-on-year growth, feasibility study, business forecasting, business challenges, reducing turnaround time, and minimizing all types of operation TAT like buying cycle length/duration.
27. Impact of Work
  • Ad Agencies Impact marketing & branding.
  • Consulting Firms Impact business growth & performance.
28. Ways to Get the Best out of Them
  • Ad Agencies Should be given creative freedom by the CMO & marketing team.
  • Consulting Firms Should be empowered by the CEO & MD to take all difficult decisions.
29. Personal Interaction
  • Ad Agencies Should be encouraged to provide constructive criticism regarding existing brand communication.
  • Consulting Firms Deserve to be allowed complete liberty to investigate the issues and records deeply & be trusted with data.
So the Moral of the story:

Your decision about whom to hire for solving your business challenges after Covid-19?

Ad Agencies? Who gives ideas for ads? Or Consulting Firms?

It’s time to rethink your old business models

30. Will you need better copy & better ads?

Or…

Will you need ways to grow your business?

Let us know about your experience working with ad agencies and consulting firms.

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