[00:00:00] Mia Fileman
Are you tired of empty promises and stolen ideas? Me too. Got. Marketing is a podcast for marketers and small brands who want real talk and clever strategies without the bs. Running an online business is hard, but everything gets easier when your marketing starts performing. I am Mia FileMan, your straight shooting campaign loving friend here to talk marketing, running a business, pop culture, and everything in between.
Let's dive in.
Hello friend, and welcome to today's Ask Me Anything episode where I answer questions submitted by you, the listener. These questions come through our website, emails, dms, substack. Really, they can come from anywhere. And today I'm gonna answer a couple of questions. The [00:01:00] first one is from Gemma, who asked how to spark fresh ideas for new campaigns.
All right, let's dive right in. Firstly, we start with strategy, not ideas, because creativity without context is just chaos. Or it is art. I always go back to asking the question, what problem are we solving for whom and why now, and once that strategic foundation is clear, the ideas come faster because you know the guardrails, and I have a couple of prompts here to help you.
If you had to strip this campaign back to just one sentence, what would it be? And another prompt. What's one thing your competitors are not talking about that you could own? Alright. Once we've got our strategy set, then I want you to borrow from outside of your industry because if you only look at your own category, [00:02:00] everything starts to blend.
I deliberately steal inspiration from the arts, theater, music, festivals, exhibitions. These formats are far more inventive. Then business events or scrolling, Instagram and TikTok, which by the time it's made it to TikTok or Instagram, that idea is already cooked. And this is another reason why I'm so passionate about Ripple Festival because I am so inspired by in-person events that combine music and the arts with real talk, and I know that other people will benefit from that experience as well.
Also, I draw inspiration from politics campaigns that move people into action within a few. Weeks and not years. I mean campaigns, when we think of campaigns, we often do think of political campaigns, so there is a lot of overlap to consider. Of course, pop culture, it drives [00:03:00] the cultural zeitgeist. Here I'm talking about music, I'm talking about memes, I'm talking about fashion, about what's sticky.
And then I draw a huge amount of inspiration from TV and movies. And the more art house, the better. SBS on demand and me, we are so tight. I love indie films, foreign films. They are creative goldmines. Now, I'm gonna illustrate this with an example because I know that people are probably listening to this thinking, how do you get a campaign idea?
For a marketing brand from a music festival, Mia, that makes no fricking sense. Okay, so a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to the Darwin Festival and we went to a show called Night Night. This was a theater production and it was quite a small production. There was only about 30 or 40 people in the room.[00:04:00]
The concept behind this production was nothing like anything I had ever seen before. Basically, there were two screens, and on one screen you had two actors making a film, and then on a bigger screen you had the film that they were making. You could see them making this film using audio, visual tactics, techniques, equipment, puppets, all sorts of props.
It was awesome. I kept flicking between left and right, trying to figure out what they were doing and seeing them make it while seeing how it came out on the big screen, and it was sensational and it actually sparked. A bit of an idea for me, for my marketing. So I talk a lot about the fakery and the lies and manipulation that happens in [00:05:00] online marketing.
And I thought it could be cool if I did a split screen campaign where on one side there was the like polished version and on the other. Was me making the polished version using all sorts of little tricks and hacks. For example, making it look like I'm on a business class flight, but it's actually the washing machine.
You might have seen a meme like that floating around, but really like honing in on that idea and using Zoom and using filters to try to kind of paint this dichotomy between. What we are told is true and what is actually a lie, and that was sparked by watching this theater production night night. Also, I just wanna add at this point that as I was watching the production, it kind of reminded me of Wes Anderson and specifically the movie, the Life [00:06:00] Aquatic.
But Night Night was telling the story of two people in Antarctica. And while it reminded me of Wes Anderson, it was by no means a Wes Anderson knockoff. This was not regurgitation. This was an iteration. They probably took inspiration from Wes Anderson, but then they made it their own. That friends, that is creativity.
That gets a big fat green tick from me. You don't have to have a wholly original idea that you never drew inspiration from anywhere. Everything is an iteration of an iteration of an iteration. There is album cover for some of your favorite albums that drew inspiration from famous paintings, so.
Inspiration is perfectly acceptable. Okay. The other thing that is helpful for sparking creative ideas for new campaigns is using [00:07:00] constraints as fuel. Oddly, creativity loves limits, so give yourself a challenge, like how do we make this campaign with a thousand dollars budget? Or what is the least obvious channel that we can use to reach our intended audience?
And if this campaign were a movie, what genre would it be? This stops the default rinse and repeat thinking that is making marketing so predictable and so boring. Another tool in my tool belt is to run structured brainstorming sessions. It's very hard to come up with campaign ideas on your own when you are just getting started.
