This article by Miguel Alvarez is aimed at people who write advertising copy
however the principles of Idea generation are precisely outlined.

Where do the Ideas come from?

The copywriter's job is to come up with words and
ideas that sell the product or service being
advertised.

But, where do these ideas come from? They come from
an understanding of the product, the market and the
mission of the copy - which is to generate as many
sales as possible.

However, even the best copywriters get stuck for
ideas at times. A number of techniques - some basic
and common sense, some indirect and a bit "far out"
- have been developed to help people dream up ideas.

Here's a few of them for you to use when short of
ideas for promoting your products or services:

1) Get the facts.
Copywriters need to gather two types of facts:
specific facts about the product and facts about
people and things in general.

Just about every successful copywriter I know is a
voracious reader and an avid collector or information.
And if you are in business, you should be too.

Read books, magazines, web sites, newsletters, flyers,
posters, junk mail, product labels. Read advertising
journals and ezines to learn about the advertising
business. Read the magazines your prospect reads to
get a feel of what she's being sold and *HOW*. You
never know when this information may come in handy.

Also, talk to people. Take classes and seminars.
Attend lectures. Attend meetings of professional
societies and trade associations. Become an
"information collector".

2) Look for combinations
Hauptman wrote: "A new idea is simply a combination
or synthesis of old elements". Many of the new
killer ideas - pet rocks, clock-radios, ice cream
sodas, pizza-time theaters --are simply the joining
of two existing elements into a new combination...
"All creativity is simply the rearrangement of
existing materials".

3) Use a checklist
Checklists are available for copywriters in a lot
of places (during the course of this month, I'll
be placing some at profitwriting.com). When stuck
for an idea, you can use checklists to suggest
possible strategies and directions.

4) Incubation and inspiration
When everything else fails and you are completely
blocked to write something down... sleep on it!
Put the problem aside and let your subconscious
work on it for a while. During this incubation
period, the idea you've been looking for may
suddenly strike you "out of the blue".
 

****** Resource Box **********************
This article was written by Miguel Alvarez.
For more information on how to choose the right
words to perform the marketing magic your business
needs, please go to http://www.profitwriting.com/
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