Here's an idea that works well when you're trying to uncover how to be more creative: force yourself (or your business brand) into completely new strategic situations.
The Brainzooming Group will be doing that this Thursday. Barrett Sydnor and I will be participating in the Freelance Exchange of Kansas City's 2010 Portfolio Showcase, along with a talented group of creative talent - designers, writers, web developers, and artists. We'll be there showcasing how Brainzooming helps make smart organizations more successful by rapidly expanding their strategic options and creating innovative plans they can efficiently implement.
Barrett identified this opportunity, and while it may seem a stretch for Brainzooming to hang with the creative Freelance Exchange organization, the preparation alone has had a strategic and creative impact. The opportunity to meet prospective Brainzooming clients in a very different situation (i.e., event marketing) forced positive refinements in our marketing message and creative delivery.
This event has made us think strategically beyond the one-page capabilities piece we've been using. In this venue, we need to provide visually eye-catching creative material to capture attention during a quick walk by our table. This new situation led to more case study-oriented pieces, such as those shown here.
Thinking about our strategic messaging from the perspective of the solutions and benefits Brainzooming provides, selecting images can be a challenge. Typically, our tangible output is a concise, actionable plan that's tremendously valuable, but not all that visually intriguing. Changing our messaging focus to a potential client's business challenges offered many more creative opportunities to place images with our message. It's been much easier to depict business people challenged by too much data (without relevant insights), too few strategic options, or being left out of conversations about their brands in social media.
The point is this: presenting at the Freelance Exchange 2010 Portfolio Showcase was so different, it forced both a new look at our marketing and moved an important to-do higher up on our list. Whether you're on your own or inside a company, look for brand experiments to force re-examining and innovatively approaching what you do from a new strategic perspective.
If you're in Kansas City Thursday afternoon, April 22 from 3 to 6 p.m., stop by the Terrace on Grand (1520 Grand St., KCMO). We'd be eager to talk with you about how the proven Brainzooming process can help address your strategic challenges and catalyze innovative success for your organization! - Mike Brown
