Creative Strategy: The Backbone to Performant Ads
Evan emphasizes that creative strategy is the linchpin for success, especially in paid advertising. The crux lies in harmonizing the analytical details of performance teams with the imaginative flair of creative teams. This synergy is not just desirable but essential in for paid advertising in 2024, endless platforms, ad formats and creative styles.
“But we also know is that our teams are more analytical and our creative teams are exactly that, more creative, and it almost creates this natural distance between teams that need to work in lockstep.” - Evan Lee
How to inspire creativity across your whole growth team
- Foster a culture of collaboration between creative and analytical teams.
- Regularly conduct joint sessions to align on goals and strategies.
- Implement tools and processes that facilitate seamless communication.
Building the Bridge: Integrating Creative and Analytical Teams
Evan lays out a detailed workflow that ensures a seamless collaboration between these teams. By following his steps, brands can consistently churn out top-notch creatives that resonate with their audience. He also delves into the role of creative strategists, who act as the glue binding various teams and ensuring that actions are driven by meaningful insights.
The Detailed Creative Strategy Workflow
Step 1: Creative Research
Step 2: Ideation
Step 3: Ad creative briefing
Step 4: Content creation & Production
Step 5: Creative Analysis
Step 6: Launch your ads
Step 7: Evaluation and creative analysis
This process of fully implementing this workflow can be a massive lift, especially for smaller teams, here are some easy things you can do on day one to set your team up for success.
- Appoint creative strategists to oversee and integrate efforts of different teams.
- Develop a structured workflow that includes regular check-ins and updates.
- Use collaborative tools to maintain transparency and accountability.
Tools of the Trade: Leveraging Motion and Foreplay for Creative Excellence
Implementing this workflow is not just theoretical. Evan recommends tools, that act as an anchor for this entire process.
- Motion - Visualize your creative metrics and built reports you can rally your whole team behind.
- Foreplay - Structure and organize your creative research and competitor tracking.
These tools help in understanding what works and what doesn't, thereby enabling you to make informed decisions about your creative strategies.
The Power of Hypothesis in Marketing
A cornerstone of Evan's strategy is the focus on hypothesis-driven creativity. This approach involves basing creative decisions on hypotheses derived from data analysis. It ensures that every creative element is purposeful and geared towards achieving specific marketing objectives.
How to build, test your creative Hypothesis
- Formulate clear hypotheses before launching any creative campaign or production sprint.
- Gather and analyze data to test these hypotheses.
- Use insights from this analysis to inform future creative decisions.
Adaptation and Evolution: Continuous Improvement of Creative Strategies
Evan stresses the importance of regularly reviewing and adapting creative strategies. This involves continuous analysis of performance and being ready to iterate based on the findings. Such an approach ensures that marketing strategies remain effective and relevant in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
Actionable steps to creative sprints and iteration
- Establish a routine for reviewing and updating creative strategies.
- Be open to experimentation and learning from both successes and failures.
- Encourage a culture of continuous improvement and agility within the team.
Conclusion: How to turn your team in a well-oiled creative factory
Evan Lee's insights from the webinar provide a roadmap for building a bring across your entire growth team that rallies around growth through creative.
If organization and highly performant ads sound good to you, here’s the 80/20 analysis on doing this for your own business.
- Embrace the Creative Strategy Workflow: Implement Evan's workflow to bridge the gap between your creative and analytical teams.
- Leverage Tools for Ideation and Analysis: Utilize platforms like Motion and Foreplay to gather insights and drive your creative process.
- Focus on Hypothesis-Driven Creativity: Base your creative decisions on hypotheses derived from data analysis to ensure effectiveness.
- Regularly Review and Adapt: Continuously analyze your creative strategies' performance and be ready to iterate based on the findings.
- Foster Cross-Team Collaboration: Encourage open communication and collaboration between different teams for a holistic marketing approach.
By blending analytical rigor with creative imagination, brands can elevate their advertising to earth shattering ROAS. Remember, the key is in the seamless integration of data-driven insights with imaginative storytelling.
If you're eager to delve deeper into these strategies and witness the magic unfold, be sure to watch the full webinar.
