Have you ever read a great classified ad or seen a
spectacular web site and wished you had the
creative ability to produce work like that? Chances
are you do have a lot more creative ability than
you are currently making use of, it just needs to
be unleashed. This then leads to the question, how
can I unleash my creativity?
I have always had a difficult time getting the
creative juices flowing. But over the past few
years I have discovered a couple of techniques
that work wonders for me. I didn't invent these
techniques, they're not new, but they work.
The first technique is a two step process. I start
with a word-association exercise. When I
need to write a new ad or design a web page, I
take a legal pad or use my word processing
program and start by writing down a keyword
that relates to the product or service I am working
with. Then I write down whatever word that the
key word brings to mind. I write down ANY word
that pops into my head. I don't reject anything at
this point, the object is to keep the process flowing.
After I have a page or two of words, I go to the
second step. Now I eliminate the garbage words,
words that I know won't work in my ad. I use the
remaining "nuggets" to start a sentence-association
exercise and continue until all my words are
exhausted.
This technique may seem like a lot of work, and it
is, but I have produced some great ads with it. Plus,
most of the time an idea for the complete ad will
pop into my head before I have spent too much
time with the process. Sometimes the idea will
come after only writing a few words in step one.
The second technique you may find easier. This
is a free-association with other peoples ads or
web sites. Don't misunderstand, I am not looking
at other people's work to steal their ideas, I use
them to trigger ideas of my own.
Another way to use this process is to look at
some your own past work. See if you can
determine why a particular ad worked or didn't
work. Sometimes this can lead to some amazing
new ideas.
Remember, you have a great deal of pent up
creative ability. All you need is the right devise
to unleash it. Try the techniques I have given
you and let me know how they worked. My
email address is listed below.
Bill Daugherty is the editor and publisher of the
marketing and advertising ezine "E-Power
Marketing." You can subscribe free at:
http://www.freeadsgalore.com
To see Bill's latest project goto:
http://www.PowerSearchExpress.com
To contact Bill mailto:bill@epower.zzn.com
