Communication Strategies for the Creative Workplace

Communication Strategies for the

Creative Workplace

By Broc Waring

Communication Strategies for the

Creative Workplace

By Broc Waring

This booklet was created for individuals and organizations to thrive as communication professionals in the creative workforce. In three brief chapters, we’ll cover various aspects of visual, verbal and written communication.

Whether you’re the CEO of an advertising agency or a designer at an apparel company, there’s something in here for you.

The ultimate goal of this booklet is to help you perfect your craft or give you a more efficient way to complete tasks that are beyond your area of expertise.

We strongly believe that you should to dedicate more time to the creative work you love and less time figuring out the following concepts on your own.

-Broc Waring

Table of Contents

Chapter I: Visual 2-3.

Brochures

4-5.

Flyers

6-7.

Letterhead

Chapter II: Verbal 9.

Presentations

10.

Meetings

11.

Interviews

Chapter III: Written 14-15. Emails 16-17. Copy & Content 18.

Social Media

19.

Reference List

i

V

I: isual

1

Brochures Many individuals and organizations have disregarded the relevance of print media entirely. While nobody can argue the overwhelming dominance of digital media, print is still valuable and effective when used strategically. There is something to be said about creating a piece of tangible work for a consumer or client to hang onto and remember.

Many argue that tasteful, tangible deliverables are even more valued today as they become more rare.

The difference between a good brochure and a poor one is in the design. Overall appearence should be a top priority if you expect anybody to hang onto this peice, unlike the tacky, local deli brochures that get stuffed into your mailbox without permission. What that said, let your work speak for itself as opposed to cramming as much text into each pannel as possible.

Whether you’re a photographer, designer, agency, or a publication, there are many instances where a simple brochure could benefit you as a creative. Face-to-face interactions, such as tradeshows and client meetings, are just a couple of these instances. Rather than pulling up a webpage on your smartphone or laptop, offer a prospective client or collaborator something that looks cool, sells your product or service, and fits in their pocket.

While these easy, fold-up deliverables are quick and cheap to produce, there are some basic guidlines to follow in the process: 1.

Sketch an outline. Yes, sketch; with a pen and paper. This will ensure that you have a clear idea of what you’re creating, and ultimately cut down on time spent rearranging elements digitally.

2.

Use quality paper. Basic printer paper is absolutely unacceptable. Cardstock can work well depending on how many pages your brochure contains. If that is too thick, consider an 80# glossy paper for a professional feel. This can be altered for personal preference.1

3.

Use only a few fonts. Like any professionally designed document, think about your brand image and stay consistent. Every pannel on every page should look as if it belongs. A good rule of thumb is to never use more than four fonts in any document.1

4.

Photos are your best friend. A brochure should be more of a visual experience than a text-based experience. Strive to avoid stock or low-quality photography. All images should be tailored specifically to your brand. *See page 3 for brochure example.

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orn in Washington, Brock Fetch has always had a passion for the distinct music that was being produced there and the art that followed. After several long years living in the Mountains of Colorado, Brock moved to Brooklyn, New York to pursue photography. He claims the people he met there influenced his work today.

Outer Brochure

B

Few fonts

www.brockfetch.com brockfetCh@gmail.com 39 SPRING ST. NEW YORK, NEW YORK

B

rock is currently a staff photographer for Juxtapoz and Thrasher Magazine. He can be found on tour with artists like A$AP Rocky, Danny Brown, Portugal. The Man, and many more of today’s most prominent musicians. Oh yeah, and he has a badass photo studio in Soho where he’s been expanding his photography horizons beyond the gritty lifestyle shots we’ve grown to admire. Come pay Brock a visit.

Innner Brochure

Text is limited, but effective

Visual elements

3

BROCK FETCH P H OT

O STUDIO

SoHo, Manhattan7

Flyers Flyers are unique in the sense that they can be equally effective in either a print or digital format. It is highly recommended that all creative workplaces create flyers or posters suitable for either medium. Assigning an employee with the task of piecing together a flyer for an event, party, meeting, or new work policy, is both fun and further solidifies their perception of the creative work environment.

