Whether you have experience working with an agency or not, here are some hot tips for how to get the most out of your creative team.
1. Be honest
Our moms were right, honesty is the best policy. Creative work is about problem solving. And when your creative team has all the information, they can design a solution that will best fit your needs.
- Be honest about timelines. We’ll be honest about timelines.
- Be honest about budgets. We’ll be honest about budgets.
- Be honest about your fears. We’ll be honest about our fears.
- Be honest about what you like. We’ll be honest about what we like.
- Be honest about what you don’t like. We’ll be honest about what we don’t like.
Do you see a pattern here?
2. Be open-minded
Trust us when we tell you that for every concept you see, there are pages and pages of notes, messy mind maps, and hundreds of artboards. We have spent hours agonizing over the work we are presenting to you. We have thought about it in the shower, we’ve talked about it at the dinner table, we’ve woken up in the middle of the night to write something down, and yes, our moms have seen it.
- We’re going to present work to you that you’ve never seen before – give us a chance to share our thinking.
- Take time to let it soak in, we always welcome real time feedback, however, this is work you’ve never seen before. Try it on. See how it feels.
3. Don’t fix it
You are an expert in your field. We are also experts in our field. You’ve hired us to be creative, let us be creative. We value and rely on your feedback and input. If a solution is not working, tell us what’s not hitting the mark and give us a chance to rethink it.
- Try not to be prescriptive.
- Give us space to rethink and present a stronger solution.
4. Give feedback
We’re not afraid of feedback. In fact, we really value it. Here are some ways to give feedback that are helpful.
- Be honest (there’s that word again). It’s so important to say what you think — we want to know if you love it, like it, or hate it. And tell us why.
- Focus on constructive feedback versus subjective feedback. Is your feedback conducive to the problem we are trying to solve? Or is it personal, such as you don’t like the colour orange?
- Allow everyone to speak and embrace opposing views.
- Take your time if you need it. Some people rely on first impressions and gut instinct, others prefer to let things marinate a little. Both are valid.
- Consolidate feedback. This reduces confusion and revision cycles, which improves efficiency and saves you money.
5. Dream big
No holds barred. Green light. Blue sky. However you say it — don’t hold back. Expansive thinking leads to brilliant ideas.
Dream big. We’ll make it happen.
Have an idea? Drop us a line.
