Many companies use an outside advertising agency and pay it a fee to design their ad campaign and place it in the media. That fee generally includes a fee of 15 percent of the cost of the ads which the ad agency charges to get the campaign placed in various media outlets. Since an accredited agency receives a 15 percent discount from the media, however, that 15 percent fee is generally profit for the advertising agency.
To reduce that 15 percent fee to a 5 percent fee, a company can hire an independent marketing consultant and art director and use a media-buying service. A freelance marketing consultant is paid a flat fee to help a company develop a marketing plan. The art director, also for a flat fee, will design the logo, ads, brochures, and everything else that needs designing. The media-buying service will then place all of the ads in the media for a charge of from 3 to 5 percent of the cost of the ads, totaling a 10 percent savings for the client.