Flyers ought to be distrubuted in various locations depending on their purpose: newsletters, employee emails, local bars and resuarants, and around the office are all common and promising places to get the appropriate eyes on your beautifully designed work.

Below are four tips for effective flyer design and content: 1.

Know your scale. Once you have a good idea of your flyer demensions, you can start planning the size of your typography and how many elements you can fit onto the single page. This is especially important for print flyers; size matters.2

2.

Type should be your main focus. So many designers get carried away with being as creative and artistic as possible in a flyer. This is great, but it is not your primary focus. Remember the ultimate goal of your flyer is to grab attention and sell an event, meeting or product. With that in mind, seek out original but legible fonts to grab attention. Make the name of the event, meeting or product be the biggest and boldest element on the page.

3.

Bright colors are your friend. This does not mean using only neon pinks and greens, but just know that color sets the mood and formality of the event better than any other element. Consider darker backgrounds and brighter type to ensure the best responses from viewers.

4.

Traditional elements work. Why do you think ribbons, banners, boarders, and stacked text is used so often? Same reason why people continue to get Sailor Jerry tattoos nearly 100 years later; they look clean and organized.2

*See page 5 for flyer example.

4

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EX

Bold color on dark background

Taditional elements

Large scale

Bold text

Legible fonts 5

Letterhead This section could easily have a subheading for logo design, but we assume your company already has a defined logo. With that said, you’re more than halfway done with creating a letterhead for your formal business documents.

Letterhead should look natural and flow consistantly across the top of your page, or in some designs, the entire page. Remember that letterhead should be used on all of your company’s professional documents. Letterhead represents professionalism, and can even make your company look larger than it is. With a proper layout and all of the essential elements, letterhead can make your company appear easier to work with, which is what any client or consumer wants.

Whether you’re publishing a press release or sending a recommendation letter, consider the following strategies to improve your letterhead: 1.

Text is most important. Before you begin designing a creative letterhead, you must be set on all of the text that will be incorporated. Manditory text includes your company name, logo, email address, phone number, and a street address if you have one. Once you have all of this information written down, you can start laying it out.3

2.

Typography needs to match. Just like designing any document, your choice of fonts needs to be consistent and match your brand. Unlike flyers, steer clear of the extravagant typefaces in order to maintain a professional look. Sans serif fonts are recommended for garaunteed legibility.

3.

Be careful with color. Aside from using colors directly associated with your brand, try to avoid loud, irrelevant color schemes. All of your company’s documents should match across the board, and using random colors could make it difficult to stay consistant. Additionally, your company could lose credibilty and be mistaken for another if your color choice is not specific to the brand. For company’s without identifiable color schemes, black text and design elements are recommended.4

4.

Keep it clean and simple. The best design is as little design as possible.

Ideally, your logo should be striking enough to compensate for the lack of extreme design elements. Even though this letterhead represents your creative organization, this same creative message can be received through a clean, professional design. *See page 7 for letterhead example.

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E

Awesome Logo

Important Text

Clean design elements Brand color

7

V

II: erbal

8

Presentations It’s no secret that public speaking is one of the greatest phobias among humans across the globe. Some people are natural presenters and love the attention of a big crowed, while others dread the mere thought of standing before their coworkers and sharing their ideas. Needless to say, presenting is a mandatory skill to have, especially in a highly collaborative, creative workplace.

Presentations extend far beyond the speaking aspect. Arriving to your presentation day equipped with a solid outline, speaking points, and a visually captivating slideshow will help calm the nerves and allow you to blow your audience away.

Below are recommedations for experienced presenters in creative working environments. Note the inclusion of slideshow tips and verbal tips. The two elements are ultimately one in the same, but take different methods of preparation to ensure the best possible performance.

