Picked local branding over a big agency for my side business, here's what happened

So I've got this small side thing I run (general contracting work, nothing huge) and I had to choose between a regional marketing agency charging $2,500 a month or a local freelancer who knew the area. I went with the freelancer because she actually lives in the same town and understands the neighborhoods. Within 3 months my phone was ringing off the hook from people in our zip code, way more than the $500 I spent total. Has anyone else gone with a smaller local option and had it pay off better than the big name?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryanj603d ago

Yeah but I gotta push back a little on the "big agency" thing. A $2,500 regional marketing place isn't exactly a big name, that's still pretty small compared to real national firms (which would be way higher). The freelancer sounds like she did great work for your area though, and $500 for that kind of result is a steal no matter how you slice it.

the_kevin2d ago

I get what you're saying about the $2,500 not being a "real national firm" (fair point honestly), but I see it differently. The whole argument here isn't really about the price tag or agency size, it's about whether the local person understood the audience better. The freelancer knew which neighborhoods hated chain-link fences versus which ones wanted stone pathways, stuff a bigger shop two towns over might miss. Even a $10,000 national firm can't replicate that kind of hyper-local knowledge, you know? And the results speak for themselves, $500 vs $2,500 and the phone rang more. So I'm on team "smaller and closer" for this one.