tips to generate marketing ideas that push the envelope

Marketers tend to play it safe, no matter what their industry or product. The same content is created, the same stories are told, and the same cliches are used. It’s not surprising that they also see the same results.

Drew Hoffman, SentinelOne’s VP of Brand, said he battles this every day. We discussed the challenges that he faces in the cybersecurity sector, where marketing is heavily based on outdated tropes, during our Best Story Wins Podcast.

“I don’t think enough people are trying to do something new and different in our industry.” –Drew Hoffman VP of Brand at SentinelOne

It’s not just the cybersecurity industry that is hesitant to try something new. Many marketers (including some of our clients) struggle with this. If we are honest, it’s not always because they lack resources or they’re afraid to try. Usually, they are struggling with stagnancy. They are too complacent and don’t think critically about their actions or come up with new ways to stand out. Don’t be down on yourself if this sounds familiar. Help is on its way.

We are marketing professionals who have helped many brands to push their creativity, and achieve great results. We know the best hacks that will help you to reassess and rethink your content. You can also brainstorm new marketing ideas and gain the attention you deserve.

How To Brainstorm Marketing Ideas That Push The Boundaries

It’s good to know that you don’t have to be a maniacal edge lord in order for your actions and words make waves. (Translation: To make waves, you don’t need to be an edge-lord.) You may need to look at something differently, test your ideas in new ways or do something unexpected. If you need some inspiration for your next creative brainstorm, then try these tips.

You can use this information to help you target your audience.

Making a personal connection with your audience will help you break through the noise. Nothing is more powerful or potent than their feelings. If you really want to push your audience and maybe even push some buttons, then you have to understand what drives them.

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  Do they have a deep-seated phobia?
  
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  Does the person have a secret wish?
  
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  Do they need a solution for a frustrating issue?
  

Lead with emotion to get their attention.

You can create more engaging content by tapping into the emotions of your audience.

This doesn’t mean that we encourage you to manipulate your audience’s emotions to shock them. It’s a good idea to brainstorm marketing ideas that are based on the most powerful emotions of your audience. This will help you to be creative and to speak directly to their needs.

Tip: At the beginning of your journey, it is important to start with emotion. Learn how to make your buyer journey emotional. close logical.

Squarespace’s brilliant Superbowl advertisement “5 to 9, by Dolly Parton,” featuring Dolly Parton singing the classic anthem with a twist, was a huge success. This clever spot encouraged side hustlers to use Squarespace in order to achieve their dream jobs: “Make 5-9 your dream job.”

Consider what you would be angry about if your competitor did it.

Try this exercise. Imagine your competitor releasing a piece of content so successful that it made you insanely envious. What would you choose?

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  A hilarious viral video?
  
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  An interactive tool that allows customers to do something quickly and simply?
  
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  A beautiful library of templates to support learning?
  

You can create something that you think should exist, but doesn’t. It would be a shame to see someone else do it before you.

You can also get inspiration from those outside of your field. Hoffman is clear that he does not look for inspiration from his competitors or sites like Pinterest because, according to him, it can make marketing seem reductive. Hoffman prefers to draw inspiration for his marketing from filmmakers.

Tip For some inspiration, you can check out these examples of digital marketing that are not boring.

We researched all the branding resources available to us to find the best framework for our agency rebrand. We were disappointed to find that there was no easy guide or workbook, so we had to create our own. Since then, our guide on creating brand strategy is one of the most popular pieces of information. Two people even left voicemails in our office thanking us for creating the resource they desperately wanted but had struggled to locate. )

3) Be provocative.

Provocative marketing doesn’t have to be shocking or scandalous. It’s important to get your audience thinking, excited, or eliciting a strong response. This can be done in many different ways throughout the buyer’s journey.

