What We Ask Our Clients Before We Strategize Their Creative Content
Everyone’s cranking out content these days. Scroll for five seconds and you’ll trip over a reel, an ad, a podcast clip, or some overproduced brand video trying to grab your attention.
If you want your creative media to actually hit, whether it’s social posts, ad campaigns, videos, audio, or anything that isn’t just another blog, you need more than hot tips and Canva templates. You need work that makes people stop scrolling, lean in, and remember you.
We don’t touch a camera, mic, or design file until we ask our clients these questions first. And these are things you should ask yourself too.
What Are You Trying to Communicate
Before we touch a storyboard or set up a single shot, we need to know your core message. We’ll ask you to boil it down to one or two sentences. What’s the thesis? What’s the one thing you need your audience to walk away knowing, feeling, or doing?
Our main goal here is to cut through the fluff and get past the “we just need more content” or “can you make it go viral” requests. We want the root of what you actually need so we can build something that delivers. Your answer shapes everything about the creative ranging from: the tone and visuals; to how we target; where we place it; and even how much budget we need to put into production.
A vague message leads to vague results. A clear one is where the magic and ROI happen.
What’s the Problem You’re Really Solving
When we ask this, we’re not fishing for a fluffy “we just want to grow” answer. We’re trying to figure out how urgent the problem is, and exactly who you need to reach.
Example: a client came to us convinced they needed “a little something” to freshen things up.
Translation: they weren’t ready to blow up the brand, but they desperately needed to get in front of a younger crowd. So instead of wasting money on a glossy, Oscar-worthy brand video that no one under 35 would watch, we cooked up something with sharp f’n hooks that this demographic would watch on repeat.
Think loud, unexpected, and shareable. The kind of stunt or influencer collab that makes the group chat light up. I hate this example and I’m glad they’re gone, but remember flash mobs from the late 2000s? Something with that level of unexpected energy, but definitely not that and maybe something like dropping a surprise pop-up experience in the middle of a busy street, or a live-streamed challenge that snowballs across TikTok in a weekend.
How Fast Do You Need This
Creative has three variables that always work together: speed, quality, and cost. When we know what two of the variables are, it helps us figure out the third one, which is typically cost. For example, if a client wants something turned around at lightning speed, and they still want it to look top tier, the budget has to match, or aka “This won’t be cheap.”
Case in point, we had someone reach out late-last February for their Spring creative (product line to launch in April) and they were price shopping like they were about to find a clearance rack deal.
Cool idea, except we’re in Minnesota where February here looks nothing like Spring. That meant us either flying to a location that does look like spring, or renting a production studio to fake Springtime. Either way, speed plus quality was going to cost them.
Who is Your Audience
Some of the earlier questions already hint at your audience, but this is where we strip it down to the bones. We need to know exactly who we’re speaking to so we can lock in the style, understand who’s actually going to be watching, and make sure you know your people better than you know your own family. If you don’t, we’ll make it very clear why that’s a problem.
Here’s the truth. People are drowning in media all day, every day. They’ve seen every trick in the book. You can’t just throw shiny visuals at them and hope it sticks. We need to know if this calls for a Christopher Nolan-level cinematic masterpiece that makes them stop dead in their tracks, or if it should be raw, uncut, and feel like it fell straight out of their group chat. Either way, we’re not creating content that gets ignored.
And if you tell us your audience is “everyone,” we already know it’s no one.
How Do You Want This to Feel
We’re talking vibes here. Not colors, not fonts, not the camera you saw on TikTok. Do you want your audience inspired, hyped, curious, nostalgic, or uncomfortable in a way that makes them think?
The way you want it to feel shapes everything from pacing and lighting to music and casting. If you try to make people feel everything at once, they’ll feel nothing. If we disagree with your direction, we’ll tell you why. But at the end of the day, it’s your creative and we’ll happily deliver what you want while quietly filing it under “told you so.”
Can You Send Us a Creative Example or Two
We ask for examples to see what is actually in your head. Sometimes we get reels with exotic locations or campaigns that clearly had a $25 million budget. That is fine, but like Sherlock Holmes, it means we need to dig.
