COMMUNICATION

BREAKDOWN
HOW MARKETERS
AND CREATIVES
CAN GET ALONG

New survey research on what it

takes to produce better content.

INTRODUCTION

While a lot of things have to go right to be a successful content

marketer, none of them matter if you dont have good content.
As a discipline, content marketing is exploding. According to eMarketer,

The impact of this increase in competition is starting to be felt by content

more than $118 billion is spent annually on the production and distribution

marketers. For example, the Content Marketing Institutes 2016 B2B Content

of digital content. That number is projected to reach $300 billion by 2019.

Marketing Survey revealed that the number of marketers describing their

At the same time, competition is on the rise because the size and content

organizations as effective at content marketing dropped to 30% (from 38%

consumption of the U.S. audience has plateaued:

in the 2015 survey).

To understand more about what it takes to produce content thats effective

Time spent per adult per day with digital media in the USA
Other connected devices

Desktop/laptop

Mobile

in this increasingly crowded space, we surveyed 789 marketers and creatives

to see how they work together. Read on to see whats working, whats not,
and how people on both sides of the creative divide can do a better job of
producing content that stands out.

6
5

Hours per day

4
3

DEFINITIONS
Marketers consisted of people who identified themselves as marketers

requesting content from writers and designers. Creatives described

themselves as the writers, designers and developers who create content

1
0

for marketers.
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Source: Nielsen

WHATS THE CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE?

Our study revealed that the relationship between marketers and their
creative teams isnt always harmonious. At a high level, these were the
biggest observations:

1
2

Better communication is needed especially when it

comes to briefing, feedback, and scoping projects.

Perception gap in key areas. Both marketers and creatives

have a rosier view of their own performance than their
counterparts especially with delivering final content that
meets expectation or giving actionable feedback.

Creative teams are understaffed. One thing marketers

and creatives agreed on was that creative teams dont
usually have the personnel they need. Fifty-eight percent
of marketers with in-house teams turn to freelancers,
agencies and online services to scale their efforts.

Each of these findings is based on a number of data points.

In the pages that follow, well look at each of them separately.

The most common words used

when creatives and marketers
described working together.

HOW CONTENT MARKETERS USE CONTENT

Content marketing is becoming more important because it can impact

To move the needle, marketers relied on an array of content types. Emails

almost any touchpoint in the customer journey. With that said, the biggest

were still king and written articles were very popularmost likely because

focal points for marketers were acquisition, engagement, and brand building:

theyre the easiest content to produce for most organizations. Higher levelof-effort visual content like infographics, videos, and social microcontent
were also used by more than 50% of marketers.

In your function, which of the following goals do you use online

content for?

Engaging existing
customers

83%

Building a brand

81%

Acquiring new
customers

81%

Emails

68%

Infographics

62%

Videos

60%

Microcontent for
social media

33%

Customer success

71%

Written articles

52%

Sales enablement

None of the above

Of the following, which types of content do you typically use to reach

these goals?

55%

Slide decks
or presentations

2%

49%

Webinars or tutorials
10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

35%

100%

White papers

34%

Ebooks or guides

26%

Interactive microsites

25%
10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

ARE MARKETERS HAPPY WITH CREATIVES?

Despite the fact that content helps marketers meet a lot of their objectives,

Creatives were more optimistic in their self-assessment. For example, 43% of

its not always a smooth road getting from strategy to execution. Only 37%

creatives viewed their work as extremely or very effective, while only 26%

of marketers were extremely or very satisfied with the work they

of marketers thought the creative work they received was as effective. An

received from writers and designers. Almost 20% described themselves

additional 9% didnt know whether their work was effective or notan early

as unsatisfied.

sign that communication may not be effective as it could be.

And despite the low effectiveness ratings from marketers, 93% of marketers
are proud of the work that they do:

Typically, how satisfied are you with the content your

creative team produces?

Extremely unsatisfied
1%
Extremely satisfied
9%

Typically, how proud are you with the content you and
your team produce?

Not very proud

6%

Not proud at all

1%

Extremely proud
13%

Not very satisfied

18%
Very satisfied
28%

Proud
39%

Very proud
41%

Satisfied
44%

WHERE DO CREATIVE TEAMS COME UP SHORT?

