Marketing demands creativity. But the need for productivity often gets in the way.
In fact, one study found that 80% of employees feel pressured to be productive rather than creative. And 75% said they’re not living up to their creative potential.
How can you resolve this disconnect? For starters, it helps to have a solid understanding of what creativity is. There are a lot of definitions out there, but I like this one from Psychology Today: “Creativity is the ability to bring together disparate ideas in new and useful combinations.”
Encouraging creative thought is mostly about helping your brain make new connections between old ideas. That’s right, you don’t actually need to come up with original ideas, just new links between ideas that already exist. But as marketers, it can be tough to do this on the spot or consistently.
With that in mind, here are some proven techniques to help your brain see connections where it didn’t see them before and jumpstart your marketing creativity:
