GA Creative's fortunate to work with great clients, and over time we've developed an effective client service model and a strong track record for keeping not only our clients, but also our creative and project teams happy. That said, on the rare occasion we see a project head south, we find there are some recurring themes that, from a client-perspective, whether a seasoned marketing veteran, or first-time project management newbie, seem to predicate disaster. So, in the interests of high client satisfaction, high-caliber creative, and on-time and on-budget results, here are three warning signs that your project or campaign may come off the tracks.
No buy-in
As a marketer, you have a plan, maybe even a creative vision-but do you have stakeholder buy-in? Whether to meet deadlines, keep momentum, or free up bandwidth for other endeavors, sometimes it can be all too easy to power ahead with a project or creative direction without letting stakeholders know what you're up to.
"I'll wait to get the project scope/creative concept/media buy in front of others, so they can see the plan in action", you say? Sounds great, until your plans are over-ruled by higher-ups or morphed beyond recognition by committee. At best you've wasted time and budget, at worst, you've invited greater scrutiny into your activities, causing further project delays and missed opportunities.
My advice? Recognize upfront what the oversight expectations are within your organization. Then share them with your creative agency. A good account manager will work with you to build the right steps into your project plan to gather stakeholder input, time appropriate approvals and disseminate progress reports.
No plot
Your organization has business goals-how do your marketing or communications objectives support them? Vague "awareness" objectives, or a list of tactical deliverables may get a pass when times are flush, but when times are lean, your best offense is to take the time to add definition, rationales and metrics to your creative and marketing endeavors.
"But all I need is this new logo/brochure/newsletter template", you say?" This might make sense on the surface, until your customers don't recognize your organization, you've got 5,000 out-of-date brochures, and haven't sent a newsletter in seven months.
Challenge your agency to help you-not only by lending third-party perspective, but also with strategic insights and/or research, as well as developing a plan that connects all the tactical dots, and includes qualitative or quantitative success indicators.
No (brand) glue
Sorting out your brand aspirations on the couch of an actual project or campaign is not recommended-ever.
"But I want to bounce several approaches off our target audience and see what sticks," you say. A noble idea, but, don't confuse your brand goal, i.e. creating relationships with customers, with your creative goal, i.e. entertaining customers-especially if your creative direction does not support your current brand.
Sending a message not supported by current brand perceptions, or sending multiple, confusing messages is not a plan for success. In an ideal world branding processes would align in advance of marketing initiatives. However, the world cannot stop spinning on its axis while you define your brand's new personality or creative assets. Your best plan is to combine long-term brand planning with tactical execution to move your organization forward.
Even if you're planning a one-off project, let your creative agency know your long-term brand plans. It will lead to better results-an extensible design, bridge messaging, or creative testing-that could save you time, budget, or headaches in the long run.
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