1.

Eye contact. Depending on the size of your audience, it might be physically impossible to make eye contact with everybody in the room. If that is the case, scan the entire crowed to give the impression that you’re reaching all sets of eyes to keep their attention. Whatever you do, avoid turning your back to the audience. There is no reason why you should be looking at the screen for longer than a couple seconds at a time, as you should have already seen the content on your slideshow dozens of times at this point.5

2.

Practice. Record and time yourself presenting with the slideshow.

Let your nerves and the formality of the presentation determine how many times you rehearse.

3.

Come out swingin’. The first 2-3 minutes of your presentation will determine everything. Based on the inevitably short attention spans of your audience members, start strong with an impressive statistic, visual element, or a personal story. Your audience wants to like you, so give them a reason to.6

4.

Sides are VISUAL. Each slide should provide clear, visual support to the topic you’re already speaking on. Avoid complex graphics and small text to ensure that even the people in the back row can make out exactly what is being shown.

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Meetings This section is catered toward team leaders looking to improve productivity and engagement in their work meetings. It is far too common for employees to leave a meeting feeling lost or like they had accomplished nothing at all. While this outcome can be highly discouraging for everybody in the workplace, it is no reason to eliminate meetings entirely. Rather, it should be a kick in the pants to approach meetings from a new angle to ensure everybody leaves on the same page.

It is easy to become so involved with your own tasks and assignments in the workplace that you forget you’re part of something much bigger than yourself. This sense of teamwork is often lost in orgznizations with poor interpersonal communication skills, but a productive team meeting can be a fantastic way to resolve this problem.

Meetings should never feel repeatative or habitual. In fact, they should require a fair amount of preparation from all team members. With that said, if your weekly meetings feel like an inconveince to peoples’ schedules, consider fewer, more organized gatherings. This will allow the following preparation strategies to be completed and ultimately have a more effective experience.

1.

Write a summary. The creative workplace is a busy workplace, and so many key points go undiscussed or merely forgotten. As a leader, you should be overseeing all employees’ work and thinking about the big picture on each project. Email a brief summary or bullet list of all discussion topics to the employees before each meeting. This will allow everybody to come prepared with ideas and relative questions for a more productive experience.7

2.

Keep it casual. A friendly, stress-free environment will result in more participation and creative thinking. So many meetings are held in such formal environments that people feel hesitant to share their opinions. Encourage participation from everybody in the room; this should not be difficult if they read the summary beforehand. Music can also help with creating an ideal setting.

3.

Create a timeline. This is when the leader or organizer of the meeting can feel like they’re assigning homework to a high school class, but it needs to be done. When everybody is given a deadline for their work, it becomes real, and productive questions will be asked to ensure that everything is completed on time and to the best of their abilities. A timeline will also eliminate any vagueness or confusion about projects.7

10

Interviews Hiring new talent especially within a tight-knit creative workplace can be a highly stressful and tedious process. Finding somebody who possesses the required skills and personality traits to work well with your team takes time and energy from all employees, so make it worth everybody’s while. Do not cut corners on this process, as each interview should be as thorough out as the next. At the end of the day, each candidate is offering to spend more time with your organization than their own families, and that should be an honor.

By preparing strategic interview questions and conducting the right type of research on each interviewee, your chances of finding the perfect candidate increase significantly.

Below are tried and true interview tips to improve this tiresome process and ultimately strengthen your organization.

1.

Start with the nitty-gritty. So many employers start by asking personal information or prolong the small talk. Sure, this is a great way to make the interviewee feel comfortable, but it also increases your chances of forgetting to ask critical questions tailored to the position, or running the interview too long. Save the fun stuff for the end once they’ve proven themself as a professional and valid job candidate. You should have a physical list of questions and follow up “yes or no” questions to each response, and check them off as you go.8

2.

