In this competitive market environment, idea generation increases through three major methods. The methods include relaxation, interaction, and integration.

Marketing is the first line of business for anyone who is self-employed. If you don't market well, you'll soon be looking for another employer.

It's hard to generate new marketing ideas in today's competitive environment. Many are cliches, while others are just overused.

When you spend all your time and mental energy on running your business, it's difficult to generate new marketing tactics. This article provides you with three ways to refocus your creativity and boost your marketing.

In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Requires Relaxation:

Are you too busy to relax? Then you may be missing one of the best ways to generate innovative marketing ideas. When you relax, you enable your subconscious mind to communicate creative ideas to your conscious mind.

Worry and stress hinders your subconscious, but you can free its creativity by relaxing. So what relaxes you?

I relax best outside in nature so when I need a creative idea, I just walk outside and enjoy natural surroundings. The wind blowing through the trees, the birds singing, or watching a squirrel gathering acorns put be at ease. Often I get a creative solution to a concern in just minutes after walking outside.

What helps you to relax? Is it listening to music, going for a walk, meditating. Then take time to do it. By enabling your conscious mind to relax, you enable your subconscious to communicate creative ideas to your conscious self.

Another way to channel your subconscious mind to give you innovative ideas is to go to bed with a concern for which you need a solution. Don't worry about it and keep yourself awake. Just tell your subconscious, "Tonight I need your help with ..."

If the idea of directing your subconscious mind is new to you, it may take several nights for this process to work. But go to bed with pencil and paper on your night stand every night until you get the idea you need.

If you're not prepared to record the idea, you may forget it before you can write it the next morning. Then you will loose it, maybe forever.

In this competitive market environment, you need every advantage you can get. Putting your subconscious to work costs you nothing, but can generate many good ideas.

In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Using Interaction:

Another way to generate more marketing ideas is by interacting with other people. In fact, most idea-generating techniques base on bringing two or more people together to focus on a creative solution to a concern.

Interaction techniques involve drawing people together to work as equals, with each contributing, usually through structured methods.

Sometimes just telling another person about your concern reveals possible solutions. You'll be amazed at how frequently you solve your own problem by just talking to a good listener about it.

In this competitive market environment, everyone in your business should be involved in creating solutions to business problems. Everyone brings a different perspective to the table. When all these perspectives come together in a safe environment to focus on marketing, creative ideas almost always surface.

In This Competitive Market Environment, Idea Generation Through Integration:

The final of the three ways to get good marketing ideas uses integration.

If you scope out what marketing tactics are being used in other industries and by other businesses, you'll find a wealth of marketing ideas. Many of these can be easily integrated into your business. You just have to know where to look.

You can discover new marketing ideas at business meetings of organizations like the Chamber of Commerce. Be sure to arrive early enough or stay late for mixers and informal visitation times. You often learn more just talking to other business owners than you do from the speakers.

You can also get loads of marketing ideas from a swipe file. Save all advertisements, publications, direct mail promotions and notes on broadcast commercials in this file. Then look at these items when you need inspiration for your marketing.

Now don't let the term "swipe" mislead you. You don't duplicate the ideas. That would be stealing. But you specifically adapt ideas that you like for your business.

Today's competitive market environment requires new innovative ideas. If your marketing is to be successful, you should constantly be seeking creative marketing ideas.

Summary

You need to use all three methods of idea generation to assure that your marketing stays fresh. If you use integration, interaction, and relaxation tactics in this competitive market environment, idea generation is doable.

Marketing Products on our marketplace

Linda P. Morton, Ed.D., APR, is Professor Emeritus, Oklahoma University. You can get more marketing ideas, see her blog at Strategic Market Segmentation. You can get her free ebook at Marketing Your Small Business.