We must begin differentiating how the two operate with their clients.
Consulting firms are founded in strategy which provokes long-term thinking. Agencies are about what needs to be done today as well as the execution of a quick campaign. A digital consultant investigates while an agency executes.
Agency vs Digital Consultancy
- Strategy + Execution
- Working within the client’s framework
- Team structure
- Team experience
The biggest difference between the two is the strategy. Traditionally, the conception of the strategic recommendation and roadmap is attributed to a digital consultant, and the implementation, and execution of that plan rest with the agency.
We see quite often that with the full-funnel approach – agencies are offering up both the strategy and the implementation – but at what cost to the client? We see quite often in a traditional agency model, built to focus on execution as opposed to long-term strategy, the project leads or digital strategists lack experience. It is no secret that agencies are known for hiring young talent, suffering from high-turnover, and breeding a “fire-drill” mentality within the culture.
Another important distinction is that a digital consultant works within the client’s framework while an agency is given permission to act on behalf of their clients to execute project plans.
There is a common misconception that consultants work alone. A consultancy can come in all sizes and the core of providing big-picture thinking is to work as a team and gain many perspectives to solve a problem together. Agencies often hire specialists and task out to complete a portion of the project without necessarily being aware of the bigger picture.
While digital consultants are often staffed by professional, experienced, mature employees with a solid track record, agencies find themselves home to competitive creatives who have no loyalty towards the agency. This results in a high turnover of staff causing a big problem in agencies and a negative effect on their clients.
When agencies are structured properly they can make it easy for businesses to implement a very technical strategy that is imperative to their overarching business goals such as SEO, website optimization, CRO, technical content development, email automation, and engineering an eCommerce for success.
Blue Noda is a balance of strategic consultation with the ability to execute
1) We offer our clients a customized retainer of services that they actually need
We base this customization off of a few variables within the discovery stage:
- The structure of your in-house team – their roles and their talents
- Your current agency partners and what their role is in the overarching digital strategy
- What your team’s current challenges are
2) We seamlessly integrate with your marketing ecosystem
When we propose the right set of services it is always with a comprehensive strategy in mind. This part of the partnership requires our client to be the champion and clearly communicate to all teammates working towards the same goal, that the blue noda team is here to streamline our workflows to create more efficient execution of our marketing tactics.
3) Our network connects experienced writers, developers, and designers
We are a virtual agency which means we can select talent from anywhere in the US because they are the best person for the job – period. We maintain our talent because we pay them what they deserve for their experience. We are able to maintain fair-market hourly rates because we have less overhead than your average agency. Our focus is on accumulating great talent to provide the best work for our clients.
What does blue noda mean?
- Blue is the color of transparency and truth. Our mission is to serve the client. That means open communication with other agencies is key, tracking all efforts to one dashboard as opposed to submitting a report end of the month that “tells a story”, and it also means that we will be honest, good or bad, with the actual results and expected KPIs.
- A node is a point at which lines or pathways intersect or branch; a central or connecting point. Our “nodes” represent control tests within the campaign that are strategically implemented to collect more data. The more we know – the better we can optimize for the next campaign.
- The “a” in noda is an ode to data always driving our next steps.
