One of the most important things a brand may ever have to do is to define who they are and who their audience is. The next most important thing is how to communicate this information to every key player; from your investors, to your staff, and your consumers. That “how” is what a communication agency does for you. A communication agency takes your brand message and passes it on to the people concerned in the best way possible, giving you the reach and the impact you desire.

Now that you have an idea of what a communication agency does, the second thing you have to know is what kind of communication agency will serve your brand best?

In Nigeria, communication agencies offer varying services. Some specialize in certain aspects of communication, while others offer a more encompassing experience. You can decide to employ multiple communication agencies (this is known as the multi-agency approach). The benefit of taking this approach is that you have siloed experts working on your communication needs per time. The downside of this approach is the cost implication and the burden it places on your brand to coordinate information between the various communication agencies. Considering the frustrations many Nigerians face with network, power supply and delivery, you want to think long and hard about taking the multi-agency approach.

The alternative to the multi-agency agency approach is the integrated agency approach. This approach simply means that you engage a company that offers everything your brand can possibly need, for example Freeman in the U or RED |For Africa in Nigeria. The benefit of this is that, unlike the multi-agency approach, you get more for the price of one. Also, you do not have to act as a coordinator since all the teams work under the same agency.

Whether you decide to go for an agency that specializes or an agency that is a ‘jack-of-all-trades’, the most important criterion is engaging a communication agency that understands your brand as well as you do.