A Marketing Agency’s No. 1 Priority: Providing Creativity

Creativity isn’t just for graphic designers. Smart agencies inject creativity into every task, because their clients demand it.

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We learned something poignant at a recent marketing and advertising conference:

• To a client, the most-important agency department is the creative department.

This means, when clients entrust their hard-earned dollars to the skills of an agency, they expect that agency to assist them with creativity above all else.

Creative skills come before business strategy, analytics, research, planning, communications and everything else in the eyes of the client.

Why is creativity so important to a client? Because they don’t have time for it. They’re too busy trying to manage the business end of their business. Plus, creative thinking might not come easily for them.

Creativity Takes Many Forms at a Good Agency

To provide the creativity clients demand, agencies need to get, well, creative. But, creativity isn’t only about designing an =ad or logo. It takes many forms.

Creativity looks like:

• A high-value blog or piece of website copy that drives traffic and transforms it into customers
• A gorgeous website that’s not only pretty but also functions as it should
• An expertly written email newsletter that entices opens and solicits actions
• An editorial calendar that outlines upcoming social media, blog and email newsletter content to win over readers
• An impactful marketing strategy that breaks tradition and stands out from the crowd
• Out-of-the-box search engine optimization strategies that are built on deeper and more robust research to discover patterns and seek out valuable user insights
• Branding, taglines, logos, style guides and business descriptions built by creative designers
• Social management that moves people, requires creative thinking and delivers content that isn’t stale or unengaging
• Pay-per-click built on sound budget and keyword strategy, and delivered to the precise audience where clicks are most likely to convert
• Graphics for social networks, email newsletters, websites and more. Digital graphics have to be visually appealing, proportionate to the medium and effective for them to work
• Bringing fresh ideas to clients. This one is crucial. Clients expect agencies to stay on top of trends and digital standards
• Bold business strategies. Yes, cookie cutter is safe. But a bold, creative strategy might take a client to a new level

In short, clients don’t have time to be creative, and they’re looking to agencies to be forward thinking in everything they’re paid to do.

If an agency has been hired for SEO, email marketing and PPC, it better go above and beyond by injecting creativity and new ideas into each of these tasks.

Creativity isn’t just for graphics. It belongs in each and every step of a digital marketing agency’s care of a client.

Want some inspiration on ways to boost your team’s creativity? Check out Expio’s blog: Top Ways Agencies Can Spark More Creativity into Everyday Tasks.