The Ultimate Guide to Pick the Perfect Presentation Design Agency For You
For companies and organizations all over the world, presentations are invaluable tools for better communicating with important stakeholders, and that’s precisely why many consider them a crucial investment.
But if you want truly outstanding results and to make it worth it, investing some time in searching for the right presentation design agency is a must. After all, it’s your name and your work that others will judge if those slides end up sloppy.
If you're thinking of hiring someone to tackle your presentation needs, here you’ll find a complete guide on how to pick the right agency for you. We’ll go point by point over all the things you should take into consideration when evaluating a presentation design service, like:
- How to determine your presentation design needs
- What types of presentation design services are there
- Where to find presentation design services
- What criteria you should consider when choosing a design agency
- How a good presentation design service looks like
By the end of this article, you’ll have all the necessary tools to pick the perfect presentation design agency and take your slides to the next level.
What presentation design service do YOU Need?
The first step in choosing the right presentation design agency is to understand your design needs. Things like the number of slides you’d need, your project scope, your design preferences, and your style; these are all key to picking the right agency for you.
Here are some of the aspects you should have a clear understanding of when it comes to your presentation design needs:
- Recurrence: Do you need one-time help with a high-impact presentation, or will it be a recurrent task? Knowing exactly what kind of support you’ll need will make it easier to define if you should hire a freelancer, splurge on a pitch-deck expert, or consider a design subscription package.
- Project type and scope: Presentation slides can be used for many things, like pitches, reports, or training. Determining what kind of presentations you’ll be working on will allow you to look for presentation design services with experience in that specific area.
- Turnaround times: Delivery dates can vary greatly depending on the type of presentation design services. Some design agencies will work on the design hand in hand with your team with month-long delivery dates for a single strategic presentation. Others will offer 24 hours to implement your branding into dozens of slides. Being honest with yourself about your turnaround time expectations is crucial to picking the right presentation design agency.
- Design Style and Brand Guidelines: Your presentations introduce people to your brand, so your slides must reflect your image, too. When picking a presentation design agency, look into the styles they’ve worked with before. Seeing if it’s a good fit from the style perspective will help you make a better decision.
- Data Security: If your presentations include sensitive information, you must consider what security measures each presentation design service offers when choosing the right one. Hiring one-time freelancers, for example, might not be the right choice for you.
- In-house team, workflow, and scope: How many people are involved in this project, and who will have a say in the presentation(s) needed? When choosing a design agency, it's crucial to pick one that can easily involve all the project stakeholders. Consider how each design service would integrate with your own workflow and team to guarantee you’re picking the best possible presentation design agency for your needs.
If you’re having trouble defining your design needs or need a more in-depth explanation, you might also want to consider these 8 Critical Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Presentation Design Agency.
Types of Presentation Design Services
Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of your needs, it’s time to evaluate what kind of service would work best for you.
There are several different options for anyone looking to get specialized presentation design support:
- In-house designers: This is a great option for those who want to have someone on payroll to work on presentations continuously. However, in-house designers come with some acute pros and cons. It might require a high investment in terms of recruiting and training, and if you don’t have a stable workload of presentations, you might end up juggling between an overworked employee and slow weeks or months. On the other hand, hiring an in-house designer is great for having more control over your brand and security measures.
- Freelancers: Freelancers are great for one-time presentation needs, as they’re easy to find, and you can find a wide variety of prices for all budgets. However, finding a good freelancer can be a bit of a trial-and-error process, and it can be a chore to find one that fits your design style and workflow. Freelancers might also not be the best pick if you have recurrent projects, as their availability might be limited.
- Presentation design agencies: Specialized agencies for presentation design are a great option for organizations that want to make the most out of their presentations. You can rely on their expertise and commitment, as they are often hired by big brands to tackle their slide demands. Just like freelancers, you’ll find a wide array of presentation design agencies, from ones that focus on expensive once-in-a-lifetime presentations to ones focused on quick delivery dates and brand implementation on a large scale.