Take notes. It’s nearly impossible to retain every response given in a 30-minute or one-hour interview, especially when thinking of follow up questions while the interviewee is speaking. Keep a detailed stack of notes for reference after you’ve completed dozens of interviews to ensure that you make the best decision possible.

3.

Sell the position. This should come after the question and answer phase so the interviewee cannot tailor their responses to exactly what you said. Give a detailed explaination of what the position is, and describe what a typical day in your workplace looks like. Be honest and sincere, but make it sound appealing to any valid candidate.8

11

“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be infuenced by them for good or ill.�

-Buddha

12

III:

Written

13

Emails Email is the most common medium of communication for any professional workplace.

Whether you’re contacting fellow employees or distant clients, email is the preferred method for getting in touch on a professional level. Like any document you create at your job, the formality depends entirely on the indended audience. With that said, the purpose of this section is not to critique the informal messages you send to one or two coworkers regarding lunch plans or what font you’ve been using. This section will cover the content and formatting guidlines for highly professional emails. Better yet, emails containing bad news. You might have to send them to clients or coworkers, but every so often, bad news presents itself and people need to be informed.

The ultimate goal of a bad news email is to inform without offending. Oftentimes, there is a lot at stake with a letter like this, such as money and reputation. However, by strategically wording your letter with appropriate buffers and reasoning, these negative outcomes can be avoided.

1.

Indirect method. The majority of bad news letters written for work ought to be written in the indirect method. This means you do not mention the bad news to start, unlike the direct method. The direct method is normally used for emergencies or unexpected personal information.9

2.

Appreciative opener. Give your best to whomever it may concern right off the bat. Whether it’s a client or a coworker, mention something positive that they have done to start.

3.

Reasoning. This section should serve as the passive forshadowing for the bad news. At this point, the reader should be anticipating something negative having already read about some complications or mishaps.9

4.

Bad News. The news should be written in passive voice, with some cushioning words or phrases around it depending on how severe the news is. Do not have the bad news written out in one sentence with nothing else surrounding; the cushions help soften the blow.9

5.

Forward-looking close. Discuss how you will resolve the issue, or compensate for their misfortune by offering something positive. Be sure to end with good wishes as opposed to an apology.9 *See page 15 for business letter formatting and bad news letter example.

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E

LL AMA

Your address

S N W B R D S P P L Y.

Broc W aring Llama Snowboard Supply Headquarters 653 Hollywood Ave Salt Lake City, UT 84105 May 17, 2016

Recipient’s address

Llama Snowboard Supply Factory 666 Rodeo Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Appreciative opener

Dear Llama Snowboard Supply Family: I’d like to start by thanking each of you for your contribution and loyalty to the company over the past year. Your motivation and collaborative efforts stand out and never go unnoticed. I will say I’ve been consulting with President Jay Flacko about our sales and how budgeting will be changing company-wide as we transition into the new season.

Llama Snowboard Supply has become such a trusted and respected company due to the state-of-the-art products you all create, market and distribute to snowboarders across the globe. Similar to the fashion industry, some products do better than others merely based on what is trending at the time regardless of quality. With that said, the Click-Clack binding—our most expensive technology to produce—was not trending last season.

President Flacko has shown me the sales for the Click-Clack and we saw a new company low.

These types of instances are inevitable in our industry and unfortunately difficult to recover from. To stay afloat and keep you all on board, decisions were made to reduce day-to-day expenses by 10%, cut holiday bonuses, and require an extra hour of work per day for the time being. I know that’s a lot to process all at once but I can assure you that we aren’t cutting any employees.

Reason

News

Based on our past success there is no doubt that we’ll recover from this financial hiccup in a matter of months and be back to business as usual. By seizing production of the Click-Clack entirely, a large percentage of day-to-day expenses will be reduced from that alone.

If all goes as planned and our numbers are up by December, President Flacko would like to invite each of you to the private Llama Snowboard Supply party during SIA in Denver to cut loose.

