Building A Creative Strategy and Execution Team

Welcome back to Creative Compass! In our previous edition, we explored the crucial elements of crafting audience segments (and personas) as well as developing value propositions for your creative strategy. These components are fundamental to your creative strategy, as they directly influence the types of customers you'll attract to your company.

For this edition, we're diving into a less discussed but equally important aspect: building your creative team. We'll outline several core responsibilities within your creative strategy team, discuss how to structure the org chart, and provide insights on scaling your team effectively.

The Flexible Nature of Creative Teams

Most brands I work with employ a combination of in-house talent, freelance professionals, and agency partners. It's important to note that there's no universally "right" answer—only the "right now" answer that fits your current needs and circumstances.

In my experience, team structures can vary widely:

• Sometimes, I step in for 3-6 months to build out the team and creative machine, hire a replacement, and exit gracefully.

• In other cases, I've worked hand-in-hand with clients for over a year, leading every aspect of creative strategy and production.

The appropriate structure depends on your business stage, budget, and core growth levers. The team structure we'll discuss is primarily geared towards a paid social-driven growth strategy (e.g., Meta Ads, TikTok Ads), but it can also apply to organic social strategies with minor adjustments.

Here are the core functions of a creative strategy team:

1. Creative Strategist

   • Responsibilities: Develops creative concepts, writes scripts, manages the creative production team

   • Skills: Strategic thinking, storytelling, project management

   • Why it's crucial: Bridges the gap between business goals and creative execution

2. Creators (e.g., UGC Creators, Influencers)

   • Responsibilities: Produce authentic content that resonates with the target audience

   • Skills: Content creation, audience engagement, brand alignment

   • Why it's crucial: Provides relatable, high-performing content that audiences trust

3. Video Editor

   • Responsibilities: Edits and refines video content, creates multiple variants

   • Skills: Video editing software proficiency, storytelling through visuals

   • Why it's crucial: Transforms raw footage into polished, engaging content

4. Graphic Designer

   • Responsibilities: Creates visual assets for ads, social media, and other channels

   • Skills: Design software proficiency, visual communication, brand consistency

   • Why it's crucial: Ensures visual cohesion across all creative outputs

5. Media Buyer

   • Responsibilities: Runs the creative, manages ad spend, optimizes campaign performance

   • Skills: Data analysis, platform expertise (Meta, TikTok, etc.), budget management

   • Why it's crucial: Ensures your creative reaches the right audience at the right time

6. Producer

   • Responsibilities: Oversees the entire production process, from ideation to delivery

   • Skills: Project management, resource allocation, stakeholder communication

   • Why it's crucial: Ensures smooth execution of creative projects and timely delivery

Structuring Your Creative Team

Now that we've outlined the core functions, let's discuss how to structure your team effectively:

1. Start with the essentials: Begin by hiring for the most critical roles based on your current needs and budget. Often, this means starting with a Creative Strategist and a Media Buyer.

2. Build in layers: As your needs grow, add specialists like Video Editors and Graphic Designers. These roles can often be filled by freelancers initially.

3. Integrate creators: Depending on your strategy, bring in UGC Creators or Influencers. These can be a mix of in-house and external collaborators.

4. Add management layers: As the team grows, consider adding a Producer to oversee projects and ensure smooth execution.

5. Maintain flexibility: Keep a balance of full-time employees, part-time specialists, and freelancers to adapt to changing needs.

Scaling Your Creative Team

As your business grows, your creative team will need to scale accordingly. Here are some strategies to consider at various levels of an org’s scale:

Scrappy Startup ($0 - $5,000/month)

• Focus on multi-skilled individuals

• Prioritize a Creative Strategist who can also handle basic design and video editing

• Leverage freelance UGC creators for content

• Consider using AI tools to augment capabilities

Growing Brand ($5,000 - $20,000/month)

• Bring on a dedicated Media Buyer

• Hire a full-time Creative Strategist

• Contract with multiple UGC creators and a part-time Video Editor

• Use a freelance Graphic Designer as needed

Scaling Company ($20,000 - $50,000/month)

• Full-time Media Buyer and Creative Strategist

• In-house Video Editor and Graphic Designer

• Expanded pool of UGC creators and influencers

• Consider adding an Influencer Manager role

Enterprise Level ($50,000+/month)

• Fully staffed in-house creative team

• Multiple specialists for each role

• Dedicated team for influencer and affiliate management

• Budget for high-profile collaborations and premium production

The above structure is a guideline, not a prescription. Your mileage may vary. Ultimately, you want to work closely with your CMO (or CFO) to design a team structure that makes sense for your stage.

