If you ask any artist about their work, they’ll say they never think it’s truly “done.” There’s always room for improvement and little details that can be worked and reworked indefinitely. The same can be said for any piece of marketing material – from printed collateral to digital marketing. Here at Citro, we help you find the “sweet spot” for every creative project before it lands in the dreaded “overworked” phase.

Source: giphy.com
 

What is the Sweet Spot?

A piece of creative that is in the Sweet Spot is one that quickly, efficiently, and intriguingly answers the fundamental questions your audience is on the lookout for, regardless of platform or type of material. The Sweet Spot answers Who/What/When/Where/Why, is structured, thought through and – do we need to say it – ✨creative✨.
 

• Who: Is the piece properly branded to show what company the material is for?
• What: What is the purpose of the material? (Headlines and titles should quickly answer this)
• When: When is the event/promotion/etc. taking place?
• Where: Where are the services/products/information offered or found? (Call to action)
• Why: What is the draw? What makes your message/offering unique? (Details to expand on the main message in the subtitle/body copy)

 

 

What does it mean to be overworked?

Overworking a piece of creative becomes apparent when the above questions have been answered, but the revisions keep coming. The thing to ask yourself as a brand is, “Are these revisions and extensions in time before my material is published worth it?” 

 

While revisions shouldn’t be avoided or minimized for the sake of time, they should be done with a clear purpose and align with the original objectives of the project. Think of your project as dough – in order to bake a beautiful loaf of bread, you have to know when to call it quits on kneading.

Source: giphy.com

 

Our Process

Our design and development process consists of various phases. Setting expectations for every phase of the process allows for a seamless experience between you and your creative agency. From a high-level, our process generally involves these 3 phases:

Request: A client will provide the request for creative along with the required assets (copy, visuals, etc.) or request assets to be created by Citro if they don’t already exist.
 

Review: An initial design is sent for your internal review. Always take the necessary time to fully review what has been presented with the necessary members of your team and collect any and all feedback. It may be tempting to respond right away with initial thoughts, but taking the time to absorb the material will allow for more in-depth or additional feedback that isn’t apparent at first glance.

Source: giphy.com

Revise & Refine: The Citro team receives your feedback and revises the design(s) based on your detailed requests. This step may be repeated depending on the project at hand, but the more thorough the review from step 2 (Review), the more concise the feedback will be. In turn, the turnaround time will decrease, making the process more efficient and ideally avoid overworking.

 

The Outcome

Design is a delicate matter. It’s critical that your creative aligns with the vision in your mind for every project, and it’s our mission to make those visions come to life. It’s important to have that creative sweet spot in mind when going back and forth between you and your agency on every project. Just know that your budget, your audience, your time, and your sweet, sweet success is always top of mind. 

 

Source: giphy.com