The Most Dangerous Advice a 7-8 Figure Creative Company Can Follow

The Most Dangerous Advice a 7-8 Figure Creative Company Can Follow...

Is Their Own

‍

Creative companies have a dangerous habit:

They default to handling everything in-house, especially when it comes to their own brands.

‍

"Why would we hire someone else to do what we do for a living?"

‍

Fair point btw, but consider this:

A cardiologist wouldn't perform their own brain surgery.
They'd call a neurologist.

Both doctors. Different specialties.

An immigration attorney wouldn't handle their own M&A deal.
They'd hire a corporate lawyer.

Both attorneys. Different expertise.

There's a reason for this. Pretty self-explanatory.

‍

But, wait... there's a problem in our industry.

Creative companies spend years studying and driving results for everyone else's industries.

But when it comes to their own? They're expected to just figure it out.

Because "That's what they're experts at, right?"

Wrong.

Creatives are experts at the industries they serve and have studied for years.

‍

The "Service Provider" Trap

You'd think creative companies could just brand themselves using "service provider" strategies. After all, they do provide services.

Here's the irony: Most "service provider" branding/positioning/website advice was created by creative agencies. For their clients.

Creative agencies focused their expertise where it was valued and compensated by their clients, leaving their own industry understudied.

‍

The Creative Industry Is Different

The creative industry operates by fundamentally different rules.

• Creative buyers think differently.
• Creative relationships work differently.
• Creative businesses scale differently.

So why this impossible standard? Why do creative companies have to sit with the reputation of being awful at using their own skills themselves while still being expected to "walk the talk"?

‍

Creatives Are Not the Problem

• Creatives aren't broken for struggling with their own positioning.
• They're not incompetent for finding their websites challenging.
• They're not failing for having trouble with their own branding.

They've been carrying a weight that was never theirs to carry. They've been trying to solve problems with tools that weren't designed for those problems. And the entire business world has been criticizing them for not being superhuman.

The struggle creative companies have with their own brands isn't a reflection of their abilities. It's proof that the creative industry has been neglected by business education.

‍

Understanding the Real Challenge

Creative companies do incredible work for others, but their own businesses feel different and difficult.

Because they are different.

Creative businesses require different knowledge, different approaches, different understanding than the industries they serve.

‍

The Bottom Line

Creative companies shouldn't feel like failures for needing specialized help with their own industry. Every profession has specialists who understand their unique dynamics. The creative industry has been the exception for too long.

Creative companies excel at serving their clients' industries.

Creatives deserve specialists who excel at serving creative companies.

Creatives deserve partners who understand how creative businesses actually work, how their buyers actually think, and how creative relationships actually form.

We're those partners.

Needing specialized help for your own industry isn't failing.

That's how expertise works.

At a certain level, "figuring it out internally" isn't resourceful... it's expensive.