A final post to this three part series on the advancing debate of going with an advertising agency or with an in-house person or team.

One more time, I remind you that as the CEO of an advertising agency I certainly have a bit of a bias. However, I have worked “in-house” within two dealerships while in the employ as a general manager and general sales manager. In addition, we have hired agencies throughout my career as well, so my insight into this raging debate is fully enlightened after having sat on both sides of the desk.

With a liberal arts education in a Benedictine monastery with a strong background in philosophy I am well suited for both sides of an argument for the sake of seeking truth. With this in mind, my best attempt will be put forth at approaching both sides of this argument with a clear mind and heart.

3. Medium Benefits (The Platinum or Big Time Level Perks)

By and large most dealerships do not spend enough money on any online digital platforms to really get the provider’s attention. Believe it or not spending as much as $250,000 a year with Google will most likely not even phase them. Lucky for Google.

Because advertising agencies are spending at the levels that does get the attention of Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and more our campaigns get more investment from these platforms because they want us to succeed. It is an important revenue stream to them. Getting Google or Facebook to call your dealership for a weekly performance review is highly unlikely.

Look at it this way. If Big Time Advertising decided that Google Adwords was a waste and recommended our dealerships to go a different direction, Google would actually feel that transition. This is why agencies will often receive the benefits and perks that most dealerships’ may never. At Big Time, we pass on all of these incentives and perks to our clients.

• Quicker Access To The Newest Advertising Options– we are consistently unveiling many digital products before most dealerships and businesses have ever heard of them. We are constantly in dialogue with Google, Bing, Facebook, etc. giving us access to products sometimes while in testing phase and/or immediately when they are unrolled.

•Big Time Support– Have you ever even tried to get through to Google, Facebook, Bing, Yelp? Who do you call to complain about a Geo-Fence? Yes, it can be hard for your dealership’s needs to be addressed without an agency. At Big Time Advertising we can quickly get real people on the phone to help with irregularities in your account, bad reviews, and numerous other important support issues.

•Big Time Account Monitoring­- Digital marketing platforms WANT and NEED agencies to succeed. To aid in that endeavor, they assign us their own top level people to monitor our agency’s accounts and help us make sure our dealerships are getting proper attention and achieving industry expected success. These digital marketing representatives (like Google) are consistently giving us their insight and ideas they receive from internal data that the general public will not ever see.

A good agency does provide many benefits and perks that the general dealership will never receive on its own. These important benefits can and will give your dealership a real advantage over the competition that is in-house. At Big Time Advertising, we also have strategic alliances with other marketing agencies which function like partnerships and allows us to offer additional premium services and competitive rates to our dealerships.

Ad Agency vs. In-House
If you are not a ginormous dealership conglomerate, auto mall or Walmart sized then you are most likely not getting the same “love” that advertising agencies are receiving. I am not suggesting your dealership will not be successful or is not successful. I am of the belief that there are no limits when it comes to success regardless of the obstacles, that is Big Time Thinking.

Trust me, I really do appreciate and realize there are many reasons a dealership will and must debate between going in-house or using an advertising agency. I do know either way can work well with the right level of competency.

Bottom line, if you do desire top-shelf marketing skill sets, reliability in performance, benefits, and more, then an agency like Big Time Advertising & Marketing is a no brainer for your dealership. From personal experience, when I ran my dealerships I always wanted 100% of my expenses going to finding a way to sell another vehicle. If I had to choose between an in-house marketing employee vs. another sales person or two, IT WOULD BE A NO BRAINER!