ut be very conversant in the most efficient work flow. Look for someone confident enough to make suggestions when needed but flexible enough to be comfortable to work with.

The second important factor to look for is someone that is well connected and used to teaming up with other professionals. For example, a graphic designer with partnerships with printers can offer great savings for your project. A good graphic designer knows how to prepare files so they will print properly. Printers really appreciate this and may give that designer a deep discount. A freelance creative service provider will most likely pass those savings onto you. An agency will not. It's also important that your service provider have connections with other creative service providers such as writers, photographers, illustrators, web programmers, and web host services. When you need to work with one of these other professionals, they come to you prescreened. A professional is not going to work with someone that will make them look bad. They also have a better sense for what makes a good copy writer or photographer then you might if you don't use those services often.

The most important thing to look

Outside agencies can provide an entire experienced communications department at a fraction of the cost.

In this tough economic market, the last thing you want to do is get rid of your communication materials - especially your newsletters, brochures, web sites, etc. Or worse, let them go stale. However, this is the perfect time to strengthen the message contained in them. It sets you apart from your competition and it enhances both customer and employee loyalty.

Constant and consistent communication is essential to weather the hard times. It's tempting to cut expenses, especially in uncertain economic times. Consider the effect this decision might have on your internal and external communication pieces. Instead of cutting the budget or the staff, why not consider outsourcing the work?

One major benefit of outsourcing your communications material is the money it will save you! For less than the cost of one employee's salary, outsourcing enables you to hire an entire communications department, including writers, researchers, graphic designers, and project managers. You only use their services as you need them. You have no overhead. No equipment to maintain. No software updates. No special skills. And what's more important - you don't need to invest the time or money into training and supervising your staff.

Another huge savings is in the time outsourcing can save you. Because the creative specialists are professionals at what they do, it takes them much less time to prepare these materials than it would take you. Time you can spend on doing what you do best - running your business. Plus they'll create a much more professional product in the end.

Additionally, since your communication material is the subcontractor's priority, you can count on a regularly published piece. This ends the guess work as to when you'll get to it and increases your professional credibility. But creative services can be a bit of an unknown world when your first starting your search. Below are a few tips to make it easier.

What sort of creative service should you outsource to?

Advertising agencies can be very expensive. Also, their main emphasis tends to be on pure marketing or advertising - not communication or relationship building - which is what retains customers. Public relations agencies tend to have copy writing experience, but are very shot on the graphic design and production end of the spectrum. To truly maximize your budget look for an outsource service that can cover all of the bases. Here's a tip: the smaller one-person shop that collaborates with other professionals may be the better bargain.

Why? Because you get specialists in their own fields who are used to working with each other as a team, but you don't get the huge overhead that a large agency has. An agency has to pay worker's compensation, employee benefits, insurance, and rent. Guess who they pass those expenses onto. That's right: you. A smaller shop doesn't have that sort of overhead. Many high-end professional creative service providers even work out of studios in their own homes. This means your mark up will be much less. The added bonus is that customer service tends to be much more important to the one person shop.

How do you pick the right service provider?

The starting place is the company web site. Does it look professional? Does it answer your questions? Does it offer the option to ask questions or request information without much commitment on your part? Next, talk to the person either by phone or in person. Do they ask relevant questions about the project you're working on? Are they interested about your business? Gone are the days when you request a resume from a freelance creative services professional. Where they went to school is far less important than what they can do. Ask to see work samples - similar to the project that you're discussing - and a client list. These two items should form the basis of your decision. Talk with them about the work samples that they're showing you. Ask what were their responsibilities; what were the challenges; and how they interacted with the client. Also, ask for a list of references that you can call. Three is usually enough for you to get a feel for the type of working relationship you would have with this contractor.

What else do you need to know?

There are two other important considerations when looking at a freelance creative service provider. First, ask how they work. What's the process? Some will take a creative brief of your project and ask a lot of questions, then go away and develop some concepts to present to you. Others will want more direction from you. A professional will be able to work with your needs but be very conversant in the most efficient work flow. Look for someone confident enough to make suggestions when needed but flexible enough to be comfortable to work with.

