...unless it's a pretty picture you're flogging.
There, I've said it! I know I may be a Creative Director and I know many of my industry colleagues may want to hang me for saying it - but it's true.
Creativity is the most powerful asset your business has. On every level, it is what separates you from the next company (and if you don't believe me, take a good look at Virgin, Apple or Innocent). In its most basic form, it is creativity that created your company.
So how do you harness creativity to make it work for your benefit? Many business people don't see the true value of creative strategy and professional design. This view is heavily influenced by agencies, designers and creatives believing the only measurement of their work is how pretty and clever it is, or how it makes them feel. THIS IS WRONG.
The measurement of creativity at Carswell Gould is; did our creative input (on any level) achieve our client's business objectives? Did it make the target audience feel what we wanted it to feel? In short, DID IT MAKE MONEY? Thankfully, after well over a decade in business, we can prove all our creative does just that. Used as part of our integrated marketing mix, creativity is what sets us AND OUR CLIENTS apart from competitors.
So next time you are looking at pitch boards or portfolios, don't ask yourself how nice it looks, ask did it do the business.
If invoicing is the only thing you do creatively, call us now on 02380 238 001
All the best
Ed Gould Creative Director
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
It's not just creativity that's important. STRATEGY + VALUE + CREATIVITY = SMART MARKETING
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
I asked our team two questions about creativity 1. How do you use creativity in your job? 2. Why is it important to you?
Lisa Blandford - Designer 1. I draw creativity from anything around me - to inspire my work and ideas, to generate unique designs. It can be the smallest thing that can create big ideas. It's not just limited to design work, I try to be creative in my approach to all activities, even as small as organising a filing system. 2. Without it, nothing would change, nothing new would form or be generated. Being able to be creative makes life more interesting and imaginative.
Tom Fawcitt - Account Handler 1. Some of the clients we deal with have more of a business mind than a creative one. I therefore help them think objectively but creatively about their business. Selling a story into the press can be hard work as journalists can receive hundreds of press releases every day. However, a little bit of creativity can go a long way when writing the release and making sure my client gets as much coverage as possible. 2. Creativity gives me the licence to do what I want with any idea and enables me to think differently, laterally and confidently about something, and to express clients' ideas in a way they may not think of.
Tom McLean - Designer 1. I use creativity in my job… to produce exciting and unusual answers to clients' briefs. 2. It's important to me because… being creative defines who I am. Without creativity I would be very boring (and in the wrong profession).
Chris Yaxley - Web Developer 1. I use creativity to overcome problems, to develop new ideas by building on what I have seen and previously created. 2. It's important to me to produce quicker, more effective solutions, to a higher standard.
Amanda Stebbing - PR Account Manager (and lover of writing!) 1. Words are my favourite form of creativity - used correctly and imaginatively, they spark a reader's imagination, persuade them to a different point of view, or fire them into action. Used wrongly, they can have the opposite effect, or worse still, have no effect at all. An article which is poorly written, no matter how interesting, entertaining or useful the subject, will be passed over with a “tut” of irritation by the reader and you have immediately and irrevocably lost the battle. But an article with an inventive title and perhaps an eye-catching picture or two, hooks the reader in, sometimes despite themselves. 2. Sometimes creativity excites a leap of imagination, linking client and/or product to something unlikely which makes you stop and think. Sometimes creativity is linked to vision - having the confidence and foresight to make the connection between a client or product and a new audience, or refreshing the view of the current audience, making it stop and think again.
Ben Paul - Designer 1. I use creativity to develop an advancement on original form, and push the function so it exceeds any competitor. 2. It is important because it creates diversity within a medium.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Further reading on creativity Creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. An alternative conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new…
If you would like to discuss how Carswell Gould could help, our team of experts are keen to chat. Fill in your details below and we'll be in touch shortly.
