"How to Be Great Creative Collaborators & Project Managers" (Creator's Block, Ep. 62)

We’ve talked a lot about collaboration, feedback, and project management in very abstract, generalized ways in previous episodes. But for the past two to three weeks, Christine and I have been proverbially attached at the hip to complete two massive projects with substantial content and design requirements.

For example, she and I -- with an assist from a few others -- had to stand up five new, from-scratch IMPACT website pages in a single week that were associated with our merger with The Sales Lion. 

Then, yesterday morning, she and I launched a more than 10,000-word pillar content offer for IMPACT about everything companies need to do before the pick up the phone to call a web design agency.

Granted, these two projects -- and their insane timelines -- were fringe cases, but they were also the first time Christine and I got to really work with each other in such an intense way, since I officially joined the internal brand team.

More to the point, we had a crash course in how to not only successfully get big creative projects across the finish line, but also how to establish a rock-solid foundation for a long-lasting, collaborative marketer-and-designer relationship.

Since these projects are still so fresh in our minds, we thought this would be a great time to have Christine on as a guest to provide candid insights on what we did well, what we could have done better, and what it really takes for marketers and designers to partner up and be successful -- whether you're working on an in-house team or for clients in an agency setting.

Enjoy!

Listen to the Episode

What We Talked About

• What did we do well? What do we know we could have done better?
• What are the most important questions marketers need to ask their designers before a project begins? (Hint: They have nothing to do with fonts or colors.)
• What should designers be ready to talk about with their marketing partners to guarantee the project will be a success?
• Why designers and marketers need to care about establishing a working relationship, not just finishing a project. 
• Do you need to "make the time" to talk about inspiration?
• Is there a right or wrong project management style if you're a marketer working with a designer?
• Pineapple on pizza -- how does Christine feel about probably the most divisive issue of our times?
• And more... 

Resources We Discussed

• Articles by Christine Austin (this week's guest)
• The Sales Lion to Merge with IMPACT
• Our Updated Teach Me Services Vertical (website project)
• 5 Steps to Make Your Company's Next Website Redesign a Success (pillar content project)

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• Christine: Twitter, Instagram 

Or, you can leave us a comment below! Until next week...