Kick-Start Your Marketing Creativity: 11 Tips & Tricks

Do you ever have those days when you wish your job did not require thinking? Or at least didn’t call for being creative? Marketing, public relations and content creation of all types demands that we think beyond the established rules, come up with our own solutions, and then make something of it.

I know there days I could be great at following a set of instructions or plugging away at a physical task, but the creativity just doesn’t flow the way I wish it would. Next time, I’m going to try some of the advice Who Is Hosting This has gleaned from a series of documentaries by science historian James Burke.

Is it a coincidence that James Webb Young’s Five Steps to Creativity align fairly closely with how JONES approaches the task of creating enviable brands for its customers?

1. Gather the raw materials. In branding, this is the process of discovery and a competitive audit.

2. Digest. This is the data compilation - put everything learned in discovery in one place and let it sink in.

3. & 4. Don’t think; wait for eureka. OK, so this isn’t on our list. But we all know that the best marketing ideas don’t come while we’re staring at the computer. They come in mile four of a five-mile run, or driving down the road listening to your favorite song, or as you are just about to fall asleep.

5. Bring the idea to reality. Identify the opportunity, review the data one more time and put together a brand platform plan, then turn that creativity into the nuts and bolts of a campaign: message, content, design, and implementation.

What tricks do you use when the creativity is lacking? Share what works for you.