“Make It Pop” – Like, Seriously? | E105 with Juliana Germinio

Ah yes.
The three words that have launched a thousand unnecessary redesigns.

In this episode of Blame It On Marketing, we’re joined by the brilliant Juliana Germinio from Yellow Zest to unpack the most vague, infuriating, soul-crushing piece of feedback marketers hear on repeat:

“Can you just… make it pop?”

Pop how?
Pop why?
Pop for whom??
WHAT IS POP?!

From rogue email links sending restaurant guests to skincare masks (we’ve all been baptised) to websites 80% complete before someone decides it’s “not doing it for them” — we get into why bad feedback happens, why senior leaders default to aesthetics, and how marketers can stop drowning in subjective chaos.

But this isn’t just a rant. (Okay, it’s partly a rant.)

What you’ll actually learn:

🔥 How to turn “make it pop” into actionable feedback
🔥 The exact follow-up questions to ask when feedback is vague
🔥 How to coach senior leaders to give better input
🔥 Why defining the emotion and audience outcome changes everything
🔥 How to protect your process (and your sanity) with better expectation-setting
🔥 When to push back on AI-generated feedback — professionally
🔥 Why “it’s not for you, it’s for your audience” is your new favourite line

We also cover:

• The danger of skipping proper briefing stages
• Why visual feedback feels easier (even when it’s wrong)
• How to avoid 20 hours of unnecessary redesign
• And the legendary “hot pink website” story featuring a colourblind CEO

This one is for:
Designers.
In-house marketers.
Agency owners.
Fractionals.
Anyone who has ever been handed two words of feedback and expected to magically interpret them.

If you’ve ever stared at a screen thinking, “I literally cannot do anything with this” — welcome home.

Let’s stop making things “pop.”
Let’s make feedback better.

🎧 Listen now. And maybe send it to the person who keeps saying it.

We’re Ruta and Emma, the marketing consultants behind Blame it on Marketing. 

If you’re in B2B SaaS or professional services and looking to do marketing that actually drives revenue and profit, we’re here for it.

Visit blameitonmarketing.com and let’s get this show on the road.