Stand Out Advertising: How to Embrace Your Uniqueness

Trends come and go but good advertising lasts forever. We read a great article yesterday on the benefits of standing out from the crowd in the ad business or any business. We couldn’t agree more that it’s easy to go with the flow and just be like everyone else. The hard thing to do is be different and creativity should be wary of consensus. So, as humans how do we step into our uniqueness and let that shine through in a world that attempts to stifle it? Here are some steps you can take to embrace your one-of-a-kind self.

1.     Accept your flaws and imperfections: No one out there is perfect and giving yourself grace is important as you try to better yourself on this journey of life. Accepting them is the first step to improving them. Growth will happen as you attempt to better yourself.

2.     Lean into your strengths and talents: What are you good at? Are you creative with art, writing, and music? Are you more science-minded? Find those things that you are good at but also enjoy doing. The last statement is important here. Just because you are good at something does not necessarily mean you enjoy it. The two must be in tune.

3.     Find like-minded individuals: Being around those who think like you is important. People who accept you for who you are and all those little weird quirks. Those that inspire you to step into your weirdness and power forward through life.

4.     Spend time doing things you enjoy: What are some of your passions? Do you like nature? Do you like baking or cooking? It’s important to find a little time each day to do these things. They

5.     Stop compromising: Don’t be a people pleaser. Stand out from the crowd and do what you want. Real connections are those that accept you unconditionally rather than who they want you to be.

6.     Embrace your beliefs: Everyone has a different belief system based on upbringing and personal experience. Your beliefs represent a large part of who you are. It’s important that you still be open-minded but also don’t be too fluid. Find a good middle ground.

7.     Stop comparing yourself: comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone has a different path of life. You must trust yours and allow it to unfold as it should without judgment.

8.     Stop asking for validation: Self-confidence goes a long way. It’s one thing to ask for advice here and there but if you need constant validation, it means that you aren’t exactly in tune with trusting yourself.

Dare to be different. Dare to be weird. Dare to stand out. Being you is special because there is only one out there just like you. This means that what you bring to the table in the creative world is unique. Your individuality is the best thing about you. It’s why your company hired you over the other guy. Don’t let the world try to convince you that those cookie-cutter styles are the way that you should be. Being different is extraordinary.

Creativity Series: Osborn Parnes Creative Problem-Solving Process

You want to stand out from everyone else in the workplace to show your value as an employee. What better way to do this than through creative problem solving!? This week in our creativity series we will be going over the Osborn Parnes creative problem-solving process. It can provide a structural approach to finding resolutions and can result in multiple solutions to your problems. His model is structured as such:

1.     Mess-finding/objective finding: this where you determine the goal of your problem solving will be.

2.     Fact-finding: this phase you gather data to fully understand your problem.

3.     Problem-finding: you dig deeper here into the problem to find the root of it. Here you also reframe the problem to compose creative and valuable solutions.

4.     Idea-finding: this is where the team come up with options for addressing the problem.

5.     Solution-finding:  this part is where you choose the best options from the ideas phase.

6.     Action-finding: this is where you develop a plan of action to implement the solution you have come up with.

This process involves convergent and divergent thinking. Convergent thinking is the process of evaluating ideas, analyzing them and then choosing the best solution. Divergent thinking is the process of coming up with multiple solutions and ideas to problems. This is the “out of the box” style of thinking that one may think of when talking about creative thinking. Convergent thinking compliments divergent to come up with more creative solutions. Using this problem-solving process can give you some extra tools to create solutions in the workplace. You will stand out as a thought leader who knows how to collaborate with others. This will do wonders for your professional reputation.

Importance of Creative Thinking in Business

Brands that embrace creativity are more innovative and resilient. Creative thinking is important in all fields, not just those of art. As we’ve learned from our past articles, we know that creativity is key for all types of business to strive and grow. It allows employees to think outside the box and come up with new solutions. This can create something new from different perspectives. Aside from this there are some key benefits to creative thinking in the workplace. Here are our top picks.

1.     Fosters innovation. Outside the box thinking will bring your brand forward with new ideas. You can end up with unexpected opportunities and solutions.

2.     Improves collaboration. Bouncing ideas off of one another lends to open-mindedness. They will have to work together with flexibility in mind and hone in on their listening skills. This improved collaboration will inherently happen through creative thinking at the workplace.

3.     Increase productivity. Using your creative mind and critical thinking mind allows you to work smarter, not harder.

4.     Allows for adaptability. When you have a creative environment at work, it allows your brand and those within it to be more flexible in terms of shifting when unexpected changes happen or need to be made. 

5.     Growth necessity. We talked about the learn-it-all mindset for growth and have a creative mind at work is no different. Listening to new ideas and learning from others will help your brand grow.

Creativity isn’t limited to the art world. It’s required in all businesses for problem solving. One method of creative problem solving is called the SCAMPER method.

Substitute: What can I substitute to improve product/service?

Combine: How can I combine this product/service with something else to improve?

Adapt: How can I adapt this product/service?

Modify: Can I modify to make better?

Put to Another Use: How else could this be used?

Eliminate: What can I remove or how can I remove costs?

Reverse or Rearrange: Can I rearrange to improve?

There are immense amounts of topics and subjects within business that are perfect for the creative mind. New ideas in any department will make a difference. Thinking differently will open your mind to explore new realms of opportunity. Time to get creative!