Confessions of a Creative Team
If you’ve been in the content game long enough, you’ve got stories. The projects that flopped, the brilliant save made at the last second, and the people you met along the way that changed your whole perspective.
At Captivated Content, we live and breathe creative strategy, but that doesn’t mean we’ve always done it perfectly. Truthfully, some of our best practices were born from trial, error, and a lot of long frustrated days.
So, we’re pulling back the curtain and sharing a few hard-won lessons from our team: one thing each of us would never do again, and one thing we absolutely swear by. Whether you’re a content creator, a marketer, or just someone who wants better results from your media, there’s something here for you.
What We’ll Never Do Again
Mistakes? We’ve made a few. These are the ones that reshaped the way we work and why we’re not looking back.
Casey (Owner & Creative Director):
Never again: Producing content without a goal in mind
“Without a goal, you are basically driving blind. But the goal does not have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be ROI driven or KPI driven. It can be as simple as “capturing video for documentation purposes” or as detailed as “creating a 30 second commercial that converts 30% of viewers into customers.” Oftentimes, I like to focus mostly on the outcome of a piece of content and then let the organic creativity take place on shoot days.”
Mason (Senior Editor):
Never again: Only have one way of capturing audio
“One time at video shoot, the client and I were talking while I set up and they asked if I ever forgot to hit record. I brushed it off with an ‘of course not.’ Come to find out I had to go back and reshoot the whole spotlight because I didn’t have my primary audio source recording. Now I always have two audio input sources recording on shoots.”
Chloe (Operations and Content Strategist):
Never again: Scheduling content so far out that there’s no flexibility
“Through college, I was taught that it’s important to plan way head and be as prepared as possible. I would schedule posts out weeks or even a month in advance so that there was plenty of time for the many hoops you have to jump through when working with clients. I learned pretty quickly that although being prepared and staying on a schedule is important, it’s just as important to remember that things change fast, and it’s really easy to get stuck. Now I always make sure to integrate flex windows into all of my content calendars”
What We Swear By
Although it took years, over a decade for some of us (shoutout Casey), and even though we all still make mistakes, we do have some non- negotiables that each of us swear by in our daily creative grinds.
Casey:
Swear by: The 5 Shot Rule from the book How to Be an iPhone Millionaire
“While in college, I read a short book called How to be an iPhone Millionaire. And yes, the book might seem a little over the top, but it had a few neat takeaways. One takeaway in particular was the 5 Shot Rule. In video production, using the imagination of the mind through specific shots helps viewers understand a scene.”
*** Check out the link below for a full blog on the 5 shot rule
Mason:
Swear by: Editing to the music
“When I first came on at Captivated Content, Casey was always telling me how much nicer videos turn out when you have music or something to edit them to. I had a different mindset and it took me a while (years probably) to take his advice and try it his way. Although Casey and I both have different processes of editing and finding the right music, videos always look better when you edit them to a music track and after all that time it has become my standard while editing.”
Chloe:
Swear by: Tailoring content to be platform/ audience specific
“It’s SOOOOO much easier to just write one caption, do only one version of videos, and not worry about changing the video examples to fit the client in emails. But, I’ve seen firsthand just how that simple tailoring can make huge changes in ROI as well as client satisfaction and sale closure.”
One Final Thought
Some of these lessons were hard-earned. Others came from great advice we actually listened to. But they’ve all shaped how we approach content; from strategy to shoot day to final edits.
Take it from us, creativity is one of the most frustrating aspects of working in content creation, but also by far the most rewarding. The trials and tribulations, constant criticism, and feeling under par after putting your heart and soul into a project can be crippling, but the smiles and love from all of the people who were touched by the work we do make it all worth it.
If you want to take the easy way out, or are feeling like the creativity isn’t worth it, trust us, it always is. If you’ve got your own “never again” or “swear by” moment, we’d love to hear it. And if you’re stuck figuring out how to make content that really works for your brand, you know where to find us.
We’re always open to chat about anything marketing, video production, or digital strategy! We’d love to talk!