In the eyes of marketers, there was room for improvement across the board,
but a few creative duties received especially low marks. When it came to

Which of the following does your

creative team do well?

staffing adequately, anticipating problems, or following a transparent

process, less than 30% of marketers thought the creatives they work
with did well. This assessment held true whether the creatives were part of
in-house teams, agencies, or freelancers.

Consistency

53%

Responding to feedback

52%

Creatives also received low ratings in three areas related to the briefing
process. Less than 40% of marketers listed following the brief, asking

Ask questions to get clarity

51%

questions that make the brief better, and communicating concerns as

things their creative teams did well.

HOW MARKETERS CAN IMPROVE

Creative teams saw the dynamics of their working relationship a little

Meeting deadlines

47%

Delivering final content that

meets your expectations

46%

Communicating concerns

38%

differently.
While briefing came up as one of the easier parts of the process, they
thought estimating the scope of work and agreeing on a timeline were two
of the most difficult activities (see chart on the next page). Both of these

Following the brief

36%

Feedback that makes

brief better

34%

activities flow directly from briefings and project kickoffs, so these results
suggest briefs arent as detailed or thought out as they should be. This view

Transparent process

29%

may also signal that creatives dont use briefings as an opportunity to ask
questions and get clarity up front.

Anticipating problems

27%

Staffing adequately

24%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Please rate the following parts of the creative process based on

how easy or difficult it is to collaborate with marketers:
0 = Very easy

Which of the following does the marketing team

you collaborate with do well?

4 = Very difficult
Sticking to the brief

18%

1.84
1.52

1.63

1.97

2.13

1.66

23%

Briefing projects clearly

23%

Staying within
the initial scope

24%

Giving consistent
feedback

28%

Giving timely feedback

29%

Setting realistic deadlines

0
Final delivery

Briefing

Initial drafts
and review

Agreeing on
a timeline

Feedback and Estimating the

iterations
scope of work

5
Collaborating
effectively is a two-way-street, though, and there were a lot

of4 opportunities for marketers to improve. Despite the fact creatives saw
5

Sticking to established
processes

2.97

3.13

2.84
2.66
3
2.63 easy part
briefings
as a relatively
of the process,
the results showed less
2.52

than
25% of marketers did a good job of: briefing well, sticking to the
2
brief,
staying with the initial scope, or following established processes.
1
Also, less than 30% of creatives felt the marketers they work with gave
Final delivery
Briefing
drafts
Agreeing on
feedback
consistently
or on aInitial
timely
basis.
and review

a timeline

Feedback and Estimating the

iterations
scope of work

The brightest spot in their assessment? Creatives thought the content they
create gets used, so their efforts arent wasted.

32%

Sharing results

33%

Giving actionable feedback

36%

Reasonable timelines

38%

Responding to
your concerns

40%

Communicating priorities

42%

Sharing credit with

your team

43%

Actually using the

content you produce

58%
10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

PERCEPTION VS REALITY: CREATIVES

Do creatives do the following well?

While we saw that creatives could do a better job of communicating

Creatives who
say yes

Marketers who
say yes

Disparity

68%

46%

+22%

Anticipating problems

47%

27%

+20%

Asking questions to get clarity

68%

51%

+17%

Creating consistent content

69%

52%

+17%

earlier in the process and content marketers could do a better job of

outlining their needs up front, its also worth taking a moment to see
how each group viewed its own performance in the face of these

Delivering final content that meets

expectations

criticisms.
Both creatives and marketers tended to have a rosier view of their own
work than their counterparts. But for creatives, the discrepancies were
biggest when it came to delivering content that met expectations. Here
are the other areas where creatives and marketers opinions had the
biggest discrepancies.

PERCEPTION VS REALITY: MARKETERS

Do marketers do the following well?

When marketers self-assessment is compared with what creatives

Marketers who
say yes

Creatives who
say yes

Disparity

Giving actionable feedback

55%

36%

+19%

Sharing credit with creatives

62%

44%

+18%

Giving timely feedback

46%

29%

+17%

Communicating priorities

57%

42%

+15%

Briefing projects clearly

38%

23%

+15%

thought, a few new opportunities to improve the relationship emerge.

