How To Get Great Marketing Ideas
Any Time.
by Dr. Kevin Nunley
Index
of Articles
Mark Twain used to call
it "getting stuck." You need a fresh, effective marketing
idea to give your product, service, or organization a
boost. But your mind keeps falling back on old ideas.
You're tired of them. You want a marketing approach that
is exciting and full of life.
I got some real insight
into fresh marketing recently when my wife gave birth
to a baby boy. As I stood in the delivery room, looking
at my new son for the first time, I did what most parents
do. I looked for familiar features. Yup. He had my wife's
hands. My forehead (poor child!). Some features seemed
to be a blending of things I'd seen in other family members.
Other features seemed entirely new.
Nature is no dummy. We
can learn a lot by looking at the way nature does things.
We can jump ahead by bringing those lessons to business.
I once worked with a
promising young media executive (now the president of
a network) who advised me to become rich and famous by
borrowing other people's good ideas. There's a lot of
truth to the old adage that "there's nothing new under
the sun."
Many of the best ideas
you will come across have been used by other's in your
business again and again. They wouldn't keep using them
if the marketing ideas didn't work.
Sometimes great good
ideas become neglected. Are there old marketing techniques
from the 80's, 70s, or 1960s that might work well today?
How about great marketing ideas widely used in another
city that haven't been tried yet in your town? Network,
borrow, and steal those good ideas. Remember, people can't
copyright an idea, only the specific words used to express
it.
Experts on creativity
advise us to mix ideas to come up with something new.
Think of two commonly done marketing tactics. Can they
be combined into something that is fresh, but has the
successful elements of the tried and true?
Self-publishing guru
Dan Poynter says that most books only contain 5% new material.
The remaining 95% is lifted from other books and articles.
Taking the information and writing it in your own way
is called "research." The publishing industry depends
upon it.
Psychologists also remind
us that most people don't like things that are totally
new. When prospects tell you they want something new,
they really may be telling you that they want a product
or service that is familiar, but packaged with a fresh
twist.
So keep these three methods
of creativity in mind as you plan your marketing campaigns
in the weeks ahead.
1. Borrow great ideas
from other people.
2. Look for ways to
combine two or more good ideas into something that appears
fresh and new.
3. Look for good marketing
ideas that are used in other places. Bring them to your
industry or city.
The key to coming up
with great new marketing ideas is, more often than not,
based on looking for familiar friends that can be used
in a slightly innovative way. I look forward to hearing
from you about your fresh marketing ideas.
