11/10/12
Standing out from the business crowd more important than ever
by Melanie Scott - chairman, Chartered Institute of
Marketing, Kent branch
Whatever your business and whatever its size, creativity is a
prerequisite for success, more so now than ever before.
As small to medium-sized businesses from all backgrounds and
sectors compete in this challenging economic climate, creativity
can give your businesses the edge.
Creativity helps a business standout from its competition and
provides advantages across product or service development and
delivery.
It is often thought of as visual outputs such as branding and
marketing materials, rather than the less tangible role it plays in
creating efficient and effective processes, culture and
performance.
The truth, however, is that creativity should penetrate deep
into the very fabric from which a business is created.
While many people in business do not consider themselves
creative and in some instances this is true, it's my belief that in
many cases creative capability does exist, just that there's a lack
of ability and skill to be able to visualise and convert it into
tangible original, progressive or imaginative outputs.
For some businesses, even though they are aware of this, they
will often struggle on using creativity ineffectively, while
competitors seek help from individuals and businesses that can do
their visualising for them.
These trained visualisers, often referred to as a designers or
creatives, are able to transform run-of-the-mill work into engaging
and attractive promotional material, capable of achieving a far
better response and creating a far more memorable impression.
Outsourcing creativity doesn't always need to cost the earth and
when organisations like VisitKent achieve a return on investment of
60:1 and have contributed £18m to the county's economy in just five
months after launching their Kent Contemporary campaign, the
potential benefits are clear.
In Kent we have an abundance of small creative agencies and
freelancers, many of whom are members of CIM or connected to our
small business initiatives in someway.
To find out more about the county's creative talent contact the
Kent Branch small business team at sharon@cimkent.co.uk.
To find out more about how Visit Kent used creativity
effectively, visit www.cim.co.uk/events and book
your place at the Kent Annual Marketing Lecture, Using creativity
effectively: A case-study of the Visit Kent campaign, on Wednesday
October 17 (7pm - 9.30pm) at Commissioner’s House, Chatham Historic
Dockyard.