What if a marketing agency could avoid the infamous rushing and stress that happens when faced with a last-minute request or a tight deadline? What if the team could pull off high-volume, top-quality creative that exceeded the client’s goals — by the deadline — and finish work in time to have dinner with their family or friends? Does it sound like a lovely idea, but an unrealistic one? We disagree — because we do it all the time.
At TVGla, we handle high-volume creative on tight timelines, and our team members enjoy a healthy work/life balance. Do we ever need to rush? Of course. But it’s the exception rather than the rule.
The excellent news? The frenzy is avoidable if your agency is well organized.
Here are five ways we set ourselves up for success:
- Establish processes, and stick to them. Every time.
We’ve created a process that we use for every client and for every project. We tailor the details to our clients’ needs, of course, but the nuts and bolts remain the same.
For each new partnership and for each new project, we take the time to gather all the necessary info first: goals, branding guidelines, KPIs and timelines. Before beginning work, we ensure the client’s goals and expectations are clear. Then we make a plan together as a team. A kickoff meeting, a meeting with clients, and internal brainstorms get us all on the same page from the beginning.
The key is sticking to the process every time.
You might be thinking this is pretty standard, and you’re right. But the key is that we stick to the process every time. When a tight deadline comes in, it’s tempting to abandon the usual procedures and dive into the work. But that’s when creative gets sacrificed. Having the discipline to execute the process even under the highest client pressure and the most pressing deadlines makes all the difference. Time spent organizing up front pays off in the long run with efficiency and with everyone working toward the same goal.
- Trust your teammates
We’re a team of multi-talented people, and we often collaborate outside our designated roles. But when we’re in a time crunch, we divide and conquer, focusing on what we each do best. We can go do our separate work and trust that the other work will get done in a timely manner and will be of the highest quality. And since nobody is trying to wear all the hats, nobody gets over-stressed.
- Prioritize the people
The people you work with, internally and externally, are crucial to success on every level. We only work with people we want to work with. Our client partners are people we look forward to getting on the phone with or sharing a meal with. When the relationship is good, we tend to fall into a rhythm that feels good to everyone — and unreasonable asks are all-but nonexistent.
We also staff our teams strategically. We hire for specific client teams and make sure that we’re matching the right skillsets and interests with the right brands. And we keep our internal teams lean to add to our flexibility. Too many cooks in the kitchen can make things less efficient. If the volume is too high and we need to make a new hire or call in a freelancer we do, but we’ve found that lean teams mean nimble teams.
- Work smarter, not harder
Our internal design systems allow us to build fully customizable creative templates that can be quickly adapted on the fly or refreshed for new campaigns. We also partner with several DCO platforms to set up dynamic creative solutions. Our goal is to optimize the creative production process to iterate at scale, and it’s one of our secret weapons to keeping lean teams and producing high-volume, high-quality creative. In fact, we’re capable of handling hundreds, or even thousands, of deliverables across multiple objectives on a monthly basis. This is because we’ve invested in innovative tools so that scaling up doesn’t have to mean taking longer.
- Take advantage of organizational tools
Part of our internal process is to have an easy way to track tasks and ongoing projects. We’ve made an agency-wide investment in a workflow app that makes tracking and communication seamless.
A little organization can go a long way. So when the pressure is on and you’re faced with a last-minute ask, remember: Sticking to your tried-and-true process provides structure and order, helping your team stay calm, do their best work, and — maybe best of all — unplug and relax when the day is done.
Read more about how we’re doing things differently at TVGla.com.