According to the website, businessdictionary.com, the definition of creative marketing is, “The outline prepared by the creative team of an advertising agency for the launching of an advertising campaign or message. A creative strategy is generally the result of a team composed of one or more copywriters, an art director and a creative director. The creative strategy generally explains how the advertising campaign will meet the advertising objectives of the business.
Urban Wallace Associates says this, “A creative strategy defines the important strategic choices required to develop a marketing message. The creative strategy (often called a copy or advertising strategy) defines what you will say about your product or service. It explains how you want consumers to think about your Brand. The creative strategy guides and directs the development of current and future sales messages, brochures, and advertising. A written creative strategy becomes a potent management tool for directing the activities of advertising agencies. It clearly articulates how the product or service will be presented to customers and positioned versus competitors.”
I think the best definition is the simple and short one on About.com. It defines creative market strategy as, “An outline of what message should be conveyed, to whom, and with what tone. This provides the guiding principles for copywriters and art directors who are assigned to develop the advertisement. Within the context of that assignment, any ad that is then created should conform to that strategy.”
How do you go about staying within the guidelines set by your creative marketing strategy? Like any other type of project you should break it into smaller, defined pieces to make it more manageable. Once you create your list and provide each component with your personal goal, turn your list into a checklist. Have each copywriter, graphic artist, and other contributors tick off each component of the creative strategy before sending marketing material out to the public to make sure marketing material adheres to your creative marketing strategy.
Components of a Creative Strategy
- Overall Goal – The purpose of the communication.
- Target Audience – Define your target group or target consumer. Who do you want to communicate to and how do you want to say it? Write all copy for that person or group in mind.
- Benefit – Why should the target audience take the action you desire? What benefit will the target audience receive?
- Support – Support the benefit through facts and observations.
- Specialness – How is your product or service different from others? When your target audience sees your Brand, how does it compare to other Brands?
- Tone – Determine your tone of voice, vocabulary and style of presentation and stick to it throughout all your materials.
- Reaction – Define how you want the target audience to feel after the communication.
By defining the above components and clearly outlining your strategy in written words and not just through emails and meetings you can provide writers, artists and marketers with a distinct plan and leave no room for flawed interpretation.