If they don’t care, are you even there?

June 18, 2015

Two pieces of white paper with the word invisible turned into visible

Two pieces of white paper with the word invisible turned into visible

Your creative needs to be creative.  No doubt about that.  But sadly, many people think that’s enough.

I received an email from a college student, asking if he could interview me. Two of his questions in particular caught my attention because they put the spotlight on a dangerous mistake that many seasoned marketers make.

It all revolves around the idea that marketing needs to be wacky or groundbreaking with the end goal being that it’s memorable. I can think of a lot of crazy, funny and touching marketing tactics that I’ve remembered for years that never prompted me to buy the product.

Should your creative be fresh, interesting and different from what everyone else in your category is doing? Sure.

But you can’t stop there. And you can’t start there.

You start with understanding your own product or service as objectively as you can (how does it rock, where is it weak, etc.) and who the ideal consumer for that product or service happens to be.

And you end by telling those ideal customers enough about your product or service that they understand why it’s the perfect fit for them.

You have to match your sweet spot customer with the benefits that make them the right buyer for what you sell.

I thought at it might be useful to you to see what he asked and my replies.

Q: When developing a concept do you try to go with something new and groundbreaking or do you have a more straightforward, proven approach to getting the message out to the target audience.

The truth is – what sells is the truth. We begin by understanding our audience and what they care about. We learn as much about them as possible. Every product/service has a “perfect fit” customer. It’s our job to figure out who that is and then craft our message to appeal to that person.

What is new today will be old hat tomorrow. So gimmicks and shock value and crazy aren’t good marketing strategies. Look at the Kmart “Ship My Pants” ads. Are they funny? Are they memorable? The answer to both those questions is yes.

But will it sell more stuff? I don’t think so. And THAT is our job. We help clients sell stuff. If we don’t do that – no matter how funny or memorable our work is – we got it wrong.

So the creative approach depends on the audience and what will connect with them and help them see why what we sell is what they need or want most.

Q: I believe that promoting brand recall is the most important objective in a message strategy. What is your favorite way to do this?

First – I respectfully disagree.   I believe the most important objective in a message strategy is to help the audience understand how this product or service is uniquely positioned to benefit THEM. The most important objective is brand relevance. Again, it doesn’t matter if you are memorable if you aren’t relevant.

The best way to develop brand relevance is to understand your sweet spot customer and why they would care and then figure out how to deliver value towards that for them. A brand’s job is to be important to the consumer. Harley does this brilliantly. For Harley riders and prospects – no other bike will do. Anything else is a poor substitute. Harley is about living the dream of a biker – freedom, independence, camaraderie etc. No brand captures and sells that like Harley. Harley could run a bunch of ads that promote the name so we’d never forget it. But instead they promote the dream/fantasy of owning a motorcycle and tie their name to delivering on that dream.

I’d much rather have 100 sweet spot customers reach for their wallet than 10,000 people remember the ad. Remember that and you’ll enjoy a long career in this crazy business that I love. Good luck!

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Is creativity bad for marketing?

April 8, 2014

funny eggs with facial expression: scared screaming and being terrified.As a writer just typing the question – is creativity bad for marketing – hurts a little.

Advertising and marketing people pride themselves on their creativity. After all, it’s one of the lures of the profession for most of us.

But does it serve our businesses and our business goals?

On the surface, it’s easy to argue that creativity is essential to good advertising and marketing. Whether it’s strategic nuances and insights, being innovative in your brand and how you express it, or marketing materials that capture the audience’s attention and imagination – all of those are built on a foundation of creative thinking.

But I’ve been in some situations recently where it was evident that the long-term objectives were not being well served by an infusion of creativity. Then, sadly the answer is yes…. creativity can be bad for marketing.

So let’s look at how the very thing we work so hard to capture can also be a detriment.

Too many ideas: This can be a killer. When a team is on fire with great ideas and falls in love with them all, the end result can be a mess. Sometimes the team tries to pack in all the ideas so rather than building a message hierarchy where you lead with your key message and then support that message — you get five pounds of ideas shoved into a one pound bag. That results in a lot of superficial messaging rather than a well-developed story with depth and relevance.

