The Fallacy of ‘Full-Service’

Over the last few years, I have had the pleasure of building brand stories for three marketing agencies. Having worked in many agencies over the 15 years before opening my consulting practice, I Like Storytelling, I have a wealth of insider knowledge that has enabled me to help agency owners uncover what the most valuable service or benefit they offer is.

What was interesting, was when I asked these agency leaders about the value they offered clients, every one of them believed that ‘Full-Service’ was the most valuable thing they offered.

There are many reasons why ‘Full-Service’ won’t work as a brand positioning or the heart of a brand story and I’d love to share a few of them with you.

Firstly, and most importantly, it focuses on how a service is delivered and doesn’t speak to the why. And a brand promise needs to be emotive. It needs to speak to why a service is provided. (Learn more in the Brand Message blog.)

Secondly, it’s virtually impossible to deliver. Let’s discuss why.

A true full-service marketing agency is one that has the capabilities in-house to strategize, create and develop everything from brand identities, multi-million-dollar TV ads to quick TikTok videos, website, apps, and a media team to place ads to drive sales online and offline. This would require an agency to employ experts in each field and create many departments to support the different disciplines.

Another reason ‘full-service’ hard to deliver on is the increasing specialization of the digital world.

The diversification of digital over the past decade has resulted in extreme specialization. Let’s look at digital media buying as an example. Ten years ago, you could find a digital media buyer that could buy all digital ad placements. Now, you need a specialist not only for display ads and social, but also specific platform experts, influencer specialists, paid and organic search marketing to support, and many more.

In today’s world, it’s better to be a specialist than a generalist. A specialist positioning helps you stand out from the competition. It can also help your ideal customer find you quicker because you offer expertise in the specific area of marketing they need help with.

So why is there such an attachment to full-service?

I think agency owners are very focused on building internal capabilities, they believe in the value of them and are justifiably proud to share that message with others. But that capability is about how they deliver. And effective brand messaging needs to communicate why a company delivers, why it benefits the client.  

I also think it’s a hangover from the sales process – where it can be helpful in new business conversations to offer many services and hopefully one or more of them will match what a prospective client needs. This strategy could help an agency win more business and increase the scope of the wins. This is very helpful when the goal is to increase revenue year-on-year. 

But when the competition is doubling down on specialities – the competitive advantage can be lost. An agency that clearly communicates their speciality in turn narrows the focus of their new business process. They can more clearly define their ideal client, which makes it easier to find them. It should also be quicker to ascertain in initial conversations if their speciality is a good fit to solve the client’s problem. Plus, every new business win that supports a speciality allows the agency to deepen their expertise. It’s a win-win, the new business process becomes more efficient, and agency expertise improves with each win.   

For these reasons, in my opinion a ‘Full-Service’ positioning and brand message doesn’t hold true anymore. And in a world that is becoming increasingly specialized, using it as a lead brand message can potentially be detrimental. 

To the agency leaders out there, let’s shift the focus. Instead of focusing on how your agency delivers its work, focus on why your agency does what it does. The customer problem it’s adept at solving and why your clients should care – what’s in it for them. Then develop a brand message that communicates how your agency specializes in solving that problem.

If you’re ready to reposition your brand around a speciality, win more ideal clients and become experts in your field, reach out to me at annabelle@ilikestorytelling.com.