If you have any questions or concerns with this budget change, please feel free to contact President Flacko or me at any time. Our top priority is to keep you all happily employed so we can continue to create mind-blowing snowboard gear.

4 Spaces

All the best,

Forward-looking close

Broc Waring District Manager of Llama Snowboard Supply 970-471-9273 broc@llamasnwbrdspply.com

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Copy & Content In this digital age, we’ve been exposed to so much advertising that we’ve actually learned how to tune it out on a daily basis. Knowing that, companies and marketing specialists are constantly creating new ways to reach target demographics without them opting to tune out. Content marketing has proven to be a great method for getting the desired eyes on your company’s content, without those eyes realizing that they’re being targeted as potential consumers.

Content marketing is a strategic form of online marketing that focuses on consistancy and relevancy to the consumer, and copywriting plays an essential role.10 All creative organizations should be investing a lot of time and not a lot of money on content marketing, assuming you have employees with the appropriate writing skills.

While content marketing pieces are heavily weighed on the quality of content itself, there are also some tedious requirements that need to be present in each piece of writing.

1.

Keywords. When people type a phrase into a Google search, the engine crawls its database consisting of millions of webpages to return the most relevant content based on matching keywords. If you’re writing content for a chain of auto repair shops in Colorado, be sure to use the keywords like, “auto repair” and “Colorado” both consistantly and naturally throughout the piece for best results.

2.

Hyperlinks. Be subtle when incorporating hyperlinks into your content marketing pieces. If you hyperlink too many obvious phrases the piece will start to feel spammy and the consumer will leave the page. However, hyperlinks are essential to get eyes on your company’s webpage. If you put the quality of writing above everything else and refrain from making every other word clickable, this should not be an issue.

3.

Research. This sounds like homework, but it’s really not. No need to lie, we know you habitually surf the web on a daily basis, now just jot down all of the well-written articles you come across that could serve as inspiration for a content marketing piece. Besides, for content marketing to be effective, you need to be posting multiple pieces per week.10

4.

SEO. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the bread and butter to content marketing. Having a solid understanding of what Google likes and dislikes as far as turning up search results can help you optimize your writing accoordingly.

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E

Keyword: “SEO”

Researched topic

How Video Improves SEO Incorporating quality video production into your web content isn’t just for the consumers’ entertainment. In fact, video production has been helping boost SEO for nearly a decade now. Prior to 2007, when Google launched its “Universal Search” feature, web users would struggle to find relevant online video content. Today, without specifying in a search query, Google returns content of various mediums including videos as search results.

Many companies in Utah and across the nation are hesitant to introduce video content as a part of their regular online marketing regimen. This is vastly due to their lack of confidence in production skills. The truth is, anybody is capable of producing high-quality video without a background in video production – there are various online tutorials to help guide you through, and you’d be surprised at how little equipment is required.

The ultimate goal and purpose of SEO is to be ranked highly in Google’s SERPs to gain more traffic. A recent study by Forrester reports that Web pages with videos are 53-times more likely to rank among the first page of Google search results. This has been true since Google’s Hummingbird update, which prioritizes the quality and relevancy of content over the frequency of keywords. This does not mean keywords are suddenly irrelevant, but that the SEO game is certainly changing.

Google prioritizes short videos, as most viewers lose interest after four to five minutes. Additionally, many companies in Utah and nationwide who have strong video production skills fail to create video snippets. This is a thumbnail photo of the video that will be placed alongside the description of the content. This informs consumers that there is a video before they even click the link, and as we already know, videos make people click.

One of the most important factors of SEO is link building, and videos are a great way to do just that. Many online marketers tend to forget that it is actual human beings who are responsible for link building, not the search engine bots. Linking is done through sharing, and people love to share videos through every type of online outlet.

Casey Henry at Moz reports that having a video compared to just text will almost triple the average number of linking domains. If this does not encourage you to include videos in your Web content, you simply don’t understand the power of SEO. For more information on video production or personal help with your company’s online video content, contact an agency in Utah or a location near you.

