Creating an Agency of One

Small businesses deserve good advertising just as much as any large corporation. But most cannot afford the luxury of an ad agency. Agencies come with high fees, expensive overhead and a slew of people working on a single account. The cost is too much to bear. They’ll often turn to low-level freelance sites such as Upwork or Fiverr to help fill the gap, or they’ll ask some kid with a basic understanding of PhotoShop to step in and help. The results tend to be subpar at best, and downright atrocious at worst.

What small businesses don’t understand is that there are agencies willing to work with them at a price they can afford. Each of these underrated agencies has a staff of just one, and a lot of them are really good at what they do. We freelancers are all our own agencies, and we can handle the needs of any small business, from basic web banners to direct marketing to video and more.

But if I’m a freelance copywriter in Winston-Salem, how can I claim to be a full-service agency? I do it the same way any large agency would: I have the connections I need to do the things I cannot.

You know that 40-person agency across town? They aren’t truly full service — almost no agency is. They rely on people like me, freelancers and vendors, to help fill in when they need a skill set no one on their staff has. They use their connections to make themselves appear to have more robust capabilities than they actually do.

And when it comes to a smaller area like Winston-Salem, NC, we freelancers pretty much all know each other. With a few emails, I can rustle up a photographer, a web developer, a designer, an art director, an account executive … you name it. And because we have no overhead to pay, fewer people in the process and flexible fees, we can often work with just about any small business, delivering the same caliber of work as any large agency.

So, small business owners, you’re not taking a chance when it comes to working with a freelancer. We are all agencies of one. As a freelance copywriter in Winston-Salem, I can give you the same full-service feel that you’d get from any larger agency. All you have to do is reach out and ask, and I can deliver remarkable work at a price tag that will satisfy everyone involved.