Bring It to the Table

Working with a client is a two-way street.

They come to you for your expertise and your ideas. Yet many creatives forget that.

Many will stop suggesting ideas and concepts, stop pushing back on bad ideas or things they don’t think will work.

This doesn’t happen all at once, though.

They’ll explain ideas. They’ll show other options. They’ll try to improve the original idea.

But when these ideas aren’t actioned or taken on by the client, creatives can feel disheartened.

All too soon, the creatives will stop putting forward new ideas altogether.

This is where the death of the creative partnership occurs.

The work will be completed.

The files delivered on time.

On the surface, things will be smooth.

And yet, the best ideas will remain unspoken.

Your Job

As a creative — be that a designer, marketer, writer, whatever — it’s your job to bring ideas to the fore.

Even if those ideas aren’t used, you need to put them on the table.

Even if the attempt to improve the project is shot down, it’s still your job to suggest improvements when you feel they’re needed.

Ultimately, you don’t control whether your ideas are accepted and actioned.

But you do control whether or not you bring them to the table.

The moment you stop offering ideas because they might be ignored is the moment you stop doing the job you were hired to do.

Not every client will be a partner, and not every client will be with you forever.

But every project still deserves your best thinking.