Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
Thinking creatively
The ability to be creative, and to think creatively, is an invaluable skill in today’s workplace. It can lead to the development of new products and services, and optimizing business processes. It can lead to marketing campaigns that stand out and really catch the customer’s attention. And, down the line, it can lead to business growth and increased revenues.
Anyone can be creative. However, it’s important to remember that creative thinking doesn’t happen by accident, and it doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It’s a skill that needs to be consciously applied, honed, and practiced. When practiced successfully, it can reveal effective and innovative solutions to various types of problems, from marketing communications to operational roadblocks, and it can generate new ideas.
Creative thinking stages
Stage 1: Prepare
In this stage, you research whatever problem you are faced with. Say, for example, you are tasked with promoting a new product line, but aren’t sure what direction to take. Researching this problem might involve doing a factory tour, and reading as much as you can about the product, audience, market, and competitors.
Further your research by reviewing solutions to similar problems. These could be case studies, advertising tag lines, or campaigns. Try to learn and understand as much as you can about the audience, the product, or the problem you are trying to solve. Observe how and why a product is used or might be used. Ask, who are the people who might use it, what are their motivations for using it, why is it useful to them? Find out as much as you can. Immerse yourself in the details.
Stage 2: Incubate
In this stage, you incubate the findings of your research and let them simmer. Start by taking some time to write down exactly what you are trying to achieve and everything you discovered from your research. Read it, then leave it for a while. When you go back, try writing it another way. Then let go again, and let your mind wander: take a walk, take a bath, read, daydream. In short, do something else.
Stage 3: Illuminate
This is the ‘eureka’ stage when all the elements you’ve been mulling over in the previous stage connect together in your subconscious, and an idea forms in your conscious mind. Write your idea down. Remember the mantra, ‘write it straight, then write it great’. Just concentrate on getting the idea down on paper so you don’t forget it. Once you’ve safely written it down, leave it alone.
Stage 4: Verify
At this stage, go back to your idea and sense check it against the original problem and verify that it is the correct approach. Critically assess whether it satisfies all elements of the problem you are solving. Ask, will it solve the problem in such a way to give me the result I need? For example, will this slogan drive awareness of my brand? Is the tone right for the audience or market? Will team operations work more efficiently if this solution is introduced? Ask, what are the various outcomes we could expect if we went ahead with this idea? How might the audience engage with the campaign or how would the team adopt this new process?
If, after asking yourself these types of questions, you find that your idea doesn’t solve the original problem, put it aside. Holding on to it could take you down the wrong path and stop you from finding other, possibly better, ideas. It’s better to work on your next idea instead.
Once you’ve settled on an idea, consider: you’ve written it straight, now it’s time to write it great. So take some time to craft and refine the idea, so it can be effectively understood and internalized by your stakeholders – or whoever has the final say on your idea.
Stage 5: Practice
This is where you practice generating ideas using the five-stage process. The more ideas you generate using this process, the faster you get at coming up with better solutions. This, in turn, can help you discount poor ideas early on and reduce the amount of time that’s wasted in following paths of enquiry that lead to dead ends, or are likely to drive less effective ideas. Practice also helps to focus the way you approach problems. As the process gets more familiar, it can help to naturalize creativity in your thinking.
Back to TopOlivia Kearney
Olivia is CMO of Microsoft Ireland she is responsible for developing the longer term strategy for the Irish business and leads the marketing strategy across B2B and B2C.
A passionate marketing leader who cultivates big ideas to drive growth and brand distinction and brings her international experience in the Tech and FMCG industry.
Cathal Melinn
Cathal Melinn is a well-known Digital Marketing Director, commercial analyst, and eommerce specialist with over 15 years’ experience.
Cathal is a respected international conference speaker, course lecturer, and digital trainer. He specializes in driving complete understanding from students across a number of digital marketing disciplines including: paid and organic search (PPC and SEO), analytics, strategy and planning, social media, reporting, and optimization. Cathal works with digital professionals in over 80 countries and teaches at all levels of experience from beginner to advanced.
Alongside his training and course work, Cathal runs his own digital marketing agency and is considered an analytics and revenue-generating guru - at enterprise level. He has extensive local and international experience working with top B2B and B2C brands across multiple industries.
Over his career, Cathal has worked client-side too, with digital marketing agencies and media owners, for brands including HSBC, Amazon, Apple, Red Bull, Dell, Vodafone, Compare the Market, Aer Lingus, and Expedia.
He can be reached on LinkedIn here.
Kevin Reid
Kevin is a Senior Training Consultant and the Owner of Personal Skills Training and the Owner and Lead Coach of Kevin J Reid Communications Coaching and the Communications Director of The Counsel.
With over twenty years of experience in Irish and International business with an emphasis on business communications training and coaching, he is a much in demand trainer and clients include CEO’s, general managers, sales teams, individuals and entire organisations.
With deep expertise in interpersonal communication through training and coaching and in a nurturing yet challenging environment, Kevin supports teams and individuals through facilitation and theory instruction to empower themselves to achieve their communication objectives. This empowerment results in creativity, confidence building and the generation of a learning culture of continuous self-improvement.
Bill Phillips
Bill is an international facilitator, trainer, and team coach. He has successfully coached CEOs, board members, directors, executive teams, and team leaders in public and private companies, NGOs, and UN organizations in 15 countries across four continents. He is also the creator of Future-basing®, a highly potent process for building strategy, vision, and cooperation.
