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Inside or Outside the Box? Benefits of Both
How many times has someone told you to "think outside the box"? If you need a new approach to problem solving, if you want to exercise your creativity, if you want a different perspective-thinking outside the box expands your boundaries and allows you to approach challenges without worrying about the limits imposed by pre-conceived notions (aka "the box"). Thinking outside the box can bring a fresh, freeing attitude to issues that feel old and boring.
 When marketing our businesses, how does thinking outside the box help you? Is it ever a bad thing? Believe it or not, sometimes staying inside the box can be more effective. Depending on the situation, both can be beneficial. Following are some examples where thinking inside the box AND thinking outside the box can be useful.
WHEN TO STAY IN THE BOX
- Defining your ideal client profile: no playing around here. You will benefit immensely from knowing exactly who you are targeting, right down to an individual persona of your ideal client. You are talking to these people: all the time - just these people. Don't waste your time talking to people outside the box (unless they are going to tell someone inside the box).
- Practicing brand consistency: once you develop your look and feel, use it across all of your marketing communications so people easily recognize it's coming from you. When everything you do looks different, it looks like it's coming from different companies, which is BAD branding.
- Sticking to your story: While slight variations in wording and delivery are OK, tell the same story over and over. This goes with practicing brand consistency above- you want people to recognize it's you talking.
- Executing a campaign: every campaign should have a theme (please don't practice one-time activities - what I like to call "random acts of marketing"). Don't dump your theme in the middle of a campaign, tracking will become meaningless. Save the new idea for the next campaign.
WHEN TO STEP OUTSIDE THE BOX
- Differentiating yourself from your competitors: looking different each time makes you look different from yourself which is bad (see above). Looking different from everyone else is awesome- look at what they do and use out-of-box thinking to be better!
- Creating compelling calls-to-action: Thinking outside the box is definitely called for here. "Call today" is OK, but what other things can you say to encourage action?
- Raising the stakes on your creativity: if you want to try something funny, bold, shocking, or heart-felt, explore ways outside your usual box. Try lumpy mail (ask us if you don't know what this is), shoot funny video clips, run contests, or admit you did something wrong. Get outside your comfort zone, just make sure it will resonate with your target market.
Go forth and market! Respect the boundaries of the box when it makes sense and blow the lid off when it's appropriate. Marketing is, after all, part art and part science, so find a happy balance and reap the rewards! As always,
let us know if you need help, that's why we are here.
© 2016 Marketing Troubadour
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