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Sarah Worsham

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Want to Think More Creatively? Try Reading Something Different

creativitybohmanIf you’re like me, you have a stack of books about business and marketing lined up to read.  But when it comes to before-bed reading, I usually reach for something a bit different.  I’ve found that if I read a book for pleasure before bed instead of for work or school, I have better dreams and feel more energized and creative the next day.  My genres of choice are sci-fi, fantasy and historical fiction. My sister, who is a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins has the same experience.

I imagine that doing anything creative – that allows the brain to focus on something other than work – can be energizing. I think that too often we get caught up in all the work we do, in the rat-race, and forget to slow down and give ourselves some freedom.  I still get great ideas from reading books for work or school, but I think that I get the energy and motivation to do that by allowing myself to indulge in more personal pursuits from time to time.

How do you stimulate your creative juices?

(photo by Bohman @ Flickr CC)

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Choosing a Branding Strategy is Fundamental

strategyhikingartist1Choosing a branding strategy is fundamental to properly marketing a product.  How you decide to brand your product or service will affect everything from advertising to pricing.  You may already have a branding strategy and not realize it, but here are some of the options:

  • Corporate Brand – Many companies, such as Target, offer only one type benefit to the customer (“design for all”).  Even though they sell a wide variety of products, there is only one value they add.  In this case, the brand is the same as the company.
  • Distinct Brand – Some companies produce a wide variety of products that each have distinct benefits to the customer.  There is no value in using the same brand for each product since the brand would then stand for a mishmash of benefits.  Companies such as Proctor & Gamble (P&G) us this type of strategy as they brand each of their products distinctly (Ivory, Pampers, etc.).
  • Hybrid Brand – Sometimes it makes sense to leverage the company name or an overall brand in addition to a separate name for the product.  This usually works best when the product brand extends the benefits offered by the overall brand, and is very common in the automobile industry (ex. Ford Taurus).
  • Umbrella Brand – When your company offers multiple products that each have a distinct benefit, but together offer a shared value to the customer, you may want to consider an umbrella brand (ex. Nike – athletic gear).

Whatever branding strategy you pick, be aware that it may affect the branding and marketing of your company and other products.  If you only have one product right now,  your choice will mostly be whether you are going to brand the product with your company or not.  Once you have a branding strategy in mind, it makes marketing and advertising decisions much easier.

(photo by HikingArtist.com @ Flickr CC)

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