I am currently designing a new print promotion series for myself. As happens occasionally when developing self-promotion pieces, I was lacking some confidence that what I wanted to say was coming across well. To obtain some honest objectivity, I put together my own mini-focus group and asked for a critique. I specifically wanted their feedback on the following:
- What’s their initial reaction – favorable, unfavorable or benign? Why?
- Do they notice any typos?
- Can they reiterate what the message of the piece is, and tell me in their own words what I’m trying to say?
- What tone of voice do they detect in the piece (serious, humor, pleading, didactic, haughty.etc.)?
- What’s the first thing they notice when they look at it?
- Does it “feel” like me; does it seem genuine and consistent with who they know me to be?
My focus group is comprised of 7 people selected for specific reasons:
- They’ve known me for at least a year.
- They are familiar with what I do for a living.
- They’re not designers. They work in a variety of fields and disciplines – some corporate, some technical, some service – that are similar to the businesses I am promoting to.
- They’re not my clients, vendors or in any way related to my business.
- They’ve demonstrated a certain amount of intelligence and ability to articulate their thoughts.
- They’re not afraid of telling me when I’m falling short.
- They have track records with me so that I trust their judgment.
- They want me to be successful.
I weighed their feedback carefully against my goals values and found that not everything suggested held up. Yet each person in my “priceless impromptu focus group” had something worthy to say and, as a whole, the critique should make my work more successful. The proof will be in the responses I get as I send out the promotions.
