What is creativity? It’s the ability to come up with original ideas and make them come to life in your work. When you read the word “creative” it’s easy to think of artists, like painters and pianists. But if you work in sales and marketing, you’re an artist too. Your job is generating authentic, one-of-a-kind content that resonates with your audience, whether it be a pitch deck or a social media post. However, it can be easy to disregard your creativity and lean on your analytical brain to skim metrics and pick out key performance indicators. This is why we’ve written this article for you. Continue reading to learn how to be creative in sales and marketing and why it’s important.
How to Think Creatively: Left Brain vs. Right Brain
Some people are more creatively inclined than others, and that’s okay. It all comes down to left brain vs. right brain. We all have one side of our brain that’s more dominant than the other.
- Left brain: People with left-brain dominance think using facts, data, and logistics.
- Right brain: People with right-brain dominance think using visualizations, imagination, and art.
Even if you’re left-brain dominant, it doesn’t mean you can’t tap into creativity. And even if you’re right-brain dominant, it doesn’t mean you can’t apply logical thinking.
If you feel discomfort when stretching into creativity, there are some tips and practices you can do to make it feel more natural and comfortable.
Creativity Tips
- Do something you haven’t done before. Do this at work or at home. At work, try a new course or browse a new site to read articles from. At home, try a new hobby, like puzzles or knitting.
- Self-reflect. Ask yourself what makes you feel happy and motivated, and incorporate more of these elements into your work and personal life.
- Make Edge Moves. Edge Moves is a special term Finka Inc. has created to describe any activity you do that’s outside of your comfort zone. Treading in unfamiliar territory can offer you new ways of thinking and feeling. It can open yourself up to new possibilities and your true capabilities.
The Importance of Creativity
According to National Youth Council of Ireland, “Creativity allows us to view and solve problems more openly and with innovation. Creativity opens the mind.”
In short, it offers you new perspectives to solve problems at new angles you may not have thought of with pure logic.
And this can be translated into your workplace.
Harvard Business Review states that creativity in a business can also increase productivity, acclimation, and growth.
When creativity is practiced and encouraged, you’re less likely to remain stagnant in your ideas and tasks. You can also acclimate to challenges more easily because you can find solutions with out-of-the-box thinking. Also, creativity pushes barriers, giving your team new ideas for business and revenue growth.
How to Be More Creative in Sales and Marketing
Remember: creativity is about producing original and authentic content that aligns with your audience. And that’s the whole goal of sales and marketing. Here are some ideas to help you flex your creativity and stand out from the crowd.
How to Be Creative in Sales
1. Customized Sales Pitches
Having a set template for your sales pitches is okay, but if you copy and paste the exact same content from one prospect to the next, chances are you’ll close fewer deals. Generalization is the demise of pipelines. People are less likely to resonate with a broader idea compared to one that’s been niched down and personalized exactly to them. Speak to your prospect’s industry, their role, and their collective pains and goals. Chances are, these factors vary from prospect to prospect, so adjust your content as needed.
2. Quality Over Quantity
When you work with to too many clients, you can feel stalled and burnt out, especially if the people you work with aren’t your ideal clients. Get creative with your nurturing and focus on your top ideal clients so that you can provide them with the most personalized customer experience. By weeding out clients who no longer serve you, you’re giving yourself more energy to tend to those who do and create new, ideal opportunities. From emails, to sending books and resources, you can now get more personalized and creative with every outreach and follow-up.
3. Storytelling
While data and facts support stories, storytelling is more effective and memorable because they conjure emotions and relatability. In your pitch decks and follow-ups, share stories where they make sense. When presenting testimonials, share the success story of a client. When networking with someone at an event, share your story of who you are and what you do. And of course, let them share too.
How to Be Creative in Marketing
1. Experiment
It’s easy to follow industry standards because that’s what’s “always been done” but trends are constantly changing, and you need to discover what works for your brand and audience. Do this by experimenting. By giving yourself the space to experiment, you’re opening your mind to new ideas and ways to connect and resonate with your audience to generate leads. For instance, maybe instead of writing a blog, you write an ebook. Testing out different types of content allows you to see what resonates most with your audience. And then you can replicate and make more of it.
2. Collaborate
If you have a blog, social media platform, or podcast, then research and connect with other people in your industry to do a collaboration. They aren’t competition; they’re community!
For your blog, do a guest article swap, where they write an article for your site, and you write an article for their site. The same can be done for your podcast. Invite them for a guest interview on your platform and opt to be interviewed on their podcast too. From these collaborations, you can tag each other in social media posts, spotlighting the content you created together.
When your audience sees you collaborating with other industry professionals in your niche, they’ll see you as authentic and supportive. They’ll know you’re not about competition or money, but rather community and relationship-building.
3. Videos
Videos are becoming more dominant in the digital marketing sphere, with this mode of content reaching 92% of the global audience. So, why not embrace it and have fun? Here are some video ideas for you to try out!
- Behind the scenes. Document what it’s like as you prepare your service or offer, like a workshop.
- A day in the life. If you’re a business owner, film a day in your life as a Reel or Instagram story so people can see the work you put into your business. It also adds a human element.
- Origin stories. On your website, film origin story clips for your About page and service pages, highlighting who you are and why you created your offers.
How Will You Show Up Creatively?
Creativity is key when thinking about your 2024 sales and marketing strategies. We covered how to increase creativity by trying new things, self-reflecting, and making Edge Moves.
Whether you work in sales or marketing, determine how you will show up as your most creative self for your business and customers. Will you personalize your pitch decks or design a video marketing strategy? Keep your creative doors wide open for 2024.
