5 steps for evaluating marketing creative more objectively

Let’s face it. When developing and evaluating design and copy for marketing, reviewing creative work can be subjective. Whether it’s image choice, color palette, or the way a headline is phrased, different viewers can have a very different response to the same piece. You might say the only consistent thing is the bias people bring to the process based on their own personal taste. Here are some examples:

“I love that photo.”
“I hate that photo.”
“The yellow color really catches attention.”
“I hate yellow.”
“Add more detailed product information.”
“No one reads copy. Make it shorter.”
“Make the font bigger/bolder/underlined/bulleted/a different color.”
“The headline should be more clever/funny/serious/emotional/impactful.”

You get the idea. Even marketers can still make recommendations based on their own personal preferences, if they aren’t careful. So how do we ensure we’re staying objective? I recently came across an article published by the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) that offered a simple process for developing and evaluating creative: The GUMBY Solution

1. Goals – Identify (or revisit) your main objectives. What do you want to say? What are the sales/marketing goals? Are they being communicated clearly in the creative work?
2. Users – Who is the audience or persona and what do you want the user experience to be? Think about what resonates with your audience, not with you. Take a user-centric approach.
3. Material – This refers to content, context, and format. Are there assets from previous work that can be leveraged? How will various marketing channels work together?
4. Brand – Do not compromise the brand. Bottom line: brand guidelines must be adhered to. Messages must be aligned and unified across all channels.
5. Yardstick – Use baseline results or historical performance to help set KPIs to measure success. Continue to test and refine.

Want to be more objective in reviewing creative work? Consider using this simple G-U-M-B-Y formula and help make sure your creative product is successfully hitting its intended mark.

For the full article, visit https://thedma.org/blog/marketing-conferences/g-u-m-b-y-solution-effective-creative/