While sharing more credit with creatives might help boost their overall
positivity, marketers also overestimated their ability to give timely and
actionable feedback.

WORKING WITH EXTERNAL CREATIVE TEAMS

One problem area that both marketers and creatives agreed on was the lack
of adequate staffing. Only 24% of marketers felt the creative teams they work

What sort of creative teams do you work with to

produce content?

with were staffed adequately. While creatives generally tended to evaluate

themselves more positively than the marketers they work with, this is one
place where they didnt: Just 16% of creatives felt that they did a good
job of maintaining enough bandwidth to meet marketers demands.

An in-house team

75%

Freelancers

46%

These numbers mean that creative teams are frequently understaffed. Thus,
its not surprising to see a lot of marketers turning to external teams.

An agency

38%

Digging a little deeper into these numbers, we found that 58% of the
marketers who most frequently used an in-house creative team also

An online service

14%

relied on external contributions from freelancers, agencies, or online

10%

services. Sixteen percent of marketers used two or more types of these

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

external resources.
In fact, 40% of marketers who have access to in-house creative teams relied
most frequently on external creative resources.

What sort of creative team do you MOST FREQUENTLY

work with to produce content?

We were also interested to see whether marketers level of satisfaction

changed as they used different sources of creative talent. When looking

An in-house team

59%

at these numbers, our sample size became insignificant, but there was less
than 10% variance in satisfaction ratings between the highest and lowest

Freelancers

18%

performing types of creative teams.

DOES COMPANY SIZE MATTER?

In terms of company size, companies with 100 to 1000 employees were

An agency

An online service

16%

6%

most likely to rely primarily on internal teams (77%), while companies with
over 1000 employees were the group most likely to use an agency (41%).

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

SUCCESS & GOOD COLLABORATION GO HAND IN HAND

Its hard to break apart correlation and causation on this point, but creative
teams that collaborated better with their marketing partners got more done

Typically, how easy is it to collaborate with the creative teams

you work with?

and produced more successful content.

The marketers who are most satisfied with their creative teams also think the
creative process is easier.
These same marketers considered every single part of the creative process
from kickoff to final deliveryto be easier as well. A similar correlation
is seen with looking at the marketers who consider their content most
effective. Bottom line? Ease, effectiveness, and satisfaction go hand in hand.

All marketers
Very easy

24%

Easy

38%

Neither easy
nor difficult
Hard

Very difficult

26%

11%

1%
10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

90%

100%

Marketers who are very satisfied

Very easy

42%

Easy

CREATIVE PERSPECTIVE

In company cultures where creative works well, design isnt just seen as
people making things pretty. Its viewed as the way marketers make their

45%

Neither easy
nor difficult
Hard

9%

5%

ideas come to life. Good creative solves the same problem that marketers
are solving, but it does it on a different level.

Very difficult

0%

JOHN HANSBROUGH, Art Director at Walmart and The Gap

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

10

HOW TO WORK BETTER TOGETHER

To distill this research into something more actionable, the following pages include some guidance and best practices for building better relationships. Here
is a set of questions that address the biggest issues that affect most marketing-creative relationships. Its a great place to start an internal self-assessment.
1. Creative briefs and the briefing process:

3. Feedback:

Do briefs truly communicate marketers intent?

How is feedback usually given?

Do briefs take the full scope of the project into account? If not, are there
assets that briefs routinely overlook?
Do creatives have the opportunity to give feedback up front?
If they do, are they taking advantage of it?
If not, do they have enough information to give feedback?

2. The overall creative process:

Is there an established process?

Is there a routine?
Is it given in a transparent way via a permanent medium?
Is feedback consistent with the requirements in the original brief?
Is feedback consolidated before it goes to creatives?
Does the feedback give actionable criticism?
If not, is it too vague?
Or are there inconsistencies in feedback from different stakeholders?

Is the process documented somewhere?

Is there any attempt to measure its efficiency?
Who owns the process, and how is it socialized?
Is there a clearly-defined approver?
Are there onboardings for new team members?
Do marketers and creatives ever get together to assess and improve
the process?

