Founder + Creative Director at Gallery Design Studio NYCaward-winning B2B content creative agency.
getty
It can often feel like we’re stuck on an endless hamster wheel when it comes to creative content. Busyness and lack of planning lead to low creativity, little time for strategies, and an overall sense of “urgency” that is neither necessary nor helpful. Many marketers don’t even have the right processes in place to support their content strategy. Instead, they wait for a project to reach its final stages before putting in the effort to make something really great – and that’s just too late.
The challenge
Creating extraordinary content that supports a company’s long-term success requires an artful mix of strategy and skill. Rather than settling for quick tactical fixes, I suggest approaching each project with an open mind to explore the potential risks and rewards of investing a little more time into creating truly impactful content. When done right, companies can navigate the buyer journey more effectively, achieve higher customer lifetime value (LTV) and lower customer acquisition costs (CAC).
Constantly insisting on fast, hurried content can have devastating consequences for your business. Not only does it take a toll on your creative teams mentally and emotionally, but the quality of the output is often compromised. In addition, the time you spend redoing work to meet deadlines means you spend less time on meaningful work that could really benefit your business, leading to overall business loss in terms of resources and productivity (registration required).
The possible solutions
We’re all still learning as we go, but here are five big ideas that have helped creators ease the crisis of urgency and ensure great work gets done.
1. Understand what’s really urgent.
Prioritizing can be overwhelming in a world of ever-changing events and updates. But statistics are a lifeline that can help you determine what matters most. They serve as clear indicators of which tasks will have the greatest impact. Measure, measure, measure and then use those insights to make smarter decisions.
2. Prioritize.
Distinguish between high and low production projects. Those needle-moving content pieces like a explainer video on your homepage? They should get more attention. Other projects, such as the occasional organic social media post, can be low-production tasks. Something I found really helpful is actually extracting chunks of micro content from higher production content to keep up with content volume (e.g. social media). This is a win-win situation of quality and quantity, as most of the high-quality content is designed to be reused in a variety of ways. I like to use the rule of the top three: Determine each day/week/quarter what the three most important substantive tasks or themes will be. This can really help you cut down on the fluff and focus only on what’s important.
3. Make use of technology.
Let people do the work that only humans can do, and use technology for the rest. For example, consider using apps like frame.io for video feedback and leveraging generative AI to help you draft, well, copy drafts. These tools can help get and keep the ball rolling.
4. Communicate priorities and processes.
Communicate exactly what you need and why the project is a priority to properly channel the urgency. Process-wise, channeling urgency can be similar to using priority levels on your project management platform so everyone knows how to prioritize their own tasks. This is important not only to keep an eye on the people actually doing the content, but also to inform other critical stakeholders (such as upper management for example).
5. Really embrace the agile mindset.
The creative process is a continuous adventure! As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” With each iteration, ideas are given a chance to grow and blossom into something even more brilliant. So don’t immediately focus on striving for perfection, but instead accept the best first draft as a starting point that can be continuously improved over time. My company explainer video has been evolving since 2015!
It comes down to
It’s hard to change how people feel. Therefore, it is easier to address urgency from a process and mindset standpoint. When you lift the stone of urgency, you can give your creative team the space to flourish and become truly great.
Because sometimes the wait is worth it.
ukbusinessupdates.com Business Council is the leading growth and networking organization for entrepreneurs and leaders. Am I eligible?
