Leading With Creative: Balancing Business and Creativity
Written by Write Label
The most powerful tool in your sales arsenal isn’t the data-heavy pitch deck or CRM. It’s your ability to tap into unbridled creative energy.
When you're in the business of selling advertising solutions, leading with spec copy is a powerful strategy that rewrites the rules of engagement with clients and prospects.
Spec copy—short for speculative copy—refers to sample creative copy or concept descriptions you present to the client to demonstrate your creative direction and the potential of your advertising solution.
When you lead with spec, you not only differentiate yourself from competitors, but you build rapport, establish trust, and create a dynamic, collaborative relationship with your clients.
Benefits of Creative-First Pitches
Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
Transform the Traditional Sales Pitch into a Collaborative Process
Good spec copy can take the most basic sales pitch and transform it into an engaging brainstorming session. With custom ad spec, you can subconsciously invite your prospect or client to offer suggestions for the content you’re pitching. The more invested they are in the copy, the easier it will be to make the sale.
Creative pitch sales also give the prospect permission to think more creatively. This can open up discussions about broader business challenges that may not have been discussed under different circumstances, and it can help provide key insights for future pitches.
You could also demonstrate real-time problem-solving skills. For example, if a client or prospect says, “I love this idea, but our compliance team would never approve of INSERT CREATIVE ELEMENT.” This allows you to offer alternatives to further establish your value.
Set Yourself Apart from the Competition
Set yourself apart by demonstrating deep strategic knowledge of the business and their creative needs. Leading with spec shows clients and prospects that you've done research. This is a prime opportunity to prove you grasp key creative concepts, including the brand's voice, audience, and unique selling proposition.
Competitors may consistently rely on data-heavy talking points to make a sale. While data has a place in the sales process, it can make a pitch feel fatiguing and repetitive. Your spec creative signals a significant upfront investment of time and resources, showing commitment to the client-account executive relationship beyond the sale.
Lastly, it positions you as a premium partner with clear value differentiation, which makes it difficult for competitors to compete on pricing alone.
Quality Content Builds Trust and Creates “Show, Don’t Tell” Credibility
Beyond the standard case study, custom creative ad spec can potentially enhance trust and credibility by demonstrating risk mitigation and proving understanding through real client work. This approach establishes creative intelligence by again highlighting comprehension of brand elements, competitor strategies, and market insights.
Creative Accelerates the Sales Cycle
It may sound counterintuitive since creative spec requires a bit of time and resources, but leading with creative can potentially accelerate the sales cycle by addressing key elements early in the process. It forces stakeholders to engage with concrete ideas, facilitating early decision-making and identifying potential roadblocks that might delay progress.
According to Invesp, 60% of customers reject an offer four times before buying.
Creative work arms internal advocates with tangible materials, helping them build consensus and effectively communicate value to other stakeholders. Additionally, it drives urgency by highlighting opportunity costs and creating a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) on creative concepts. How to use creative in sales also shortens the discovery phase by naturally surfacing key information, decision-makers, budget parameters, and technical constraints.
Finally, high-quality creative work can streamline negotiation by justifying premium pricing and shifting discussions from price to value, leading to faster stakeholder buy-in and consensus.
This approach may challenge the traditional sales wisdom of gradual relationship building. However, strong creative work can create instant credibility that might take months to develop through conventional sales techniques.
Adaptable, Iterative Creative
Spec creative automatically opens the floor for on-the-spot concept modifications during meetings. It encourages client feedback, emphasizing the value of real-time collaboration. Strategic iteration processes also provide insight into client decision-making, revealing preferences and priorities, while identifying key stakeholder influences.
This is your time to play around with different concepts and ideas that might appeal to the client. Risk-free experimentation enables bold concept testing without commitment, fostering a safe space for exploring various directions and building client confidence.
Iterative learning accelerates understanding of client needs, uncovering unstated requirements and future opportunities, ultimately strengthening long-term client relationships.
When you're selling ideas, the more you have to offer, the greater your chances of success. One of the most significant advantages of leading with creative in sales is that it enables you to provide the client with multiple options. The more ideas you share, the more likely it is that one or more will connect with the client.
