Strategic Design | marketing & branding thoughts by Nick Rice

Wow, that’s a tough one in the marketing communications space. Obviously you want your project to accurately reflect your message, unique value prop, brand, etc… But the real heart of the question is “are you willing to pay for it; to wait for it”?

In my experience, most marketing managers do not understand nor participate in the creative process. That is not the fault of the marketing manager, it’s the responsibility of the creative team to include, listen to, and integrate the business people early and often.

On the opposite side, most designers do not understand or participate in the budget planning and scheduling phase of projects. A good designer is more concerned about doing things the right way or for the right reason than they are about timelines and how that relates to budget.

I believe that a lot of these issues are solved with open & honest conversation. The more transparent the better. The marketing folks need to understand what is causing the root business problem that they are asking the design folks to fix. The designers need to understand the contraints that define the project related to time & money and how to produce the best possible work within those constraints. In short a team that trusts one another and works together to solve the common problem. Not a team that throws half-baked guidance over the wall and expects "magic" to happen on a one day turn-around and for less than you pay the kid that cuts your yard (which happens to equal roughly $40 for 20 minutes of work or $120/hr; think about it).

What will you do differently if good enough isn't enough for your customers?