While looking at any creative, we never realize how much would have gone into coming up with such an effective creative. Sometimes, it takes days to even months, to come up with something that might sound extremely basic in terms of copy and creative. However, the real truth is that, while it is important to keep the message and the creative extremely simple, it is also important to make it effective and in lines with the objectives the brand is trying to achieve. Because, without having an objective, the creative writers have tendency to spread their wings in different directions. And, no brand wants that!
Some of the basic steps to craft an effective creative are as follows:
Step 1: Clarify your primary objective
The objective should be unidirectional, which means there shouldn't be a laundry list of objectives. Hence, it is very important to first answer, "What is the primary problem you are trying to solve with this creative?"
Being as specific, clear, realistic, measurable and target oriented as possible is the key.
Step 2: Define the Target Audience
Along with defining a clear objective, it is very important to define the target as well because without clarifying who the target is, creative people are more likely to design for their favorite audience: themselves!
Age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and income among several other things need to narrowed down while crafting a creative.
Step 3: Your call to Action (or Key Takeaway)
Perhaps one of the most important steps of the entire process, which deals with learning the single thing that you want your audience to do or remember. Unless and until you are not spelling out to your audience what they need to do, your campaign is a failure. Your campaign should lead to some form of action from the audiences' end.
Step 4: Break down your offer
At this point you explain why the audience should do what you want them to do. You need to define what is in it for them and why should they care bout them the same?
The best of the ads celebrate benefits and not features. You could use the feature route, but it has to be tied up with the benefits associated with those features.
Step 5: List Media Channels
All the media vehicles that you plan on using should be listed. It is very important to know the dimensions of the ad in case of print ads or billboards etc. It can help you built list of deliverables into a timeline, specifying dates for when you would like to see concepts and when finally delivery is expected for each item.
Step 6: Provide your budget
Often clients are not specific about their budget when they start off. And, it is not a good sign because creative depends on the budget and it cannot be the other way around. When the budget is not set, and a creative agency is asked to create a creative, it is often deemed as a waste of time because creative people have tendency to show their best which might not necessarily fit the clients' budget.
Step 7: Important
Advertising and Marketing materials are federally regulated when it comes to financial industry. So, all the mandatories (FDIC etc) need to be taken care off and mentioned clearly in the creative brief.
Step 8: Reference Material
It is very important for a client to provide the agency with data and research to back up their brief. But, it is important to make sure that only the information that is required is provided and there is nothing extra or less. Attaching, reference ads run by the competitors etc is also a good idea to make clear as to what the client wants.
So, these are some of the steps into coming up with a successful creative. These creative steps can provide strategic guidance and focus to all who are willing to craft an ad.
Some of the basic steps to craft an effective creative are as follows:
Step 1: Clarify your primary objective
The objective should be unidirectional, which means there shouldn't be a laundry list of objectives. Hence, it is very important to first answer, "What is the primary problem you are trying to solve with this creative?"
Being as specific, clear, realistic, measurable and target oriented as possible is the key.
Step 2: Define the Target Audience
Along with defining a clear objective, it is very important to define the target as well because without clarifying who the target is, creative people are more likely to design for their favorite audience: themselves!
Age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and income among several other things need to narrowed down while crafting a creative.
Step 3: Your call to Action (or Key Takeaway)
Perhaps one of the most important steps of the entire process, which deals with learning the single thing that you want your audience to do or remember. Unless and until you are not spelling out to your audience what they need to do, your campaign is a failure. Your campaign should lead to some form of action from the audiences' end.
Step 4: Break down your offer
At this point you explain why the audience should do what you want them to do. You need to define what is in it for them and why should they care bout them the same?
The best of the ads celebrate benefits and not features. You could use the feature route, but it has to be tied up with the benefits associated with those features.
Step 5: List Media Channels
All the media vehicles that you plan on using should be listed. It is very important to know the dimensions of the ad in case of print ads or billboards etc. It can help you built list of deliverables into a timeline, specifying dates for when you would like to see concepts and when finally delivery is expected for each item.
Step 6: Provide your budget
Often clients are not specific about their budget when they start off. And, it is not a good sign because creative depends on the budget and it cannot be the other way around. When the budget is not set, and a creative agency is asked to create a creative, it is often deemed as a waste of time because creative people have tendency to show their best which might not necessarily fit the clients' budget.
Step 7: Important
Advertising and Marketing materials are federally regulated when it comes to financial industry. So, all the mandatories (FDIC etc) need to be taken care off and mentioned clearly in the creative brief.
Step 8: Reference Material
It is very important for a client to provide the agency with data and research to back up their brief. But, it is important to make sure that only the information that is required is provided and there is nothing extra or less. Attaching, reference ads run by the competitors etc is also a good idea to make clear as to what the client wants.
So, these are some of the steps into coming up with a successful creative. These creative steps can provide strategic guidance and focus to all who are willing to craft an ad.
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