Managing Multiple Roles with Limited Resources

Sometimes, especially when you’re a small but growing startup, you’ll need your team to wear multiple hats. This is typical especially for the creative strategist role. For example, with some of my clients I act as a copywriter, producer, video editor, and mediocre graphic designer. This isn’t scalable, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Here are some tips on team management when you’re in this position:

1. Prioritize Core Competencies: Identify the most critical skills for your brand's success and ensure they're covered first.

2. Invest in Training: Upskill team members in adjacent areas. For example, a Graphic Designer could learn simple video editing.

3. Leverage Technology: Use AI tools and automation to handle routine tasks, freeing up human resources for more strategic work.

4. Establish Clear Processes: Documented workflows can help team members efficiently juggle multiple responsibilities.

5. Regular Cross-functional Meetings: Ensure all team members understand the overall strategy and how their roles intersect.

6. Identify bottlenecks: Regularly assess your workflow to identify areas where additional resources are needed.

7. Build a talent pipeline: Continuously network and maintain relationships with potential hires and freelancers.

8. Consider outsourcing: For specialized or temporary needs, consider partnering with agencies or hiring freelancers.

Expanding Your Creative Capabilities

Most companies will need external partners to help them scale their creative ops. Building relationships with these partners can prove to be crucial to enhancing your creative output. Here are some external partnerships to consider:

1. Influencers: Beyond just content creation, influencers can provide valuable insights into audience preferences and trends. You can also run their content as ads—this is referred to as whitelisting, or in TikTok’s case Spark Ads.

2. Agencies: Can fill gaps in your in-house capabilities or provide specialized expertise for specific campaigns.

3. Production Teams: For high-quality, professional content that elevates your brand image.

4. Platform Partnerships: Building relationships with ad platforms can give you early access to new features and best practices. For example, our team uses Foreplay to constantly source new ad ideas and build our swipe file.

Tips for Managing External Collaborations

1. Clear Contracts: Ensure all partnerships have clear terms, deliverables, and payment structures.

2. Brand Guidelines: Provide comprehensive guidelines to maintain consistency across all collaborations.

3. Regular Check-ins: Schedule frequent touchpoints to align on goals and address any issues promptly.

4. Performance Metrics: Establish KPIs for each collaboration to measure success objectively.

5. Long-term Relationships: Aim to build lasting partnerships for more authentic, consistent content.

Looking Ahead: Future Trends in Creative Team Management

As the digital landscape evolves, so too will the structure and management of creative teams. Here are some trends to watch:

1. Remote and distributed teams: The rise of remote work is changing how creative teams collaborate and operate. I personally know of several teams working with offshore video editors, project managers, design teams, etc. Some of my clients are even based in another country.

2. AI and automation: Emerging technologies are streamlining certain creative tasks and changing skill requirements. If you don’t keep up with all the various ways to leverage AI in your workflows, you WILL fall behind.

3. Agile methodologies: Adopting agile practices from software development to improve creativity and efficiency.

4. Cross-functional integration: Closer collaboration between creative, marketing, and product teams.

Wrapping Up

Building and managing a creative strategy and execution team is a dynamic process that requires flexibility, foresight, and a deep understanding of your business needs. By focusing on the core functions we've outlined and adapting your team structure as you grow, you'll be well-positioned to create compelling content that drives results.

Remember, the most effective teams are those that can adapt and evolve. Regularly assess your team's performance and be prepared to adjust roles and collaborations as your brand grows and your creative needs change.

In our next lesson, we'll dive into the process of crafting and delivering creative content, bringing together all the elements we've discussed so far.

A Message From The Writer

Hey, I’m Leann. I’ve spent the last 5 years in the trenches of growth marketing and creative strategy.

I work with brands to craft campaigns that don’t just resonate—they convert.

I currently run TRIFECTA, a creative growth studio. We elevate consumer brands by combining the power of media, experiential marketing, and performance strategies. Our team is a collective of top-tier talent, from content creators and growth marketers to community builders, all working together to craft marketing that connects and converts.

I’m currently piloting a unique program where in just 3-6 months, I’ll embed directly into your marketing team and transform your performance creative department into a well-oiled machine. By the end of our time together, your team will be set up for long-term success, complete with a handpicked crew of creative talent—video editors, creators, and designers—plus an in-house creative strategist to keep everything running smoothly.

Ready to scale? Let’s make it happen.