- Subscription and credit packages: You might be surprised to know that you can also get professional presentation design as a subscription model! For those who work with big teams and need a constant flow of presentation slides, a presentation design subscription is the perfect way to ensure that all your team members are aligned on presentation design. Scalability is the name of the game, so look for design agencies that can provide you with packages or subscriptions that fit your slide workload and your team’s workflow to make a truly efficient partnership.
Ready to impress with every slide? 24Slides Pro provides top-tier design services with a guaranteed 10-hour turnaround, dedicated support, and exclusive discounts. Sign up for the Pro plan and elevate your presentation game now!
Now that you have a detailed understanding of your design needs and the options available, you should be able to determine which type of service would work best for you and begin looking for specific providers.
If you’re still indecisive, don’t worry! Give a look at our In-house Design Teams vs. Agency vs. Freelancer Overview to get all the detailed pros and cons of each type of service.
Where Can I Find Presentation Design Services and Agencies?
If you’re ready to start looking for presentation design providers but are unsure where to start, here are a couple of ideas.
- Freelancer presentation designers are easily available on sites like Fiverr or Upwork, where you can also see some of their works and reviews from previous clients.
- For hiring in-house presentation designers, you’ll probably need to do a deep scouting process to find the right designer who has the right skill set and is a good culture fit for your company. As not many designers choose to specialize in just presentation design, keep an open mind to other types of designers, but know that you’d probably need to build presentation design skills from the ground up.
- For presentation design agencies, review sites like G2 and Trustpilot are great starting points for looking for reliable slide design services.
- You can use social media to look for presentation designs that catch your eye, and you’ll probably find the artist behind those slides as well! Give a look around on Linkedin, Instagram, or even Pinterest for outstanding presentation design.
- Networking is also a great way to get a feel for what other companies are doing. Reach out to your industry contacts, and stay on the lookout for case studies and testimonials of brands and companies you like.
Looking for a place to begin your search for the perfect presentation design agency? Our detailed industry research led us to the Best 15 Design Agencies & Services of 2024 — complete with prices, customers, areas of expertise, and much more!
7 Crucial Criteria to Choose the Right Presentation Design Agency
Now that you’ve begun your research, you probably have at least a couple of options for covering your presentation design needs. The question now is, how to make sure you’re choosing the best possible option for you?
In our experience of 10+ years as the biggest presentation design provider worldwide, these are the criteria we’ve seen come the most into play when it comes to picking the perfect presentation design agency for you:
1. Pricing
First of all, you must consider your budget. This is the very first criterion that will help you veto which design services you can realistically consider. The larger your budget, the more options you'll find for design services and personalized services.
But don’t worry! You’ll find great presentation design services for almost any budget. However, don’t pick the cheapest option just because. When considering which presentation design service to choose, the key is to look at the whole picture and focus on the best value-for-money option.
A good idea is to evaluate how much you’re currently spending on your presentation design. Even if you haven’t hired anyone to target presentation design, it’s still taking a toll on you and your team's time and resources.
With our handy PowerPoint hidden cost calculator, you can visualize how much you’re currently spending on your own in presentation design and contrast it with your current options to make a better decision in terms of pricing!
2. Confidentiality Policies
This is another criterion that will help you rule out some of your options. In this era of cyber-attacks and data breaches, you should only work with a provider that can prove its security—especially if your presentations contain internal or confidential information from your company.
In order to know if your data and files are in good hands, we recommend you ask for your provider’s security policy. You should consider them a viable presentation provider only if they are 100% safe to work with your data!
3. Turnaround Times
If your options all comply with your pricing and your security requirements, turnaround times are the next key aspect you should consider when picking the right presentation design agency.
In the world of presentations, leaving the design for the last minute is very common. A PowerPoint design agency with a speedy delivery can get you out of trouble. Also, receiving your presentation orders quickly gives you the chance to ask for edits if needed!
