oh, it ain't my fault: building successful marketing relationships

All of those projects were easy.

All of those clients had a great experience.

Admit you have a problem.

Step 1

Oh, It Ain’t My FaultBuilding Successful Marketing Relationships

Delivering Successful Projects

Woohoo!Your project got approved!

ChaosStress

Hurt Feelings

Cost Overruns

Paying More for Mediocre Work

Strategies for SuccessAvoiding Common Mistakes

Planning for a Successful Project

Implementing a Successful Project

ResultsThat’s what I like.

The result is that we’ve been able to double our revenue goals in two years, and we continue to accelerate with their help. — Charles Josephs, CEO Acute Medical

Instead of our customers getting frustrated and leaving the website, Line 58 simplified and streamlined our entire system, creating a responsive e-commerce website that makes it easy for our customers to intuitively make purchases. - Jon Sherman, Owner Flavor Paper

What undermines great work ?

Unclear objectives

Gate keepers

New Players

Loss of momentum

Lack of trust

Micro managing

So, How do you get results ?

Define the Project

Align Expectations

Manage the Process

Assemble Your Team

Defining Your Project

Articulate TheBusiness Goals

What are the business goals?

How will you measure success?

Focus on OutcomesArticulate Desired Results

Avoid Dictating How to Achieve Them

Have a BudgetShare Your Budget

Establish a TimelineIs this hard or flexible?

Understand the relationship between design and content

Is this a pure design project?

If not, what are the content requirements?

What is the budet for content creation?

Assembling Your Team

Identify Your Internal Team

Who needs to be on this project?

What is the role of each person?

Articulate who owns this project.

Be Realistic About Time Commitments

During the Process

During Implementation

Be Realistic About Team Capabilities

Set ExpectationsEveryone attends every meeting

Each person speaks to their expertise

Everyone remains solutions focused

Everyone acknowledges the expertise of others

No one needs to win

Maintain the same team

Select Your PartnerDo they have a record of success?

Can they do what you are asking?

Are they a good cultural fit?

Do you have a partner on the creative team?

Do you trust them?

Aligning Expectations

Establish a Clear Process

This is harder than it sounds

Share Your Insights Into Your Team & Culture

Articulate motivations as you understand them

Articulate Assumptions & Risks

Assumptions

Management will not insert themselves into the process

Project Managers will deliver project info on-time

Marketing team will reduce portfolio categories to 6

Video team will complete work in 4 weeks

RisksManagement will insert themselves into the process

10 RFPs will land in the spring

Principals won’t approve copy in a timely manner

Video team will not complete work in 4 weeks

New ideas are rejected.

New ideas are scary.

Managing the Process

Understand What Motivates Creative Professionals

What gets you excited about a client project? What maintains your enthusiasm?

Working with clients that are open to genuine discussion of ideas or solutions and not focused on pushing pre-conceptions through. Architects don’t want to be CAD monkeys for their clients for the same reason we don’t want to be told “just do what I tell you”.

Clients that are passionate, thoughtful, have clear goals and trust that we know what we’re doing. They have to like what they are doing if I’m going to do the same.

What are challenges you have experienced working with clients?

With respect to Architects specifically, it can be hard to work with their tendency to think they can do any design-related job well, including web-design and branding.

Inability to focus on the big picture or take a step back, not interested in understanding and being a valuable partner in the design/development/execution/whatever process. Have to be able to work through things together, otherwise it all breaks down.

What can clients do to increase the odds of getting a great project?

Trusting that they hired a competent team and be open to what they suggest. It becomes a miserable process when the trust is lacking and each side struggles to control the other.

Clear communication and consistent expectations, flexibility to let the project evolve into something better than they imagined and willing to invest (time, energy, dollars) in the best version of it. Pick people that you want to work with and admire, hopefully they’re doing the same.

Remind your team where you are in the process

Build a contingency fee into your budget

So, How do you improve your odds of getting a great creative project that delivers results ?

Define the Project

Align Expectations

Manage the Process

Assemble Your Team