What to Choose: Marketing-as-a-Service vs. Traditional Marketing Agencies

Traditional marketing agencies provide many benefits, but as things get more digital, their shortcomings become more apparent. 

The innovative model of Marketing-as-a-Service or MaaS emerges as a potential solution. MaaS offers flexibility, scalability, data-driven strategies, and customization. Now, is MaaS right for your business? Continue reading to explore the pros and cons and make a smart decision.

 

Traditional Marketing Agencies

Traditional marketing agencies have been the industry standard for years, and it makes sense. They offer multiple services simultaneously, such as planning, creative work, advertising, and PR. By 2030, their market value is expected to hit $380.45 billion. These agencies provide stability and reliability, especially in steady and predictable markets. 

That said, in this age of paramount flexibility and adaptability, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of these conventional approaches is vital. 

Advantages of Traditional Marketing Agencies

Although digital marketing has become the go-to choice of many industries, working with traditional marketing agencies still effectively boosts brands. Their benefits are rooted in their time-tested approaches, comprehensive service offerings, and dedicated support structure. 

• Established Processes and Experience

Traditional marketing agencies are experienced professionals who have honed processes that are both efficient and effective. They have developed tried-and-true methods for tackling challenges, which enable them to deliver consistent results. This established expertise typically translates into fewer surprises along the way, giving clients peace of mind.

• Comprehensive Service Offerings

Traditional marketing agencies are synonymous with a stack of services. They provide everything—from market research to brand development, content creation, and digital advertising. They can handle multiple aspects of your marketing strategy under one roof. This keeps everything consistent and aligned, helping build a strong brand image.

Plus, using one agency for multiple services saves time and resources since you don’t need to work with different providers.

• Dedicated Account Management

It’s guaranteed that when you work with a traditional agency, you’ll have a dedicated account manager. That is a perk that saves a ton of headaches caused by miscommunications. Having an account manager ensures that you have a primary point of contact who can advocate for your needs and wants. 

This benefit ensures streamlined communication, snowballing to projects on track and within the budget. This personalized attention cultivates a strong working relationship between the agency and clients. 

• Industry Recognition and Reputation

A lot of traditional marketing agencies have built an impeccable reputation over the years. They’re often considered industry pillars and recognized through awards and accolades. This level of reputation validates their expertise and instills confidence in their clients. 

Working with a well-known agency also improves your brand’s credibility. Your clients will see this as proof that you mean business and only work with the best. Moreover, well-reputed traditional marketing agencies often have extensive networks with industry giants. They can open doors for collaboration and growth for you.

Disadvantages of Traditional Marketing Agencies

Traditional marketing agencies offer great benefits, but they also have significant drawbacks. Considering these downsides, it is essential to decide if this model suits your business. By comparing the above pros against these cons, you can better assess if traditional marketing agencies align with your goals. 

• Higher Costs

Working with a traditional marketing agency can put a huge dent in your budget. They have a higher cost structure because of the combination of experience, expertise, and comprehensive services. They charge premium rates for their established approaches and proprietary methodologies. They also incur additional costs for creative work and other project-specific needs. 

These higher costs can be a hurdle for solopreneurs, SMBs, and startups with shoestring budgets. You must weigh the potential ROI that their services can bring against the financial commitment needed to acquire their skills. 

• Potentially Slower Response Times

Traditional marketing agencies typically cater to multiple clients at once. They also have a more rigid structure that involves layers of approval from different departments. These situations can result in delays in implementing strategies or addressing urgent issues. This slower response time can be problematic if your marketing goals are time-sensitive. 

So as much as the thoroughness and planning of traditional marketing agencies have benefits, the trade-off can reduce agility in responding to dynamic landscapes and emerging opportunities. 

• Limited Flexibility

As established, traditional marketing agencies have rigorous structures. They operate with a predefined set of procedures and standardized methods. All this limits their flexibility. Because they follow structure, they’re not always able to quickly adapt to tech changes or market shifts. 

This lack of openness and adaptability can hinder businesses that need more agile and responsive solutions. Moreover, the rigidity in service offerings may not align with the evolving needs of modern businesses that seek customization. 

• Communication Barriers

Ironically, traditional marketing agencies often fail with communications. Messaging becomes fragmented because they accommodate multiple clients, answer to different stakeholders, and work with various specialists. 

Since these agencies handle multiple projects simultaneously, it’s not unlikely for information to get mixed up. This can lead to inconsistent messaging that slows the process and causes delays, or worse, a complete redo. A single miscommunication can cost a lot of time and resources.  

Marketing-as-a-Service

MaaS is the new generation of digital marketing services. This innovative model offers a subscription-based approach to outsourcing your marketing needs. 

MaaS gives you access to an on-demand marketing team, similar to having one in-house. You get skilled experts like strategists, executives, and web developers without building the team yourself. 

MaaS provides rapid turnaround with projects often launched within 24 hours—ideal for tight deadlines and urgent tasks. You can expect significant output growth, outperforming traditional agencies in efficiency. 

Ninja Promo, a reputable MaaS agency, can give you access to over 30 on-demand services and a team of top 1% global experts, ensuring high-quality results and significant ROI improvements. We’ll streamline management so you can reclaim up to 10 extra hours a week to focus on other core services.

Advantages of Marketing-as-a-Service

MaaS, like traditional marketing agencies, provides multiple benefits. The difference is that what you get from MaaS is more specific, nuanced, and client-centric. It offers the vital components that conventional methodologies lack. 