Ask yourself how quickly you’ll need your presentations delivered. Big concept agencies that polish their slides for months might be great for once-in-a-lifetime presentations, but not if you need new presentations every week!
4. Expertise
When researching different options on the market, you will find all types of presentation design agencies. That’s why another factor to evaluate is the agency's expertise, meaning the skills of the design team and the services available.
For example, there are agencies that specialize in creating pitch decks, while others have more experience creating eLearning solutions. Research previous customers carefully for each presentation design service, or talk directly with a salesperson to see if they will be able to keep up with your needs.
While this might seem like a bothersome task, it will help you filter through options and choose the ideal presentation design service.
5. Portfolio
If you’re on the fence with two or more presentation design agencies, looking at their portfolio might be the one thing that helps you define which one is a better pick.
Look at their previous works and projects to evaluate how well your style can fit with yours. Even if you don’t have a direct correlation to what you’re looking for, a portfolio will also allow you to gauge their versatility and adaptability to different projects and styles.
6. Customer Support
Customer support service plays a critical role when creating a presentation deck, and a good presentation design company will have clear communication channels that let you convey your vision clearly.
Sometimes, you can talk directly to the designers and other times; the contact is through an intermediary like a project manager. Whatever the case, it’s crucial that you confirm you’ll have someone available to resolve any concerns regarding your order.
7. Positive Reviews
Last but not least, checking their customer feedback is another way to verify the quality of the agency's service. While reviews are not always trustworthy, looking through them can still be a great way to look for reg flags and determine if they can regularly fulfill their expectations.
What Does Hiring a Presentation Design Agency Look Like?
If you’re close to making your final decision on which presentation design service to pick, you might be wondering, “So, how would it all work? Do I just send my slides their way? Sign a contract or an NDA? How can I ensure they follow my brand guidelines? Or keep to the budget?”
What a good presentation design service looks like depends on the type of service you choose. Freelancers will probably have more direct communication and will determine the project's scope and due dates beforehand, but their processes and reliability will change on a case-to-case basis.
On the other hand, presentation design agencies that are prepared to handle customers who require high amounts of slides on short notice should have standardized procedures to guarantee the satisfaction and compliance of every order.
In 24Slides, we work with a tight-knit team of customer support specialists who guarantee that clients have a customized solution that fits their needs and are satisfied with their deliverables.
With a team of over 200+ designers and customers all around the world, we’re committed to creating the best possible process to ensure that all projects are delivered on time and with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Subscription package customers are assigned a project manager to handle all account matters, like credit capacity, and a design manager, who works with a team of expert designers to learn everything about their brand and create presentation slides according to their requirements.
24Slides’ subscription services are also managed by a Customer Success Manager who ensures a detailed onboarding process and a seamless workflow with your team to help you make the most out of the partnership.
A good onboarding process and open channels of communication are the key things to take into account for presentation design services that aim to balance quality and speed!
Hopefully, this article has given you a better idea of what to look for when choosing the right presentation design agency for you.
In short, whatever presentation design service you decide on should be able to cover these crucial points:
- Within budget - if you can’t pay their service fee, it’s not a good option!
- Reliable - you should be able to trust they are going to deliver on the expected dates.
- Secure - you should have no doubts that your data is in safe hands.
- Quality proven - having a quality standard and expertise assurance will make you able to rely that you’ll get exactly what you need every time
- Easily contactable - in case of any eventuality of complication, effective communication channels are a must
Take it step-by-step and research your options to ensure you find the perfect partner for your presentation design needs.
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Looking for more? You might also like these articles:
- Discover the Top 15 Presentation Design Agencies & Services to Use in 2024
- 8 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Presentation Design Agency
- The Complete Guide to Outsourcing Design Work
- In-house Design Teams vs. Agency vs. Freelancer: Choosing the Right Set-Up
- Final Review: Pros and Cons of Today’s In-house Design Teams