So, you have a new product and you need to figure out how to market it to the masses.  You decide to call a brainstorming session in the conference room with a group of your most creative, smart and thought-provoking colleagues.

You all sit around the table and throw out ideas, cut the ones you think won’t work, keep the ones you think will. Whittle them all down to one and there you have your idea. Right? Wrong!

Cast a wider brainstorming net

Gathering your team is wrong? Yes, wrong…it’s really difficult to brainstorm with only the people on your team.  Sounds strange, right?  Think about it this way:

People on your marketing team generally see things the same way as you do; there is little room for creativity or ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking.  Brainstorming should really include those people who are not involved closely with the specific client or product you are trying to come up with ideas for.  Cast your net wider and get some new blood in on those brainstorming sessions.

Get different perspectives

Ok, now that you’ve realized you need to cast a wider net, make sure you are including a diverse set of people in that group, including age, gender, experience, personality, culture, etc. You want people unfamiliar with the topic, as they may ask some of the most insightful questions.  But they should have business relevancy, of course, so they are asking questions in context.

• Is your sales staff represented?
• How about the customer or distributor perspective?
• What does customer service have to say?
• Have you included in-the-field personnel?

All these people look at the situation differently and can bring ideas and concepts outside your comfort zone.  In brainstorming, that’s not a good thing, it’s a GREAT thing.

Be clear on what you are trying to achieve

Ensure everyone understands the product you are trying to market.  Look at it from various viewpoints and angles.  Challenge one another. Ask questions of each other’s ideas.  Many times, one person’s idea can serve as a stepping stone to another.

Concepts should range from silly to solid, outlandish to obvious.  But each needs to resonate with the objectives of the session.  Be sure you outline the goals, key program attributes, and market differentiators of the campaign.  This will also help when you need to pare down your ideas to a short list.

P.S. Those KPIs and market differentiators need to truly be different. If every competitor is using the same feature or phrase, is it really going to be a selling point? What is unique about your product or service? Focus on that. Everything else can be a bonus.

There are no bad ideas, and there are also no limits

Try to come up with as many ideas as possible, that way even if there are a few bad ideas, you will definitely hit on a good one that you can use. And definitely don’t try to agree just for the sake of getting the brainstorming session over with.

Once you hit on an idea, you may feel the urge to stop.  Don’t do that.  Write the idea down and put it off to the side.  Keep brainstorming and generating more ideas.  Who knows, spending a few more moments noodling on things may lead you to the best idea you have ever had.  If not, you still have the one you already came up with.

You’re going to want 3-4 main concepts on your short list anyway. Just because a concept sounds great on paper doesn’t mean it will make it in the real world, once you start developing headlines, imagery, copy, etc.  In fact, sometimes a ‘not so flashy’ concept turns out the be the shining star once the campaign elements are being assembled.

Make brainstorming fun

When things are fun we tend to let our guard down and just let loose.  Structure keeps us closed off.  So next time you are in a brainstorming session, make the time spent together fun.  Put on some music, eat some pizza, kick back, get comfortable and let the creativity flow.