Where can you find fresh ideas for marketing and advertising your business?
Sitting down with a blank piece of paper can be the fastest way to a bad case of writer’s block. Doing what the competition is doing isn’t really fresh anymore, by definition.
Instead, try one of these practices to jump-start your creative process.
Keep a notebook on hand
The best ideas come around at the weirdest times. Just as you are drifting off to sleep, while you are in the shower, as you work out at the gym…sound familiar?
Keep a small notebook (or note-taking app) handy for such moments. Jot the ideas down as soon as you can, and look over them later with a more critical eye.
Study the competition – to critique, not copy
If a competitor comes up with a good idea, sit down and take it apart. What parts seem to be working? Why? Is there any part of their campaign that is incompatible with your business practice? Why?
Sometimes a good idea isn’t the best idea. Don’t be afraid to take a concept apart down to the skeleton, adopt what you love, and flesh it out your own way.
Study other industries
Some industries just overflow with marketing success. Try studying a successful campaign from a completely different industry than your own. Entertainment, technology, travel, education – anything that inspires you.
How can you take those concepts and techniques and apply them to your own advertising?
Start with your favorite brands, the ones you use everyday. These brands are successful at selling to you. What can you learn from their methods?
Brainstorm in a group
There’s something about bouncing ideas around a room that makes them multiply. Pull together a think-tank – your employees, non-competitive colleagues, friends from other industries – and see what your ideas can become when amplified by the minds around you.
In fact, one of our favorite things to do with our clients is just this sort of collaboration. Want to bounce some ideas around together? Give us a call!
Don’t get stuck in a rut, in your advertising or in your thinking.
Which of these techniques works best for you when coming up with fresh ideas? Do you have other methods we didn’t mention?