Thoughts on Marketing

Working with Creatives

Why the creative brief is worth its weight in gold

[Originally published as The Marketing Mix newsletter on Substack. Please subscribe for the latest, every 2 weeks]

Creativity is at the core of Marketing. And working with creative folks is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. But whether you’re working with an in-house team or freelance talent, success is often built on the strength of the Creative Brief.

A good brief will:

  • Outline the goal of the piece
  • Describe the audience and the environment
  • Lay out the must-haves, and the do-not-do’s
  • Provide context, resources and reference materials
  • Set out the stakeholders, the budget and the timeline

[Want to see more? Upwork*, the freelancer platform, has a good template for a brief that will get you moving in the right direction.]

In theory, a designer should be able to take the brief and come up with a good set of first drafts without any other input – although in reality, you’ll do better if you talk them through it first.

Just as a carpenter should “measure twice, cut once,” spending time developing a solid, descriptive brief will save you significant time and money overall.

It will get you a ‘First Cut’ close to what you need, and revisions will be fewer and quicker. Plus, the Creative person will want to work with you if you show that you’ve put thought into it.

Take the time to write a good brief. It’ll save you pain and suffering on the back-end.

*There are some quirks to actually using Upwork to find Freelancers. It’s easy to get frustrated, or to get poor results. So please ping me for (free) advice before you try it out. Otherwise, you might be disappointed.

Did you Get Past Quitter’s Day?

The second Friday in January is apparently now known as Quitter’s Day, when 80% of people have given up on their New Year’s resolutions. (This was based on a study by Strava fitness app – no doubt commissioned as a marketing project!).

Since I wrote about productivity last time, here’s an interesting article from David Epstein about how to make your resolutions stickier. Basically, make them granular and realistic – but it’s worth a read to get the details.

Speaking of which…

I also mentioned Dry January last time, and since then I’ve realized this is much more of an English phenomenon than an American one. Maybe because us Brits overindulge more over the holidays?🥴

So if you’re intrigued, and you want to know more about Dry January, here’s how it all started.

Cheers! 🥃

Steve

P.S If you know you need to take marketing seriously, but don’t know where to start, let’s chat. I help growing B2B tech companies build their marketing muscles.

P.P.S If you’ve enjoyed this article, please consider subscribing to The Marketing Mix newsletter – my thoughts on B2B marketing, sent out every 2 weeks.