Agencies vs. freelancers: how a holistic approach can reap dividends

You wouldn’t ask a violinist to conduct an orchestra. He may be an extraordinary musician, but what does he know about conducting or about how each section comes across to the audience? Will the audience come back? Chances are, probably not.

Similarly, your typical copywriter, while highly skilled in his area, won’t necessarily be able to advise on content strategy and messaging, or even be the best person to perform a quality control proof read.

So what more can you get from an agency?

The agency approach can give you:

• Three expert touch points on every job: writer, editor and proofer.
• Strategists as well as doers: specialists who can identify what the story or messaging needs to convey and put together a rock-solid brief, alongside those who can turn that outline into well thought-out prose.
• Storytellers as well as wordsmiths: visionaries who’ll look for angles, scenarios and motivations that will help inject some drama or emotion into the story to make it feel both real and interesting, and writers who’ll convey that excitement and energy using words.
• Copywriters with the skills and style of writing you need: you’ll be far more likely to be allocated a writer who truly understands your business and your industry— whether IT security, networking, application software, managed services or telecommunication etc —and whose style of writing will be a good fit, not only with your organisation but with the deliverable you need (a ‘salesy’ lead-gen email vs. an educational technical brochure, for example).

You just won’t get this breadth of experience and combination of skills from a freelancer. How could you? After all, they’re only one person.

An agency trumps a freelancer every time

With HN, you don’t just buy copywriting or marketing services: you buy a combination of expertise, knowledge, consultation, teamwork and advice. We can help make sure you have the right resources on your job every time.