Almost every single wizard I speak to is feeling more meh than magic when it comes to their marketing.
As a collective, we’re feeling like a bunch of soul-sucking dementors has swooped in and drained our creative spark.
Add in the rise of the robots (aka ChatGPT) and plummeting reach and engagement on Instagram – and it’s not surprising that your creative spark is in the dungeons with the trolls.
If your creative spark has gone MIA and you’re simply going through the motions – this episode of the How I Do Content Podcast is for you!
I share how you can reignite your creative spark so you can feel motivated to create marketing magic again! The purpose of this episode is to give you a little hit of inspo to shake shit up and get moving – something easy, simple and fun.
So let’s get your creativity flowing again!
Reminder: you’re human, not a robot
There will always be times when you don’t feel creative. You’ll go through cycles where everything flows easily and then cycles where you sit in front of a blank Google Doc with the cursor blinking offensively at you, just willing the inspo to hit.
It’s not about eliminating these creative droughts – it’s about learning how to reignite your creative spark and momentum quickly.
Now might shock you to discover, but I don’t always wake up spitting magic – I often find myself feeling creatively challenged. But what I don’t do is fall off the face of the earth or burn everything to the ground every time it happens – I just take it as a sign that I need to shift some energy.
How do I do this? Well, I turn my focus both inside my business and outside my business.
Outside of business
When I need to reignite my creative spark, I have a few strategies in my wizarding trunk that I reach for time and time again.
If I need a creative hit immediately because a deadline is looming or I need to record a podcast episode ASAP to get to my podcast editor before he flies to Bali (true story – this is me right now)… I either go for a drive or take a shower – my two go-to creative idea generators. Simple, and they work every time.
Cranking up the music as I work is another goodie.
On high rotation right now is Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter. I’m not joking when I say this album has altered my brain chemistry. Beyoncé is my forever creative inspo – I actually have a print on my wall that says “What would Beyoncé do?”. So I ask myself this question whenever I’m feeling creatively challenged because she’s actually a creative genius.
Who is your Beyoncé? Someone who creatively inspires you?
I also love to break up my work day with some reality TV.
And before you say “Tahryn, reality TV is trash and rots your brain…” – well that’s kinda the point. In an online space where you’re bombarded with marketing messages and as a business owner you’re juggling a lot of things – it’s kinda nice to watch something and NOT use your brain. I consider reality TV as a bit of a palate cleanser for my brain. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
In this same vein, I only read modern-day romance books. I used to read only non-fiction and business books but my brain needed a break from serious stuff. And now I exclusively read fiction. If it’s not easy to read – I ain’t reading it.
Some other things I do outside of my business include:
- Taking a nap or making sure I’m getting enough sleep (which, with a puppy, is a challenge right now)
- Moving my body
- Hugging Ned
I also need to add that one of my greatest sources of creative inspo is OBVIOUSLY Harry Potter. So when in doubt – on goes one of the movies (usually Prisoner of Azkaban), and immediately I feel those creative sparks popping off.
You won’t find me waking up early or meditating or surrounding myself with a whole lotta people.
This doesn’t mean this won’t work for you – it just doesn’t work for me.
This is the whole point here. If you want to reignite your creative spark I invite you to ask yourself – what brings YOU joy? And how can you do more of this so you can get the serotonin flowing once more?
The more you focus on what brings you joy (and doing it consistently) – the more your creativity will continue to flow.
Inside of business
When I need to reignite my creative spark, there are certain business tasks I focus on.
First and foremost, I always come back to my strategy.
It guides me and gives me intention and purpose. The reason things feel chaotic and all over the shop is because you don’t have a strategy or you don’t stick to it.
If I feel creatively drained it’s usually because I’ve started to focus on things outside of my strategy and outside of my control – primarily what other people are doing. There’s nothing that kills your creativity faster than comparing yourself to someone else. So check in with your strategy, put those blinkers back on, and get back to work.
Something I always do for a bit of a spark is to go back and look at past content I’ve created that I LOVED.
When you were feeling creative AF – what were you creating? And what’s different now?
I usually find in these moments when I’m feeling “meh” about my marketing – it’s because I’m trying to be someone I’m not or watering myself down to be more palatable for the Instagram crowd.
My best content is created when I go full wizard, so sometimes I need to be reminded that I already have that power within me; I just have to tap back into it.
This is why I repurpose a whole lot of my content. Good content will always be good content, and, if it’s still relevant to your ideal client – why wouldn’t you post it again?
The other thing to always come back to is OF COURSE your ideal clients.
I regularly check in with what’s happening in my community and use that as fuel for my creativity.
- What are the conversations happening in your DM’s?
- What are the questions you’re being asked on repeat?
- What content is popping off?
- What’s happening in your clients’ worlds?
- What do your testimonials say?
- What do your onboarding or intake forms reveal?
Guarantee you’ll find some nuggets of gold if you take the time to look for them! Because at the end of the day – you’re in business to serve them, so they should be your greatest source of creative inspiration.
Do a bit of intentional market research using ChatGPT, Pinterest and TikTok.
I’ll input what my ideal client might be searching for, or what their current reality looks like (and what they desire instead), and then see what comes out. I usually find the content ideas ChatGPT spits out are pretty shit, but that can still give me an idea of what to do instead.
I always do this kinda market research with intention and with my ideal client in mind, so I don’t find myself doom scrolling or spending too much time here. The purpose is to spark some ideas.
Finally, the ultimate hack to reignite my creative spark is to ask my coach.
It’s like having a cheat code for business because you can plug into their creativity and their knowledge quickly and easily.
I love spitballing creative ideas with my clients, and I do the same with my coach.
There you have it – some simple ways to reignite your creative spark next time you find yourself in a creative funk.
If you’re currently experiencing this in your business – for the love of dogs, please be kind to yourself. Give yourself some space and don’t try to force anything, because, in my experience, that rarely works. Sometimes you just need a little break and to cut yourself some slack.
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