Creativity

Same old, same old just doesn't sell anymore.

To make your marketing stand out, you need to get creative. Below are five tips designed to get your creative juices flowing.

Some tips may appeal to you more than others. My suggestion is to try them all. Even the ones you're not drawn to may still open some doors that wouldn't have opened any other way.

These tips will work whether you sell a product, a service or both.

1. Find the "second right answer." Roger von Oech talks about this in A Whack on the Side of the Head. Don't be content with the first good idea you come up with. Take the time to think of a second, or third or 50th idea. Quantity counts – the more ideas you have to choose from, the more likely you'll discover an excellent or even a brilliant one. Remember, Thomas Edison discovered thousands of ways a light bulb didn't work.

2. Change the question. If you change the question, you're probably going to get a different answer. You say you want to sell more games? What if you changed the question to how can you make more money? Well, there are other ways to make more money than to sell more games – maybe you invent new products that offer bonuses or rewards for performance and people pay for that. Hey, if you had www.bowlingrewards.com, you could reward people for strikes, spares, 3 6 9 games and a whole bunch of other competitive fun stuff. Now, you suddenly have new avenues to explore rather than just going down the same tired path.

3. Ask your product or service how it wants to be sold. Now we move into more intuitive techniques. OK, take a deep breath and say, "this is crazy, but who knows”? Take a few deep breaths or practice some relaxation techniques. Imagine your product or service in front of you. Now, ask it questions. I mean, if you were a game of bowling or an hour of bowling how would you like to be sold? Would you want to be wrapped up in a pretty box and get delivered to all the companies in town? Who do you want to be sold to? How do you want to be sold? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Who do you think you can help? Why do you want to help them?. Write down the question and answer. See what bubbles up onto the paper.


4. Paint a public relations campaign. No, not a press release with a paint by numbers image, but something that might get you remembered. I once sent one rose to 100 female HR directors to remind them that their employees would "love them" if they had a bowling party. Did pretty well too! What would a press release look like if you painted it? Or sculpted it? How would you paint FUN. What would the kids in the local school think about fun? Maybe you could sponsor a coloring contest and ask them to show what fun is in a bowling center or at a bowling birthday party. Take any part of your marketing that you are not happy with and turn it into a piece of art. By combining two dissimilar acts, you may discover your answer. Or you may not come up with anything at all, but just the act of "playing" and "creating" could break something loose. Hours or days later your idea may suddenly be staring you in your face!

5. Walk away from it. If nothing is working, then stop. You can literally walk away by taking a walk (or go for a run; it produces those good endorphins that make you feel better than two martinis), or just quit thinking about it. This is especially important if you find yourself getting frustrated or discouraged. Give your subconscious time to mull things over. The idea may just suddenly appear to you. Or, after a few days, try another exercise or two. That may be the catalyst you need.

The most important tip of all? Make sure you have a blast. Having fun is its own reward. But having fun that rings the cash register, ah that’s a whole other feeling. Being creative is not a struggle; it’s a process that will reward you with many opportunities. So Have Fun!