Marketing teams are constantly walking a tightrope. This is true in many ways, but I’m specifically referring to the balancing act between creating good and great content. How do we know if something is “good enough?” Is “good enough” ever really, good enough?
Smart, talented, highly motivated individuals are often perfectionists. The pursuit of perfection is admirable, as long as you don’t make perfection the enemy of the good. Perfection is an unattainable goal. It’s important to plant that flag in the sand and strive for it, understanding that the goal is to get as close as you can, as often as you can, with the resources available at the time. Time and money are the two most critical and limited resources that will always keep perfection just out of reach. In broadcast, we used to say that we were never done with a project, we just stop working on it. At some point, it’s “pencils down” and get the project out the door.
If a marketing asset only lives on someone’s laptop or shared drive, it’s not doing anyone any good. While presumably flawed, can the plan or asset make a positive impact? Can you even know if the perceived "defect" is really an issue that would hinder performance, and if so, can you quantify the shortfall?
We once spent an extra two weeks working on a digital ad because the CEO didn’t like it. He was certain that if the original ad went out, it would have failed miserably. In his view, we were lucky he stepped in to “fix it.” We initially submitted both versions to run an A/B test. In fact, they both performed equally. There was no statistically significant difference between the two.
There was nothing wrong with the first ad, however, the organization paid a high price to “fix it.” There were opportunity costs that were never quantified. Project management scrambled to reallocate resources that were already committed to other projects and reschedule projects that couldn’t be started. Some projects were canceled, deadlines were missed. Some projects were deprioritized, meaning they weren’t given the creative development time originally deemed appropriate.
Sometimes there isn’t a problem. Don’t create one. Sometimes the effort required doesn’t justify the potential gain. If you know "the boat" can’t float, don’t put it in the water. But if "the boat" might float, put it in the water and see where the leaks are. Plug the holes and keep sailing. It’s standard practice that after a campaign or process is launched, you test it, evaluate it, and refine it. Everything is a process. Even process is a process.
It takes years of trial and error to accumulate the experience and wisdom to know the inflection point at which work should stop and it’s time to launch. You need confidence, courage, and humility to acknowledge that you are approving that which is possibly flawed in ways you may not know, but it’s good enough to see what happens next. Regardless, whatever you do will likely help more than waiting to do something else.
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