Location keyword Hyperlinked phrase

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Social Media Social media in the creative workplace deserves an entire booklet on its own, which is why we’ll only be covering the writing aspect. Unlike a business letter or content marketing piece, social media writing can oftentimes be highly informal and always enjoyable. At this point in the digital age, we expect all companies especially progressive and creative companies like your own to be consistantly active on multiple social media platforms. Social media has allowed consumers, clients and fans to access all of your latest work at their fingertips without actively seeking out the latest.

Keeping all of your company’s social media channels updated is essenial to stay relevant in this creative industry.

Consider the following pointers to improve your social media posts’ readability and increase consumer interaction.

While Facebook is not the latest addition to the list of prominent social media platforms, it remains highly relevant, especially for creative businesses. Facebook allows posts to be shared and viewed much easier and faster than many other services. Text in a Facebook post ought to follow these easy guidlines: 1.

Keep it brief. With so many other articles, videos and photos, Facebook can get very overwhelming. People are more inclined to read and share a post if it does not appear intimidating with text.11

2.

Ask questions. By asking your followers their oppinions on specific topics relevant to your business, you are encouraging engagement which is the ultimate goal of social media.11

3.

Be enthusiastic. Yes, this is possible without being obnoxious. Perhaps a better word would be positive. Take this opportunity to cheer somebody up and get shared in the process. There’s already enough negativity flooding the feed on a daily basis.

1.

Twitter Find your voice. Even if you are a large corporation, nobody wants to read what a corporate robot has to say. Personality and occasional humor is essential to obtain and maintain genuine followers.12

2.

Stick to your roots. If you’re not a news publication, stop tweeting about every current event that interests you. Does it concern your company? Didn’t think so.

Leave these posts for your personal account.12

3.

Short-hand can be okay. If it is necesarry to fit the entire post into 140 characters, legible short-hand is acceptable.

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Design School. Retrieved from https://designschool.canva.com/blog/brochure-design/

2.

Fussel, G. (2015). 10 Top Tips for Creating Awesome Event Flyers. envatotuts+.

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flyers--cms-25378

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Edmonds, S. (2012). 5 Top Tips for Great Letterhead Design. Roundhouse: The

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Why Businesses Should Use Personalized Letterhead. (2015). PS Print: A Deluxe

Company. Retrieved from https://www.psprint.com/resources/use-personalized-letterhead-business/

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Fidel, M. (2015). 20 World-Class Presentation Experts Share Their Top Tips. Forbes.

Retrieved from

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2014/08/15/20-world-class-

presentation-experts-share-their-top-tips/3/#390b4b403bff

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Reynolds, G. (2016). Top Ten Delivery Tips. Garr Reynolds: Best-selling Author,

Speaker. Retrieved from http://www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/deliver/

7.

Popovich, S. (2014). 10 Tips On Getting the Most Out of Business Meetings.

Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237690

8.

Brooks, C. (2013). 7 Tips For Conducting an Effective Job Interview. Business News

Daily: Small Business Solutions & Inspiration. Retrieved from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5212-job-interviews-techniques.html

9.

Guffey, M.E. & Loewy, D. (2014). Essentials of Business Communication, 10th edition.

United States of America: South-Western College Pub.

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Patel, N & Aragon, K. (2014). The Advanced Content Marketing Guide: 12 Content-

Writing Secrets of Professional Writers. Quicksprout. Retrieved from https://www.quicksprout.com/the-advanced-guide-to-content-marketing- chapter-5/

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Ayres, S. (2016). 7 No-brainer Tips to Write an Awesome Facebook Post. Post Planner.

Retrieved from https://www.postplanner.com/7-no-brainer-tips-to-write-awesome-facebook- post/

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Fitzpatrick, A. (2016). 5 Advanced Twitter Tips for Your Small Business. American

Express: Open Forum. Retrieved from

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