Some businesses choose to work with an ad agency to handle their marketing needs. However, your brand may be better suited to working directly with a media partner. A full-service media partner can not only handle your tv, digital, and social advertising, but they can also utilize streaming radio, print, and digital billboards. They can also offer services such as creative production, long-form lifestyle marketing, and community-based sponsorships. So, should you work with an ad agency or directly with a media partner to achieve your business goals? If you find some of these statements ring true, it may be in your best interest to work directly with a media partner.

You Desire Direct Communication

When you work directly with a media partner, there's no more middle man. You are able to communicate more effectively about what you want: your goals, your budget, and your vision. This direct communication style can help make it easier for you to get answers to your questions. It also reduces delays, which means you can roll out or adapt your marketing plans more easily. 

You're Looking for a More Customized Solution

When you work directly with a media partner, you are in a better position to collaborate directly on your creative, including getting a better idea of the exact cost of the production. You can also more directly share your vision, which means that you can give the media partner a better idea of exactly what you want to achieve through your marketing efforts. 

Some agencies will offer customized solutions to their clients. Many times, however, a direct relationship with a media partner can provide you with more room for creativity or the opportunity to custom create unique, community-focused sponsorships. An agency that has to juggle multiple accounts may only be able to offer so many options, while working directly with a media partner may allow you to choose exactly the solution that works for you. 

An agency, for example, may focus heavily on solutions like commercials and social media. A media partner is equipped to offer these traditional solutions and more, such as connecting you with cause marketing opportunities and aligning your business with specific sponsorships or segments that can help you better reach your target audience.

You Need a Better Understanding of Your Metrics

When it comes to understanding the exact metrics of a campaign, an experienced media partner can offer a number of crucial benefits. The digital landscape offers a great deal of transparency with regard to analytics, reporting, and attribution. A media partner can offer you a comprehensive dashboard that allows you to analyze the performance of every campaign and get real-time information about its performance. In addition, they can provide a team of experts that can help optimize campaigns to drive even greater success.

With this enhanced understanding, you can refine your target audience, get a better understanding of where you can find them, and better understand their needs and what they will respond to. Sixty-one percent of marketers cite generating traffic and leads as one of their top challenges. With a better understanding of your marketing metrics, you can better adapt your materials to help bring in those leads. 

You Want Access to More Marketing Opportunities

Eighty-six percent of senior-level marketers agree that it’s important to create a cohesive customer journey across all touchpoints and channels. Media partners often have a wide range of mediums that they can offer your business, such as TV ads, social media, email campaigns, lifestyle marketing ads, and more. Working directly with a media partner makes it easier to create a streamlined campaign across all platforms.

Imagine, for example, that you have created a new TV ad campaign. When you work directly with a media partner, you can promote it on social media--including your media partner's social channels. You can also pinpoint your target market in specific zip codes, demonstrate, educate, and inform your customers on your product or service using longer format lifestyle marketing, all in one easy location. You may also find that you can repurpose much of your existing creative, decreasing the cost to create your ads. 

In fact, working directly with a media partner can often provide you with lower-cost options that can help you expand your marketing opportunities while sticking to your marketing budget. Media partners may have lower minimums on specific digital solutions or access to premium digital solutions and inventory based on collective buying power. This allows your business access to products and solutions you might not be able to find through another channel. 

Is it time for you to make the switch to working directly with a media partner? Choosing to partner with a media company directly, rather than working through an ad agency, can help your business save money and increase results, allowing you to focus more on creating marketing materials that succeed.