This is particularly important when a client lacks a strong sense of imagination. Some clients may struggle to visualize or understand the full potential of your offering. However, even the least imaginative clients will have opinions on the creative concepts you present. Whether they love or hate an idea, their feedback is invaluable in honing the final product to meet their needs.
Historically, large advertising agencies working with national advertisers have followed this model for years. They pitch numerous ideas to brands like Coca-Cola and Nike, continuously refining the creative until they hit the mark. Thanks to advancements in technology, this same high level of service is now accessible to businesses of all sizes.
What are the secret ingredients for a creative sales pitch?
The Secret Ingredients:
Lead with creative concepts early in your pitch.
Focus on attention-grabbing concepts that speak to the heart of target consumer needs and desires.
Highlight professional creatives as one of your value props.
Creative can be a broad term, ranging from a general concept to fully produced custom creative ad spec. Whether it's the storyline in a television ad, the punchline in radio creative scripts, or the design in a digital banner ad, creativity is the vehicle that delivers the brand's message to the consumer. It is essential in capturing an audience's attention, resonating with their emotions, and inspiring action.
Through Write Label’s years of experience working with broadcast companies and creative agencies, we've learned that creativity plays a crucial role in the sales process itself. When account executives and sales teams introduce creative concepts early in their pitches, they show the client that they're thinking creatively about the campaign.
One of the best ways to engage your client from the outset is to introduce the creative aspect of the campaign as early as possible, ideally right after your Client Needs Assessment (CNA). At this stage, you have gathered important insights about what the client wants and their pain points. This helps you present creative solutions that directly address their concerns. The goal is to incorporate the radio creative scripts or concepts from the start.
Highlighting the involvement of a professional, experienced team of writers and creatives or cutting-edge AI technology instantly adds credibility to your offering. The client now knows that a team of experts is working behind the scenes to craft ideas specifically for their brand.
Write Label has found that emphasizing a fast turnaround time demonstrates flexibility and dedication. If a client provides notes on the creative or wants revisions, sellers can confidently inform prospects that fresh material will be ready within hours, reassuring them that the creative process is fluid and collaborative.
Co-investment is key to transitioning from being a vendor to becoming a trusted partner, which is the first major hurdle in winning long-term business.
Crafting Engaging Spec Copy
Any successful creative pitch relies on spec copy that captures the client's attention and sparks their imagination.
In order to create engaging, compelling spec copy, first and foremost familiarize yourself with the client's world—their brand voice, target audience, unique selling proposition, and any pain points. This knowledge serves as the foundation for an effective creative pitch sales, one that showcases your expertise while addressing how your solution can alleviate their challenges.
Your writing should create an immediate emotional connection, using sensory language that paints a vivid picture in the client's mind. Instead of simply stating that a product is delicious, for example, describe how its flavors dance on the tongue and evoke memories of Mom's home cooking.
Creative Copy Essentials
Aim for concepts that are on-brand for your client, but still outside-the-box. You want to present spec content that punches through the noise.
Make sure your concept hits the target consumers’ pain points and/or desires.
Open with a powerful hook—a question, statistic, or bold declaration that immediately grabs attention. This could be something like, "What if you could cut your monthly energy bill in half?" or "In a world where 92% of consumers trust referrals, are you doing enough to earn your customers' praise?"
Weave in storytelling elements to make your message more memorable and impactful. Create relatable characters, set up intriguing situations, and guide the reader through a narrative arc. Take your client on a journey. Don't just communicate information—create an experience.
Incorporate data and metrics from industry benchmarks or case studies to add substance to your claims. This not only demonstrates your expertise but also provides tangible evidence of the potential ROI your solution can deliver. If you're including visual elements like mock-ups or design samples, ensure they align with the prospect's brand guidelines and aesthetic preferences for a cohesive and personalized feel.
Keep the client's objectives top of mind. Every line of copy should serve a clear purpose, whether demonstrating an understanding of their challenges, highlighting a key benefit of the product or service, or moving toward a specific call to action.
Don't forget the power of simplicity. While it's tempting to pack your copy with clever wordplay and complex ideas, sometimes the most effective messages are the most straightforward. Strive for clarity, punch, and memorability over intricacy. Use bullet points, short paragraphs, and clear headings to improve readability and maintain the prospect's attention.