CREATIVE PERSPECTIVE

There are a ton of amazing ideas floating around marketing departments,

and there are never going to be enough creatives to execute on all of them.
Its really incumbent upon marketers to prioritize and focus on the ideas that
will have the most impact for the business.
JOHN HANSBROUGH, Art Director at Walmart and The Gap

11

BUILDING BETTER BRIEFS

Writing a creative brief is an exercise in definition. In addition to giving
creative teams an actionable way to start fleshing out content, taking
time to write (and vet) a good brief also forces marketers to really think
through their campaigns. The brief is a chance to explore every aspect
of your project, from audience to tone, core message to takeaway.
Marketers always have good intentions, but the scope of projects tend
to change. In the rush to get the creative brief out, not all the possibilities
are captured, said Hansbrough. Carefully planning all the nuances of a
campaign keeps projects on schedule and gets a better final product.
The quality of your end product kind of lives and dies with your creative
brief, said Sean Zinmeister, Director of Product Marketing at Infer (a
platform that helps companies predict which leads will go on to become
great customers).
In addition to describing the goals of the project, the deliverables, and
the target audience, Zinmeister thinks marketers should give creatives
more inspiration via concrete examples. Sometimes its really hard to put
into words what you want a creative project to look like. But it becomes
a very easy task when I can hand the designer three or four examples so
I can say, look, it needs to not quite be like this for the following reasons,
and this takes it too far for these reasons, but if we can find something
that really marries it in the middle, that would be awesome.

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THE CREATIVE BRIEF CHECKLIST

Creative briefs can vary tremendously, depending on the nature of the

With that caveat, heres a distilled checklist of the information thats

project and its deliverables. For example, a brief preparing two different

most likely to be needed in a creative brief:

banners for A/B testing requires a lot less guidance than a brief for a
two-minute explainer video.

Description: A sentence to a paragraph describing the project and its

Brand and style guidelines: The fonts, tone, colors, logos, and other

objectives.

elements that need to be incorporated to keep the content on brand.

This information doesnt need to be in the creative brief necessarily,

Your audience: Describe them briefly, give key demographic

but the brief should at least link to additional guidance.

information, and provide any insights about what theyre trying to

achieve (and how your campaign or product will help them achieve it).

Any specifications for the final product: sizes, formats, file types,
technical requirements, etc.

The core message and 3-5 proof points or benefits to the audience.
A full list of deliverables. Will the promotion need a banner? A blog
The primary call-to-action or takeaway message.

post? Copy for social media promotions? Scope creep is an easy way
to get projects derailed, so marketers should make sure to include all

Themes or ideas, the final creative should embrace. Make sure to be

the little piecesnot just the focal points of a campaign.

clear about how closely (or loosely) to follow these themes.

Timelines: Clear information about both launch dates and due dates
Specific goals or examples of what success metrics look like (website

for drafts. If theres flexibility, let the team know.

traffic, sales, etc.).

Examples of similar work to emulate (or that has been successful) in
a similar format (videos, infographics, etc.).

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STAGING BETTER KICKOFFS

The goal of the kickoff is to make sure everyone is aligned on a projects direction, timelines, and deliverables. In a perfect world, the kickoff is the meeting
where work on the project really begins. Its where the brief is presented to the creative team, timelines are committed to, and creatives ask questions to
get context and make sure they have everything they need to get things right. Once the brief is in good shape, here are a few key things to think about
in planning the kickoff:
Timing: The kickoff shouldnt happen until the creative team is about

Preparation: Time permitting, everyone should have the opportunity to

ready to start work. Kicking off too early can create a sense of unrealistic

review the brief in advance. Doing so means people will come in with

timelines, and it makes it easy for details from the kickoff to be forgotten.

good questions, have a chance to think about competing priorities, and

Attendance: All the direct stakeholders in the project should be at the

be more likely to have a meaningful discussion.

kickoff. Anyone who is unable to attend should have had the opportunity

Next steps: Everyone should emerge from the kickoff with a clear sense

to give feedback on the brief in advance.

of what theyre responsible for, what the next steps are, and what the

Roles: Whoever is driving the project on the marketing side should

timeline is.

present the brief, but everyone should be free to give feedback.

Remember that the kickoff is about alignment, not just the marketers
grand vision.

CREATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Keep in mind that having a seat earlier in the process makes

creatives more aware of whats coming down the pipeline, and
it gives them an opportunity to start thinking about solutions
in advance. It also helps with scoping, foreseeing obstacles, and
making the final ask more feasible.

It depends on the company and how things are done, but being at the table
early is helpful for getting as much context as you can, and it makes quick
turnarounds more manageable. Just hearing some of the thought process
that informs the marketing teams discussions makes a big difference.
JOHN HANSBROUGH, Art Director at Walmart and The Gap

14

GIVING BETTER FEEDBACK

When marketers give feedback, the single goal should be to give creatives

According to creatives, less than 30% of marketers do a good job of giving

the information they need to get from their draft to the perfect finished

feedback thats timely or consistent. And only 35% give actionable feedback

product. Unfortunately, egos and miscommunication can make getting from

well. Here a few ways to give feedback that gets everyone over the finish

point A to point B kind of tough.

line together:

1. Lead with positives: Finding a few positives (even if it really requires some

5. Focus on the work: Feedback should be given in terms of the work, not

digging) respects the skills and effort of the creative team. By framing the

the person. You used the wrong font is an accusation, while This looks like

positive first, it also makes them more receptive to unfavorable feedback.

the wrong font gets the same message across without making it personal.
Also remember that the project is not being created to satisfy your personal

2. Set the stage: Dont ambush creatives with drive-by feedback. As tempting

tastes, but the tastes of your audience. Instead of saying, I dont like this

as it may be to stop by someones desk or pick up the phone, schedule a call

language, say something like This language seems too informal for our

or a meeting. And make sure to be prepared with a list of feedback.

customers.

3. Ask questions first: Before demanding specific changes, make sure to ask

6. Put all feedback in writing: To save everyone headaches, make sure to

creatives about their intent. Developing this back and forth will give you more

document feedback. Not only does it give marketers a leg to stand on if

perspective, and it might help you see things differently.

revisions arent addressed, but it also serves as a reference for creatives

in case their memory of the conversation falls short.

4. Be specific: Identify specific qualities that are problematic. Vague feedback

forces creatives to be mind readersand leads to more revisions. Both

7. Deliver everyones feedback at the same time: Its really hard for a

higher-level observations (like this doesnt convey the benefit as strongly as

creative team to respond to disparate feedback from different sources.

it could or I think we need to be clearer about this point) and focused

And when the feedback isnt aligned, it can be impossible. Make sure all the

criticism (the headline seems too small) need to be presented in actionable

feedback flows through one person to keep it consistent and timely.

terms.

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NOW GO MAKE GREAT CONTENT

When youre a marketer, the relationships you have with your creative team
can ultimately dictate whether youre successful. You can develop amazing
insights and figure out a brilliant strategy, but it wont matter if your creative
team cant execute.
Good communication means better campaigns, more bandwidth, and maybe
most importantly, fewer fire drills, headaches, and frustration. Good luck
using this data and guidance to take your creative to the next level!

AWESOME
SUCCESSFUL

TEAM

EFFICIENT

WISH

COLLABORATIVE

FUN REWARDING PARTNERSHIP

LOVE ENJOYABLE POSITIVE
PRODUCTIVE

The most common words marketers use to describe the creative process
when they are very or extremely satisfied with their creative team.

P.S. NEED MORE HELP?

Weve produced high-impact visual content for more than 1100 brands. From matching you with talented
freelancers to ensuring the creative process goes smoothly, we make content creation fast and affordable.

GET IN TOUCH!

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SURVEY METHODOLOGY
Between July and August, we surveyed almost 800 people in the U.S. The
people we surveyed selfidentified as:
1. 220 content marketers who request content from writers and designers,
or
2. 559 creatives, defined as writers, designers and developers who create
content for marketers
Survey data was collected and analyzed using SurveyMonkey. The surveys
were delivered to respondents in the following ways:
They were sent through email to anyone with a Visually account
They were posted and promoted on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook
About 300 responses were purchased from the SurveyMonkey Audience
panel service, which uses charitable donations as incentive to solicit
survey responses.
Based on a 95% confidence interval, these results have a 5% margin of error
for creatives, and 7% margin of error for content marketers.

17