We get a lot of requests for communications products such as films, publications, and photographs.
Quite often, the team that approaches us has a very clear concept of what their final product should look and feel like, which means that we can then start working together right away to create something to match that concept. This is great.
Less commonly, however, does a team come to us with an idea of how that product or product package will be used after it is created, which, really, is 51% of the battle.
More often than not, a team says “I have a vision for a wonderful, amazing shovel,” and we then say, “Great news. We do shovels. Great shovels. Big shovels, small shovels, shiny shovels, heavy shovels. Shovels for snow, and shovels for dirt.
But tell us more about the hole you plan to dig.”
Invariably, we ask potential partners to step back from their very clear concept of the shiny shovel and tell us why they want it. By focusing first on the ‘why’ (and then later on the ‘what’), we always arrive at a more comprehensive, more engaging story that helps to shape a strategy in which a communications product can play a role.
Once the story and strategy are in place, then we can work together to build a great, customised shovel that fits them and that has a clear purpose.
Universally, this is a more effective way to approach a communications project. It considers the product as a tool and not an end goal.
Questions about the hole.
So let’s say your team wants a short film to highlight the great achievements of one of your projects. How can we all work together to help the film achieve its goal after it is made? What distribution mechanisms can we create together so that your audience will end up seeing your film at a launching event or online or during your team’s upcoming presentations?
Or let’s say your team wants a report or a set of visual materials. How can we work together after they are published to make sure that your audience reads them? How can we make sure that the report doesn’t just end up sitting on a coffee table gathering dust and a very sparse audience in your office?
Will there be a launching event? Can we help you take the key messages and images from the publication and publish them on your social media channels to increase awareness of the content and generate some sustained interest in it? How can we all partner up with the writers and editors and photographers and designers of this project to work together to distribute the report as deeply within your target audiences as possible?
(At the end of the day, everyone involved in your project wants to see it gather visibility, so let those people help you with your distribution strategy.)
How can we work together to measure the audience response to your publication? What kind of sustained communications campaign will surround it so that continued interest is maintained among your audience base?
In short: what is the plan for the other 51% of the battle?