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6 Ways to Analyze Your Creative Ideas

Great marketers, PR pros, and content creators have one thing in common--they use both creativity and analytics to develop their successful ideas.

Christine Perkett dubbed this type of thinking as “Creatalitics” and gave an excellent definition for the term: “[Creatalitic thinkers] combine really creative and innovative ideas--those ‘dreams and visions’ with data and analysis--the ‘blazes of insight’ that tell them if their creations go beyond initial appeal and into the world of actionable value to the company’s bottom line.”

Creativity is an important aspect of our jobs, but we should not neglect the warning signs from the left side of our brains pushing us to analyze our ideas. Here are six ways to put your creative ideas to the test to make sure they are worth your client’s investment.

1. Google it.

This simple test of researching your creative idea will tell you a lot about its future success. Has the idea already been done? Can you do it better or make it unique to your brand? If it has been done, what value did it add to that company? Can those results be replicated for your brand?

2. Like-improve analysis.

The like-improve analysis is one of the most helpful ways of analyzing your creative ideas before they are implemented. Take a sheet of paper, and draw a line down the middle; on the left side write “Like” and on the right side write “Improve.” Under “Improve,” reference everything that doesn’t work about the idea or areas that should be improved. On the left side, write everything that you like about the idea and would bring value to the company.

Next, figure out how you can change those areas under “Improve” to work for your creative idea or whether the idea is still worth pursuing.

3. Answer the hard questions.

Take time to think through or even write down your responses to those hard questions your client or boss will ask so you can be ready to defend your creative idea. How will this increase the bottom line? Does this line up with our goals and objectives? What will be the ROI? How will you track the results?

4. Talk it out.

Humans are social beings; we produce the best ideas together. As autonomous thinkers we each contribute differing opinions and constructive criticisms that will strengthen the creative idea. After you have done all you can to flesh out and analyze the idea, don’t neglect to collaborate with your peers.

5. Test your idea.

Even after the creative idea has been turned into action, you should continue to improve it. What seems like a solid Web graphic or campaign in the presentation room may fall short when implemented. Testing your idea through focus groups, A/B testing or other means is often neglected and forgotten by busy professionals. But if you are serious about producing the best, you have to test your ideas.

6. Learn from your successes and failures.

Experience is a valuable factor in the communications field because professionals have learned from years of mistakes and successes. After you run a campaign, take time to analyze it once more to see what really did work or didn’t and then apply that knowledge to your next creative idea.

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