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Creativity is a vital component to the success of a marketing team. A sweatshop-esque environment is definitely not the best place for marketers to prosper. Here are some quick tips that can help you improve your creativity in the marketing world.
Rigidly structured, heavy workload/tight deadline environments that become slaves to business processes are the bane of creativity. Of course in business we must occasionally face heavy workloads and tight deadlines, but as a leader of a marketing organization, there are some subtle ways you can improve your team's creativity.
When presenting an issue to your team it is fine to offer up a solution of your own, but if you must do so, allow them breathing room and make it clear that brainstorming is important and their input is valued. As an authority, your team members will likely default to agreeing with your solution rather than forming their own ideas. Encourage your team to voice their own opinions and encourage individuals to build on other team member's suggested ideas.
Managing your daily routine and being aware of your physical tendencies can contribute immensely to your daily marketing success. If you pay attention to some of these aspects of your life, your work will improve also.
It is evident that marketing teams produce stronger creative work when strategy and brainstorming meetings intended to produce new ideas are held in the morning. Being more conscious of the various states of mind we go through during the day can allow us to be more accurate when deciding at what times we should do which activities.
Reverse brainstorming is another concept for boosting creativity. It starts by identifying a problem, then reversing the problem by asking 'How could I make this worse?', or 'How could I cause this?'. By brainstorming these reverse problems, we can evaluate and flip them into potential solutions.
Extra-curricular activities can also be a contributor to better creativity in marketing. Think about design contests, improv classes or other outside-the-office things that are creativity-focused. The benefits will cross back over into your work.
Be aware of your moment to moment comfort. Paying attention to your health is important for performance in any activity, including marketing. Posture is a good example of an easy thing that can be focussed on that will vastly improve your overall comfort and therefore creativity and quality of work.
Keeping all of these things in check will help you be better at what you do, and make it easier to head to work every day with a smile on your face and a spring in your step.