The second important factor to look for is someone that is well connected and used to teaming up with other professionals. For example, a graphic designer with partnerships with printers can offer great savings for your project. A good graphic designer knows how to prepare files so they will print properly. Printers really appreciate this and may give that designer a deep discount. A freelance creative service provider will most likely pass those savings onto you. An agency will not. It's also important that your service provider have connections with other creative service providers such as writers, photographers, illustrators, web programmers, and web host services. When you need to work with one of these other professionals, they come to you prescreened. A professional is not going to work with someone that will make them look bad. They also have a better sense for what makes a good copy writer or photographer then you might if you don't use those services often.

The most important thing to look f

o software updates. No special skills. And what's more important - you don't need to invest the time or money into training and supervising your staff.

Another huge savings is in the time outsourcing can save you. Because the creative specialists are professionals at what they do, it takes them much less time to prepare these materials than it would take you. Time you can spend on doing what you do best - running your business. Plus they'll create a much more professional product in the end.

Additionally, since your communication material is the subcontractor's priority, you can count on a regularly published piece. This ends the guess work as to when you'll get to it and increases your professional credibility. But creative services can be a bit of an unknown world when your first starting your search. Below are a few tips to make it easier.

What sort of creative service should you outsource to?

Advertising agencies can be very expensive. Also, their main emphasis tends to be on pure marketing or advertising - not communication or relationship building - which is what retains customers. Public relations agencies tend to have copy writing experience, but are very shot on the graphic design and production end of the spectrum. To truly maximize your budget look for an outsource service that can cover all of the bases. Here's a tip: the smaller one-person shop that collaborates with other professionals may be the better bargain.

Why? Because you get specialists in their own fields who are used to working with each other as a team, but you don't get the huge overhead that a large agency has. An agency has to pay worker's compensation, employee benefits, insurance, and rent. Guess who they pass those expenses onto. That's right: you. A smaller shop doesn't have that sort of overhead. Many high-end professional creative service providers even work out of studios in their own homes. This means your mark up will be much less. The added bonus is that customer service tends to be much more important to the one person shop.

How do you pick the right service provider?

The starting place is the company web site. Does it look professional? Does it answer your questions? Does it offer the option to ask questions or request information without much commitment on your part? Next, talk to the person either by phone or in person. Do they ask relevant questions about the project you're working on? Are they interested about your business? Gone are the days when you request a resume from a freelance creative services professional. Where they went to school is far less important than what they can do. Ask to see work samples - similar to the project that you're discussing - and a client list. These two items should form the basis of your decision. Talk with them about the work samples that they're showing you. Ask what were their responsibilities; what were the challenges; and how they interacted with the client. Also, ask for a list of references that you can call. Three is usually enough for you to get a feel for the type of working relationship you would have with this contractor.

What else do you need to know?

There are two other important considerations when looking at a freelance creative service provider. First, ask how they work. What's the process? Some will take a creative brief of your project and ask a lot of questions, then go away and develop some concepts to present to you. Others will want more direction from you. A professional will be able to work with your needs but be very conversant in the most efficient work flow. Look for someone confident enough to make suggestions when needed but flexible enough to be comfortable to work with.

The second important factor to look for is someone that is well connected and used to teaming up with other professionals. For example, a graphic designer with partnerships with printers can offer great savings for your project. A good graphic designer knows how to prepare files so they will print properly. Printers really appreciate this and may give that designer a deep discount. A freelance creative service provider will most likely pass those savings onto you. An agency will not. It's also important that your service provider have connections with other creative service providers such as writers, photographers, illustrators, web programmers, and web host services. When you need to work with one of these other professionals, they come to you prescreened. A professional is not going to work with someone that will make them look bad. They also have a better sense for what makes a good copy writer or photographer then you might if you don't use those services often.

The most important thing to look

but are very shot on the graphic design and production end of the spectrum. To truly maximize your budget look for an outsource service that can cover all of the bases. Here's a tip: the smaller one-person shop that collaborates with other professionals may be the better bargain.

Why? Because you get specialists in their own fields who are used to working with each other as a team, but you don't get the huge overhead that a large agency has. An agency has to pay worker's compensation, employee benefits, insurance, and rent. Guess who they pass those expenses onto. That's right: you. A smaller shop doesn't have that sort of overhead. Many high-end professional creative service providers even work out of studios in their own homes. This means your mark up will be much less. The added bonus is that customer service tends to be much more important to the one person shop.

