Advantages of a Telephone Answering Service for a Marketing Company

If you run a marketing company, the phone tends to ring at the worst possible moment. You are presenting to a prospective client, running a workshop or deep in a campaign launch, and a new business enquiry lands in voicemail. A telephone answering service gives each of those calls a friendly, professional answer in your agency's name, so the opportunity is still there when you come out of the meeting.

This guide looks at the practical advantages of a telephone answering service for marketing and creative agencies. It covers protecting new business, coping with campaign spikes, getting client calls to the right account manager and keeping a polished front when the team is small.

Why phone calls still matter to a marketing agency

Most of your work happens on screens, but the calls that come in are often the ones that matter most. A business owner who has found you through a referral or a search usually phones because they want to talk now, not fill in a form and wait. Existing clients ring when something is pressing, such as an approval, a deadline or a change to live work.

The trouble is that agencies are built around meetings. Pitches, client reviews, shoots and planning sessions all take people away from their desks, often at the same time. In a small team, that can leave nobody free to answer the phone for an hour or more.

Many callers still prefer to speak to a person when an enquiry is urgent or high value, and an unanswered call can easily become a call to a competitor. A typical agency phone line carries a mix of calls:

• New business enquiries from prospects who want to talk about a project.
• Client calls about live work, approvals and deadlines.
• Supplier calls from printers, photographers, freelancers and publications.
• Sales calls offering software, data and advertising space.

Each of these needs a different response, and a good answering service handles them according to your instructions rather than treating every call the same.

Win new business while you are in the pitch room

New business rarely arrives on a schedule. With a telephone answering service in place, a prospect who calls during your pitch reaches a receptionist who answers in your company name, takes their details and finds out what they need. Onwards Answering builds your scripts, greeting and responses around your business, so the caller hears a consistent welcome rather than a generic one.

After every call you receive a summary by email or SMS, so you can see at a glance who called, what they want and how to reach them. If the enquiry looks promising, you can call back between meetings. If you would rather the receptionist went a step further, they can book a discovery call straight into your own calendar.

Our post on capturing leads and converting more enquiries into sales looks at what to do with those enquiries once they arrive, and our enquiry conversion service explains how Onwards can help you follow them up.

Onwards Answering is a vital part of our sales process. We know that getting the phone answered quickly just needs to happen, or we lose.

Clarity Simplicity Ltd, law firm

Cope with campaign response spikes

Campaigns create peaks. A direct mail drop, a radio slot, a press feature or your own launch can bring a burst of calls in a short window. If your team is answering those calls between other tasks, some will be missed at exactly the moment interest is highest.

Onwards does not charge per call and does not cap the number of calls it takes. Your package is agreed at the start based on the number of inbound calls you expect. After 3 months the team reviews your call volumes and only discusses a change if there has been a sustained difference, so one busy campaign week does not bring a surprise bill.

You also choose how much cover you want. Some agencies make Onwards the sole point of contact for the business. Others use it as overflow, so calls only divert when the team is busy or does not answer within a set number of rings. Our FAQ on using a call answering service only when you are busy explains how overflow cover works.

Put client calls through to the right account manager

Agency clients usually want their own account manager, not whoever happens to pick up. Give the receptionists a simple list of who looks after which client, plus your instructions for each type of call, and they can route calls accordingly.

A warm transfer, where the receptionist introduces the caller before connecting them, means your account manager knows who is on the line and why before they say hello. Read more in our FAQ on whether an answering service can transfer calls to you or your team. Returning callers can also be recognised, which helps long-standing clients feel known.

Keep a professional front for a small agency

Many agencies are small: a founder, a handful of specialists and a network of freelancers. Clients still expect the phone to be answered properly. A virtual receptionist gives you that front desk without the cost of hiring one. Calls are answered in your company name, and callers are not told they are speaking to an outside service unless you choose to tell them.

The receptionists are real people, based in Scotland and working from home, supported by team leads and client managers. During the free trial the team builds a bank of frequently asked questions about your agency, so common questions about your services, location or process get a consistent answer.

If you run the agency from a home office, an optional secure Business Number keeps work and personal calls separate.

Protect your team's creative focus

Creative and strategic work needs long, uninterrupted stretches. A call that breaks into a design session or a reporting deadline costs more than the minutes spent on it, because it takes time to get back into the work. When a receptionist takes the call and sends you a clear summary, you decide when to deal with it.

Messages arrive by email, SMS or the Onwards Answering Connect app and portal, whichever suits the way your team works. If clients sometimes ring after the office has closed, after-hours voicemail is included, so they can still leave a message for the morning.

How a telephone answering service from Onwards can help your agency

If missed enquiries, campaign peaks or constant interruptions sound familiar, a telephone answering service is a practical fix. Onwards Answering offers a free 2 week trial, so you can see how the receptionists handle your calls before you commit. After that, plans start from £72 per month, with no per-call charges.

You can compare options on our prices and plans page, or read more about our call handling for marketing and media companies to see how the service fits agency life.

Frequently asked questions