Have you ever wondered what makes creative partners so great? Many businesses are missing out on cultivating creative relationships that can lead to lucrative business relationships and increased revenue. Are you missing out on creating better working relationships with your creative and marketing partners? Most creative professionals would say “yes.” Creating a healthy relationship takes time and effort. It’s an ongoing process for any company, regardless of size.

Here are some of the top characteristics of successful creative partnerships. Creative Partnerships is an independent, strategic, full-service marketing agency, with locations in Los Angeles and Stamford, CT. The agency was founded in 1985 and is led by executive vice president, Scott White. The agency has an outstanding clientele that includes corporations and media companies. The agency is committed to developing creative relationships and helping our clients achieve their business goals through strategic planning, creative management and consistent communications.

In the fast-paced world of business, creative partnerships are crucial for survival. It takes a bit like knowing the right buttons to push to get something done, without being in someone’s face and yelling at them or worse yet, firing them. It takes patience, commitment, and understanding to have a productive working relationship with creatives.

When we think of creative services, most people think of agencies and firms that provide creative services like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Design or Social Media Consultation. These are the types of services that are most commonly outsourced. But there are other types of creative services that might be more beneficial to your company. Creative services can include but aren’t limited to graphic design, animation creation, video production, sound editing, video transcription, and website design and development. These creative services can be helpful, but they can also be costly depending on the agency offering them.

The best creative services are created when creatives understand their client, understand the business they are addressing, and can help the client reach their goals in the most cost effective way possible. In order to create these beneficial creative relationships, it’s important that creative partners are able to give helpful feedback, listen to what the client is saying, take notes, be open to suggestions, and be responsive to any questions or concerns. It can be helpful to have one person in charge of communicating between the creatives and client so that constructive feedback is given without wasting time with back and forth emails or phone calls. In addition to having someone to communicate with the client, it is also helpful to have someone in charge of the creative process. This person can be a partner in the creative services or act as a client liaison between the creative team and client.

This would be a creative partner who has worked with the client before and can assist in the process of creative decision making. It could also be a client liaison who communicates regularly with the creative team to ensure continuity during the project. Many times, just having one person on call will eliminate communication problems that could have otherwise plagued the project. In addition, having one creative partner on call will cut down on project delays that are a direct result of creative differences.

When selecting creative services, you want to find ones that have a good balance of industry-specific know-how, creative know-how, and industry related activities. Not every professional has all of these skills, and not every creative firm or studio has the knowledge, skill, and willingness to bring all of those skills together to create a successful outcome for the client. It’s best to do some research and find creative partners that share your same set of interests, vision, and approach to the creative process. Being able to collaborate with others while benefiting from their shared experience is key to creating quality work. It will also make the client feel like their creative partner is a true partner in the creative process rather than just an employee.

Once you have found creative partners that work well together, you can go on to form the creative alliance. The creative alliance is comprised of two or more creative firms or studios that offer similar creative services to the same client. Having a creative partner with complementary skills will help to increase the quality of the final result. Often, working with creative allies will result in better design and concept development, greater product scope, and more favorable contract terms. If you are going to hire a partner to provide creative services, you should be aware that the partnership you create will be permanent. As such, you need to be sure that you are ready to commit to the creative partnership to make it work.