Scott Hull Associates

By Scott Hull

At Scott Hull Associates we want to help you teach your customer how to get more out of your communications by bringing in outside help.

Most companies generate a steady stream of print communications, websites, packaging, trade show exhibits, ads, manuals, presentations, etc. When you add to the list, new emerging opportunities through social media, operational processes, brand training, decision making, business strategy, and thought leadership– you begin to appreciate why most companies feel the need to cut costs by managing all of this in-house.
Before you or your customer think about building an in-house creative program, you need to address the problem that has plagued internal departments since the days of “Mad Men”.

As soon as a designer is hired, the perceived value of their talents depreciates faster than a new car in a showroom. Within months the new in-house group will be inundated with low-level tasks and excluded from high-level conversations.

The cure for vanishing value when going internal is going outside for a new creative perspective. This will give you and your company a breath of fresh air and an organic outlook from a visual specialist who has the skills to create something that does the job, but in a more unique way.

Drawing from my years of experience, I can offer the following 3 tips for working with visual specialists.

1 Hire a visual specialist early in the project’s conception, to work together with you as a single team. This way you will reverse the 20th century business model that has become a training ground for non-collaboration.

2 More of a benefit than a tip, hiring a visual specialist can promote innovation while lowering costs. It can be scaled up or down at a moment’s notice. Hiring a high performance artist can turn a confused and vaguely represented organization into a coherent leading entity, thereby raising long-term value.

3 Since the outside is where you find the best-of-breed visual specialists, many visual building skills needed to execute brand related projects should more often than not, be outsourced. But brand and design management should never be outsourced. Your brand needs to remain strong and consistent through various strategy shifts.

After all, there are only two choices. Win by being more ordinary, generic and cheaper. Or win by being faster, more remarkable, and more human.