Most of the time it is not the high production value you love. It might be a mood, a pacing, or one clever moment we cannot spot without your input. So we ask what exactly you like and why it resonates. If your budget and the example do not match, that is our cue to play detective until we know exactly what you are chasing.
And if you send us champagne taste on a beer budget, expect us to serve you the truth with a side of reality check.
What Are the Final Deliverables Needed
This is where we lock down exactly what you are getting at the end of the project. Are we talking one hero video, a batch of short form clips, a library of ad creatives, or a mix of everything? The more specific we get here, the less room there is for “I thought I was getting more,” or “We have to invoice you more” conversations later.
Nailing deliverables matters because production planning is different if we are making a single polished piece versus twenty variations for multiple platforms. It affects scripting, shooting, editing, and even how we budget time on set.
If you cannot clearly define what you want, we will help you figure it out. But know this, vague requests turn into vague results and we are not here to hand you a shrug in digital form.
What’s the Timeline
We need to know when this has to be in your hands. Are we working with weeks, months, or are you already behind schedule and hoping we can save it? Remember, speed is part of the three variables.
Your timeline sets the pace for everything from pre production to shooting, editing, and approvals. If the clock is tight, something has to give. That might be the budget, the scale, or how many rounds of feedback we can realistically handle.
The sooner we know your deadline, the sooner we can tell you if it is possible without cutting corners that will hurt the final product. And if your deadline is completely unrealistic, we will tell you straight so you can either adjust your expectations, adjust your budget, or find someone else who’s gonna try to meet unrealistic expectations.
Where Will the Content Be Published
We need to know exactly where your content is going to be published once it is done. Is this built for social, paid ads, your website, an event, a TV spot, or all of the above?
Where it’s published changes everything. A TikTok needs a different format, pacing, and energy than a conference video or a primetime ad. If we do not know the destination, we are basically shooting blind.
Tell us where it’s going, and we will tailor it for that platform so it actually works there. And if you say “everywhere,” be ready for us to break down exactly what it takes to make content that works everywhere. Spoiler: it’s more complicated than just cropping the same video into different shapes.
And if you drop a $50k cinematic masterpiece only on Instagram Stories, you are basically lighting part of your budget on fire for 24 hours of glory.
Are There More Decision Makers on This Project
We need to know if we are getting feedback from one person or a whole committee. One clear decision maker keeps the project moving. Ten people with ten opinions turns into creative purgatory.
More decision makers mean more timelines, more revisions, and more chances for the original vision to get watered down. If you have multiple stakeholders, we need everyone aligned on goals, style, and deliverables before we start.
If you want great creative, keep the decision table small. Too many voices and the work turns into a bad cover band where everyone is off key and nobody wants to listen. And if we have to backtrack because someone new jumps in late with “feedback,” it will cost us time and it will cost you more money.
Are There Strict Branding Guidelines We Should Be Aware Of
If your brand has rules, we need to know them before we shoot a single frame. Colors, fonts, logos, tone of voice, and any banned words all matter.
This is not just about pleasing the brand police. It is about avoiding creative that gets killed in legal or shredded by stakeholders. If your guidelines are flexible, tell us where we can push. If they are strict, hand them over early. No guidelines? We will help you set a direction so you do not end up with a Frankenstein brand.
We have learned this the hard way. Once, a client told us right before a shoot that no other recognizable brands could appear in the creative. Suddenly we were tearing logos off clothes and swapping half the wardrobe like it was backstage at a runway show. That chaos is exactly why we ask upfront.
Why This is Important
These are the questions we ask every client before we create anything. We are sharing them because this thought process matters, even if you are working with your own internal creative team or another agency.
Great creative does not happen by accident. It comes from asking the right questions, getting honest answers, and using them to shape something that works. Every question here is designed to save time, money, and frustration while making sure the final product actually connects with the audience you want.
If you want work that people remember, start with these questions and answer them honestly. Whether you work with us or not, this is how you set your creative up to win.
