When you are creating ads and content on your social networks, creativity is key: images and videos are what will make the clients become interested in your proposal and get to know your site.

There isn’t one universal recipe to design and design content that is successful for all brands. It will depend on the way you communicate, your value, what you sell and, more importantly, your capacity to find the best ways of attracting your spectators.

Do you want to reach more people and increase your sales? The key is focusing all your attention on showing your products/services in a different way. We need to step out of our comfort zone, think outside the box and develop innovative and revolutionary ideas, which can grant a differential element.

We know… sometimes it is complicated to be creative all the time. The best ideas do not appear when we need them the most. But don’t worry, all human beings are born with this capacity, it is only a matter of learning how to develop it. For this reason, we are here to help you with the best techniques and tools that will allow you to think and produce the best ideas to create amazing ads and content for your social media.

Brainstorming

Grab paper and a pencil, or simply your computer, and start writing down for a set period of time all the ideas that come to mind regarding a specific topic. Regardless of how strange they may seem, write them down. This method can be done individually, but if you try it out with your team, it can be much more interesting.

Mind Maps

This is a very effective visual technique that can be done in groups or individually. It consists of writing words, concepts or thoughts that represent ideas graphically through a diagram with drawings and colors. The goal of this creativity method is to facilitate the understanding of a topic and the way in which a person construes it. They show all of the relations and interconnections between ideas and concepts that start at a central node.

SCAMPER

This acronym means: substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to other uses, eliminate and reordering. This method is used to improve products, brands or services that are already on the market, through a series of questions related to each word.

• Substitute: What can substitute a product/service?
• Combine: What ideas can be combined?
• Adapt: Has anything like this been done before? Can different ideas be adapted?
• Modify: ¿Es posible mejorar el producto/servicio…? ¿Se puede mejorar?
• Put to other use: Can you use the product/service any other way…? What new uses can be suggested?
• Eliminate or reduce: Is it necessary? What would happen if it was modified?
• Reorder: What other alteration can improve it? Can you alternate something?

PNI

Another acronym that represents three aspects: positive, negative and interesting. This technique allows us to evaluate ideas for its later selection, so that you can consider strengths and weaknesses of a proposal and, as a result, know which is the most adequate solution to a problem. This group method requires hard group work. To value every aspect, it is recommended to use a punctuation from 1 to 10, being 1 the lowest and 10 the top.

Although it is a technique usually applied after generating ideas, as it focuses more on decision making, it is very important to consider it on the creation process as a key step.

Six thinking hats

One of the most used and well-known techniques used by work teams in the process of making decisions. It consists of defining roles within the team. Each member adopts a different focus offering different perspectives regarding one topic. They are six hats of different colors that represent six different positions.

It is generally used to avoid participants from diverting their attention, by focusing on the very discussion. It also helps exercise critical thinking to evaluate pros and cons in a decision.

• White: represent objectivity.
• Red: represents emotion.
• Black: represents negativity, sadness.
• Yellow: represents positivity, joy.
• Green: represents alternative thinking and creativity.
• Blue: represents control and the process of rethinking.

4X4X4

It is a very didactic technique. First, each participant must create ideas individually. Then, in groups, the most adequate ideas are selected. Each team member must write four ideas about the chosen topic in order to develop it. After this, the members are put into groups of two and write four ideas based on the previous four ideas. Then, people are put into groups of four and the process is repeated. By that moment, the whole group will have chosen four ideas.

This technique is recommended especially when there are many ideas about a topic and the selection of the most adequate is difficult. It is also a great technique to work with in groups of many members.

Let’s pause here. Now that we have enough inspiration to kickstart the search for creative ideas, what follows is knowing more about the tools we can use to put them into practice. Graphic design is essential in digital marketing: it is the visual representation of a brand’s identity.

Currently, there are specialized programs and resources which adapt to the needs of companies: they optimize and agilize their design services according to available resources.

We share some of the alternatives we use in Adtomic that may help you reach the results you are looking for:

Creativity is essential for innovation, and innovation is key to stand out within the market. It is very important that work teams are aware about how to restructure the creative process in order to get to great ideas and apply them on their content and ads.

For this reason, next time you are suffering a creative block, step on the accelerator and start trying new techniques and methods.

An extra tip we recommend here at Adtomic is that you always keep yourself updated with the latest digital marketing and social network trends, paying great attention to the results obtained and to the ones made by the competition.

Finally, remember: creativity can reach a top level if you work with your team!