Getting Creative

With so much ‘noise’ in the world at the moment, getting creative in your business is a HUGE opportunity to really think outside of the ‘norm.

When you think of the word creative, how does it feel?

Do you think you have to be super creative and be able to sew a whole dress or something similar?

Well guess what, you don’t.

Getting creative isn’t about what you can’t do, it’s about what you can think of doing.

Remember that creativity can take time to develop and flourish. But, by creating a business culture and environment that nurtures creativity that is aligned with you, you can inspire yourself to come up with innovative solutions to help drive your business forward.

Creativity in business extends far beyond social media. A lot of people think that the ONLY way to showcase your business these days is via it.

Do you?

Now, don’t get me wrong I really do like social media, I just think there are other ways to be creative in selling / showcasing your amazing talents.

Can you imagine if social media disappeared, what would you be left with? A whole load of content and nowhere to share it?

Wrong! You would have lots of other opportunities to showcase how amazing you are…

Look at these stats though, we put so much time and effort into social media (remember I do think it’s great!) we just have to think about other marketing channels and where else can we be?

In order to think a little bit differently, I have recently created a fabulous free resource called Selling Without Socials, you can get it by clicking here .

It gives you 5 alternative ways to sell/promote you and your business and a 60 day action plan to go with it. 

You can also watch the free masterclass that accompanies it here where I give some live learnings and opportunities for you to be creative. 

Let me share some of my own actions when it comes to being creative:

1 - Actually talking about what you do

So many of my clients don’t think they need to shout out about what they do (or are scared of doing so - take a read of my other blogs here if you’re in this camp, these can help give you clarity, courage and more!) .

Let’s be really honest here, if you think a million pound contract is just going to appear in your Instagram feed from one post, then please read on…

2 - Growing your audience off social media

For three months this year I had a goal to share more about my business, my journey and offers  by speaking at live events.

Why?

To connect with more people to shout out about me and to uplift my brand awareness. 

I connected with local and national brands and turned this into guest speaking opportunities with the following companies and created some great new connections and business.

Fierce Femmes, Talk Event Cardiff, Introbiz UK.

3 - Product/Service Innovation

When was the last time you took pen to paper (or more likely fingers to laptop these days!) and added some time for brainstorming? A great way to do this is with a whole load of colourful post it notes! 

Give yourself pillars, I like these:

1. Sales
2. Marketing
3. Operations
4. Finance
5. People
6. Other

Get some more post its and write down ways you can be creative in these areas to help grow.

If you don’t do this regularly I suggest you contact your clients/customers (old and current) and obtain feedback, this will help you identify pain points and opportunities for improvement and may even spark some creativity.

Experiment with new features, designs, or functionalities that can set your offerings apart from others.

Remember, there are a million different trainer brands out there, you choose the ones that are right for you.

Think, Adidas didn’t stop because Nike were also selling trainers right?

4 - Community Engagement

Are you leveraging what’s right in front of you?

A great way to engage with your community is by supporting charitable causes or participating in local initiatives.

You can also host local events, workshops, or seminars that align with your business's expertise and values.

Alternative creative ideas:

• Case study:
  • You own an affirmation poster/picture business like this one.
  • You want to scale and grow. 
  • What alternatives could you do? 

How about this...

Contact estate agents about promoting your business in the welcome boxes you get when you move into a home, maybe with a small sample of a design and offer a discount for future purchases?

Think how many people you could reach offline AND then online?

There are LOTS of ideas you can generate here. What can you do for your business?

5 - Prioritise time for creative thinking

My final tip for getting creative in business, is to dedicate regular time for creative thinking sessions and idea-generation activities.

Explore and have fun with things, remember this is YOUR business, you do it how you want to!

So, how could YOU start getting creative in YOUR business?

If you need some extra help to get clear on this, book in a free chat with me to find out how we can work together on your business growth journey!

Hels x