The other possible outcome of too many ideas is that the team decides to use them all sequentially. That typically means that no one idea is left in place long enough to really take root. Remember, about the time that we as the creators are getting sick of the ad/brochure/tagline etc. is about the same time the intended audience is just noticing the communication. If you pull the plug too soon, you lose all momentum and have to start all over.

Unbridled creativity: As the brainstorming pendulum swings, it often goes to an extreme that’s beyond the audience’s sensibilities. Sometimes a team can get so enamored with being provocative or wildly creative that they forget who their audience is. We’ve all seen ads that were very outlandish and got a lot of attention but in the end, were too far over the top and the company ended up issuing an apology or retracting the ad.

Marketing has a very simple purpose – to sell something. It might be selling a product, or an ideal or a candidate or a charity’s cause. But it does not exist to entertain, provoke a reaction or win awards. If it sells AND entertains, all the better. But it needs to do its job. Which means the audience’s perspective must always be front and center.

Cart before the horse creativity: Believe it or not, good creativity is actually the outcome of a very disciplined process, at least in marketing. To truly be creative in a way that nets the desired results, you have to do your homework before you release the creative juices. Until you define the goals, identify and get to know your audience and understand your unique position in the marketplace – you hold your creativity in place.

When you unleash it too soon, you may come up with the most compelling marketing tools that drive the audience to action, but they might be the wrong audience, might be taking the wrong action or might play to one of your competitor’s strengths.

Like most things, creativity isn’t good or bad, at least not in the world of marketing. It’s how we use it that makes it either a huge asset or a hindrance to us achieving our ultimate marketing goals.

 

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Want to up your creativity?

October 27, 2013

idea_lightbulbNo matter what you do for a living, you need to be creative.  Innovative and fresh thinking are always in demand, whether you’re a cop, a plumber, or a marketing pro.

Unfortunately, on the job, we can’t wait for the muses to strike.  We need to be creative on demand because there are clients, deadlines and projects waiting.

Want to up your creativity?

Having a career that demands creativity every day has forced me to find ways to keep that particular saw sharp.  Here are some of my favorites:

Exercise your brain: My goal is to keep my brain cooking at all times, so if I need to call on it, it’s already fired up.  I love brain teasers, word games like Scrabble, games of strategy and even lumosity.com which is like a brain obstacle course.

Simmering: When I’m stuck or every idea I come up with seems tired and overdone, I tuck the challenge in the back of my mind and let it simmer.  I do other things, concentrate on something else entirely and just let my subconscious work out the knots.

Blood, sweat and tears: Okay, skip the blood and tears part.  But sweating really works.  When we move our bodies, all kinds of endorphins are released.  Those magic chemicals put us in the perfect state to create.

Hang out with creative people: This is not only effective, it’s great fun. Actively look for opportunities to talk to creative people about creative things.  Listen to the language they use, the stories they tell and even how they use their body to enhance their tales.  If you live in Central Iowa, you have the perfect opportunity this Thursday.

The Iowa Creativity Summit is Thursday night from 6 – 8:30.  Come hear from David Burkus, the author of The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas.  Check out the event here.  I promise — you’ll get your creative juices flowing for sure!

If you’re like me, your creativity is a tool you rely on.  Like any tool, it’s my job to keep it in tiptop condition so it is ready when I need it.

So how about you — how do you keep your creativity flowing?

 

 

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How to be creative on purpose

July 31, 2011

109153217
…Do you need to be creative on demand?

My job is to be creative on demand.

The demands come in all forms.  It might be a strategy session for a client’s marketing plan, writing a print ad that will generate action or keeping the content on my blog, newspaper column or enewsletter fresh and worthwhile.

I don’t have the luxury of waiting for a muse to strike.  I’m always on deadline for something.  Which is why I was eager to pick up Todd Henry’s The Accidental Creative* (click here to buy) and learn as he promises in his subtitle…how to be brilliant at a moment’s notice.

There’s this myth out there that suggests that creativity comes from total freedom.  Well, I don’t know about you but I don’t know any professional today who lives in a world of complete freedom.  Instead, we’re called upon to be creative within the many constraints of life, world and our own habits, fears and obligations.

