How to get your creativity back
82% of marketers see creativity as a powerful weapon.
However, in the same report, only 28% see it as the key component of their success.
But why is that? Why are we not living our best creative lives? Especially when it’s noted that award-winning creative campaigns generate 11x return on investment than non-awarded campaigns. Not to mention the fact that it makes our jobs a lot more fun.
Well, there are two reasons.
- You’re suffering with creative burnout or fatigue (writer’s block included)
- Your company is creatively stunting you (lack of resources or general bad vibes)
How about we talk about both in this post? And how to regain your creativity after you’ve hit the wall - don't let budgets, burnout or beating yourself up get in the way.
How to rebuild your creative side
Creativity is a muscle, and like all muscles, it atrophies over time if we aren’t using it. So, if you’re one of those marketers who hasn’t been able to get creative in a while, what do you do?
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Take a step back
When it’s not there, don’t force it. Instead, take a step back.
This might look like taking a break from your desk, taking a day off work, taking a week off work, or just cutting yourself some slack because realistically, we all know our creativity A-game can’t be 100% at 100% of the time.
These moments of zero-pressure might be exactly what you need to get your creative thoughts flowing again.
Either get in the zone with your favorite podcast, get a pen and paper (or even the paint set your grandma got you for Christmas in 2004) out for some doodles, go for a walk, talk it out with your partner or pal, or just unplug entirely.
Whatever your way of stepping back, take note – you might need your own tips for next time you’re feeling low on creativity.
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‘Speak’ to a professional
Just like when a muscle isn’t operating at its best, why not see a professional?
And don’t worry, there’s no need to dip into that medical insurance every time you’re feeling a creative block. Instead, consider podcasts, articles and books your very own creative physios.
Here are some of our recommended podcasts to reignite creativity:
- Creative Pep Talk with Andy J. Pizza: Dive into inspiring tales and practical strategies for nurturing a successful creative practice.
- Start With This with Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink: Focuses on a writing theme each episode, paired with a "consume" and "create" assignment to spark your creativity.
- Everyone Hates Marketers with Louis Grenier: Delivers straight-shooting insights from industry leaders. Don’t miss the episodes, How to Have Better Ideas (Lessons from the Onion’s Creator) and Smashing Norms: How to Craft the Stand-the-F*ck-Out Brands in Old School Industries for game-changing, bold marketing inspiration without budget.
More of a reader? Here are some books (or Kindle downloads) to investigate:
- Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative: Austin Kleon
- Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads: Luke Sullivan and Sam Bennett
- Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century: Jim Aitchison
* Adds to saved list * 👀
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Get inspired with moodboards
Pinterest, Canva, Miro, Figma, Lucidspark.
☝️ These are just a few tools we have at our fingertips when it comes to creating moodboards or vision boards. Make the most of them!
Moodboarding is a fun, effective and often colorful way to feel inspired and get that creativity back. They can help you create a vision of where you’re headed, whilst keeping you on the straight and narrow in a time when procrastination is rife.
If things are particularly bad in your creative burnout, why not document your daydreaming in moodboard style? You never know, it might inspire you and offer the energy you need.
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Work together as a team
If you’re lucky enough to have a team behind you, you should take advantage of this with some ‘old-fashioned’ teamwork.
Whether you’re taking your blockers-of-the-week (... or month, or life) to your team meeting or turning to your left to whoever is sat next to you, chatting it out with others is a great way to get fresh perspective, new ideas, useful feedback and suggestions, and maybe even some ✨ EUREKA ✨ moments.
Even if they’re not in the same role as you, they can offer insight into the work you’re doing or the audience you’re after.
See, this is where an integrated marketing strategy comes in especially handy.
With an integrated marketing strategy, you have an integrated marketing team, which means:
- Breaking down the old, traditional silos that restrict you (and your results)
- Encouraging transparency and teamwork on projects we’re working on
- Power in numbers; more clued-up brains working towards one goal
If you feel like you’ve lost that spark, a brainstorm with your teammates can get it back. Online collaborative tools (some of which, we already mentioned) has meant hybrid or global working can’t get in the way of a good brainstorming session these days, so get to it.
We’ve even created a marketing brainstorming template for you to make a copy of and use yourself – check it out:
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See feedback as a positive
Some of you might be guilty of this, but some of you might have seen the light but...
Repeat after us: Feedback 👏 is 👏 not 👏 criticism.
Asking for help or feedback shouldn’t be deemed as a negative. Instead, it should be seen as an opportunity to be inspired, learn and grow. Three things that are very useful when you’re in a creative funk, so encourage feedback in the workplace – whether you’re a marketing leader or part of a powerhouse team.
However, there is such a thing as too much feedback. You know the phrase, “too many cooks spoil the broth”? The same applies here
Just less broth, more internal panic on how the 🐚 you’re going to take on 7 separate (and often, contradictory) suggestions... and the CEO is still yet to get involved.
In fact, 44% of marketers in a report from the World Federation of Advertisers said that “wrangling too many decision makers” was a core reason they struggled to infuse creativity into their campaigns – along with:
- Working in a risk-averse culture (51%)
- Navigating their company’s short-term focus (48%)
- Facing reductions in budgets (40%)
Stick to the stakeholders for each and every campaign, unless absolutely necessary.
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Don’t overthink it
There are no rules in creativity – we all work in different ways. That’s why, when it comes to (re)finding your creative spark, it’s up to you to learn what works for you... and do it.
We already mentioned that there’s no chance anyone is always working their A-game. We’re all human after all. Use downtime to experiment with what reignites the spark and gets you feeling all fuzzy and fun about marketing again.
It might be one of the points we’ve mentioned, it might be all of the points we’ve mentioned, it might be parts of the points we mentioned, (and it might be none of them at all).
You do you, boo – and remember, it’s only temporary. You’ll get it back to full-power in no time. 🔋
Get creative together with Optimizely
With Optimizely Content Marketing Platform, you can make the dream work with teamwork on a dreamy team workspace. Say that fast, we dare you.
Our content marketing platform provides marketing teams everywhere with the visibility they need to create efficient, streamlined workflows.
This benefits not only your team with coordination and room for the utmost creativity, but also your customers with a clear and consistent user experience in a way that makes your brand unforgettable in their minds.
Sound good? See Optimizely Content Marketing Platform in action.
