Who says great ideas only come from people hired to create great ideas?
Sure, content development is typically an agreed-upon, linear process. A team of battle-hardened creative experts unearth several expressions of a singular core idea based on a project brief. Management
then winnows them down in various stages of testing and re-development until a winner emerges. More often than not the result is a little predictable.
This approach needs to change. Great ideas don’t only come from professionals; they come from interns, inter-departmental exchanges, and the common sense of customers sharing their best
ideas out of love for your brand. Sometimes a
friend or neighbor says something that sparks an
idea. Often times it comes from the least expected
place, like your mother-in-law or a reality TV star.
Run with it.
Don’t allow creativity and creation be assigned to a team or a project. Commit your company’s culture of
listening for unexpected insights and ideas. Mine social media, the blogosphere, retail, digital behaviors,
and customer care. Listen for nuggets from those who aren’t entrenched in conventional wisdoms and
restricted by supposed rules. Be open to listening to the unencumbered. Hear their objective points of view.
You might be surprised by where this thinking takes you and your content creation.