Engagement for creative professionals
Building customer relationships through engaging experiences
Common sense dictates that creating content for engagement should come naturally to creative professionals. After all, they create materials that connect directly with consumers and have vast experience executing creative projects. However, recent developments such as the abundance of delivery mechanisms, the ease of content creation, and the democratization of distribution channels have made it more difficult for even creative professionals to build strong and lasting connections with audiences. Today, it’s a very different challenge to create content that drives interaction, purchasing, and loyalty than it was even five years ago.
Whether through dynamic websites, videos, games, mobile services, or printed pages, creative professionals today are focusing on strengthening emotional ties with their audiences through many different avenues. It is no longer enough just to get information in front of people—creative professionals must now present content in dynamic ways that engage individuals and encourage two-way interactions that are mutually beneficial.
The evolving creative landscape
The creative community has become extremely diverse, encompassing a variety of industries and individuals—including content owners, advertisers, and content creators. Each group has its own ideas about what is involved in creating, delivering, and interacting with content. Amateur advertising ideas compete with million-dollar budgets on Madison Avenue, as Frito-Lay successfully proved with its Doritos Super Bowl ads. And consumers are continually demanding richer, more compelling experiences that are tailored to their specific needs.
Increasingly, delineations between skill sets that previously existed among the creative community are blurring as projects become more complex and incorporate multiple design elements. Historically, consumers have been
the final audience for content—the individuals or organizations that ultimately took action on or responded to content delivered via video, the web, mobile devices, or in print. Today, new technologies are redefining consumer interactions and what engagement means to them. Interactivity has replaced delivery as
the paradigm.
Markets are evolving toward decentralized, participatory models with more organic, consumer-contributed content. Also, the rapid proliferation of devices and communications channels provides more opportunities to reach
intended audiences but also creates more competition for consumers’ increasingly fragmented attention. As a result, creative professionals must deliver content that stands out and grabs the attention of consumers.
Engaging a diverse consumer base
Today’s audiences are more fragmented than ever, often accessing and sharing information through a variety of digital and, to a lesser extent, print media. Consumers now enjoy much greater flexibility in how and when they
engage with content. On-demand services tailored to interests and budgets continue to grow more popular. Recent consumer research sponsored by Adobe found that more than half of European consumers state that targeted special
promotions have a strong or very strong influence on their shopping habits. Further adding to the challenges facing creative professionals, audiences have become adept at blocking out content that they view as irrelevant.
The proliferation of media and improved technologies has increased consumer desire for freedom of expression. The growing number of personal websites and the tremendous popularity of sites like MySpace and YouTube—which cumulatively are visited by nearly 90 million unique users each month—underscore consumers’ desires to connect with friends and colleagues, as well as share their ideas and creativity with broader audiences. Speed of communication and ease of access often take priority over content quality—which is not surprising since most consumers have not mastered professional creative tools. In fact, most professional tools are too complex for what users want to accomplish.
Creative professionals are looking to strengthen engagement with consumers by creating anddelivering personalized, interactive content. Engaging with customers is widely viewed as a critical element of business. In a recent global study on engagement conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Adobe, almost 60% of executives believe a strategy of creating deeper engagement with customers—one that ensures customers are easily engaged in every interaction with a company—will pay off over the next five years. Creative professionals must also address the fact that content can be accessed and shared worldwide, as well as issues such as
protecting copyrighted material. Ensuring brand integrity and preventing the loss of intellectual property are critical now that more content is created in digital format. Equally important is
finding ways to make customer interactions memorable and engaging—encouraging customers to return again and again.
Technology drives engagement
Great advances in technology offer the means to engage consumers in ways never before possible. For example, Comedy Central offers video clips of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on its website and mobile phones, as well as sponsoring an online community. Professionally produced videos, amateur video clips, interactive websites, blog posts, digital games, mobile services, and printed newsletters are just a few of the ways that creative professionals use software to create and deliver compelling content that helps them rise above competing messages. Integrated software suites, such as Adobe® Creative Suite® 3, offer a consistent design experience across components that helps designers apply existing skills to new tools—expanding the quality and breadth of services they offer. In addition, the latest software, including Creative Suite 3, provides built-in functionality to manage digital rights. From video, to web, to mobile, to print—creative professionals are finding new opportunities to build their businesses and help clients reach broader audiences in exciting, more engaging ways.
For casual users, innovative desktop software and online services provide solutions that make it easy to create, edit, and quickly share engaging content. Using integrated software suites, consumers can create high-quality videos, websites, and printed materials—as standalone pieces or in combination—that can be shared across media, accommodating each consumer’s desired level of expression.
Building customer relationships with engaging experiences
Solutions such as those offered by Adobe open new avenues for engaging customers and generating revenues. Rich, dynamic experiences strengthen relationships with consumers as they interact with content. At the highest level, innovative technologies deliver compelling experiences that inspire consumers to action, whether it is purchasing products or becoming advocates for brands and ideas.
“Creative professionals are challenged with creating the most compelling, interactive content—when the experience of how people interact with that content really matters. By leveraging the latest developments in imaging, video, and web technologies, we give creative professionals as well as casual users the ability to stand out with what they produce.”
—John Loiacono
senior vice president, Creative Solutions Business Unit, Adobe Systems