Include a clear and compelling call to action that encourages further engagement. This could be an invitation to discuss the proposal in more detail, a request for a follow-up meeting, or a specific next step that moves the sales process forward.
Finally, proofread your spec copy meticulously. Even the smallest error can undermine your credibility and professionalism, so take the time to double-check for accuracy, consistency, and polish.
Remember, the goal of your spec copy is to give the client a tantalizing taste of what's possible—to get them excited about the creative direction and eager to see more. Copy that is relevant, emotional, persuasive, and purposeful is the path to winning their trust and their business.
The Creative Review Process: A Critical Step
The creative review meeting should be an engaging and interactive experience, where everyone feels involved and invested in the outcome. Reading the creative scripts or presenting the storyboards out loud brings the creative to life, allowing the client to experience the full impact of the campaign.
Key Benefits of a Creative Review Meeting for Audio Ads:
Demonstrates the power of radio or audio advertising: For example, reading a radio script aloud highlights the personal and intimate nature of the medium. In radio, words have a significant impact because listeners can’t "close their ears." This effect is well demonstrated by phrases like, “Don’t think of the color purple,” which immediately triggers the thought of purple in the listener’s mind.
Makes the intangible tangible: When you read the scripts or present the visual assets, the client can hear or see exactly how the ad will come together. This removes uncertainty and gives the client a clear understanding of what they will receive.
Helps the client visualize themselves as a successful advertiser: The creative review is a key moment when the client begins to see themselves as a radio or media advertiser. By painting a vivid picture of the final product, you’re helping the client imagine the campaign’s success and their brand’s prominence.
Opportunity to pick up buying signals: As the client reacts to the creative ideas, they will often start giving feedback such as, “I would say it more like this,” or “My spouse will be voicing the ad, and they wouldn’t say that.” These are strong buying signals that indicate the client is already invested and is ready to move forward.
By the end of the creative review meeting, your relationship with the client has likely evolved into one of partnership. They see you as a trusted advisor who is working with them to achieve their goals. This consultative approach is becoming the gold standard in sales because it fosters long-term relationships and builds client loyalty.
Why Emailing Scripts Can Hurt the Process
It may seem convenient to send creative scripts via email for the client’s review, but this can be detrimental for several reasons. First, without a live meeting or call, you lose the opportunity to gauge the client’s immediate reaction. Active listening during the review process is crucial because it helps you understand which ideas are resonating and which need to be adjusted.
Second, when you email scripts, the ideas can feel more rigid and less open to interpretation. By not framing the creative review as a process, you miss the opportunity to iterate and collaborate with the client. If the ideas you send via email don’t hit the mark, you’ve lost the chance to explore other options in real-time, thus undermining one of the key benefits of leading with creative: the ability to refine and adjust until the perfect solution is found.
Do's and Don'ts of the Creative Pitch
To nail your creative pitch, keep these do's and don'ts in mind:
Do:
Research thoroughly and come prepared with insights about the client's business, industry, and target audience. According to HubSpot, 82% of sales professionals see building strong relationships as the most crucial and rewarding aspect of the sales process.
Start strong with your most impactful idea to capture attention and set a positive tone.
Use storytelling techniques to make your pitch memorable and relatable.
Be confident in your ideas, but also open to feedback and collaboration.
Have a clear call-to-action or next steps outlined.
Don't:
Overwhelm the client with too many ideas or details. Keep it focused and digestible.
Use jargon or technical terms without explaining them. Keep the language accessible.
Be too rigid or defensive about your ideas. Remember, this is a collaboration.
Forget to follow up promptly with next steps and a timeline. According to the Belkins’ 2024 B2B study, follow-up emails can increase response rates by 49%.
Neglect to thank the client for their time and consideration.
By following these guidelines, you'll be well on your way to delivering a creative pitch that wows the client and sets the stage for a successful partnership.
Remember, the future of sales isn't about pitching—it's about partnering. By leading with creativity, we don't just sell solutions; we co-create transformative experiences that redefine the client-agency relationship.
Are you ready to turn collaboration into your competitive advantage? With Write Label, you can access creative spec copy crafted by pros or generated by AI to seal the deal fast. Book your demo today and transform your sales game!
