The economy is rocky. Resources are tight. It's the perfect time to run out and hire a creative services firm to do your Internet marketing, right? Right! While resources must be considered carefully in a rocky economy, I am here to explain why investing in professional creative development is one of the soundest business decisions you can make.

1. You have it forever. Unlike other maintenance-driven services like PPC and SEO, which require constant upkeep, a bells-and-whistles web site design or some truly keen copywriting have endless charms that don't depreciate. A timelessly great design or some especially astute written resource do the trick today and ten years from now. I believe that is what super-logical, non-airy fairy type persons call "a sound investment."
2. In troubled times, it's more important than ever to stand out from the crowd. Certainly, you don't need a professional creative team. You too could grab a blogger template design, cobble together some clip art, and cough up some copy for your site. But since that's what everyone else is doing, you will look like everyone else. This is a deathknell in a crowded market where it's crucial to stand out and seem immediately better than your competitor. A smart-looking design, professional art and polished copy all give you that instant cache that makes searchers sit up a little straighter when they come across your site.
3. Creative services help you clarify your message, making it more palatable to buyers. Believe it or not, good creative drives the business objectives home; it doesn't just cover them in glitter and call it a day. No matter how dry, dusty, or cryptic, it's the creative team's job to make an offer, message or service compelling and comprehensible to its target audience. Here are some examples:
   • Example 1: Our creative team was once called upon to promote a client's one-click, call home GPS navigation system. "Huh?" you say to yourself. Exactly. The client suggested bullet points. The account manager suggested a landing page. I suggested a campaign centering around Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, clicking her heels together and uttering her famous "there's no place like home." Of these three ideas, it was the creative messaging that communicated the service best, and transformed a campaign from telecommunications tedium into something sexy and simple, with optional flying monkeys. Winner!
   • Example 2: Another time, we were tasked with creating a campaign for a glue gun that could heat up really fast. Who cares? No one did-until our creative department crafted our signature campaign, comparing the rate at which the glue gun heated to the breakneck pace at which a cheetah can go from a full stop to a sprint. Suddenly, people got it. These are examples of creative at its best, and for truly cryptic, complicated, or otherwise unsexy services, a crack creative department is pretty much essential.

All in all, if you are craving Internet marketing that hits your bullseye business objectives in an aesthetically bedazzling, long-lasting way, a professional creative department is your answer. Flying monkeys not (always) included.