What is creative marketing?
Creative marketing is a business’s strategy for advertising their products and services using creative content as customer outreach. Companies can use a variety of channels to carry out creative marketing campaigns including art, music, design and events to tell a business’s story and make sales to potential customers. Creative marketing can encompass small details such as font choice or logo to large social branding efforts and complex creative partnerships. A company’s creative marketing is at its most effective when everyone involved with a company’s public image coordinates their efforts to accomplish a shared vision.
Who is involved in creative marketing?
Small businesses may need only a small creative marketing team, but as your business grows you will likely need to hire more people and expand your staff to get the best return on your advertising efforts. A functioning creative agency relies on these key roles to manage creative marketing campaigns and execute them appropriately:
Creative director
Creative directors oversee the overall vision of the creative marketing department. They lead their team to create content that evokes a certain emotion or connects with potential customers in a particular way. Creative Directors oversee all creative content, communication and strategy including artistic design, written content and distribution techniques. They provide instruction to individual creative professionals involved with producing deliverables and interacting with customers using the brand voice.
Art director
Art directors are in charge of a company’s overall graphic design, illustration, video and photo productions. They specialize in understanding the visual elements of creative advertising campaigns and coming up with artistic ideas to express a company’s value to customers. They decide on an overall tone and vision of a project and provide general guidance on how their team can accomplish those goals, reviewing submissions and suggesting edits based on timeline and budget. Art Directors finalize project layouts and select which creative projects to present to the public.
Digital marketing director
Digital marketing directors use the internet to spread awareness of a company’s products and brand. They handle the logistics of online advertising and coordinate with creative directors to plan out what creative content their staff needs to produce. Digital marketing directors decide on which digital channels will provide the best exposure to various creative projects, using unique content to attract and convert customers. They collect analytics and data about the website performance and customer behavior online then use it to improve engagement with creative campaigns.
Account director
At a creative agency, account directors act as a liaison between a creative marketing team and a client. Account directors oversee client relationships, discuss the terms of business agreements and set expectations about what their team needs to accomplish to satisfy their client’s creative needs. They handle the financial details of each creative campaign and plan with team leaders to set and meet deadlines. As a company grows, account directors may delegate some responsibilities to account managers who dedicate themselves to managing the operations of a single client.
Graphic designer
Larger businesses and departments may need multiple graphic designers to collaborate on the different steps of the visual design process, while small businesses may employ a single graphic designer or hire freelance graphic designers on an as-needed basis. They use art supplies and design software to translate creative briefs into images for company logos, posters, website backgrounds, packaging and other advertisements. Graphic designers use their own artistic skills to interpret a particular project idea according to their employer or client’s brand guidelines.
Related:How to Hire a Graphic Designer
UX designer
AUX designer studies the experience of the people who use your company’s website, apps, products and company interfaces. They work to make products and services as intuitive as possible, making it easier for potential customers to follow through with a purchase and access the information they need. UX designers may not directly produce creative marketing materials, but they do make it easier for a company’s target market to access and view those materials. They also produce prototypes, research user behavior and test the accessibility of various creative marketing efforts.
Related:How to Hire a UX Designer
Web developer
Web developers produce and refine the infrastructure that people use to browse your company’s website. They ensure that all graphics and text are in the correct format and create the code that displays them appropriately on a web browser. Web developers integrate website features that make creative marketing easier, like buttons, chatbots, submission forms, embedded videos, photo galleries and more. They work with designers and writers to update the website appropriately according to the strategic team’s creative vision.
Brand strategist
Brand strategists collaborate with upper management to ensure that all of a company’s creative efforts and communications align with a cohesive brand. They develop an overall brand story and advise the creative marketing team on the most effective ways to communicate their brand narrative to customers. They help create clear guidelines for the tone of written content and the visual profile of company imagery. Brand strategists also conduct market research to guide re-branding efforts, creating customer profiles and analyzing data about their company or client’s brand recognition.
Copywriter
Copywriters write the text that appears on company websites, web ads, print advertisements, catalogs and other places a company might need written content. They capture a particular tone, such as persuasive or educational, to capture the interest of a particular audience or establish their employer as an expert on a particular topic. Copywriters work closely with creative directors and graphic designers to create cohesive projects that use a combination of visual imagery and compelling text to tell a brand story and engage with their target audience.
Public relations specialists
Public relations specialists advertise creative projects through connections with journalists, event planners and other sources for publicity. They help communicate a company’s brand to the public, making their name more recognizable and connecting their visual identity with the company’s products and services. PR specialists help[ coordinate events, plan partnerships and generate interest in their client’s creative projects.
How to hire creative marketing staff
If you’re ready to start establishing a creative presence as a company and using artistic content to advertise your business, you can benefit from hiring talented creatives and marketing experts to guide and accomplish your vision. Follow these steps to hire quality creative marketing employees for your team:
- Ask for a portfolio:When hiring for creative positions, ask for an artistic portfolio or writing samples to get an idea of each client’s creative skills and abilities.
- Get team input:Creative staff work closely together and need to collaborate creatively to accomplish their goals. Ask for input from your current creative staff when you expand the team to build a cohesive artistic force.
- Form thoughtful interview questions:Focus yourinterview questions on how your candidates would approach different creative situations, what their creative process looks like and what unique perspectives and skills they could bring to your team.
