learnthe4ps.com - For students of marketing.

Marketers need to be creative to be successful these days.  Start by reading Seth Godin’s blog post “Underextended” (May 23) where he points out that overextending ourselves as we strive to be creative is a good thing.

With that motivation, you can pick up some tips from from Conan O’Brien who was just named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.”  Fast Company’s interview with Conan results in a short article, “Conan O’Brien’s Guide to Creativity,” (May 20, 2011).  While the interview focuses mostly on Conan’s work — comedy — you should be looking to others outside your industry for ideas about how to do your job better.  Check out the full list of the “100 Most Creative People in Business“for more inspiration!

Good marketing starts with good ideas – heck, no matter what your major, business often starts with good ideas. So “Where do ideas come from?” (Seth Godin’s Blog, November 24, 2010) As usual, Seth Godin has some interesting thoughts on the subject.   What do you think?  Where do your ideas come from?  How can you use this article to help you get more ideas?

Creativity is such an important skill for today’s businessperson.  While we often think of creativity around marketing — and particularly advertising — creativity is key to all types of problem-solving.  And that is what good business people do, they solve problems.  For marketers today, you need to be creative across the marketing strategy planning process.

This excerpt of a presentation by John Cleese at the Creativity World Forum encapsulates so many useful ideas in just under 11 minutes. Cleese is best known for the television and later movie series titled Monty Python’s Flying Circus.  He also made other movies.  Anyway, the man is brilliant and offers us some great food for thought on creativity.