One integrated agency or a team of specialists?

Start with the work between the work.

The brand team has a new story. The media team wants more landing pages. The website team needs approved copy. Everyone is busy, but the launch keeps moving.

That is the part an agency org chart does not explain: how decisions travel from one discipline to the next. Before you decide whether to hire one agency or several, list the decisions your project needs and the people who can make them.

An integrated agency brings several disciplines into one engagement. Specialist agencies concentrate on particular work, such as search, research, ecommerce development or creative production. Neither model guarantees that the right expertise will be on your account. Meet the proposed team and ask how it will handle an actual challenge from your brief.

Three workable models. Different responsibilities.

Do not assume “integrated” means every task is performed by employees, or that “specialist” means a small firm. Ask who will do the work, how partners are used and which responsibilities are included in your scope.

Try the model on a real-sized problem.

Consider a fictional B2B company launching a new service. It needs customer interviews, positioning, a website section and a paid campaign. The interviews could change the message; the message could change the page; the page could change the media plan.

With an integrated team, ask who carries the research findings into the creative and website decisions. With separate specialists, name the person who turns those findings into one approved brief. In either case, set a decision point before production begins so every team is working from the same version.

Now consider a different assignment: the company has approved messaging, a useful landing page and reliable sales feedback, but its paid-search account needs attention. A specialist can be a sensible fit because the supporting work already has owners. The first situation has more dependencies; the second has a clearer boundary.

The industry changes the handoffs.

These are planning examples, not a substitute for your organization’s review requirements. The useful question is who can resolve a dependency when two workstreams need different things.

Ask for the decisions behind the work.

A portfolio should help you understand how the team thinks. Ask the agency to show where evidence changed the direction, what it delivered and what another team owned. If a case spans several disciplines, find out whether the proposed people worked on it.

For example, Carbon’s UFP Technologies case study explains connections between research, brand structure and the website. Our HubSpot case study describes a media assignment. They are different kinds of briefs; the right comparison is with the work you need done.

Ask for a sample responsibility map and a decision log from the proposed working process. Redacted examples or a walkthrough can be useful without exposing another client’s confidential material.

Compare the coordination cost too.

Put agency fees, separately scoped production, media and technology on one sheet. Add the internal time required to brief teams, collect approvals and reconcile recommendations. A lower external fee may still make sense; you just need to know what it asks of your people.

Carbon works on a project or retainer basis. Projects receive a custom quote based on need and timing, and retainers start as low as $5,000/month. That is a starting point for a scope discussion, not an all-inclusive price for a multi-agency program. See our engagement and pricing guide.

Leave the conversation with named owners.

If those answers remain fuzzy, ask for another conversation before choosing a model. If they are clear, you have a better basis for comparing the actual people and proposals.

Ready to narrow the field? Use the agency-selection scorecard or compare B2B paid-media agencies.