5 Tips on Drafting Your Creative Dream Team in 2019

I almost choked on my coffee – black, no soy, no syrup, no nothing – when I read the U.S. fantasy football market has 59 million players who spend $7 billion annually to play. Holy smokes!

What’s motivating this? I queried some male friends and it got down to having the ability to control the game. When you watch from the sidelines as I do, you’re stuck with the status quo. With fantasy football, you draft your dream team and it’s game on.

Here’s the interesting thing. I have a client who applied the principles of fantasy football to their marketing team. Realizing that no one ad or consulting firm could do all of the things they needed for their national company, they made the decision to draft their own creative “dream team.”

Who made the cut? A digital marketing firm for lead gen, a design firm for sales literature and the occasional print ad, and Lux-Writes for content marketing, public relations plus anything written.

The game plan is pretty simple. The team meets virtually once a month with the client-coach who does the play calling. We share ideas and the previous month’s results, agree on action items, and get to work. It’s effective because we’re all skill players, we understand our roles and goals, we know how to execute and get results. And, we know the client likes winning.

As you’re looking ahead to 2019, this is definitely an approach to consider. As marketing has become more complex, it’s difficult for one agency or even an in-house marketing department to do it all. Picking “skill” players to fill out your marketing team is a way to increase your effectiveness, stretch your budget and secure more wins – awareness, leads, sales, customers, investors, and loyalty – whatever your goals are.

Here are five tips to help you put together your creative dream team in 2019:

Consider your overall marketing strategy. What are your goals, objectives and major initiatives for 2019? What tactics do you want to focus on? What’s your budget?

Determine what skill sets you need to execute your strategy. What talent do you currently have on staff? What talent do you need to be competitive and secure more wins? What skills do you need most?
Decide whether you want agencies, freelancers or a combination of both. The beauty of drafting a creative dream team is you choose the best for the job, whether it’s a boutique digital firm or a hot freelance designer or writer.

Research before you draft. Look at websites and LinkedIn profiles. Talk to colleagues. Ask for referrals. Once you get a list together, talk to your candidates about what they bring to the table. Finally, make sure they understand what you’re doing and agree to be team players.
Lay out your game plan and go! Clearly define expectations for the team as a whole and for individual team members, hold regular meetings with an established agenda, encourage open discussion, and challenge everyone to do the best job possible.

If you’d like more information on drafting a creative dream team or want more info on my skill sets, let’s connect. I’ll even buy the coffee.