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Visually Survey Reveals Key Areas Where Marketers and Creatives Can Work Better Together

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — (Marketwired) — 11/04/15 — Producing high-quality marketing content at scale is key for many companies — but it–s not always a smooth road in terms of execution.

Per a recent survey from , a visual content creation platform, there are key areas that marketers and creative professionals can work on to more efficiently collaborate when creating content.

The survey data shows that more than 60 percent of content marketers and creatives, including designers, writers and developers, believe that the key issues that hinder optimal collaboration include: poor communication, including timely and consistent feedback, ill-defined and executed creative briefs, as well as a shortage of creative team staffing. When asked to describe their relationship, the word most frequently used by both marketers and creatives was “frustrating.”

While the process of creating content may not be as efficient as possible, most marketers are generally satisfied with the final content that their creative teams produce. However, there is still room for improvement. Only 38 percent of marketers are “very” or “extremely satisfied” with the content that their creative teams produce while almost 20 percent describe themselves as dissatisfied. From the creative professionals– perspective, 54 percent are “very” to “extremely proud” of the work they create for marketers.

“Per eMarketer, brands spend more than $118 billion annually on the production and distribution of digital content and this is expected to more than double by 2019,” said Matt Cooper, CEO of Visually. “As a result, marketing teams are under ever-growing pressure to create higher quality content at scale in an increasingly noisy space. Not working efficiently could mean the difference between success and failure. We hope that this data sheds some light on areas where marketers and creatives can better collaborate.”

Below are key insights from the survey data to help both creatives and marketers improve.

less than 40 percent of marketers say that creatives are doing this well;

: less than 30 percent of marketers say creatives are doing this well; and,

: only 24 percent of marketers feel that the creative teams they work with are staffed adequately.

: approximately 40 percent of creatives said this was difficult to very difficult when working with marketers;

thirty-two percent of creatives said this was difficult to very difficult while less than 30 percent said that marketers do this consistently or in a timely manner;

twenty-six percent of creatives said that this was difficult to very difficult when working with marketers; and,

: less than 25 percent of creatives indicated that marketers do a good job at this.

Creatives and marketers also have a rosier view of their own performance than may be reality. A key disconnect for creatives is delivering final content that meets expectations. Sixty-eight percent of creatives say that they do this well while only 46 percent of marketers agree. For marketers, giving actionable feedback is the key gap: fifty-five percent believe that they do this well while only 36 percent of creatives agree.

One problem area that they both agree on is: inadequate staffing. Only 24 percent of marketers state that the creative teams they work with are staffed adequately. And the majority of creatives agree with just 16 percent indicating that they have enough bandwidth to meet marketers– demands.

As a result, many marketers use external contributors to add bandwidth and skills. Per the data, nearly 60 percent of the marketers who most frequently use an in-house creative team augment their work with freelancers, agencies, or online services.

To download the full survey report and get actionable tips on how marketers and creatives can work better together, go to: . To view the infographic, go to: .

The survey was completed online via SurveyMonkey by a combined total of over 789 content marketers and creative professionals in the U.S. between July and August 2015. Based on a 95 percent confidence interval, these results have a 5 percent margin of error for creatives, and 7 percent margin of error for marketers.

Visually enables businesses to connect with their audiences through engaging beautiful visual content. The world–s top brands rely on Visually for premium videos, , eBooks, presentations, web interactives, social media micro-content and more: created fast and cost-effectively. With over 1000 certified creative professionals, Visually–s clients get access to the best designers, writers, researchers, and developers available, with a wide range of skills to support their business needs. Using Visually–s easy-to-use online collaboration platform, clients work closely with their team and enjoy a high-degree of creative control. And they are supported every step of the way — from talent assignment to creative direction — to create content that connects and converts. The company is backed by Crosslink Ventures, Softtech and 500 Startups. For more information, visit or follow on Twitter.

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Sharna Brockett
Visually
415-734-1763