• People are more likely to engage in a conversation if you ask a question that is provocative. You can engage your audience by asking them about these topics.
• Make a bold declaration. Create a unique point of view in your field and be vocal about it. It is the best way to distinguish your brand. We tell marketers to stop creating content, for example. )
• Challenge stereotypes. In your marketing, break boundaries by promoting cultural sensitivity, diversity, and inclusivity. In your marketing, include a variety of perspectives, voices, and experiences.

Use clickworthy headlines to stop the scroll. Use Coschedule’s headline analyzer for more tips on how to write provocative titles.

Unbabel, for example, is developing a Language Operations Platform that allows every team in a company to easily interact with their customers in any foreign language. We created a campaign based on four provocative letters, STFU. We reimagined the meaning of this phrase, which is normally NSFW. This provocative twist caught the attention of Unbabel’s audience across all platforms.

4) Do something unexpected or surprising.

Each industry has a default type of storytelling, language or design. To make your brand more distinctive, challenge these industry norms and traditional marketing practices. Hoffman, for example, points out that cybersecurity industries often rely on outdated cliches. (Think ’90s dude hacker in hoodies). He attempts to combat this narrative by positioning SentinelOne with a modern approach.

There are many ways to surprise your customers. You can add something fun or surprising to your website or make your confirmation emails more interesting.

Discover how you can make your content fun and entertaining for your buyers throughout their journey.

LaunchDarkly, for example, is a platform that manages features and powers the best software. This B2B solution is technically based, but their brand voice is anything other than boring. They inject personality and fun into their marketing. Their Best practices page, where they offer “Tips and tricks and assorted sorcery for better controlling software releases”, to their Dev Workshop series (cheekily named “Talking Ship”) is refreshing.

The SHIPTALKERS are invited to a GameDay event on the 21st of June at 9am. Learn about using feature flags in AWS to build new apps, target specific users, create experiments and much more.

Register now! https://t.co/X0Wn9H4djq pic.twitter.com/sxa6phZu3p

LaunchDarkly 13 June 2023

5) Use data to uncover fascinating stories.

Normal people would not associate data with pushing the envelope. Data can be dry and dull. Data is a great way to gain credibility and support surprising or even outrageous claims.

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  Your latest whitepaper revealed a shocking trend.
  
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  Can you find data that will dispel an industry belief held for decades?
  
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  Are you looking for stats to grab your attention on social media sites?
  

The best part is that strong data insights are newsworthy and can help you get placement in mainstream or industry publications.

Where can you find this data? internal data can be a valuable (and proprietary source) of information, which your competitors don’t possess. However, publicly available data is also able to support your data storytelling. There is now more data than ever available. To get started, you can use these 100+ free data sources. )

Tip: Use analytics to identify patterns, uncover trends and make data-backed decision. You can use this knowledge to create targeted, personalized campaigns that will cut through the clutter and resonate on a deeper basis with your audience. You can use our guide on finding interesting data stories if you aren’t sure how to find the interesting parts of your data.

Zendesk’s CX Trends report 2023 explores the impact of immersive CX on business today. This is a great resource for the industry, and it helps educate Zendesk’s audience. They’ve even been mentioned in publications such as Forbes. They get bonus points for making the report interactive and bold, rather than a boring and dry PDF.

How to keep your marketing ideas fresh

To be successful, no matter how many years of experience you have with marketing, you must remain flexible and adaptable. We have some ideas for you if you want to improve your marketing game.

• You can start by checking out our resources library, where you’ll find the best content to help you achieve your goals. Start with our resource library. Here you will find the best content for you to achieve your goals.
• Use our free template to generate a month of marketing ideas within an hour.
• Subscribe to the Best Story Wins Podcast. Start with Hoffman’s podcast to learn more about his work in the cybersecurity field.

Make sure that your content strategy is up-to-date and aligned with your goals. You can also reach out to us if you’re looking for a partner who will help you bring your content to life.

The post 5 Tips for Brainstorming Marketing Ideas That Push the Envelope first appeared on column five.

Author: Katy French