How do you pick the right service provider?

The starting place is the company web site. Does it look professional? Does it answer your questions? Does it offer the option to ask questions or request information without much commitment on your part? Next, talk to the person either by phone or in person. Do they ask relevant questions about the project you're working on? Are they interested about your business? Gone are the days when you request a resume from a freelance creative services professional. Where they went to school is far less important than what they can do. Ask to see work samples - similar to the project that you're discussing - and a client list. These two items should form the basis of your decision. Talk with them about the work samples that they're showing you. Ask what were their responsibilities; what were the challenges; and how they interacted with the client. Also, ask for a list of references that you can call. Three is usually enough for you to get a feel for the type of working relationship you would have with this contractor.

What else do you need to know?

There are two other important considerations when looking at a freelance creative service provider. First, ask how they work. What's the process? Some will take a creative brief of your project and ask a lot of questions, then go away and develop some concepts to present to you. Others will want more direction from you. A professional will be able to work with your needs but be very conversant in the most efficient work flow. Look for someone confident enough to make suggestions when needed but flexible enough to be comfortable to work with.

The second important factor to look for is someone that is well connected and used to teaming up with other professionals. For example, a graphic designer with partnerships with printers can offer great savings for your project. A good graphic designer knows how to prepare files so they will print properly. Printers really appreciate this and may give that designer a deep discount. A freelance creative service provider will most likely pass those savings onto you. An agency will not. It's also important that your service provider have connections with other creative service providers such as writers, photographers, illustrators, web programmers, and web host services. When you need to work with one of these other professionals, they come to you prescreened. A professional is not going to work with someone that will make them look bad. They also have a better sense for what makes a good copy writer or photographer then you might if you don't use those services often.

The most important thing to look

n person. Do they ask relevant questions about the project you're working on? Are they interested about your business? Gone are the days when you request a resume from a freelance creative services professional. Where they went to school is far less important than what they can do. Ask to see work samples - similar to the project that you're discussing - and a client list. These two items should form the basis of your decision. Talk with them about the work samples that they're showing you. Ask what were their responsibilities; what were the challenges; and how they interacted with the client. Also, ask for a list of references that you can call. Three is usually enough for you to get a feel for the type of working relationship you would have with this contractor.

What else do you need to know?

There are two other important considerations when looking at a freelance creative service provider. First, ask how they work. What's the process? Some will take a creative brief of your project and ask a lot of questions, then go away and develop some concepts to present to you. Others will want more direction from you. A professional will be able to work with your needs but be very conversant in the most efficient work flow. Look for someone confident enough to make suggestions when needed but flexible enough to be comfortable to work with.

The second important factor to look for is someone that is well connected and used to teaming up with other professionals. For example, a graphic designer with partnerships with printers can offer great savings for your project. A good graphic designer knows how to prepare files so they will print properly. Printers really appreciate this and may give that designer a deep discount. A freelance creative service provider will most likely pass those savings onto you. An agency will not. It's also important that your service provider have connections with other creative service providers such as writers, photographers, illustrators, web programmers, and web host services. When you need to work with one of these other professionals, they come to you prescreened. A professional is not going to work with someone that will make them look bad. They also have a better sense for what makes a good copy writer or photographer then you might if you don't use those services often.

The most important thing to look

ut be very conversant in the most efficient work flow. Look for someone confident enough to make suggestions when needed but flexible enough to be comfortable to work with.

The second important factor to look for is someone that is well connected and used to teaming up with other professionals. For example, a graphic designer with partnerships with printers can offer great savings for your project. A good graphic designer knows how to prepare files so they will print properly. Printers really appreciate this and may give that designer a deep discount. A freelance creative service provider will most likely pass those savings onto you. An agency will not. It's also important that your service provider have connections with other creative service providers such as writers, photographers, illustrators, web programmers, and web host services. When you need to work with one of these other professionals, they come to you prescreened. A professional is not going to work with someone that will make them look bad. They also have a better sense for what makes a good copy writer or photographer then you might if you don't use those services often.

The most important thing to look for in a creative services provider is someone that you like to work with. They can become a valuable part of your team and can help make even a small business look big. Once you know what to look for, there's no reason to hesitate jumping into the outsource pool.