Creativity is highly valued and can deliver a lot for a business. The right idea can help a brand to stand out, change customer perceptions and drive revenue.
How do you come up with the right idea though?
At the start of my marketing life brainstorms were the tool of choice and I loved them. The whole team in a room fired up on sugary treats, coffee (sometimes beer!). Everyone got to contribute and it was a lot of fun.
Working with the talented Trevor Rudder of Angel London the brainstorm was taken to a different level. He brought in the idea that there very much IS such thing as a bad idea and introduced the practice of participants defending and challenging ideas to make sure that whatever ideas were chosen were tested and judged to be robust before being pitched to a client. Not for the faint-hearted but so much more effective than the alternative.
Trevor also coined the phrase “Think til you stink” a classic that comes to mind any time I find myself stuck with a problem and tempted to stick in a convenient solution rather than the right one. He taught me to be ok with the idea that I am wrong and prepared to kill a concept I owned in favour of a better one. This was really a life-changing learning that has helped me to be more open-minded in lots of different areas, not just marketing work. Cheers, Trevor!
Over the years I have added to these learnings – creative campaign or brand ideas need to be based on a really strong brand strategy and they need to enhance that strategy. This strategy needs to be based on good research.
There is a lot of slogging involved in putting these things together but they will certainly produce marketing that will work a hell of a lot harder than an idea that is inspired by what competitors are doing or by some video on Tik Tok.
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For help with your business’s marketing, contact Paula Ronan at paula@ronanmarketing.ie
