
You may not often see your agency’s creative team. An account executive with business and marketing expertise is the face of the agency, helping you through budgets, strategy and results. But what you may not consider is the fact that your account executive takes all those carefully typed notes back to writers and designers.
You may have all kinds of ideas regarding promotions, events and campaigns, but no matter how clever or unprecedented, these ideas can’t go out to meet the world on their own two feet. They have to be carefully packaged. This packaging takes time. It also takes expertise and a knowledge of basic design rules.
Enter the creative team.
When creative material is presented to you, as the client, it should always be accompanied by an explanation. When this explanation comes, there are a few steps you can take to more fully understand the creative team:
Listen.
Just because we all have certain design preferences does not mean that a design will resonate with our target audience. Qualified designers are always keeping current trends and audience opinions in mind. They design with an element of simplicity and effectiveness while preserving the basic rules of the media channels. For example, successful billboards contain no more than seven words and don’t require contact information or a call to action to be effective. Consider trusting the creative team to develop effective designs with these smart, minimalist techniques.
Ask Questions.
A good sign that you are listening is asking questions. Searching for these questions also help you engage with concepts that seem abstract. Keep in mind, initial design mockups are usually abstract. Designers want to fill in any gaps and help you understand their vision so ask away! The sooner you engage, the more revisions you’ll avoid in the future.
Take design elements seriously.
It may be easy to say, “That’s fine,” and wave away a design in the middle of a meeting, but when you see that design on a billboard, for example, you will always realizes its impact not only on the promotion or message but also on your overall business goals.
Take time to thoroughly check designs that are ready for approval. This also help reduce revisions, thus time and costs.
Consider giving the creative team more freedom.
Sometimes, too many mandatories can be crippling. You miss out on the delight of seeing an original design you may have liked worlds better than your own preconceived idea.
In the end, the creative team is as important to the success of your business objectives as your strategists and marketing experts. Even if your interests lie outside the creative zone, let yourself be intrigued by the creative process and learn more and more about the art of visual appeal.