If you’re like us, you’re probably working very hard just to survive in this tough economy. You can’t take anything for granted – so you put your head down and do what you need to do, taking it one day at a time.
But even with the superhuman focus required, it’s necessary to step outside your working environment and take an occasional fresh look.
For example:
- Why are we doing that?
- Is there a better way to do it?
- What exactly are we trying to accomplish?
- Where can we spend our money wisely?
- How do we reach these people?
We’ve asked ourselves these very questions and we get the same questions from our clients as well – as they relate to marketing and design.
Phillips Design has developed a carefully structured and formal process to answer these marketing questions – we simply call it: “A Brainstorming Session.” (Note to self and crew: We should come up with a better process name and a cool erudite acronym… Something like “Internal Environmental Scanning” or an “IE Scan” or something…) These sessions give us specific design direction and define marketing messages that need to be incorporated into whatever we’re working on.
But not only that, we often come up with new information – often surprising information – that the client didn’t realize, simply because they’re buried in day-to-day operations. Which reminds me of that old saying:
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
It’s often difficult for people within an entity to agree on anything, much less consolidate a multitude of opinions. And internal politics can make it virtually impossible. But Jill is an “outside” expert at “brainstorming;” she’s done many and knows how to make it happen. Her process involves a series of questions that increasingly simplify (or “bucket”) the participant’s responses down to a mutually agreed-upon solution.
It’s fascinating to watch and… amazing how well it works.
Jill’s latest brainstorming session was with a California state entity that was having difficulty defining a mission statement. Thirty people, from all over the state, came together for a half-day session and sat down to come up with a solution. Because of the large number of people, Jill broke them into smaller groups. Each group was given a series of questions that forced them to discuss, identify, group, and prioritize their answers.
The session, as usual, was very revealing. New information came to light, the complicated was made simple and what was confusing – became clear. Every brainstorming session is followed up with a written report that is distributed to all of the participants.
Besides mission statements, Phillips Design has used this process for determining a marketing direction, creation of a byline, advertising headlines, conceptual background for a new brand, and more.
If this sounds like something that might help you get everybody on the same page, give Jill a call at 916 329-7333.
