Compared with an agency or a freelancer

A good agency brings judgment, taste and experience across many accounts. But it works in billed hours, so your accounts get checked when someone has time to check them.

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One situation, two ways

A weekend signal, with the account manager out

At a coffee roaster, an early read showed people who took the taste quiz placing first orders at 2.2 times the rate of other visitors, at $13 each against $25.

Agency

It often waits for the next account review, after the weekend or at the next scheduled call. Then someone recommends a new audience and builds it when the billed hours allow.

Heraldic

The Retargeting agent gave quiz takers their own audience and budget on Saturday. On Monday it moved 15 percent of its budget to them, within your limits, and said so in its report.

What it does well

A good agency brings what software doesn’t: judgment from many accounts, creative taste and someone in the room. It’s worth paying for at a launch or rebrand. A modest retainer rarely buys daily attention: budgets checked every morning, tests called the day they end.

Strategy and creative judgment from people who’ve seen many accounts.
Platform-rep relationships and early access to new formats.
Large-scale creative production, including video and photography.
Someone to call.

Where it stops

1Work happens in billed hours, so daily checking is rare on a modest retainer.
2Limits live in a contract and a regular call. Nothing checks them before each change.
3Reporting is often a periodic deck.
4Channels are often split across vendors who don’t share one contact policy.

Side by side, with cost and time.

An agency or freelancer compared with Heraldic, row by row
Question	An agency or freelancer	Heraldic
Explains itself	A periodic deck	A record of every action, with its reason
Stops at your limits	When someone checks	Checked by software before every change, and again on approval
Who sets the limits	A contract and a regular call	You, and the software holds them
What it optimizes	Their report	Your conversion events, each valued by what it’s worth to you
Across channels	Often split across vendors	One set of rules, one contact policy, one record
Video and large-scale creative	Yes, in-house or through partners	Still images from your approved library; video you upload sits beside them
Holds your credentials	Shared logins or access	Agents never do. Only the executor, the part that makes changes, holds them
What it costs	A monthly retainer, a share of ad spend, or both. A freelancer usually bills by the hour.	Not set yet. Ad spend goes straight to the ad platforms
Time to a first result	Onboarding first, then results on the agency’s reporting cycle, often monthly.	Set by your funnel: at a store with daily orders, a test can be called in two weeks; a lead-generation funnel takes longer.

When to choose it instead

If you need brand strategy, large-scale creative production or a close relationship more than daily optimization. You can also use both: the agency sets the strategy, and agents do the daily work within its rules.

Using both

Your agency can write the briefs, manage the brand library and set the limits. Agents do the daily checking and testing within them, and every action goes on a record the agency can read.

Questions about this comparison

Can my agency use it?

Yes. Add them as people on your account. They can write briefs, manage the brand library and set limits, and agents work within them.

Is it cheaper than an agency?

Pricing isn’t set yet. What agents take on is the daily work: checking budgets, calling tests, moving money and writing the report. Your ad spend goes straight to the ad platforms.

Who makes the creative?

The creative and copy desks draft images and copy from your approved library. They don’t shoot video or photography; your agency or your own team can add those to the library.

Other comparisons

Keep your agency for strategy. Let agents do the daily work.

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