Is having multiple ad agencies making you less efficient?

If you're like most dental marketers, you employ several ad agencies, with each agency specializing in a certain skill set. This is especially true in the digital realm with clients using a search engine optimization agency, a social media agency, and so on.

However, there is a trend by some marketers to consolidate their agency services. The hope is to build a better mousetrap, if you will, for greater effectiveness, cohesiveness, and, ultimately, better sales results. If you're curious about consolidation, below are some key issues and benefits you'll want to consider.

6 benefits of using one ad agency

1. Control

Rob Medina.

Having one agency provides the benefit of real-time control to react quickly to market changes. Using multiple agencies means multiple contacts who need coordination. If you're a marketing executive, you know what I'm talking about.

2. Better expertise

I hear from dental marketers that they are dissatisfied with their agency's performance but don't know where to turn. Most agencies working in the dental industry today have little or no dental marketing experience -- as shocking as that may sound.

However, dental marketing is catching up with traditional retail categories when it comes to sophistication. Finding better, smarter people usually means better results. If you can find the right agency with experience, you're halfway home.

3. Competing agencies

Multiple agencies tend to compete with each other for the budget. Sometimes there is a lack of teamwork between agency partners. Clients don't like to referee these politics.

4. Contradicting analytics

Multiple agencies will provide competing and contradicting analytics. If you think about it, each agency is going to tell the best story possible, right? Then it's up to the client to interpret the relevance and importance of the data from several sources.

This arrangement can get confusing and difficult to manage. On the other hand, one agency has no incentive to favor one program over another. If a tactic isn't working, get rid of it and move on. This isn't so easily accomplished with multiple agencies clamoring to keep your business.

5. Cost

An agency will likely bend on fees if you are consolidating your business with them. This step could lower the overall agency fees by 20% or more.

6. Creative consistency

One agency can better develop, deploy, and monitor new campaigns; copy any changes to the marketing channels your practice uses; and maintain brand standards across all of those channels for cohesiveness.

Consolidating marketing services is a trend that will likely grow in the dental industry. Dental marketers are discovering what other traditional marketers have known for years: The benefits of consolidation are speed, lower costs, and a higher degree of execution. If you can find the right team, consolidation could be a better mousetrap for your group.

Rob Medina is a 20-year dental marketing executive and principal at Medina Communications. Established in 1996, the full-service agency specializes in dental and retail marketing. Medina's previous career experience was with CBS, NBC, and iHeart. He has a Master of Business Administration degree from Regis University.

The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.