Creative Marketplace User Explained

What It Is

The Creative Marketplace is a platform for designers and small business owners to meet each other's business needs. Customers who sign up for the Easy To Send email marketing service will have access to the Creative Marketplace, where they can find a designer for hire. This is a great way for you to find and work with designers to get your email marketing template, logo, and/or website created.

How It Works

The designers in the Creative Marketplace will profile their work and allow you to interact with them on projects. You can browse for a designer by portfolio, ratings, budget, and Easy To Send ranking. Once you find a designer, you can either submit a question or fill out a job request. The designer will receive your message through their Easy To Send inbox, and will have the option of accepting, requesting more information, or declining the job. If the designer accepts, you will then receive a formal quote for approval. Once you accept the quote, your credit card will be charged for the amount quoted and work on the job can commence. All of the communication and work is done right inside of our Easy To Send platform for an easy and great experience.

Why You Should Use the Creative Marketplace

Let's face it, when you are running a small business, you don't have time to create your email templates, logos, websites, etc. We have built a product that easily allows you to collaborate with the designers right inside one platform. The Creative Marketplace provides a place where you can search for designers, communicate with designers, and get your project completed so you can focus on running your business. Once the work has been completed, our system allows you to download the files right to your system.

Things to Remember

Here are a few things to keep in mind when submitting a job:

- Give the designer as much information and guidelines as possible upon initial submission of the job. This will prevent additional revisions and help you obtain your perfect template, and fast.

-Your company's personality. Does your company cater to a younger or older crowd? Do you use traditional language or do you like to portray a fun, casual attitude? It's important to convey this to the designer so they can create a template that is reflective of your company.

-Do you have a set of colors or font style you usually use? Make sure you send that information to the designer. Be as detailed as possible, even including the specific pantone numbers for the color or font name if possible. Also, always include your company's logo and if possible, a link to your website, so that your branding stays consistent.

-Image v. Text ratio. Think about whether you tend to use lots of photographs, or whether you're newsletter tends to be more text heavy. Keep in mind that for optimal deliverability Easy To Send recommends a 60% text 40% image ratio.

Getting Started

To get started with Creative Marketplace, log into Easy To Send and click the Creative Marketplace tab. After accepting the terms and conditions, you are now ready to start searching for designers. View our How-To Guide on how to collaborate on your first project with a designer.

How-To Guide for Users

Searching and Selecting a Designer

Searching and Browsing: On the Creative Marketplace tab, you are automatically taken to a search page to browse for a designer. There are a lot of search criteria including searching by word/phrase, browse by category, browse by budget, browse by average click rate, browse by user rating, and browse by freelance ranking. After filling out your search criteria, click the Browse button and your results will be displayed.

Designer Profiles

Results: After searching or browsing, based upon your criteria, a list of designer profiles appears on the screen. Clicking the Full Profile button, next to the designer's name, will display full profile information about that designer. We have also placed a Contact Designer button next to the profile name to make it easy to contact a particular designer right from the Search window.

Profile: The profile page displays numerous amount of information that the designer has shared when they set up their profile. Most importantly, the designer profile includes an overview of the designer, a link to their portfolio, their job history, rates, and customer reviews. You may also contact the designer by clicking the Contact Designer button right next to the designer profile's name.

Communicating with a Designer

Contact Designer: By clicking the Contact Designer button, you will be taken to a screen so that you can fill out a form with your questions. Please enter in the subject and description box with detailed questions surrounding your request.

Messages: This is the central communication portal for Creative Marketplace. This screen displays all the messages that you have received, as well as notifications. By clicking on the individual message you can see more details, as well as reply and add an attachment. Please remember that, per the stated terms and conditions of the Creative Marketplace, the messaging module is the only place to communicate with designers.

Submitting a Job

Submitting a job request: In order to submit a job request, we recommend that you first contact the designer through our messaging module to discuss the job specifics. When you are ready to submit the job request, click the Contact Designer button and scroll down towards the bottom of the page. Here you will enter in the job description details including job name, description, job type, cost is automatically filled in based upon the designer's rate, job due date, and then click the Submit button. The designer will receive an email, as well as a notification for a job request inside their Creative Marketplace account. The designer will then review the job and either approve it or reject it. Either way, you will receive an email and notification of the designer's acceptance or rejection of the job.

Paying for the Project

Payment: Once the designer has approved the job, you will receive an email and a notification inside of Easy To Send. At that point, you will need to confirm the job and then be taken to the payment window. Here you will either enter in your PayPal information or your credit card information for payment. Once payment has been made, the designer will receive notice that they can start working on the job.

Project Collaboration

My Jobs: This is the area of Creative Marketplace to view your ongoing jobs. This screen lists the job name, designer name, status, job type, and an action's drop down list to view messages or view the job right from this screen. You can filter and also search this page for any job you would like to find. By clicking on the job name, you can find out additional details about the job.

Individual Job: This screen includes 3 detailed areas surrounding the job – Job Name Info, Upload Work, and Job History. The Job Info includes Job Number (unique for Easy To Send's purposes), Client Name, Status, Rate, Due Date, Job Type, and Messages. The Status link is where the designer will update the job with In Progress, On Hold, or Completed. The Upload Work area is the place where the designer uploads their project zip files into the project. The Job History shows details, with a date timeline, as to what has happened on this project.

Your Completed Files

My Templates: The My Templates tab displays all of the completed Email jobs, categorized by type. You can either click on the category to the left or click the All tab to see all the files you have in your account. This module also allows you to view, download, and delete the files from your Creative Marketplace account.