Amending the cost of author’s amendments

When companies find the cost of author’s amendments on marketing projects mounting up, they often believe that bringing elements of design and artwork ‘in-house’ is the answer. Marketing executives and IT workers are expected to pick up the work in the absence of a proper creative studio. In the current economic climate, companies may see this as a logical way to cut costs, but they don’t understand the potential risks. Nor does this approach address the real issues at hand.

Poor work can damage your reputation

It’s true that given enough time and effort, an able person can learn how to use design software. However, creativity, design know-how and the technicalities of artworking are very specialist areas. Handing these responsibilities to an unqualified marketing executive or IT worker invariably leads to poorly designed and badly executed work, which can seriously damage a company’s brand and reputation.

The wrong template

Even artwork that has been ‘templated’ by a professional designer doesn’t guarantee a high quality end product. Designers and artworkers do a lot of work behind the scenes making sure final artwork is good enough to print correctly. Their experience of print and working with printers ensures that the finished item is of the highest quality. Having to reprint work because of artworking mistakes can have huge cost and business repercussions. Also, when the content doesn’t fit the template, non-designers struggle to find the best layout solutions, resulting in naive errors.

Don’t distract your marketing department

Designers have the enviable ability to make the difficult look easy. They’ll come up with brilliant ideas on the spot and implement them at breathtaking speed – valuable skills that are the result of raw talent and many years of experience. They do this day-in, day-out because it’s their job, and they take great pride in it. Marketing executives and IT workers also have important roles, which require their full attention and commitment. Expecting them to become professional designers and artworkers only serves to distract them from their main priorities.

Address the real issue – amendment management

The decision to bring author’s amendments in-house without qualified creative resources doesn’t address the real reasons for amendment costs racking up. We all expect some degree of changes on a job, but many author’s amendments can be avoided if the client’s internal processes are well planned and managed. Timescales should be agreed and adhered to. Ground rules and working methods need to be established before any work commences. All contributors, be they content creators or proof readers, need to be tightly managed. The project manager must employ the same single-minded approach to both the tiny details and the big picture.

Marketing agencies have had to become very good at managing these sort of processes internally in order to maximise their profit. We can share these methods with our clients to help them reduce costs and secure relationships.

Play to people’s strengths

By ensuring that all the elements are as close to being right before the designer starts the job, amendments can be reduced. Author’s amends that are straightforward and easy to understand can be made quickly and cost-effectively. Plus, they can be carried out by the professionals, which means they are done right and allows everyone to get on with what they do best.

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