Lessons Learned as a Content Creator

I recently spent the previous Fall quarter as a content creator for the WWU Marketing Program . Throughout my experiences in the role, I have made many mistakes and learned so much.

Creative Strategy vs. Creative Brief

One of my biggest lessons from taking the Integrated Marketing Communications course was the development of a Creative Strategy. For the longest time, I thought that a creative strategy and a creative brief were two terms used interchangeably. It wasn’t until many weeks later in the quarter I learned that the creative brief is simply just one part of the creative strategy. My professor Dan Purdy told us that the creative strategy consists of three parts: creative brief, message strategy methods, and sample executions. It was crazy to me that the creative brief was just one part of the creative strategy since so much information went into this one section.

The creative strategy was further explained and broken down. My professor gave the class an analogy that made understanding the difference so easy. The analogy compared the creative strategy parts to the process of cooking or baking. The creative brief section is the ingredients, the message strategy methods is the recipe we follow, and the sample executions are the testers of the final product.

Breaking Down Tasks

Another mistake I made as a content creator was not breaking my tasks down enough to be obtainable. As I was working my way through the production cycle of making these big documents or content, sometimes when a particular section seemed too difficult to start, I would entirely ignore it until the very last second. To overcome this obstacle, I learned how to use the tool of a Kanban , where I was able to break down big tasks into smaller and smaller tasks to appear less daunting and more achievable. By doing this, I was also able to feel a sense of satisfaction every time I moved a task from the "Work-in-Progress" list to "Done."

Brand Elements Integration

Throughout my time as a content creator, I have also learned the importance of keeping consistent with the brand or image I am producing work for. I am now more cautious and attentive toward integrated brand elements through everything I may produce. For example, in creating a professional brand portfolio for myself, I ensured to use the same fonts and colors across everything along with placing my logo, brand name, and tagline everywhere. I have learned the importance of integrating the elements to result in more awareness and liking of content.

I hope my learnings as a content creator, will help make any similar experiences you may face easier!