Creativity is a beautiful thing and when you’re on, you…are…on! But, when your mind hits a wall and you can’t think of a single creative marketing idea if your life depended on it, and even worse, you need multiple creative ideas NOW and can’t hook even one, don’t let panic set in immediately. There are plenty of creative marketing solutions and resources out there to rescue you from your uninspired state of being.
Which Creative Triggers Set Off Your Right Brain’s Frontal Lobe?
Before going click crazy on all of the online marketing research resources below, I’d suggest getting to know yourself a bit better first.
Ask yourself the following: Do you know what generally jump-starts your mind into a creative state?
- Is it something text-based, like a quote that pulls at your heartstrings or an article from a writer that you feel speaks to you?
- How about an impactful image?
- What about videos, whether they’re empowering, humorous or downright out there?
- Or maybe it’s music that awakens your creative soul?
If you’re not sure, try to tune in to yourself the next time you’re on a creative spree (or you could try the ‘go click crazy’ method on the links below to see which ones get your frontal lobe (the part of your brain that controls creative thought) going.
If you know your creative trigger, however, then simply browse the list below and focus in on those resources in the trigger category that speaks to you most!
Creative Marketing Research Resources by Creative Trigger
cre·a·tive trig·ger
/krēˈātiv/ /ˈtrigər/
noun
1. anything that causes a spark in one’s imagination to produce an original idea, esp. in the production of an artistic work.
“when developing her creative marketing concepts, she always found that an impactful piece of visual art was her creative trigger to identify innovative marketing ideas to include within a given integrated marketing strategy that she’s working on”
TRIGGER: Text
• Keyword Planner (Formally known as Google Keyword Tool)
• BrainyQuote (My Choice, The Unexpected Choice!)
It says on the website, “Our intelligent and discerning curators select quotations and develop quote collections to inspire, motivate and entertain our highly-educated audience.”
TRIGGER: Images
• Art.com (My Choice, The Unexpected Choice!)
It says on the website, “Get Inspired, Be Inspired. …you may need guidance to discover what you love. Either way, we’ve got all sorts of tools to help you explore, experiment and express yourself.”
TRIGGER: Videos
• YouTube
• Devour (My Choice, The Unexpected Choice!)
It says on the website, “Devour is here to help. Using a scientifically technologically artificially intelligently awesomely robotically humanly system (we hand-pick every video on the site), Devour sifts out the best videos and posts the well-curated collection every weekday. Fewer cute kittens, fewer nutshots, fewer laughing babies, and lots more awesome.”
TRIGGER: Music
• Spotify
• Hype Machine (My Choice, The Unexpected Choice!)
It says on the website, “Every day, thousands of people around the world write about music they love — and it all ends up here.” And, it also states, “The Hype Machine keeps track of what music bloggers write about. We handpick a set of kickass music blogs and then present what they discuss for easy analysis, consumption and discovery. This way, your odds of stumbling into awesome music or awesome blogs are high.”
TRIGGER: Trends
• Discover on Twitter
(Tip: Sign in to get access to this area, then browse the “Trends” and “Tweets” sections, which have been tailored to your location. To view information for a different location, just head to “Trends” and click “Change.”)
• Trendwatching.com (My Choice, The Unexpected Choice!)
It says on the website, “Our trend findings help marketers, CEOs, researchers, and anyone else interested in the future of business and consumerism, to dream up new goods, services and experiences for (or even better, with) their customers.”
TRIGGER: Offbeat
• Shower Yourself in Creativity
(Tip: Jumping into a nice, warm shower can be seen as what some scientists refer to as the “incubation period” for your ideas. In the shower, two things happen to help trigger your creativity, including increased levels of dopamine from feeling great and relaxed and the fact that you are distracted which allows new ideas to plant themselves in your conscious mind.)
• Take a Walk on the Creative Side
(Tip: Not only is walking a mood boosting activity (once again, enter: happy making elements in the brain), the repetitive movement when walking helps to influence one’s overall state of mind. Keep your head up, have your phone’s camera and voice memo tool ready, and tune into your surroundings.)
• 4am in the Morning (My Choice, The Unexpected Choice!)
(Tip: Quite frequently in a month, I wake up out of a deep sleep at 4am. I can’t really explain why 4am is the hour that I tend to wake up at in the wee hours of the morn, but I do know that there’s always been something magical about that hour for me in terms of creativity. Sometimes I wake up with new ideas for a creative marketing strategy, innovative ways to enhance the quality of my life, or ponderings of why I just dreamt of what I dreamt and how it relates to my waking life. I suggest keeping a notebook at your bedside to capture your ideas at that hour, as it seems to work for me and my intention is always to fall back asleep after I’ve jotted down my thoughts. (ps. the source for “4am in the Morning” is my mind. Sorry if you were clicking it like a madman or madwoman!))
Now that you have all of these creative marketing resources at your disposable, I’d love to know:
What’s your creative trigger? Which creative marketing resource above is YOUR choice?
Simply leave a comment below to express your feedback!