Need New Ideas? Shop For Thought Kickers

Some days marketing promotion ideas just fly onto the page.  Then there are those other days when I look at the computer and say, “How am I going to come up with an interesting angle or hook for that story or post?” 

When faced with that blank screen, my mind shouts, “Field trip!”

Grabbing my pen, spiral notepad and purse and I drive to shop. Shop for thought kickers, that is.

Thought kickers are a mental hiccup, a refocusing of your thought process that lets you come up with a list of new ideas, thoughts and ramblings. Thought kickers can be the actual idea you’ve been searching for or it maybe just the space you clear in your mind to let the idea in.

Martin Avis  in his blog Kickstart Daily described the process he uses.  Martin travels to antique shops and takes himself through a series of questions designed to improve the marketing of the particular business he visits. For me, the antique store would be more of a temptation than inspiration. I’d come home with more than just ideas.

To find my thought kickers I may drive to the local mall, bookstore, hardware store or newsstand depending on the time of day. 

At the bookstore, I’ll buy a cup of coffee and pick up a stack of magazines to look through. I particularly like fashion magazines, car magazines and others having a lots of ads with pictures.  As I thumb through the magazine I look at the ads and headlines.  What catches my eye?  What words say something to me? 

As I jot the headlines down in my notebook, ideas start to flow.  For example, I saw an ad with a very elaborate chess set.  People need to learn the moves to play the game of chess.  But in order to play chess people need to take action.  I turned the picture of the chessboard into a concept of  “Turn learning into earning with marketing action”.

Newsstands are another great place to shop for ideas.  Take your notebook and look at the tabloid newspapers.  What are some of the headlines being used to get you to read more?  Elvis may not have been sighted in your city, but these headlines and pictures may give you some excellent thought kickers.

A friend who picks up ideas by listening goes to a local music shop or bookstore and samples music.  With different moods, rhythms and types of music, he comes back with lots of inspiration and ideas.

Hardware stores, not the big box ones, but the old-fashioned kind can also spark thought kickers. In hardware stores there are all sorts of widgets, gadgets and what-cha-ma-call-its. As you walk the aisles and see something, think of how you would use it?  List 5 or 10 things in your notebook as quickly as you can.   You may come up with a new hook for your post or story doing your list or maybe the mental hiccup can open up some mind space for the idea to come in.

Shopping for thought kickers can be a great way of decluttering your mind and letting the ideas come to you. So where do you shop for ideas?