Given today’s technology and tools, it may seem surprising so little is done to measure creative operations, but what we hear from many of our marketing customers is that making technology and tools available to creative teams isn’t what drives the use of creative process metrics. Rather, it’s helping creative teams overcome their fear that metrics will hamper creativity. By nature, creatives aren’t data-driven. They’re more comfortable with copy and color than they are with metrics and measurements.
But like it or not, the key to success isn’t just in the creativity, it’s also in the process. Creating the best hero image in the history of the internet means nothing if you didn’t deliver it to the client on time.
Identify the Metrics that Matter
Forward-thinking companies are looking to achieve efficiencies in their creative process by using metrics. What do these companies typically measure? Our advice is to continually measure every part of the creative process and ask “why” for each metric. For example, measure the number of artwork revision cycles and then ask: why are there so many? Measure asset approval time and then ask: why does this take so long? When you can track and measure a process, it’s easier to identify and fix problems – often before they escalate. What you measure will depend on your specific goals and objectives, but here are some examples of goals we’ve helped customers define based on their creative process metrics:
- Reduce the number of artwork revisions by 50%
- Shorten the review and approval cycle from an average of 30 days to 15
- Accelerate speed to market to 90 days by the end of Q3
Using metrics to set goals such as these shapes a company’s creative process. Without them, the process is a function of “what feels right” instead of what’s best practice. And the benefits are many:
- You have ongoing data to know whether the creative process is working or not.
- You understand whether you need to make changes.
- You identify bottlenecks.
- You set benchmarks and establish best practices.
- You increase clarity and minimize frustration in your client/agency relationships.
- You optimize resource assignments and use.
The goal of tracking metrics is to arm your team with the knowledge to supercharge production, review, and approval processes – ultimately optimizing timelines, resource capacity, and costs… And making time for what creatives value most: creativity.
To learn more about defining and utilizing metrics in your creative process, download a copy of our e-Book: Eliminate Reactivity and Enable Creativity in Marketing.
