Why marketers need to learn to color inside the lines…

... and why those lines need to be moved every so often

Marketers are creative people who naturally resist constraint and control. Nobody’s going to tell Picasso what shade of blue to use, right?

But the people who work with marketers are all about control. There are budgets and timelines and brand guidelines to follow. Creativity? Sure. But don’t overspend, mess with the logo or blow past a deadline!

I’ve learned over the years that the tension between creativity and control is a constant. It never goes away. Marketers push for creative licence; the people around them, like the brand team, technical marketers, and other horizontals in the business push for control.

Can the two forces be balanced?

Absolutely!

But it’s not easy.

What’s at stake

First, a quick look at the forces in play.

In one corner: Creativity.

Creativity is all about innovation – a new idea, a new approach, a new way of putting old concepts together, anything new.

Creativity is the very backbone of marketing, because innovation and newness help whatever’s being sold stand out.

In ideal circumstances, creativity is good for the bottom line.

But the creative process involves curiosity, play, ideation and experimentation. In other words, pushing boundaries.

So creativity comes with a certain amount of risk. Not every new idea pays off. For every brilliant breakthrough, there are going to be a few failures. And sometimes a creative brainwave, however brilliant, is just not practical.

In the opposite corner: Control.

Control is all about putting up guardrails around the creative process so that it stays focused. It’s about minimizing risk by prioritizing practical solutions, staying within budgets, respecting deadlines and toeing the line on all sorts of supposedly boring issues.

Except those issues aren’t boring; they are absolutely necessary to a company’s bottom line.

Controls are necessary. But if they are too stringent, you run the risk of stifling creativity and preventing new ideas from bubbling up.

So for marketing to work properly, the forces of creativity and control have to be in balance.

Why balance is hard to achieve

Balance is hard to achieve because not only do the two forces pull in opposite directions, but each sees itself as more important than the other.

Marketers argue that creativity trumps control. They will tell you that creativity is the X factor that allows a company to stand out. Without us being creative, they say, nobody will notice our product or service!

But the reality is that without some sort of constraints, creativity can run wild. And that’s not good for the company.

The control group, on the other hand, will argue that their work is what drives a company’s profit. Without them keeping everyone in line, they say, the company would be in trouble.

But the reality is that too many constraints will hamper creativity. So will too rigid and unbending an attitude toward experimentation and play.

Because each group is convinced of its own importance, there often ends up being a tug of war between the two sides.

If the forces of control are too strong, marketers will complain that they can’t do their job. Result: unhappy marketers.

But if the forces of control are too weak, the marketing department may not be able to stay focused. And that means a whole lot of other people in the company will be unhappy.

The solution is balance. When the forces are balanced, marketers feel they can have fun working their creative magic, and their work helps the company make money without putting undue stress on expenses or deadlines or other ‘control’ issues.

Think of a painting surrounded by a frame.

The painting is the creative part. It’s what you look at. The frame is what contains it.

The frame draws the eye toward the painting. Does it constrain the artwork? Yes; but in doing so, it makes you notice the painting; it may even make the painting look better than it otherwise would.

But the frame must never be so big or so intricate that it overpowers the artwork.

That’s kind of what balance looks like.

How to get there

1. Have a conversation

The first challenge is making sure everyone understands why balance is necessary and what it means for them.

So every company needs to have a conversation about boundaries. The issue of balance between creativity and control needs to be on the table.

It will help to explain that control is something you build around the creative process so that creativity can stay focused.

You’d think each group – marketers and control people – would understand the concept, but unfortunately it’s not always the case.

It needs to be explained.

2. Spell out the details

Marketers need to accept that the frame is necessary. And the control people need to accept that they must give marketers as much freedom as possible to inside the boundaries of the frame.

It’s easier to have those boundaries respected when they are clearly stated.

So the organization needs to make sure they are set, and make sure they are clearly communicated to everyone involved.

For example, there need to be clear guidelines for the creative group around branding, target markets, design, budgets and timelines. The company’s leadership team also needs to define the company’s mission and vision.

And those parameters need to be realistic, so that the creatives don’t feel they have licence to shoot for the moon.

3. Revisit the rules regularly

There will come a time when the marketers will want to push whatever boundaries have been set.

Let them argue their case.

In other words, if the creatives can accept to work within the frame (or color inside the lines, to use another analogy), then the control people need to accept that they will need to move the boundaries once in a while. Especially when the creatives get a new idea and argue that by pushing the envelope here or doing something unorthodox there, the potential for payoff is big.

How you know you’re there

How do you know when creativity and control are in balance?

Unfortunately, there’s no universal formula that can be applied to every company. It’s more about creating a situation where creativity can be maximized within whatever boundaries are set. *

But here’s a tip: You’re probably close to balance when both groups are somewhat upset with the guidelines you have set for them.

In other words, if the creatives complain about being a bit too constrained while at the same time the control people argue the constraints are not strict enough, you are probably ‘in the zone.’

It’s a bit of a tightrope walk, I agree. But it’s worth making the effort to get there.

Making a conscious effort to achieve balance between the two forces will help minimize tensions inside the company – and maximize results.

* Knak recently announced our FIGMA plugin, which will extend Knak's creative capabilities to designers who prefer to work in the Figma platform.

So while design teams can now push designs from FIGMA directly into Knak, control teams can rest assured that everything created will go through the streamlined, proper process and controls in Knak.