Moments Later: Jump Start Marketing

How good are the people you work with at visualizing your vision? How good are you at explaining your idea? Need a little jump start?

Do you get very excited about an idea but have difficulty communicating the sheer brilliance of your idea? So often it is necessary to literally draw a picture for co-workers so they can see the idea flying around in your head. I like to think of this process as jump starting where you take your concept, bring it to life and help to jump start the thought into reality.

Bringing it to Life:

I consider myself a pretty good jump starter of marketing ideas. For whatever reasons (thank you Poppa George), I have lots of ideas. Some of them are pretty good ones too. Many are duds. For the good ones, I’ll put together a brief, maybe a few sketches, photos or a mockup of an idea and then work with my colleagues to build on the idea. The team helps perfect the idea so we can take it to others within the business. Eventually when we get something more cohesive we need a visual representation to communicate it throughout the company to those who need to buy into the vision. This action helps sell the idea.

Here are five ideas to help you take your vision and to draw some pictures for others to see:

PHOTO: Find 10 images online that convey the emotion of the idea. Show them in a PowerPoint as you talk through the idea. Let this slide show run in the background. Find pictures with strong emotional content to help you get your big idea across. Project these slides slowly on the screen as you talk to your colleagues about the concept.

VIDEO: Find a clip from a movie that you conveys the concept – even if it’s metaphorical. This free software http://www.clipconverter.cc/ allows you to find clips online (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) and you can snip a piece of the video to help illustrate your idea. Like idea #1, sometimes you want to convey energy, excitement and the possibility of a vision and iconic scenes can assist you in telling that story. Imagine you are trying to communicate the benefits of a new way to manufacture a product. Why not start with a picture of what it looks like today. (Thank you Lucy).

MOCK UP: Physically make a mock up to get buy-in. With a recent direct mail idea I had, we mocked it up and showed it around to about a dozen people so they could hold the idea in their hand and provide critical input to the concept. On another project, I was having difficulty getting the cooperation I needed from some, so I created a short version of the concept without representation from these colleagues. When they could physically hold the idea in their hands, they loved it and wanted to participate. The mock up got the sparks flying.

AROMA: Sometimes ideas can connect on an intuitive and emotional level and conjuring up a connection to scent can be powerful. Perhaps your idea has a relation to a specific destination (sea shore, Southern France or a machine shop). Can you fill the room with scents or props that help take your colleagues with you to that destination?

MULTI-MEDIA: Sometimes it takes converting a conference room into the place you want to transport your co-workers. Combining photos, videos, mock-ups and aromas can bring it all home. I remember an ad agency I once worked with who took one of their conference rooms and created a replica of a teenager’s bedroom to help illustrate what was important in their life. The meeting was held in this teenager’s conference room and since we were trying to sell to this demographic, it gave all of us a chance to step into their world.