Becca
Creative content, in today’s day and age, is essential for your business.
The Many Types of Creative Content
Maybe your brand needs a well-crafted explainer video to educate your audience, as well as increase engagement and drive conversions.
Or, maybe you need a strong logo to really launch your brand off of the ground!
As there is such a variety of design work out there, do your research and see what your brand needs. Creative content, in general, is an excellent tool used by many businesses. But if you’re not creative yourself, it can be difficult to begin creative content marketing – let alone explaining what you want when hiring a freelancer!
So what happens?
You end up writing a vague brief that doesn’t really help anyone, (pro tip: “I need a modern logo” isn’t enough for your freelancer to work from…) which can cause a whole lot of frustration. Your freelancer won’t be 100% clear on what you’re asking for, and so you end up getting a result you’re not happy with. Then, they end up doing endless revisions, whilst you slowly figure out what it is you wanted in the first place!
So how do you make sure you know exactly what you want, and can communicate that effectively?
In this article, we’ll talk you through visualizing the end result and what it will help you achieve, so that you can give your freelancer a clear map of the creative content you want.
Step #1 – Planning Your Creative Content
Before you even think about looking for a freelancer, you need to have a solid understanding of what you’re looking for. If you’re wanting some creative content for your business, you’ll probably need to work backward and figure out what results you’re hoping to get from the project.
For instance, you might have an overall business goal of driving traffic and conversions, which will be helped by creating an explainer video for your home page. Let’s be real, there are different types of creativity out there – figuring out the type of content you want is the real key.
Remember – you know more about your business than the person you’re hiring does. So you need to figure out the sticking points that a potential customer might have, and how you can help them with that in your video. You can’t expect your freelancer to solve your business problems and create a video at the same time.
Source: blog.advids.co
The same goes for design projects. If you’re having a logo created, you need to figure out what key ideas and concepts you want to communicate. Your freelancer doesn’t know your brand well enough to get the bigger picture, so it’s information you need to give them.
Of course, you’ll also want to have an idea of what you want the end result to look like. But, before posting a creative brief, have a clear idea of what sort of styles and colors you’d like your freelancer to explore. Have a look at other logos you like, and figure out what about them works.
Ultimately, no matter what the content is, you don’t need to have an enormous technical understanding. You just need to know what you want your creative posts to achieve, along with clear ideas on how you’d like them to look. By planning like this and having clear goals in mind, it’ll also be easier for you to analyze the content’s performance and calculate its ROI.
Writing your Creative Brief
A well-written creative brief is a key to success.
Once you’ve done your research on what type of creative content you need for your business – you need to get it written in project brief format. How you approach this can make or break a freelance project.
Break down the project requirements into easily understandable yet in-depth sections, so a freelancer with no knowledge of you or your business can understand what outcome you would like.
Here are a few sample briefs if you wanted a quick example of what a brief should look like:
But, your job doesn’t end when you’ve handed over the creative project brief.
That’s right – your freelancer will probably have questions about the brief that you’ll need to clear up. In particular, don’t fall into the trap of just telling your freelancer that it’s up to them when they ask something – because if it doesn’t turn out how you envisioned, both you and your freelancer won’t be happy!
Complaining about a result after being given creative free reign is a great way to get yourself blacklisted by them…
Handling Creative Content Revisions
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a project doesn’t come out 100% right – hey, that’s life.
You can avoid a disaster by catching this early on so it doesn’t throw the whole project off-kilter: a few small changes throughout the project can save you a massive overhaul at the end.
You should handle revisions in an organized way – arrange a regular meeting where you can suggest revisions and get frequent updates from your freelancer to avoid disasters later down the line.
This is the best way to keep your project on track, and make sure all your planning pays off!
Want to know more about managing freelance projects? Download our ultimate guide to managing freelancers (it’s completely free!)
Ready to hire? Check out our archive of talented freelance designers, who can help skyrocket your business, today.
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Stuart Logan
