Archive for Creativity
Brainstorming Still Works – When You Know How to Use It
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Brainstorm ideas
Over the years the term “brainstorming” has fallen out of favor.
An image of people throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it will stick – meaning throwing out ideas to see if they have any merit – is likely to induce fond memories among old-timers who remember when brainstorming was all the rage.
But, done properly, brainstorming still works.
What is Brainstorming?
Brainstorming was the creation of Alex Osborn, a founder of my former agency, BBDO (formerly Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn). He posited that a group could generate more creative ideas for solving a problem than an individual. There’s been a lot of controversy over the years about his methodology, with research both for and against it.
The New York Times last Sunday carried a very long story entitled The Rise of the New Groupthink in which the writer, Susan Cain, debunks the current trend of people working in teams in open space – or possibly cubicles if they’re lucky – as they collaborate on projects. She champions the introvert who needs quiet and privacy to be creative. I think she makes some valid points
When Brainstorming Works
Where Cain and I diverge, though, is when she writes, “Conversely, brainstorming sessions are one of the worst possible ways to stimulate creativity…people in groups tend to sit back and let others do the work; they instinctively mimic other’s opinions and lose sight of their own; and often succumb to peer pressure.”
I beg to differ. I’ve participated in, and facilitated, numerous brainstorming sessions, which I prefer to call group problem solving sessions. They generated many original ideas that were successfully implemented. Read More→
Creating Squeeze Pages, Product Launch Pages and Sales Letters is Easy
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve subscribed to Dave Kaminski’s “Web Video University” tips for quite a while and have found them to be very useful. I want to share a recent tip in which Dave describes – and actually shows – how it’s possible to create many page designs for video squeeze pages (to capture new email subscribers), product pages and sales letters with a new WordPress template called Optimize Press. It’s really quite amazing. Once you input the information everything else is done for you. No HTML to learn or anything. Here is Dave’s short video describing how the new template works.
So if you are selling something or trying to build a list, I’d strongly urge you to stop by Dave’s site and then visit the developer, Optimize Press. Dave gives vivid examples and his video is much shorter and user friendly. But you can get more detailed information at the Optimize Press site, even though the tutorial is a little dry. Cost of the template is $97.
A version of this post first appeared in The Bloggers Bulletin LinkedIn group.
“Connect by Hertz” Car Sharing Deal Leaves Me Spinning My Wheels on Facebook
Posted by: | CommentsHertz has climbed on the car wagon and is competing with companies like Zipcar that enable renters to book a car for a few hours, in effect sharing a car for a day. I think competition is great and I signed up for the service a while back.
I was happy to receive an email from Hertz today with a sweet offer: “Every week we’ll offer a special deal on one of the cars in our NYC area fleet. Find us on Facebook to find out this week’s special.” A lot of companies are using Facebook for special offers, coupons and promotions so I am impressed, at first, with Hertz’s ingenuity.
I’m more excited when I read: “All vehicles selected for this promotion will be available for rent at a $5 an hour rate!”
Holy Moly – $5 an hour! New York has among the highest rental car rates in the country – that’s because most of us, in Manhattan at least, don’t own cars so we rent a lot. This $5 promotion is for Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Wow, save me a car.
Round and Round I Go
Not so fast. First, I click on the Facebook icon. Seems easy enough. I land on the rather boring Hertz Facebook page. No sign of the $5 offer. Then I click on http://www.facebook.com/ConnectbyHertz, which sends me back to – the same landing page I was already on. OK. So then I find another link and click on http://www.connectbyhertz.com. I’m instructed to hit “See the cars.”
Now I’m whizzed to a snazzy website where I click on New York and reach another page that tells me to “Book a car now.” First thing I read: “Rates start as low as $8.50 an hour.” Where is the $5 offer? How do I find it? So I click on Book Now under a nifty looking Toyota Prius. Next page.
“We’ll make this easy. Just tell us when you need the car and we’ll show you what’s available. Then, choose the car that’s right for whatever you’ve got planned.” I start from left to right across the navigation bar with Select Location and, boom, I’m taken back to a page to pick my country. Dumb me, I should have looked at the next tab to log in, which I do. Wasn’t this supposed to be easy?
Getting Close
Next I choose a date and time for the rental, click on See Availability. Nada. Zilch. I click and click. Then I look further down the page and see Look for Vehicles Near. OK, let’s try that. Input my zip code and a red star appears to indicate the nearest location where a car is available. Click on the star. Click on See Availability. Nope.
By now I refuse to give up. I start the entire process again. I can see 100 vehicles are available at a location close to my home – so near, yet so far. Click on the star. Click on See Availability again. Nope.
I scoot over to Zipcar for their availability, but I would need to fork over $85 to join. That’s why Hertz is so appealing – no application or yearly fees. I’ve used Connect to Hertz in the past before they got so fancy and forced me to go to Facebook to book a car. Why?
Social media is a great tool to reach customers with information and special offers. But companies shouldn’t force customers to take yet one more step in the buying process when it makes no sense. And where is that $5 an hour car?
Blog Tips: Be Specific, Appeal to the Senses, and Be a Poet
Posted by: | CommentsThanks to Livia Blackburne for these tips from her highly engaging blog, *A Brain Scientist’s Take on Writing.* I always learn something new from her posts. She is a neuroscience graduate student at MIT, conducting research on the neural correlates of reading (don’t know what that is but I’m sure it’s important).
Use your brain and write better
- She’s just completing a three-part series based on these tips from James Frey, author of How to Write a Damn Good Novel. Her readers are invited to improve on a paragraph she writes, using one of Frey’s tips, with the winner receiving a book. That’s smart, because she engages her readers in a contest in which they can have some fun while learning something very worthwhile.
- Be specific about the subject of your blog and your point of view
- Use imagery to appeal to the senses
- Be a poet and tell a story that draws in the reader using figures of speech like metaphors and similies
As bloggers, we can learn, too:
Head over to Livia’s blog for more good tips on writing.
