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5 Ways To Support Creatives at Your Radio Station
June 11, 2021
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Radio stations need to focus efforts on finding ways to increase their audience, connect with those who already listen, attract donors and advertisers. But, don’t forget about your team, like creatives. Think about the best ways you can support creatives so they’re motivated to provide their best work.
A well-supported and happy creative services department will feel enabled to create unique messages that resonate with listeners and reflect your station’s values. You need to relate your business’s story in an engaging and relatable voice — one that com-pels listeners toward trust, loyalty and encourages them to support the station they love by becoming a donor later in the nurturing process.
Creatives often use unique processes and have particular needs that may vary from non-creative employees. A little TLC can help a dedicated creative services department deliver their work in a cohesive package and meet deadlines.
Here are five ways to support creatives at your radio station so they can save you money by staying organized, following project briefs, and delivering top-quality content.
Do Not Disturb
When working on a radio project, creatives are often in a zone that shouldn’t be dis-turbed. Popping in and out of a creative’s office for unscheduled meetings or asking for a quick answer can derail their creative process. You wouldn’t appreciate having an-other team member interrupting an on-air show. Instead, you would expect respect and patience where possible. Do the same for your creatives. In basic terms, it’s the golden rule approach. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat other people the way you’d want to be treated.
Creating a dedicated space for your creative team will go a long way in allowing them the concentration they need to finish a project. This space should have varying types of seating, including a casual area for debriefs and brainstorming. The best creative work-spaces also support uninterrupted cross-functional team collaboration. Ideal team spaces for project discussions can provide ways to help creatives in idea-sharing by of-fering tools that make thinking visible during the creative process.
Give Praise
There are multiple ways to support creatives at your radio station, but one of the best ways is recognizing the effort and skill they and their team have applied to a large pro-ject. Point out the great attributes of a new website, video, or social project and highlight some of the benefits these projects have brought to your business. Acknowledging their hard work is meaningful and motivating.
Due to the complex nature of creatives’ skills — especially in this digital age — under-standing what they do can sometimes be challenging. Drawing attention to some of the small details and critical thinking creatives have applied to their work can educate other staff and bring some deserved respect to the creatives team. Allowing other staff a be-hind-the-scenes look into other departments’ successes can also benefit their motiva-tion and productivity. This is something we’ve done with stations we do digital coaching for. Using the power of ZOOM, we’ve been able to help give some insight into the be-hind-the-scenes of digital to educate station managers and leaders.
Encourage, Don’t Discourage
Creative teams often receive project briefs that end up dramatically changing even once they’ve delivered their work. As new marketing platforms and messaging focuses arise, they may need to revamp their deliverables at the last moment completely. Managers can find ways to support creatives through encouragement and regular check-ins to en-sure they clearly understand the new focus.
Since the nature of creativity can place creators in vulnerable positions — ones where egos can easily get bruised — it’s important not to discourage their work and progress. Find ways to support creatives by starting each progress meeting with a positive observation about the aspects of their work you’re happy with, and then move on to any areas that may need work. As artistic people, creatives can be very sensitive to discouragement.
Brainstorm
Have brainstorming meetings with your creative team at the beginning of projects so you’re all on the same page. These meetings will help ensure that all parameters and goals are clear and get the team's creative juices flowing. If you know that your creative team isn't the most detailed, partner them up with someone who is. Check-in regularly for progress updates and see if the team needs any more creative input or questions answered.
Not All Creatives Are The Same
Creativity can have a fickle nature, sometimes coming and going as it pleases. Hold scheduled meetings with each creative team member to determine how long it takes them to do certain types of projects, what environment they prefer to work in, and communicate your expectations. Creatives need ample time to fully understand a project brief, land on the best perspective to use and figure out its specific goals. Having unrealistic expectations will only lead to frustration for them and you.
Creative people often need a change of scenery to help get and keep the creative juices flowing, so allowing them to work from home or a local coffee shop could be another one of the ways to support creatives at your radio station.
Find the best ways to support creatives at your radio station so they can provide your station with cutting-edge creative ideas, copy, and content. Contact Killer Bee Marketing today to learn how our team can help you gain more proven insights and strategies to keep your listeners tuning in and spreading your station’s good word over digital platforms.
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