Marketing Insights from Symphonix

5 Traits of an Outstanding Creative Services Team

Written by Steve Grace | Nov 29, 2022 5:48:57 PM

What Makes a Great Creative Team?

Creative teams are the backbone of all marketing efforts. Their function is diverse and can play a pivotal role in not only carrying out creative projects, but also supporting the image of your brand.

However, measuring the performance of a creative team isn’t as easy as it sounds. While you might think the fundamental metric for a successful creative team is its ability to think, well, creatively, that’s only a small piece of the puzzle. A successful creative team can not only dream up and execute advertising campaigns, but they can also play a big role in your brand compliance efforts.

While the success of a creative services team might be difficult to measure, it is important to understand the several key elements of great creative services teams. Below we have created a list of 5 things your creative services team should be providing. We hope this list brings clarity to the various functions your team serves and insight into how you can benefit from having an excellent creative team.

5 Traits of Outstanding Creative Teams

1. Thorough Understanding of Your Brand

Maintaining a deep understanding of your brand’s mission is the keystone for all great creative services teams. A creative team should not just refer to your brand guidelines but absorb them to stay consistent through all projects. Understanding your core values should be a creative team’s main objective, and in doing so they can help you maintain a consistent image.

Many creative teams understand their client’s project, but have a weak grasp of the brand at large, which can lead to a loss of brand compliance. Many companies do not realize these creative errors, but they can be detrimental to your brand image. The last thing you want for your brand is a creative team that strays from your company’s mission, so make sure your team has a thorough understanding of your brand mission.

2. Collaboration and Listening

Collaboration and listening to your company goals, vision, and requests should be your creative services team’s top priority. It is important for a creative team to listen broadly and deeply to your mission to bring your ideas to life. An excellent creative team will implement multiple lines of communication to ensure that the vision for your brand is carried out.

Many companies settle for creative mediocracy; their project is completed but their vision is not met. Such problems can be solved by working with a creative team that puts greater emphasis into listening to the project guidelines. Your creative content will take a big step forward by having a team that listens and collaborates with your every need.

3. Walkthroughs of the Creative Processes

A marketing team’s biggest nightmare is receiving a creative project that does not match their original creative brief. It is important that your time, money, and effort is rewarded with a project that satisfies your project goals.

Your creative team should be giving you a walkthrough of their creative process before the project is completed, which will ensure that your project guidelines are being met. A walkthrough will give you an opportunity to redefine or re-establish your objectives with your creative team.

Providing a walkthrough of the creative process is also an important step for creative teams to maintain transparency and communication. A walkthrough of the creative processes allows companies to determine whether their creative brief can be followed. If your project objectives are not being followed given the walkthrough, a stellar creative team will work with you to find a solution.

4. Vision for Projects

Understanding your needs and identifying what will make projects successful is a priority for creative teams. While your creative team should be listening to your needs and requests, they should also provide insight into how to execute your vision. An outstanding creative team will take the reins on a project and insert their professional advice when needed.

5. Project and Expectation Management

How does your creative team respond when something does not go the way you planned? What steps does your creative team take to ensure your project goals are met?

It is important that your creative team is accommodating to your needs and actively works to find solutions to your request. Managing expectations is all about communication, and clear and consistent communication in managing your project is important in ensuring that your vision is being followed. By establishing consistent communication, your creative team can effectively manage your expectations and avoid the back-and-forth that frequently happens between a marketing team and creative services team.

Symphonix Can Help

The creative team at Symphonix is dedicated to providing you with excellent service. Our team takes the time to understand not just your project, but your brand at large. We care about the little details and the big picture and want to help you creatively promote your brand.

Working with Symphonix means that each of your creative projects will be crafted with precision and expertise. If our vision does not align with your expectations, we will happily work with you to find solutions to your requests.

We’d love to share with you how we can provide you with excellent creative services.