You know marketing is essential in business–whether you’re a non-profit, educational institution, in manufacturing, consumer services or retail. But what happens when you add a creative edge–add inspiration and insight to get truly creative marketing?

Creative marketing pushes the boundaries of standard marketing formulas.

The thinking, words and visuals stretch the “how to” descriptions you’ll find in marketing books. When it’s truly creative, marketing grabs attention. It surprises and delights. It makes you smile, or at least pay attention. And when it grabs your attention, you get the message, the idea, the premise. It moves you.

Creative marketing is not flashy, full of gimmicks.

Creative marketing doesn’t overwhelm you with wild colors or shocking language just to get attention. It’s not click bait. It’s not design for design’s sake. It’s not flash or fluff. Sometimes people will call their marketing “creative” because it includes lots of special effects, or uses some new visual technique to grab attention. But that’s not it.

Creative marketing is the difference between a chef and a line cook. Each can use the same ingredients and techniques, but the results are so very very different.

Creative marketing adds that element of surprise and delight.

But it’s still built on a foundation of solid strategy. Crafted to reach the target audience. Designed to draw the reader or visitor in, then deliver what they’re looking for. Planned to entice, educate, enlighten. To rise above the chaos.

Stand out from the “this is how we do it” thinking found in so many industries. You know the ones, where everyone does pretty much the same thing, and if you took the name off, you couldn’t tell for sure who was paying the bill.

Take a hard look at your marketing. If you took your name and logo off, could it belong to anyone else in your category? Does it stand out from the rest?

Before you get creative, start with the foundation.

Positioning defines who you are and what makes you unique in your category. It is the foundation for your visual and verbal brand. Once you have that, you can get creative. Not before.

For some help, start with our positioning worksheet below. Or contact us to talk about adding a big burst of creative to your marketing. 

For a few examples of creative marketing, take a look at our work on our website:

• A campaign for United Way that built on the “Live United” theme with more creativity and action
• Brand development for a garbage company that broke new ground in their category
• Advertising and website for Salem Convention Center that transformed how they’re perceived