Hello again!
Welcome to part two of my series on the different types of communication in the marketing world. As noted in my last blog, the key to keeping any project moving is communication. This week, we’ll discuss the art and science of efficient project communication.
This can make or break your project. It can be the difference between having a project open for a couple of days or being extended to a couple of weeks or worse… MONTHS.
I have had the great pleasure of working with a lot of different creative types in the office. From copywriters to graphic designers, web developers and even social media managers. These are the people who make the magic happen.
Get to the Point
Unlike when working with clients, you can remove most of the customer service “nice-alities” (trademark pending on that word) and get straight to the meat of the details.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be nice, but the creative team appreciates it when you get straight to the point – the quicker you can give them all the details, the better.
Speak Their Language
We are the middle men (or women) between the client and the designers. Which means we need to have at least a basic understanding of design vocabulary in order to communicate exactly what the client wants and/or needs.
Our job on the account management side is to have the clearest idea of the client’s needs in order to provide sufficient details to convey to a designer. This can get even more technical when dealing with website functionality, as you can imagine.
Don’t Let Them Assume
The key to internal project communication is to list all of the details in an efficient manner. My favorite method includes checklists with accompanying screenshots. Leaving little to no room for assumption will help reduce back-and-forth and get you to that end product much faster.
Make sure you have a notepad next time you need to get information from the client for the creative team because believe me, you won’t remember everything! And THAT wraps up my piece on project communication. I hope you learned something.
–Kevin Gordy, Account Coordinator
