Marketing to the Memory: Creativity

In an attempt to appear more professional and credible, many business owners attempt to mimic their competitors. They give the web designer a list of websites, and the vague directive to "make it look more like these ones." There is a big risk with that approach. When your website, direct mail, etc. look too similar to your competition, you're telling your potential customers, "I don't have anything unique to offer. I'm just like the other guys." That's troubling for any business that doesn't want to be the "best kept secret" in its industry. Fortunately, this can be avoided, and the solution is simple: If you want to stand out from the competition, don't look like your competitors.

When a business copies its competitor's branding, it is essentially covering the company in camouflage. Now they'll just blend right in with the surrounding competitors and nobody will notice them. There's nothing wrong with getting a little inspiration from your competition though. Maybe they offer something that your customers expect you to offer. But, when it comes to design, get your inspiration elsewhere. If you offer plumbing, instead of researching all the plumber websites in your area, try looking at some dentist websites. This will help you find a nice, professional design that is unique from your competition.

The goal of using creativity is to get people to stop and think about what you are telling them. It used to be really easy to accomplish this. You could just place an ad in the Yellowpages that said, "Are you tired of...?" or "Is it time for a new...?" But those days have long since passed, along with the Atari, bellbottoms, and Supertramp. Now the marketer is required to make a bigger effort.

Because every product and company is different, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to creative branding and advertising, but this approach may help you get started:

Benefits - Review the benefits of doing business with your company. Note that I said benefits—not features. (Feature: a lot of blades on your razor; Benefit: a close shave) Choose the top 3 benefits.
Brainstorm - Think of different ways to demonstrate/illustrate those benefits. Don't wait around for a good idea. Just start writing every idea that comes to mind. This will allow your brain to open up and pour out ideas. Most of them won't be very good, but you need to get them out of the way so you can find the good ones. It's like dumping out a bag of M&Ms. You have to sort through a lot of yellows before you get the color you really want.

Once you've run out of ideas, eliminate the most terrible ones. Keep the ones that have some merit though, because you might be able to partially use them. Oftentimes the best ideas are a combination of a couple different ideas. I've seen this happen many times with web designs and logos.

If you are creating an advertisement, here are some questions to ask:

"Will this grab attention?"
"After grabbing a person's attention, will this deliver a clear message about the product?"
"Does the message convert the viewer's attention into an interest in the product?"
"If I saw this ad, would I mention it to a friend?"

When we think of being creative, we often think of being funny. Humor can be effective, but it is not necessary. You don't need to be funny to be creative. Take, for instance, the first Mac commercial. It is still used today as an example of effective advertising. Their creative spin on1984 made people "think different." The commercial helped establish Apple's rebel image that lives on today among college hipsters.

Maybe your ideas won't become the next Apple commercial, but if you can start by differentiating yourself from your competitors, you'll be on the right track. Good luck and happy marketing.

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