Understanding these benefits is valuable so you can better evaluate if this marketing model can provide what your business needs and more. 

• Cost-Effective Subscription Model

One of the standout benefits that attract businesses to MaaS is its cost-effective subscription model. With MaaS, businesses with limited marketing funds can get the services they need without cherry-picking what their budget can accommodate. They also don’t have to compromise the quality of the service. 

You don’t have to pay substantial upfront fees with MaaS. Instead, you can choose a plan that fits your budget and adjust it as needed. You can opt for quarterly, semi-annual, or annual payments. This flexibility allows companies to manage their expenses more effectively while still accessing valuable marketing services. 

You can gain access to services totaling up to 40 hours per month, minimum. This flexible, cost-efficient model ensures you only pay for what you use, which makes scaling services up and down effortless.

• Fast and Flexible Service

Fast and flexible services are essential for businesses that need quick turnaround times. Without the rigorous structure of traditional marketing agencies, MaaS can roll out projects in a day. 

This agility can help you stay competitive. The streamlined processes and the more relaxed rhythm enable MaaS providers to revise and implement changes more swiftly than traditional agencies. This speed helps in seizing timely opportunities.

A 24-hour turnaround also promptly addresses urgent marketing needs. MaaS providers follow a cohesive structure, prioritizing swiftness and quality on both measures. This ensures your business can quickly adapt to marketing strategies as market conditions change. 

• Access to Diverse Expertise

MaaS gives you access to global talent. These are not just specialists in their fields but the top 1% of industry experts. Their diverse expertise will be available to you on demand, providing high-quality skills from leading professionals and experts in different marketing fields. Tapping these global talents lets you access the latest industry insights and innovative strategies that their expertise brings. 

For example, at Ninja Promo, we ensure you can benefit from only the best talents without going through an extensive recruitment process or signing up for a long-term commitment. We handle the intense enlistment for you, leaving only top-tier experts who can significantly help you improve your marketing efforts. 

• Scalability

One stark advantage of MaaS over traditional marketing agencies is scalability. As your business grows or your marketing needs change, MaaS gives you the flexibility to adjust the level of service you receive. MaaS providers can quickly adapt if you want to scale up or down and seamlessly accommodate the changes to your services. This ensures that your marketing resources align with your current business goals. 

• Integrated Service Offerings

MaaS platforms offer an integrated suite of products, services, and solutions. Ninja Promo, for instance, can handle strategy, development, design, digital marketing, and analytics. This means you don’t have to shop with other vendors for the different services your business needs. 

Integrated services offer streamlined project management and a boost in overall efficiency. By having access to a single dashboard where you can see and provide feedback on campaign plans, development, design, tactics, and analytics, there’s less chance of conflicting solutions. 

The integrated approach simplifies how you manage your marketing initiatives by consolidating the various functions into a single provider. Tapping one vendor for all the needed services ensures cohesiveness and uniformity across the board.  

Disadvantages of Marketing-as-a-Service

We may be biased, but MaaS truly doesn’t have significant drawbacks. If we’re nitpicking, we can say there’s really only one disadvantage:

• Causes Addiction

Once you’ve acquired a MaaS solution, you’ll keep coming back for more. So in a (good) way, it’s quite addictive. The flexibility, speed, convenience, and cost-efficiency of MaaS can make it hard to imagine doing your marketing campaigns without it. 

As you get used to its benefits—fast turnarounds, top-tier talents, and integrated offerings—you may depend more on these solutions than you’d want to. And while dependency ensures consistency, it’s also essential to maintain a balance so your internal team remains capable and informed.

Comparing MaaS and Traditional Agencies

Here’s a side-by-side comparison between traditional marketing agencies and Marketing-as-a-Service to help you make a more informed decision about the right marketing approach for your company:

 

	AGENCIES	MaaS
Scalability	Often limited by fixed resources and longer onboarding times	Highly scalable with flexible service plans and rapid adjustments
Skill Set Range	Broad, but can be limited to the agency’s in-house expertise	Access to a global pool of top 1% experts in various fields
Established Processes	Well-established, systematic processes honed over the years	Efficient but often more dynamic and adaptable processes
Quality and Consistency of Work	High quality with consistent results, thanks to rigorous standards	High quality, leveraging top talent and innovative approaches.
Communication and Collaboration	Structured but can be slow due to hierarchical processes	Streamlined communication with fast, flexible responses
Adaptability to Market Needs	Less agile due to rigid structures and slower approval processes	Highly adaptable, with the ability to quickly pivot strategies
Marketing Strategy Execution Speed	Slower execution due to multi-layered approval processes	Rapid execution with many projects launched within 24 hours
Access to Marketing Technology	Access to traditional tools, sometimes limited by budgets	Access to traditional tools sometimes limited by budgets

 

Conclusion: Making the Right Choice for Your Business

Choosing between Marketing-as-a-Service and traditional marketing agencies will depend on your business’s specific needs and goals. MaaS provides flexibility, cost-efficiency, rapid execution, and access to top global talents. Traditional marketing agencies offer stability and established methodologies. Consider your priorities regarding costs, scalability, and adaptability. 

Working with Ninja Promo for your MaaS needs offers significant benefits over traditional marketing agencies. Our subscription-based MaaS delivers greater flexibility to help you scale your business up or down without long-term commitments. With top-tier global experts, our approach enhances efficiency and keeps up with the fast-paced changes in marketing.

For personalized guidance on the best fit, schedule a call with our experts.