Insights
We offer some simple advice for charities looking to collaborate on creative products
Sometimes you might need to hire external support to deliver a creative product.
You might be looking to work with a big-player creative agency for a complete rebrand, or a small design team to create an impact report. It could be a long-term contract or one specific project.
Either way, the quality of your relationship with them will have an impact on the end product. Here are our top tips on getting the best work from your design or creative agency.
Start by finding the right fit. Your relationship should feel like a collaborative partnership – keep that in mind from your first few meetings.
Whether you go through informal meetings or a full pitch for the selection process, you’ll need to discuss the nitty-gritty of the job right through to the broader strokes of how your organisations’ missions align (or not).
Know who will actually be working on the job. While the person pitching may be shiny and personable, you need to know that you can work effectively with the people who will actually be doing the work and who you’ll have the most contact with.
Giving a thorough induction will pay dividends. It will help the agency get a thorough understanding of your charity, which is likely to result in stronger engagement and work that feels true to your brand. It also shows respect to the agency – a strong foundation for the way ahead.
For larger projects, get the team in to meet as many people from your organisation as possible. That way they’ll be able to really understand the challenges and concerns of those in-house. And be upfront about budgets right from the start.
You know your organisation better than the agency. You know your audience, your brand and your objectives for the project. Take the time to share that information (which could include brand guidelines and style guides) and discuss it thoroughly. Have crystal clear goals, budget and scope and pin them down in a contract.
Give visual references if appropriate and expect lots of questions – an engaged agency will want to get under the skin of your organisation.
Clear communication and transparency are key to a positive relationship. Talk regularly, share updates, have clear documentation and don’t make any assumptions.
Always ask questions for clarity. For example, even if you’ve discussed the sign-off process at a briefing meeting, if afterwards it’s not clear, get clarity. If you’re not sure how the agency will charge if the work doesn’t hit the mark first time round, ask them to talk it through.
You can never ask too many questions, and they will often save time, awkward conversations, and even money, down the line.
You’ve chosen your agency carefully and spent time giving them a great induction and thorough brief. Now give them space and trust them to deliver on the brief.
Be open-minded when it comes to creative work. It’s easy to be blocked by your own preconceptions of what the work should or shouldn’t be. When you give feedback, don’t feel you need to give a solution. Give clarity around what is or isn’t working, and help the team to understand exactly what your aims are. Then let them use their expertise and experience to respond.
Only ever have one person give feedback to the agency. Circulate the work to everyone who needs to have input internally, and then have that one person collate it. In particular, they’ll need to resolve any conflicting feedback. Often, especially in creative work, there are contradictory comments.
This can be confusing at the receiving end, so resolve them before giving feedback. It’s much more straightforward for the agency to receive one set of consolidated comments and can save time in the long-run.
It might not always be comfortable to be honest and open when giving feedback, but if you don’t, you won’t get the best work. Agencies are used to hearing feedback – the good, the bad and the ugly, so, whilst being kind, don’t shy away from telling them if the work doesn’t hit the mark.
But it’s key to explain why – and that’s not always easy to articulate. So talk through your feedback, be as specific as you can and give examples of things you do and don’t like.
If you need to give detailed feedback on a long document, be methodical. Always avoid sending multiple emails, numerous versions of a document with comments from different people, or worse, a combination of the two. Keep it clear and simple for whoever is picking it up to be able to work through.
Join us on the 14th of May for our Q&A session. It will provide a whistlestop tour of Microsoft Copilot’s key capabilities, how they can help charities, and answer all your burning questions around Microsoft’s AI service.