Marketing professionals, writers, artists, video producers and others in the creative service industry have a wide array of different talents and experiences they can bring to the table. Creative professionals may have many divergent ideas for how they can best help your business produce high-quality video, great web or print ads, engaging mobile apps, and other multimedia tools. The quality of ideas and the strength of the execution of different campaigns and content production can make a big impact on whether your company is ultimately successful in its efforts.
Because working with creative professionals is about finding the best and most innovative ideas, it can be challenging to choose the right creative services for your business needs. It is particularly difficult to determine who you want to partner with to turn your ideas into a reality because there are so many different types of "creatives" with various backgrounds and skill sets that could work well for you. How do you decide on the right fit? Our own creative team suggests a few parameters to use in making the decision on what to look for in deciding on the right creative partner.
Establish the goals you are trying to accomplish:
The creative services industry is vast with professionals offering a wide array of skilled services, from marketing and communications to graphic design to video production and beyond. It can be hard to know what kind of creative content you want to create and what your objectives are for creating it. Are you looking to build brand recognition, attract more customers or build up goodwill within your community? Having a loose idea of what you want to create will help you determine how to find the creative professionals that might be a great fit for helping you best achieve your big picture goals.
Research who is available in your area for creative services:
One of the best ways to find creative services that you like is to consider who has produced content that you admire. Are there particular advertisements you find especially interesting or entertaining? Is there a website you think is well designed or an app you adore using? Do you currently partner with any other companies that boast great content or advertising? Try to find out which creative professionals created these solutions that you love and see if they might be interested in using their talents to help your company.
One of the best ways to find creative services that you like is to consider who has produced content that you admire. Are there particular advertisements you find especially interesting or entertaining? Is there a website you think is well designed or an app you adore using? Do you currently partner with any other companies that boast great content or advertising? Try to find out which creative professionals created these solutions that you love and see if they might be interested in using their talents to help your company.
Determine what relationship you want to have with a creative professional:
This is where it gets hard. You have to really think about a multitude of factors, ranging from budget to skill set, experience, availability, proximity, and timeline when deciding on a creative professional. Are you looking to work with an outside agency, like a graphic design or marketing agency? Do you want to hire someone to join your staff and work in-house on all your creative projects? Are you interested in working with a freelancer who will provide service as needed to your organization? There are pros and cons to each of these different approaches. Working with an outside agency means the agency won’t know your internal company culture (or your external brand) nearly as well as someone who is in-house, but you may benefit by being able to utilize more varied top-notch solutions since their sole priority is to excel in creative communications. A freelancer can often provide services at a lower cost, but you won’t have the diversity of ideas that can come from an entire agency working for you, nor will you have the proximity or accessibility that comes from hiring an internal creative. An in-house creative professional may have a narrower range of talents than an agency and may cost more than a freelancer, but would be wholly devoted to your company’s creative work, allowing them to craft the voice, look, and feel of your brand. It's a lot to consider, and yet, there is still one last option.
Work With a Leader in Information Technology Solutions
Technology Partners can act as that on-demand creative team of specialists who offer a varied skill set with a range of experience that focuses heavily on utilizing the foremost technology at high-value prices. We like to think of ourselves as having a boutique creative department that can deep dive into a partnering company's culture and act as a consistent voice for them. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you create innovative, entertaining and engaging content that helps build your brand and accomplish your goals.
