How to bridge the gap between creatives and marketing

Marketing and creative teams have been working closely together for decades now, but some things don't necessarily get easier with time. Inter-departmental collaboration always has its fair share of difficulties. So it does not come as a surprise that when content marketing site and data visualisation platform Visually conducted a survey of 789 creatives and marketers, the most common words used to describe working together were frustrating and challenging. Their report includes detailed findings on the oft-turbulent creative-marketer relationship as well as advice for improving communication between the two groups.

When creatives were asked how proud they were of their work, 13% responded as being Extremely proud, 41% were Very proud, while 39% were proud. But it turns out that 44% marketers are only just Satisfied with their creative teams, with 17% Not very satisfied. Instead of turning it into a dead-end game of whodunit, here's what Visually found out creative and marketing teams would like each other to know:

How marketers can improve

Less than 30% of creatives said that marketers are good at giving feedback on either clear, timely, or consistent bases. Marketers should check up on the design process so that they can constantly give feedback and work with the designers instead of dumping a herculean task upon them. Furthermore, 39% of creatives say it is very difficult to estimate the scope of projects and 24% say that marketers don't stay within the initial scope well. Marketers should properly define and control the scope of their project because either side's vision can exceed the ability to deliver. Marketers should also elaborate project briefs better because less than 23% of creatives think marketers do a good job of briefing projects clearly and only 18% think marketers do a good job sticking to it. Once again, it's a matter of expectation versus realistic ability. The two sides need to find a common ground and the only way to achieve that is through greater communication.

How creatives can improve

Only 24% of marketers feel that their creative teams are well staffed. But while a lack of quality manpower is a reality that's hard to do anything about right away, transparency and briefing are two areas where creatives should actively try to improve. Less than 30% of marketers say that creatives are anticipating problems and a transparent process, while less than 40% say creatives do a good job of either following the creative brief or asking questions to understand it better. Creatives should learn to voice their concerns instead of leaving the final response to their output entirely up to fate. So designers, if you're not sure about where to put that big, pink swirl in your design, go bug the marketing gal/guy—it's her/his job to see this through as much as it yours!