• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Bedfordshire
  • Milton Keynes
  • Northamptonshire
  • Awards
  • Knowledge Hub
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • Sustainability
    • The Podcast
    • ATB TV
All Things Business

All Things Business

First For Local UK Business News

  • Education
  • Professional Services
    • Legal
    • Finance
    • Recruitment & HR
    • Creative Marketing
  • Property
  • Environment
    • Wellbeing
  • Industry
    • Industry
    • Manufacturing
    • Motors
    • Logistics
    • Technology
  • Events
    • Events
    • Food & Drink
    • Sport
  • News

Could you get more from your creative budget?

News | August 28, 2020

Could you get more from your creative budget?

Kym Wright, Business Development Manager at White Clarke Creative, shares useful tips on getting the best from your creative agency.

Agree the right billing model for you

Many sources will tell you that hourly billing is the most expensive way to go, and in some cases they’d be right – especially if hours are allowed to escalate or are not effectively managed. Yet there’s no avoiding the fact that an agency’s costs are mostly based on paying their talent – which means that one way or another, you’ll be paying for their time. So, when you get that fixed price quotation guess what it’s based on? Yep – it’s basically an estimate of how much time they are likely to be investing in your project. Also, be aware that some agencies will treat an estimate as flexible, reducing the final bill if time taken is less than predicted (and increasing it if it goes over); others may specify a fixed price as part of their contract with you.

Your agency should always keep you informed of how your project costs are tracking, and – within reason – might adopt a flexible approach to invoicing. For example, they might offer a pay-as-you-go plan to spread costs and avoid being hit with a large invoice at completion.

A monthly retainer can help you to manage cashflow and keep your outgoings on an even keel. An ongoing relationship with your agency means that they get to know you and your business better, becoming more of an extension of your team – you’re likely to see more discretionary effort, stronger ideas and more for your money as a result.

Make sure that you’re not inadvertently increasing costs

Here are three essential disciplines to make sure your agency is not being forced to clock up extra time on your behalf.

1. Be clear about what you want to achieve. It’s all too easy for so-called ‘briefing’ meetings to turn into a back-and-forth between client stakeholders about objectives, priorities and resources, while the agency team sits looking awkwardly at their fingernails. A good agency will certainly help you to find the right direction, and to refine and enhance your brief, but you should at least know the fundamentals of what you want to achieve before you begin. Client-driven changes of direction at any point in the process will inevitably drive costs upward.

2. Don’t sweat the small stuff too early. You know it’s true – we all love to get involved in conversations about font, colours and images. But avoid the temptation to try and get the fine detail nailed down before main concepts are signed off. Be ready to accept examples and placeholders for what they are. Interrupting the process with a debate on whether Comic Sans is a good choice or not (only kidding, we all know it isn’t) in the early stages can lead to delays, more iterations and increased costs.

3. Consolidate input from all sources before you give feedback. We’ve all seen those files called ‘FINAL FINAL FINAL v7’. Designers are all too familiar with actioning one set of amends, then another, and another, Oh and can you just deal with some tweaks from our boss? Changes take time, and can lead to delays and increased costs. This is why it also pays to identify early on who has final sign-off: your marketing team may all be happy, but if someone from the C-suite wants to see it before it goes out, then that person should be involved in the main feedback process, not just as the final step.

Go for value over price, every time

Look at the quality of the work your prospective agency has already done, and how satisfied their previous or current clients have been. Don’t assume that if an agency has worked with

Milton Keynes

Related stories

  • MPs celebrate city status announcement Milton Keynes
    May 20, 2022

    MPs celebrate city status announcement

    MPs Iain Stewart and Ben Everitt have shared their delight as Milton Keynes was finally officially awarded city status as part of…
  • centre:mk Milton Keynes
    May 17, 2022

    Centre:mk welcomes brand new Ted Baker store to Milton Keynes

    centre:mk are pleased to announce the addition of global lifestyle brand, Ted Baker, to their store line-up in Milton Keynes later this…
  • MK Gateway Milton Keynes
    May 10, 2022

    Taking centre stage at real estate forum

    On 17-19 May, the Socius team will join over 4,000 attendees in Leeds for the annual UKREiiF event, which connects people, places…

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Stay up to date on All Things Business

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive the latest business news.

Online Edition

Northamptonshire edition, click here
Milton Keynes edition, click here
Bedfordshire edition, click here

Most Read

  • Howes Percival A trio of new partners in East Mids among five senior promotions
  • centre:mk Centre:mk welcomes brand new Ted Baker store to Milton Keynes
  • Windfall tax on energy companies: Chancellor and business secretary need to stand their ground against the windfall tax siren calls – MHA comments Windfall tax on energy companies: Chancellor and business secretary need to stand their ground against the windfall tax siren calls – MHA comments
  • Workplace Wellbeing Why It's So Important Workplace Wellbeing: Why it’s so important
  • MPs celebrate city status announcement MPs celebrate city status announcement

Footer

REGIONS

Northamptonshire
Milton Keynes
Bedfordshire
 

COMPANY

About Us
Contact
Awards
Podcast
Knowledge Hub
Sustainability
Request A Copy

Northamptonshire Office

1 Queensbridge, Northampton
NN4 7BF
Tel: 01604 267677

Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire Office

The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes,
MK9 1BP
Tel: 01908 030688

London Office

25 Bedford Square
London
WC1B 3HH
Tel: 0208 1760176

Follow us on

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

All Things Business is a publication produced by All Things Management Ltd. Registered in England No. 9590677


Privacy Policy