A few years ago, which seems like a couple of decades now, another marketer who speaks often at conferences asked me if I ever get tired of coming up with new presentations and talks…
I looked them dead in the eye and said:
Not at all. That’s the best part of the entire experience.
It’s true. I don’t get tired of coming up with new ideas because the journey to find those ideas is always a thrill. Reading new material. Studying old and new data. Cross-referencing recent work. Analyzing new trends. Identifying interesting findings. All of this is fun for me…But it’s not just related to speaking.
It’s the reason why I love what I do as a marketing strategist so much.
Every day, you have the opportunity to work with brilliant minds and help them bring amazing products to market and gain traction. These ideas are often rooted in new insights, new channels, and new markets. It’s a thrill to have the luxury of engaging, studying, and learning about new things every single day. It’s the ultimate joy. But I can understand why some people find it tiring. The process isn’t always linear and the process can take a very long time for someone who hasn’t built muscle memory around where they need to go to get inspired.
As long as you have an understanding of where you need to go to get inspiration, data, and insights to make something out of nothing — the creation process is beautiful. But you have to read a lot, study a lot, learn a lot and bookmark a lot to get there.
Stephen King once said that if you want to be a successful writer, you need to read as much as possible. He’s well known, in writing circles, to read while traveling, while eating, and for carrying books with him everywhere he goes. This idea is a strong one because it reiterates the importance of getting exposure to as many ideas, worlds, themes, concepts, and data points as possible. This is very important for marketers and content creators alike.
In many ways, the stronger the inputs the stronger the outputs.
Stan Weston, the creator of GI Joes, once described his own success like this:
“Truly groundbreaking ideas are rare, but you don’t necessarily need one to make a career out of creativity. My definition of creativity is the logical combination of two or more existing elements that result in a new concept. The best way to make a living with your imagination is to develop innovative applications, not imagine completely new concepts.”
I love that. I love it because the original GI Joe was essentially a Ken Barbie doll with an army outfit and guns in the package. He combined two existing elements and created an empire.
But we’re not talking about dolls and action figures here. We’re talking about ideas.
So where can you go to be exposed to new ideas?
Three of my favourite places at the moment:
Newsletters, Podcasts & Twitter
Sure… Books are high up there as well but these three are taking up a lot of my free time lately as I’m getting a high yield of return from studying and reviewing content on these sites. I’ve gotten so much value out of newsletters, podcasts, and the folks I follow on Twitter that I decided to do a call out and ask my own followers for their own favorites. The result?
I’m excited to share with you a spreadsheet that has hundreds of Twitter users, Newsletters, and Podcasts that my followers on Twitter believe will give you BRILLIANT insights in the months to come. Here you go: List Of Best Newsletters, Podcasts & Twitter Accounts To Follow
Great article .useful tactics that eventually be useful for any marketer
https://creativemediatechnology.com/