Setting Up A Company For Creative And Marketing Success!

"Walt, we're not creatives and we thought it would be easy to hire a few folks internally to start making content for us. But we need help."

That was two months ago and with my consulting guidance, that company is now on a good path with a roadmap moving forward

This is a pretty typical company, between 200 and 1000 employees, primarily in one location. The sales team is good at running paid media but they were relying on outside creative firms to create all the content.

They wanted to grow both their organic social content and create the paid media content in-house. There was no specific social media director, it was an 'and' job delegated to one of the lower rung sales folks.

So they did what I hear a lot of companies do, hired two graphic designers and expected them to create content, manage the social calendar, post social content, handle engagement, create videos and animations in addition to graphics, research and provide a content strategy in collaboration with the sales team, create sales and marketing collateral.... In other words, two people were going to replace an entire, fully staffed creative agency.

They work they did produce was beautiful and on brand. They just couldn't produce enough of it because of all the 'ands' in their roles.

The team was not properly set up for success for all that was expected from it. I was brought in as a consultant to look at the company needs and goals for this department, and offer a roadmap forward.

The two most glaring needs were designated leadership and social media leadership. So many companies don't believe managing social media accounts is a full-time job, but I'm here to say, yes it IS a full-time job for at least one person.

The third glaring need was the complete lack of a content strategy. The designers & sales were simply throwing out content and trying to see 'what stuck.' And they were posting the identical content across all social channels including LinkedIn.

Two months later, they've hired one additional staff member who is a hands-on creative leader who can create the content as well as lead the team. They're closing in on a social media director hire. They have a roadmap for hires based on their future needs.

I did this by simply laying out two new immediate hires to remove some of the 'ands' and provide leadership. No need to hire out a 'full creative agency' right now, they just needed to hire the folks in the right order to maximize the efficiency and storytelling of the team.

We're still working together on the content strategy for the rest of 2022 and into 2023 to connect their brand with the intended audience. And to set up the right content and cadence for each platform.

If you need an outside consultant to assess your current in-house creative team or you're looking to build one from scratch, DM me. It's an awesome feeling to set up companies for success.