When my kids were young and still living at home, I often squeezed grocery shopping into the spare 20 minutes between music lessons. But after zipping through Giant Eagle in a frenzy, it was almost guaranteed I would forget one essential ingredient and have to carve out another 20 minutes to go back.
Over time, I learned that slowing down and planning ahead helps me make the most of my time and energy. Rushing anything, from groceries to the creative process can cause accidents, errors, stress, and wasted resources. In this industry, we expect a once-in-a-while rush job, but proper planning and consistency are essential to achieve high-quality work and strategy. The alternative creates burnout for everyone involved and leads to subpar work, glaring errors, and the cost of redoing everything to get it right.
Here, I’ve provided four recommendations for improving the creative process to avoid rush work and the pitfalls that follow.
1.Plan ahead for the entire creative process
What we do in the marketing world is repetitious, as it should be. Repetition is what makes messaging stick. And when the methods work, they are worth repeating. As marketers, we recreate success using the same tools: infosheets, blogs, eBooks, banner stands, etc. Because the process is formulaic, everyone involved should know how long it takes to produce these items.
Timelines help you avoid rushed decisions, keep costs down, and meet due dates. Because we juggle so many jobs simultaneously at Blue Star, we depend on realistic, dependable timelines to achieve success for our clients. Try creating your timeline in reverse, so you know when you need to get started.
8. What is your deadline to complete the project?
7. Add a week for padding.
6. Add time for shipping.
5. Add the time the printer needs to complete the job. (Two weeks is standard.)
4. Add time for your team to proof and make changes.
3. Add time for the design team.
2. Add time for the writing team.
1. Set the deadline for the writers’ and designers’ specs or transcripts. This is your start date.
Many speed bumps can derail a project. While knocking out that timeline above, consider possible stop gaps and put rules around them within the schedule. One of our favorites is: “Unless God is misspelled, this goes to press.”
When developing the timeline, include as many people as possible in the creative process, from your team to the marketing agency to the printer. Clear, consistent communication throughout the process will help avoid extra rush costs for last-minute work.
Finally, document the entire project by keeping a record of all work, costs, and a timeline. Doing so will simplify the next project’s process, budgeting, and schedule, which is especially handy if you do event work.
Also read: Build your blog content strategy around quantity, quality, and cadence
2. Respect the timeline
Timelines provide a framework for prioritizing the tasks necessary to complete your projects, allowing your team to focus on critical tasks and work efficiently. Delaying the timeline when deadlines are not flexible increases the job’s demands dramatically for us. At this point, designers and printers often find themselves backed into near-impossible deadlines.
We either have to stress our team to push harder and make it happen or work with the client to extend the project dates and overlap them with the work we have on deck.
3. Read your content like a pro
According to Grammarly, people make an average of 14.3 mistakes per 100 words in emails and 9.1 mistakes per 100 words on blogs. Only 48-56% of people reread their work before publishing.
Typos don’t get through because people are careless. It’s common for people to miss typos because our brains are intelligent, automatically correcting errors and filling in missing information, known as perceptual completion. Ultimately, this function means we see what we expect to see. When we review our own work, we already know the meaning of the content; therefore, it’s easy to overlook any mistakes.
Being in a rush adds another layer to the already complex creative process. It narrows the focus, leads to inattentional blindness, and causes us to miss obvious inconsistencies because we are focused on something else (like the clock ticking).
Even though our writers are award-winning journalists, our editors are impeccable, and our designers run spell checks every time they touch something, typos are inevitable.
Here are tips on how to proofread your own content like a pro:
- Reading aloud forces you to read slowly and can help you notice missing words or content.
- Reading backward is a great way to catch spelling errors. Start at the end of the document and read each word separately back to the beginning.
- Taking breaks from the content or changing your reading environment refreshes your perspective.
Also read: Ethical AI: Part 1 – The ethical issues with AI in content marketing
4. Always ask for a proof from the printer
The printing world has changed dramatically in recent decades, mainly due to rapid technological advancements. What was once a cumbersome operation has evolved into an efficient and affordable creative process.
In 1993, the rise of the PDF allowed designers to deliver graphic files via the Internet. That same year, the first digital presses from Xeikon and Indigo came about, challenging offset printing. Graphic artists could now send graphic-rich PDF files to printers, and printing vendors incorporated PDF into their prepress solutions. Visual inspection at prepress was no longer required, saving time for all parties.
Despite these advancements, turn times continue to shrink. Clients who desire a finished product in their hands faster often skip the critical “press-proof” stage. The mistake is believing the PDF file the printer receives is the same PDF file the printer RIPs and delivers for a last inspection.
In printing, RIP stands for “Raster Image Processor”—a highly specialized driver sends instructions directly to the digital printer. This PDF is the version that shows what will come off the press. This step is where you detect graphic errors and is your last chance to catch mistakes in the process. Catching print file mistakes before printing might impact your deadline, but catching them after the fact will negatively affect your deadline and pocketbook.
“There always seems to be more time and money to reprint the work
than there is to do it right in the first place.”
-Pat Lally, Graphic Designer, Blue Star
Contact Blue Star to strengthen your marketing efforts and start strategizing your project today.
