Technology And Data Design For Creative Businesses | An Audience Connection Perspective
The Minneapolis ad community is filled with a myriad of talented and creative women. We’ve asked one of these women to give us some insight into how the less-visible technology and data side of our industry can impact creative.
We live in an abundant time of hyperactivity—content, as we call it.
A time when creative expression often feels more homogenous than multifaceted in its digital medium. This contemporary trend of creative delivery may be tied to creative judgment of technology platform limitations or over-used automation.
In a more positive light for creative businesses, technology and data design, the trend has provided extended arms of creative expression. Digital playground professionals, bending platform skill limitations, to convey a direct creative message.
A Space for Creativity
Like an extroverted-introvert, technology and data design have also developed trending self-care requirements of solitude. Mass digital movements and calls for creatives to “disconnect,” have become the norm. These healthy disconnect binges, in a world of content, provide headspace for creatives to identify their expressive definition, away from the ever-hypnotizing pixel screen.
As technology and data design integration increase, the practice brings light to key strategic questions for creative businesses:
· Could a creative business be more self-sustaining with automated technology tools?
· How far could a creative business go with data support?
· How can technology support creative genius, beyond artistic platforms?
· At what point does measurement hinder creativity?
· At what point does technology hinder creativity?
This discussion highlights strategic links between audience connection <> technology/data design implementation, for creative businesses.
Facilitating Audience Connection
Technology and data design based on audience connection is one of many strategic implementation considerations. Tool cost, total staff, levels of utilization, report access, technology functionality, automation…audience connection is, again, one of many considerations creative businesses should deliberate.
In the discussion of strategic links between audience connection <> technology/data design implementation, I’ve defined audience connection across four spectrums:
Surface/Tolerance connection: Creatively offering a product/message/event/project providing an informative level of connection.
Connective connection: Creatively offering a product/message/event/project beyond mere existence. Pushing its audiences to think at a higher level of personal understanding.
Penetration/Penetrable connection: Creatively offering a product/message/event/project shifting the daily actions of its audience. Causing a cultural disturbance or reawakening of thought and behavior.
Livelihood/Sustaining connection: Creatively offering a product/message/event/project “speaking life” to its audiences. Delivering its purpose directly to the daily needs, wants, and psychographic habits of its audience.
Creative businesses instinctively develop audience-facing strategies catered to the connective and penetrable connection levels of its audiences. Creative economies hold an advantage of being centered in the key purpose of their creative fruition—often bypassing the surface/tolerable level of audience connection. These habits draw a more centralized awareness in discussions of data design and technology tool implementation for creative businesses.
Positioning Data Design and Technology with Audience Connection
Scaling Tech Development and Data Design with Audience Perception
Technology implemented with audience levels in mind safeguards a creative business’s internal structures, allowing them to spend less time on un-connected tasks and more time creating toward purpose.
Technology implemented within the later levels of audience connection, penetration/penetrable or livelihood/sustaining, display more immediate levels of impact for a creative business. Entities within the earlier phases of audience connection still hold equal opportunity to benefit from technology implementation, but positive results may take a bit more time to reveal themselves—due to required strategic work in developing their brand.
Positive technology impact may include (but is not limited to):
· Sharing creative work across teams
· Automating operational tasks of internal staff structure
· Tracking revenue
· Delivering automated messaging
· Managing customers (CRM)
Data design exhibits the greatest immediate impact for creative businesses within the surface/tolerance or connective levels of audience connection. Lower awareness often fosters rapid transformational growth through data support. Creative businesses within higher levels of audience connection equally benefit from data design, but historical data may exhibit more plateaus and fewer initial outliers in their data findings.
With this shared discussion, audience connection is one of many strategic links to consider in technology or data design implementation. Tools of strategy or automation will continue to advance. Evaluating audience connection levels, prior to implementation of new technology or data design—develops a more grounded strategy; enhancing long-term sustainability for creative businesses to connect with their audiences.
//written by Jasmine Russell, Monicat Data
//photo by NASA