Getting the most out of your professional creative team.

Many people have heard the term “garbage in, garbage out,” but I think it’s important to remember that when you are working with a marketing firm, the opposite also holds true: “quality in, quality out.” Taking the time to inform and engage your creative team members is an essential step in getting the best possible outcome for your business and marketing dollars. In my experience, a professional creative team goes through phases when working on projects.

1. Thirst for knowledge – This the download stage. What is the challenge at hand? What does the client want to accomplish? What are the expectations (and how can we exceed them) Creatives truly want to understand the full story of a marketing challenge, so they can apply their craft.
2. Exploration and production – Once the professional creative team has an adequate understanding of the task at hand, this is the stage where they dive in. Delivering what content is expected and finding ways to elevate messaging and create eye catching designs solutions. Using design standards as guides and looking for opportunities to break the rules when beneficial.
3. Hearts and souls on the table- This is the presentation. Gathering up the potential solutions to the marketing effort at hand. Putting it out there for all to see. Giving the client and ultimately the final audience something to respond too.

There is an excitement and energy to starting a new project. Creatives in a marketing firm see opportunity in each project they execute for a client. A blank canvas initially, but before we can tackle the task at hand, we need the tools and materials for the job. Those materials come in the form of input, insight and direction. When a client fully immerses the creative team in their goals and strategic aspirations, the creative team has skin in the game. This will greatly improve the quality of the product you will get the from the creative process. The first round of creative solutions will almost always be the highest octane of creative juices from a professional creative team. So, taking the time to clarify your objectives and familiarize the team with all the import aspects of the task up front is crucial.

How to provide the right input?

How to provide input depends on where you are in the business relationship. Many times, the relationship has been long term, so the professional creative team may already be very familiar with the client’s process, products, goals, and aspirations. If the relationship is new, then you start from ground zero. Share all available insights and company objectives. Familiarize the creative team with location visits, let them interact with the product or service and always try to provide hands on experience. It is important for the marketers to understand the value proposition of your business. Good or bad. At Mascola Group, often the creative team is an integral part of the strategic marketing planning for each of its clients. This keeps the team members informed and engaged. Once a professional creative team has a thorough knowledge base of the company’s goals and objectives, tackling individual marketing efforts becomes more efficient, effective, and more enjoyable.

When the creative team has the core foundational knowledge of a business and its offerings, a valuable tool for fine tuning the necessary information needed for an individual strategic marketing effort can be found in the Creative Brief. A Creative Brief is a document or download that highlights the tactical information needed to execute a marketing effort. The brief creates a framework for an individual marketing effort, they can be as simple or complex. HubSpot has a general step by step on how to create a creative brief:

1. Decide on a name for the project.
2. Write about the brand and summarize the project’s background.
3. Highlight the project objective.
4. Describe the target audience.
5. Interpret the competitive landscape.
6. Prepare the key message.
7. Choose the key consumer benefit.
8. Additional needed.

There are many ways to create a Creative Brief but I recommend working with your marketing team to develop a creative brief template that best serves your business’s needs.

In summary, taking the time to inform your creative team of the ins and outs of your business will strengthen the relationship between business objects and strategic marketing efforts and ultimately help the profitability of your company. Developing a good communication channel also will make the work more fun. Any professional creative team will tell you that the best work comes when all team members contribute to the process. So, invest some time in educating your creative team, and you will be rewarded with quality solutions to all your marketing challenges.  Contact Mascola Group marketing firm to learn more about working with us.