Why We Still Call It an Agency (Even Though Everyone Hates That Word)

I watch it happen on discovery calls all the time. We are talking. Things are going well. The conversation feels natural. Then I say "we are a content marketing agency" and I can literally see the prospect's face change. They start thinking about bloated retainers and account managers who don’t actually do anything with invoices that make no sense.

I get it. The word agency comes with baggage. Most of it deserved, honestly.

But here is the thing. I still use it. And not because I am trying to sound fancy or justify charging more. I use it because it actually means something important about how we work and what we can deliver. Let me explain.

I started Rocket Farm (originally JDH Media) as a freelancer. One person, one computer, taking whatever work came my way. It was scrappy and flexible and honestly kind of exhausting. Every project was a hustle. Every client relationship depended entirely on me being available. For a while, that worked fine. I could turn projects around fast. I was cheaper than an agency. Clients liked working directly with me instead of going through layers of account people.

But then I started hitting walls. A client needed a video project that required a full production crew. I could not do that alone. Another client wanted brand strategy and content development happening at the same time. I did not have enough hours in the day. 

The freelancer model was breaking down because the problems I was being asked to solve were bigger than one person could handle. So I built a team. Slowly. Carefully. People who were excellent at things I was not. People who could take on entire workstreams while I focused on client relationships. People who made the work better, not just faster.

And at some point, I realized we’re not a freelancer anymore. We’re an agency. Which meant I had to decide whether I was okay with that word and everything it implied.

Here is what I figured out. Agency is not a synonym for expensive or bloated. It is just a company that provides creative services. That is it. The negative associations come from agencies that forgot what they were supposed to be doing. They got big. They got bureaucratic. They started optimizing for profit margins instead of client outcomes. They hired account people whose only job was to manage the relationship, not actually contribute to the work. They created process for the sake of process.

But that is not what agency has to mean. At Rocket Farm, being an agency means we have the depth to solve complex problems without scrambling. We are not a one person show trying to figure out how to staff a project. We have writers and designers and producers and directors who are actually good at what they do. When a client comes to us with a challenge, we can handle it.

It also means we can think bigger than just execution. A freelancer usually gets brought in to do a specific thing. Write this script. Design this deck. Edit this video. They do the work and move on. But an internal brand agency can look at the whole system. We can see how your video content connects to your messaging strategy, how your employee communications tie into your external brand, how everything should fit together. That kind of thinking requires a team, not a solo operator.

Now let's talk about the cost thing because that is really why people flinch when they hear agency. Some agencies are expensive because they are inefficient. They have layers of people who do not actually contribute to the work. They have overhead that gets passed on to clients. They have minimums and retainers that exist to protect their revenue, not to serve the client. Other agencies are expensive because the work is actually hard and requires real expertise. Those are not the same thing.

At Rocket Farm, we are not trying to be the cheapest option. We are trying to be the best value. That means you are paying for people who know what they are doing, who can solve problems you did not even know you had, and who will make your work better than it would have been if you had gone with the lowest bidder. Does that cost more than hiring a freelancer off Upwork? Yes. Does it cost more than working with an agency that has five account managers and a proprietary process deck? No.

Here is what it comes down to. Freelancers are great for execution. You need someone to write a script or design a deck or edit a video, a talented freelancer can do that. Often for less money than an agency would charge. But if you need someone to figure out what your corporate storytelling strategy should be, build a content system that scales, and then execute on it consistently across multiple channels, you need a team. You need an agency. The best clients understand this. They do not come to us looking for the cheapest way to get something done. They come because they want a partner who can think strategically, execute at a high level, and stick around for the long haul. That is what separates an enterprise creative agency from a vendor.

So yeah, I still call Rocket Farm an agency. Even though the word makes some people nervous. Even though it comes with assumptions I have to work against. Because at the end of the day, it is the most honest description of what we do. 

So next time you are shopping for creative support and you find yourself avoiding agencies because of the baggage, ask yourself this. Am I avoiding the word, or am I avoiding the kind of partnership that could actually solve my problem? Because if it is the latter, you might be making the wrong call. Book a discovery call with us and let's figure out if the agency model, done right, is exactly what you need.

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