In this competitive market environment, idea generation is enhanced by three primary tactics. These tactics involve relaxation, interaction, and integration.
Marketing is the first line of business for anyone who is self-employed. If you don't market well, you'll soon be looking for another employer.
It's hard to generate new marketing ideas in today's competitive environment. Many are cliches, while others are just overused.
When you spend all your time and mental energy on running your business, it's difficult to generate new marketing tactics. This article provides you with three ways to refocus your creativity and boost your marketing.
In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Requires Relaxation:
You may think it strange to lead an article on idea generation with relaxation. But small business owners are so busy that many seldom take time to relax and let their subconscious mind guide them. Yet, the subconscious is the source of creativity.
Don't let worries hinder your subconscious mind's creativity. Instead, give it freedom to work for you by relaxing. When you take time to relax, your subconscious will reward you with many new ideas.
When I'm stressed, I know that turning to nature will relax me. Feeling the sun on my skin, hearing the wind rustling across leaves, or watching an animal play, melts my anxiety and frees my subconscious to whisper a creative solution for what is stressing me.
You need to know what relaxes you and do it when you need a creative solution to a concern. Whether it's spending quite time by yourself, starring into a fireplace, or walking a treadmill, take time to relax, and you'll get more creative ideas.
Another method to free your subconscious mind and generate ideas is to tell it that you need creative ideas for ____. Then let your concern go and drift to sleep. Your subconscious will work on it while you sleep.
If the idea of directing your subconscious mind is new to you, it may take several nights for this process to work. But go to bed with pencil and paper on your night stand every night until you get the idea you need.
If you're not prepared to record the idea, you may forget it before you can write it the next morning. Then you will loose it, maybe forever.
You don't want to loose any idea that could give you an advantage in this competitive market environment. So employ your subconscious mind to be your idea generator. It works cheaply, but provides great value.
In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Through Interaction:
Another way to generate more marketing ideas is by interacting with other people. In fact, most idea-generating techniques base on bringing two or more people together to focus on a creative solution to a concern.
Mastermind groups build from this principle, as do retreats, group brain storming, and even counseling.
Sometimes, all it takes to use an interaction process, is to have someone listen to your concern. As you tell the other person about it, you often reveal potential solutions that were just waiting to come forth.
It's also a good idea to involve people across your business, especially when the concern affects them all. Because marketing is basic to your business and because everyone is on the receiving end of much marketing, everyone will likely have ideas to contribute. But you need to insure that the environment is safe for them to do so.
In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Requires Integration:
Finally, generating good marketing ideas in this competitive market requires integration.
If you scope out what marketing tactics are being used in other industries and by other businesses, you'll find a wealth of marketing ideas. Many of these can be easily integrated into your business. You just have to know where to look.
Attending meetings where different types of businesses come together provides you with ample opportunity to learn the creative marketing ideas that other business owners use. Chamber of Commerce and similar meetings are as good for learning from each other as from formal presentations.
Another form of integration involves keeping a file of marketing ideas that you consider effective. Clip good print advertisements. Save publications and direct mail promotions. Make notes on radio and television commercials. Put all this in a file that you can refer to when you need ideas.
Although, this is called a swipe file, you don't actually steal the ideas. Instead you adapt them for your business.
You need all the help you can get in this competitive market environment. With more businesses marketing, it gets harder and harder to generate new marketing ideas. So you should use whatever you find that heightens your creativity.
Concluding Remarks
If you use all three processes for idea generation covered in this article, you will constantly think of new ideas to invigorate your marketing. So use relaxation, interaction, and integration, and even in this competitive market environment, idea generation is possible.
Marketing is the first line of business for anyone who is self-employed. If you don't market well, you'll soon be looking for another employer.
It's hard to generate new marketing ideas in today's competitive environment. Many are cliches, while others are just overused.
When you spend all your time and mental energy on running your business, it's difficult to generate new marketing tactics. This article provides you with three ways to refocus your creativity and boost your marketing.
In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Requires Relaxation:
You may think it strange to lead an article on idea generation with relaxation. But small business owners are so busy that many seldom take time to relax and let their subconscious mind guide them. Yet, the subconscious is the source of creativity.
Don't let worries hinder your subconscious mind's creativity. Instead, give it freedom to work for you by relaxing. When you take time to relax, your subconscious will reward you with many new ideas.
When I'm stressed, I know that turning to nature will relax me. Feeling the sun on my skin, hearing the wind rustling across leaves, or watching an animal play, melts my anxiety and frees my subconscious to whisper a creative solution for what is stressing me.
You need to know what relaxes you and do it when you need a creative solution to a concern. Whether it's spending quite time by yourself, starring into a fireplace, or walking a treadmill, take time to relax, and you'll get more creative ideas.
Another method to free your subconscious mind and generate ideas is to tell it that you need creative ideas for ____. Then let your concern go and drift to sleep. Your subconscious will work on it while you sleep.
If the idea of directing your subconscious mind is new to you, it may take several nights for this process to work. But go to bed with pencil and paper on your night stand every night until you get the idea you need.
If you're not prepared to record the idea, you may forget it before you can write it the next morning. Then you will loose it, maybe forever.
You don't want to loose any idea that could give you an advantage in this competitive market environment. So employ your subconscious mind to be your idea generator. It works cheaply, but provides great value.
In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Through Interaction:
Another way to generate more marketing ideas is by interacting with other people. In fact, most idea-generating techniques base on bringing two or more people together to focus on a creative solution to a concern.
Mastermind groups build from this principle, as do retreats, group brain storming, and even counseling.
Sometimes, all it takes to use an interaction process, is to have someone listen to your concern. As you tell the other person about it, you often reveal potential solutions that were just waiting to come forth.
It's also a good idea to involve people across your business, especially when the concern affects them all. Because marketing is basic to your business and because everyone is on the receiving end of much marketing, everyone will likely have ideas to contribute. But you need to insure that the environment is safe for them to do so.
In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Requires Integration:
Finally, generating good marketing ideas in this competitive market requires integration.
If you scope out what marketing tactics are being used in other industries and by other businesses, you'll find a wealth of marketing ideas. Many of these can be easily integrated into your business. You just have to know where to look.
Attending meetings where different types of businesses come together provides you with ample opportunity to learn the creative marketing ideas that other business owners use. Chamber of Commerce and similar meetings are as good for learning from each other as from formal presentations.
Another form of integration involves keeping a file of marketing ideas that you consider effective. Clip good print advertisements. Save publications and direct mail promotions. Make notes on radio and television commercials. Put all this in a file that you can refer to when you need ideas.
Although, this is called a swipe file, you don't actually steal the ideas. Instead you adapt them for your business.
You need all the help you can get in this competitive market environment. With more businesses marketing, it gets harder and harder to generate new marketing ideas. So you should use whatever you find that heightens your creativity.
Concluding Remarks
If you use all three processes for idea generation covered in this article, you will constantly think of new ideas to invigorate your marketing. So use relaxation, interaction, and integration, and even in this competitive market environment, idea generation is possible.
About the Author:
Linda P. Morton, Ed.D., APR, is Professor Emeritus, Oklahoma University. You can get more marketing ideas, see her blog at Strategic Market Segmentation. You can get her free ebook at Marketing Your Small Business. Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory
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