Todd explains that we all need to adopt the goal of being prolific, brilliant, and healthy. He explains why you need all three succinctly:

  • Prolific + Brilliant – Healthy = Burnout
  • Brilliant + Healthy – Prolific = Unreliable
  • Healthy + Prolific – Brilliant = Fired
  • Prolific + Brilliant + Healthy = Producing great work consistently

According to Henry’s book (and my own life experiences) there exists a creative rhythm deep in the heart of every individual, that is, “independent of the pressures and expectations you face each day.”

Establishing this rhythm will unlock your creative potential, provide you with the stability and clarity to tackle challenges, create and let your best thinking flow.

Your creative rhythm is set by how you structure and manage five key elements, the acronym for which is “FRESH.”

1. Focus

Most waste comes not from not doing the right work, but from doing the right work inefficiently. Clarity around objectives, separating the urgent from the important, is the springboard to effective creativity.

2. Relationships

Engaging with others is a powerful source of creative inspiration. Intentionally forging the right relationships with others gets you focused outwardly and frees you up creatively.

3. Energy

Think energy management, not time management. According to Henry, “it does you no good to micromanage your time down to the last second if you don’t have the energy to remain fully engaged for that time…you need to establish practices around energy management.”

4. Stimuli

Like any process, the output of the creative process depends on the input. Consistent brilliance demands that you be purposeful about what you’re feeding your brain.

5. Hours

Time is the currency of productivity. You must ensure that the practices that make you a more effective creative are making in onto your calendar.

It’s dandy to discuss all of this in theory but Henry really won my confidence when he provided practical weekly, monthly, and quarterly checkpoints at the end of the book to help put the five elements into practice.

Here are a few other key takeaways from the book:

  • How books should not be read as pure information but conversations like social media
  • The concept of the “Big Three” to allow you to focus on your critical creative goals
  • How to send messages to your brain to look for solutions

If you are involved in work that requires you to think and create for a living, The Accidental Creative will help you form and build your best ideas and manage the creative process and work that comes from it.

*Yup, it’s an Amazon Affiliate link.
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Visual creativity

March 2, 2011

Last week, we talked about how we keep our brains firing and stay creative.  Many people offered the tip of reading and absorbing other people’s smart work.  That goes for design work as well — whether you are a writer or artist.

One of the best examples of outdoor creative is this brilliant outdoor campaign. Along the “outdoor” theme…here are some very clever and compelling visuals applied to public spaces/buildings.

Spark any ideas?

creative building ads 01
Coop’s Paints/Nationwide Insurance
creative building ads 05
AllState Insurance
creative building ads 10
Anando Milk

If you enjoyed these…check out all 20 of them by clicking here.

Hat tip to Mike Colwell for sharing this link with me.

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5 ways to stay creative

February 25, 2011

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How do you stay creative?

You write.  You design.  And most likely, you do it on command.  There’s no waiting for a muse.  You have a deadline.

As we talk more and more about content marketing and the power of using our expertise to impact search engines and woo potential clients — we have to write even more!

So how do you stay fresh?  How do you create when you don’t feel particularly creative?  I’m going to share a few of my favorite techniques but I am hoping you’ll jump into the comments section with your own tricks of the trade.

Read: I try to keep my brain well fed.  I read/skim about 100 different blogs a day, try to read a book a week and check out several newspaper websites every day.  Surprisingly, this doesn’t take as long as it sounds — my iPad has apps that collect and coordinate it all so I just have to quickly flip through and see what catches my eye. (I read these smart people, you should too!)

Write/Design every day: I try to stay limber by never putting down my proverbial pencil.  Sometimes I am at it for hours and other days, maybe only 30 minutes.  Even if it’s just answering e-mails to friends — I rarely take a day off.

Tunes: There’s something about music that fuels me.  It’s an energy that I can channel into my writing.  I’ve discovered that I turn to different styles of music depending on what I’m writing and if I need a boost or need help staying focused.

Fresh air: When I am really stuck, I head outside.  (Unless it’s ugly hot) The crispness of the air and just stopping to close my eyes and inhale deeply refreshes and calms me when I’m feeling jittery about a deadline or am stuck in some way.

Partake in witty banter: One of the best parts of the Internet for me is that there are playmates available 24/7.  I can hop on Twitter or Facebook and find someone smart to chat with.  Smart people bring out the best in my thinking, writing and outlook.

Your turn.  How do you stay creative on demand?

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