Q-news

Over the years of being in the ad agency business and being fortunate enough to pitch creative ideas at many clients. I continually try to improve the service we provide.
At one time, I worked at an agency that believed the best approach was to give the client 3 concepts to choose from. At the time it seemed to make sense and I followed the firms process and had success finding a creative solution one way or another, but this process seemed odd to me at times. Spend time to develop a safe option, a good sense / creative option, and a way out there option. So that the client could choose the solution. The safe option and good sense / creative option were always picked over the way out concept 95% of the time. Sometimes we were asked to combine elements of the safe and creative concept together for the final solution. Yes we got to a solution, but this was our time and the clients money, right?
I moved to the FaQtory years ago partly because there was an agreement that if a good creative brief was developed, you could spend less time developing the ONE correct solution, rather than three concepts. Either saving the client money or better yet ,spend the extra time thinking through the execution of the creative solution to show the legs of it.
This is how we work here at The FaQtory, one creative concept, well thought out and meets all requirements of the creative brief to make the client successful in reaching its goals.

FYI – the small percentage of time the client choose the way out there option was some of the enjoyable work I was a part of.

If you’re looking for new clients, are you sure they know where to find you?
Using Advertising to encourage or persuade you target audience can be very beneficial.

Some advertising and promotions to consider are:
Radio
Television
News print
Trade publications
Online web ads
Outdoor (Billboards, bus benches, bus tails, etc)
Cinema
Tradeshows
Direct mail
Fleet vehicles

You have to make sure you’re where they are, so some homework may be required, but creating a plan with the right mix can increase traffic and sales.
Make sure you promote your business in the right spots.

Years ago, I got in the habit of asking clients to fill out a project or creative brief for every new initiative, because getting the info that a good creative brief provides always gives something for our creative team to test against to make sure we have met the objective, have proper messaging and all required elements are included in the solution. Problem is not everyone wants to spend the time on a written brief and it’s really hard to say we won’t take the work without it. However it seems that the majority of the times that we are challenged to come up with the solution on the first try, is when no written brief is supplied. Whether it takes one hour or four hours, a clients investment in a well thought out brief is the foundation and can save lots of time by all in the end. When we have to guess, make assumptions or research, is when finding the solution usually takes longer and in the end costs more.