All businesses rely on creative and out-of-the-box ideas to stand out and make an impact. One often hears about how companies outsource their creative needs to advertising and marketing agencies to fulfill this goal.
This could be because of the convenience factor. It is like taking a huge responsibility off your shoulders and placing it on those of an external agency.
After all, when you outsource a project to an agency, the services of the best designers, art directors, producers, client managers, media managers and buyers, and other skilled experts are at the disposal of your business.
Plus, you’re comfortable with that because they’ve handled big projects before, and are experienced and well-connected enough to be able to pull off the job well. But then again, creativity is not limited to agencies.
Why Build In-House Creative Abilities?
An increasing number of firms are now gravitating towards having an in-house creative team, by incorporating an agency structure within their own organizations. This structure allows the firms to have a more customized approach towards their endeavors.
Apart from that, there are other reasons a firm may decide to build their own creative team. For some firms, it may be a decision based on cost-saving concerns, whereas for others it may have more to do with having a dedicated team to work solely on a particular product or brand.
Some businesses may feel that their value proposition is persuasive enough and need not be altered or modified by the creative methods of ad executives at agencies.
A few other benefits of “in-sourcing” creative ability in your organization are as follows –
- You get an understanding of the product/brand and how it drives in the market
- It becomes easier to access and control the marketing strategies and other parts of your business that drive sales
- It is more cost-effective than repeatedly hiring the services of an agency
If you’re still reading this article, chances are you’re planning to incorporate an in-house creative team into your firm, or that this post has planted such an idea in your mind to take your company forward.
Here’s how you can build a high-performing creative team.
Recruit the Right People
One cannot harp enough on how there is a dearth of skilled and talented people in the creative industry and searching for the right people for the job among a sea of candidates is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Company leaders would love nothing more than putting together a team which wants to see their product/brand touch dizzying heights of success, but to find people who are committed, creative, passionate, and versatile can be difficult. Difficult, yes, but impossible, no!
You may take your time with this one and get only the best creative minds on board. Well begun is half done, so even if you do go slow (and steady) on this aspect, make sure you associate only with the best to have the most innovative ideas for your product.
Have a Clear Vision
In order to have a high-performing team in place, you first need to have a clear vision for your product. Only then will you be able to communicate it accurately and adequately to the creative team.
A clear foresight of where you want to see your product/brand in the coming years and how you want it to be positioned and repositioned with changing time will be crucial to your success.
Providing your team with a sense of direction and aligning their goals with yours will ensure that you have a team that is dedicated, focused, invested, and unfazed by minor setbacks.
Do Not Compromise on Core Values
Your core values and ethics will set you apart from your competitors. They will also give your creative team an insight into your leadership style and help them understand how things go on in your organization.
Deciding your core values will take thoughtful planning and consideration, especially since you will have the power to customize them to suit the needs of your business. You will also have to make them resonate with your creative team in order to embed them in their mind.
Concentrate on Effective Communication
Charity begins at home, and because one of the core competencies of the members of the creative team would invariably be ‘excellent communication skills,’ it would be great if it comes from you to begin with.
Ideally, you should work on keeping all channels of communication open. If you have the traditional hierarchical structure, an upward or downward communication flow would be more suited to you. A lot of modern organizations encourage lateral communication though.
Whichever channel you choose, it should be done keeping one thing in mind – the flow must not stop. It is important to realize that the way you communicate your message in the beginning determines the outcome. Your teams should realize this important fact too.
Know How to Resolve Internal Conflicts
Speaking of communication, a lack of it can give rise to a lot of unnecessary internal conflicts and infighting. Experienced creative professionals understand that their personality and attitude do have an impact on the rest of the team members and are open to solving issues in an open and amicable way.
If you have your core values in place, it will be easier for you to encourage a culture of seeking mutual understanding (and do what is the best for the team) to resolve conflicts. As you can now see, it’s all inter-related.
Encourage Them to Set High Standards
To watch your business’s name scale greater heights, your creative team will have to be encouraged and motivated enough to do so by building the company’s reputation every day. Most well-reputed global brands like Apple, Nike, Target, Disney, and so on have in-house creative teams so that they can control everything they do.
High-performing in-house creative teams don’t just happen overnight. They are a result of continuous and careful planning, tactical recruiting, and free-flowing communication. The above tips should give you an insight into what you need to do to put together a remarkable team of your own.
