Hitting the publish button can be nerve-racking, especially on a new initiative that features an angle you haven’t explored before or an opinion that could potentially ruffle some feathers. That fear can creep into the review process, where bold ideas are second-guessed in order to play it safe. When business leaders evaluate creative concepts against competitors or industry norms, they risk diluting the very ideas that could help them stand out. In turn, the creative potential of marketing and design teams becomes limited, and the creative assets are watered down and less impactful. These assets can span a wide range of content types, including social media, website content, sales enablement materials, ads, and more. As such, hamstringing your team’s creativity can impact the business in various areas and across various channels.

In this video, Brolik CEO Jason Brewer explains how to avoid unintentionally stifling your brand's creative and offers a good rule of thumb for knowing when content is compelling enough to stand out.

Video Transcript:

I have a request for business owners, and that is: do not curtail your creative. I understand that you are a domain expert. You've been running your business for a long time. From a marketing and creative standpoint, I've seen far too many times over the last 20 years —CEOs, COOs, people who aren't exactly in a position to make the final judgment on creative — water down creative.

They decide that they are going to take a very good and potentially risky idea, whether it be how we're going to position the business, some messaging we're going to test, or some creative angles we're going to test in a new campaign. We take that edge. We take that risk-taking mentality that could really put us out there and make a difference, and have a stand out in the market, and we push it back toward what the competitors are doing.

We push it back toward the standard, what's expected in our industry. I think it's about the worst thing you can do if you feel yourself curtailing your creative, holding back your creative teams, holding back your in-house marketers, your agencies, and your freelancers from doing some really amazing work and putting you out there on a level that far exceeds the competition.

Stop yourself. Walk out of the room. Don't do it. Think about it. Take the risk. If you aren't doing something in terms of your marketing and creative, and content right now that makes you feel a little nervous, that gives you butterflies to hit publish, then you're not doing it right.

Don’t Let Safe Ideas Stall Your Growth

Standing out in a crowded market rarely happens by playing it safe. It takes bold ideas, the confidence to trust them, and the capacity to execute them. If you’ve ever pulled back on a concept because it didn’t fit the usual industry mold, it might be time to rethink your creative approach.

At Brolik, we work with business leaders across various industry verticals to develop and enable strong creative marketing strategies that align with business objectives and drive sustainable growth. If that sounds like the kind of support your team could use, and you’re looking to stand out as unique in your market, let’s start a conversation.