IIn 1981 the Gambian president, Dawda Jawara, arrived in London to attend the Royal wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. In the his absence, the army seized power and displaced the president.
On Jawara's request, the British government sent an SAS commando to Gambia to restore law and order. Well, a commando of three people. In three days, the SAS guys destroyed the army, restored law and order and reinstated the president.
From your standpoint it is the outcomes that matter, not the size of the team that's achieves it.
Some other benefits of working with a solo professional are...
At advertising/branding agencies, smooth-talking rainmakers roam the land to get projects and (nearly) minimum-wage worker bees either locally or, more often than not, in India, China or Zululand perform the work.
Can you imagine that your sales copy is written by someone who is so embarrassed of his poor English that he is unwilling to communicate with you via phone/Skype? Hm.
You always deal with the top decision-maker. There is a great added benefit for you by having instant access to the "mahatma" of the firm, the person who can make decisions and take action immediately to assist you to realise your objectives.
With large advertising agencies you can end up fighting and army of junior staff and the corporate voice mail system trying to get your call returned... some day.
As a small one-man firm, I am more responsive. According to surveys, there is an exponential relationship between the size of the firm and its responsiveness. That is, a solo practitioner can be as much as 16 times more responsive, flexible and agile than a firm of four people. There may be strength in numbers but let's not confuse consulting with cattle ranching.
You invest in your desired results, not in number of hours dispensed. Unlike most large agencies that sell you time units for labour expended, I assist you to achieve certain jointly determined objectives regardless of time or deliverables.
You always know exactly how much to invest, what the projected return on your investment is and have no surprises. We deal with the money issue, and then focus 100% on the project.
Since my overhead is very low, I don't need to inflate them. My fees represent the value you stipulate at our discovery meeting, not merely the astronomical rent for the big corner office in a posh building of the best part of the city.
You are also free of subsidising scores of branding and advertising campaigns, company cars, expense accounts, and vast obscure assistance entities.
My approaches are highly customised to your specific requirements and are flexible. Many large agencies with junior staff and trainees often use "cookie cutter" methods and proprietary systems (euphemism for cookie-cutter), (problem #123 is solved with Solution #123 in the Solution Manual).
The methodologies we use together are the result of our detailed and collaborative process of defining your goals and objectives. Solutions are based on your goals and objectives with your full participation. That is, I do it WITH you, not FOR you.
Advertising/branding agencies - using image marketing - focus on getting your name out. That's all good, but no matter how far out your name circulates, you still don't have new clients. It's not about getting your name out there, but getting their (your target market) names in here - using direct response marketing - communicate with them and convert them into paying clients.
You can't deposit the agency's exposure to the bank. For that you need clients and their money. I can help you to focus on the cream of the crop of your target market.
There are no conflicts of interest and priorities with dozens of other clients. I only work with a few clients at a time, so my attention is better focused on your results. Also, there is no chance of competitive clients, and I can guarantee you that I will not take on your direct competitor, avoiding the discomfort of having completely separate teams working on your accounts.
You don't pay me to learn copywriting and marketing on your dime. I never use junior partners, freshly minted greenhorn MBAs, interns or other academic theorists. While many agencies descend on you with a herd of junior staff, hoping to rev up billable hours, apart from very rare situations, I work with your firm's own implementing team, so I'm the only outsider.
This approach also improves knowledge sharing, so your people can better sustain the improvement we've initiated.
As a solo professional, I will be least disruptive to your ongoing operations, while obtaining the exact same project results... or maybe even better.
Your extra expenses will be less. My travel, administrative, and support expenses are small, because fewer people will be working on your project.
I need you as much as you need me. Each of my clients is highly important to me. I can't afford to have poor relationships or ill-conceived projects. It is either a truly collaborative, win/win effort or no deal. Just as you pick your clients with great care, so do I.
I have access to great talents for specific projects if needed. Unlike large agencies, I am not restricted to using whoever happens to be on payroll within the firm. Besides, the best people in any subject matter are free-spirited entrepreneurs not employees clinging on to safe and secure jobs and regular paycheques.
I work on only a few projects. Unlike large agencies, that work on lots of projects, thus they can easily sweep a few messy ones under the carpet unnoticed by the public and the media (but well noticed by clients), I work on only a few selected projects, so I can't hide my mistakes.
And although I used to be a pretty good gravedigger, as a solo guy I couldn't possibly dig deep enough graves to bury my mistakes unnoticed. So, I have a strong incentive to work with you to get things done right.
We both are paddling in the same boat. Just like you, I too am an entrepreneur, not a salaried agency employee with a safe and cushy job, a secure paycheque, vacation, perks and benefits subsidised by clients.
If we don't make things happen, we both starve to death. No one will give us paycheques. How could you expect employees from large agencies to understand what you go through as an entrepreneur? You have the spine, guts and balls to run your own business. They don't.
And while they know how to be great employees, from your entrepreneurial perspective it is just useful as a left-handed monkey wrench.
Your intellectual property is better protected. All the new intellectual capital we develop together stays in-house and you don't have to worry about armies of people using it in umpteenth ways with other clients, some of whom may even be your competitors.
Imagine that your intellectual capital is used by your fiercest competitors against you. That would be a bloody disaster, wouldn't it.
I hope you can see why it's an advantage for you to work with solo professionals. Yes, sometimes you need a sizeable firm for certain work, like construction or renovation, but for copywriting and marketing you're better off staying with one person who has both expertise in your subject matter area and experience in working in your industry.