Non-creative, in-house clients go out of house because that’s where they find expertise and resources presented in an organized and confident way. Typically, these same impressive credentials exist in-house, but the massive number of day-to-day projects, meetings, and deadlines keep many an in-house department anchored firmly in a reactive role that creates skeptical clients and diminishing influence.
The challenge is how to turn the attention, and budgets, of these skeptical clients back toward
the in-house option.
First, strategically identify and pursue creative projects. You’ll win some and lose some, but keep at it.
Secondly, once you’ve got a client’s attention, present your department as a resource for not just production of creative, but the strategy and execution as well. Schedule discovery meetings and roll out creative briefs and questionnaires that position you as the expert, not the order taker.
Thirdly, push the execution. Competitive bidding, an organized project kick-off and great project management need to be capped off with great creative. Together, these will gain buy-in from those who think they must use outside resources to get good results.
In the end, the skeptics will become your strongest advocates in creating buy-in from others. Nice!
Craig Granger
Creative Services Marketing Director for UNLV
Plan and run better meetings
Meetings are a necessary evil in our business. Between staff meetings, project planning and review meetings, vendor meetings, and of course client meetings, its any wonder we get real work done at all. But one thing I have learned in almost 25 years in the creative...
