Get Time on Your Side
Four Ways to Maximize Time on Your Next Communication Project
“You can feel the industry-wide pinch on time and budgets. We saw a lot of ideas that could have been great with better execution.”
“With the speed of the industry, we can lose the craft of good storytelling and attention to detail.”
These are comments from two of the jurors who selected entries for the Communication Arts Advertising Annual 58. While the industry they’re referring to is the advertising industry, we’re seeing the same trend in internal communication. Projects are starting later, compressing timelines. Budgets, too, are shrinking as organizations try to do more with less.
It’s all understandable and not always a bad thing. Deadlines and budgets can force better decisions and maintain focus. And, besides, racing against time and having limited resources is all part of the creative challenge we communicators thrive on. As one of my heroes, Robert Frost, said about writing poetry without the self-imposed strictures of rhyme, meter or structure, “Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
Working without obstacles just isn’t as fun. But facing near-insurmountable obstacles increases stress and threatens quality. It can also diminish the creativity needed to help your message break through.
Here are four ways you can increase the time available to work on your project, even if you can’t increase your budget.
1. Don’t Wait to Engage Your Communication Team
We understand. You want to wait until you have everything figured out. You want your decisions approved, your strategy in place. But there’s a lot your communications team can be doing as your project takes shape. Every project requires discovery. We need to learn about you, your organization, your audience and your specific issues. We need to take in a lot of information before we can ever put out a first draft. Every project also needs some set up time. We need to assign a team and take care of a few administrative details. You never see these steps on a project schedule, but they still need to be done. Loop us in early and, when the iron is finally hot, we’ll be ready to strike.
2. Don’t Pay by the Hour
This will sound nearly blasphemous to many in the consulting industry. If you’re used to paying for consulting and creative services by the hour, you know what the underlying motivation of your partner is: Bill more hours. So, you may think that allowing less time to work on your project will help shave dollars off your bill. When we founded Smith more than a decade ago, we decided to bill flat rates. Quality, not time, is our focus. Our motivation is to understand your needs up front so that our final bills are in line with our initial statements of work. So, once you’re sure you’re going to need help with your project — even if you’re not exactly sure what your needs are — invite us to the table. Give us the opportunity to get to know you and prepare for what lies ahead.
3. Get Your Cowcatcher On
Ok, that metaphor is a bit folksy, but it’s a good one. Think about what could derail or delay your project at a critical moment. One of the more common hazards we see is a content reviewer who chimes in late. This is often a senior leader who doesn’t want to see things until all the kinks are worked out. We understand the logic, but the closer a deliverable gets to its final form, the longer it can take to make changes. While you don’t want your VPs wasting time on a draft that has too many holes in it, you also don’t want them to veto the talent in your video the day before your video was set to debut. (It happens.) Talk with us in advance about the process and the players so we can create realistic schedules and steps.
4. Don’t Hesitate to Run Something by Us
If you have an initiative in the offing, let’s chat, even if you’re not sure about where things are going. Let’s pick out some key considerations early. It could save precious time later.
I have a simple formula. Talent > Time. But with a good communication partner, you can get both on your side.