Free for all brainstorms flop. So does sitting at your desk trying to come up with a creative idea. So I like quick fire exercises and my go-to is called 15 in 15. So what we do is we set a timer for 15 minutes. [00:08:00] And we have to come up with 15 ideas that meet the objective of our campaign strategy first, uh, within those 15 minutes without any judgment, we are not stopping to evaluate whether these are good ideas, bad ideas, or indifferent ideas.
We are just trying to get 15 ideas on the table. The reason why we do this is that often the first five ideas are the most logical, predictable, and done before, and it is only once we start to get past those obvious ideas that we start to think a little bit more outside the box. And we also don't allow ourselves to get in our heads and start talking ourselves down and talking ourselves out.
Oh, that's terrible. You suck at this me up. The other thing that I like to do. Is mashups combining unrelated things like what if LinkedIn Met Love Island? So taking two things that don't belong together and seeing if they can belong together. [00:09:00] And you know where I'm going with this, right? That is Ripple Festival Music Festivals a freaking awesome.
Business conferences are a yarn fest. Why not put them together and create a one of a kind event that is actually much more of an experience than it is a conference?
Marketing Circle Ad
Does your marketing feel like guesswork? Be honest. Join marketing. The membership for female entrepreneurs who wanna nail their strategy, boost their creativity, and create marketing that actually pays off no cookie cutter templates and broken dreams, just practical marketing, training, mentoring and support To help you grow your business, you'll work directly with me, a legit marketing expert, and tap into a brains trust of clever business owners who bring their expertise, ideas, and support to the table.
We are capped at 45 members, so apply to join today. [00:10:00]
Then we also need to tap the customer voice when we are thinking about coming up with campaign ideas. I know I've said this a million times and I'm gonna say it one more time. Marketing is just really good listening and those penny drop moments can happen at any time.
They can happen on a zoom call with 45 people. They can happen on an Instagram comment. They can happen. At a networking event as a, oh, this may sound really silly Mia, but actually is what you do X. And suddenly someone who is outside of your periphery so accurately defines what it is that you do. And these are new words that you never even thought to use before and it is sensational.
So really tune in. To the phrases that people use, the frustrations they share, the quirks in how they behave, really lurk in Facebook groups or communities because there is so [00:11:00] much gold there. If we approach this with curiosity and not defensiveness, sometimes a campaign idea can be sparked from negative feedback from someone being really angry because it tells you that they had a certain expectation that you hadn't considered.
Or they're coming to you with something that you never even considered. So I've got a prompt for you here. Is there something your audience cares deeply about that you haven't tapped into yet? And the last thing, Gemma and all the Gemma's listening, is that we need to create space for incubation.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to stop forcing it. I always say that creativity requires two essential ingredients, time and space. You are never going to get a good marketing idea sitting at your desk trying to get blood out of a stone walk, shower, cook, go to a comedy show. When we [00:12:00] do this, when we tap into our default mode network as opposed to our executive mode network, our brain connects dots in the background that never were connected before, and it gives you breathing room.
This is where this idea of shower thoughts comes from. My best ideas happen when I'm completely zoned out playing with my kids in the backyard, in the pool, in the shower. On a long drive. So when someone asks me, how do you spark creative ideas? My short answer is, 'cause I know that I've been talking now for about 12 minutes.
My short answer is I don't wait for lightning. I build the conditions for it, strategy first, then I apply constraints, cross pollination, customer insight and space. That is where the magic happens. And then there's a little Easter egg that I use that [00:13:00] most people don't even think of, which is behavioral science.
Knowing how people actually make decisions. The shortcuts and the biases give you sparks for campaigns you'd never come up with otherwise. For example, the Pratfall Effect tells us. That when we admit to a weakness, everything else that we say becomes more believable. And the most perfect example of the pratfall effect in action is for a cough medicine from Canada called Buckley's.
And for a hundred years, they have used the tagline, it tastes awful and it works. And if you sit and think about that line for three seconds, you'll be like. Oh, it tastes soulful, but it works. I believe that. Right? And why do we believe that? Because humans know that in life there are trade [00:14:00] offs. Not everything is perfect.
If you wanna grow muscles, you have to go to the gym. You can't just grow muscles sitting and watching Netflix. So this campaign has perfectly tapped into the Pratfall effect, which is a heuristic or cognitive bias. Now, let me show you how I can apply this to my business. So campaigns, they are a gut load of work.
Here's what I can say. In a campaign to use the pratfall effect campaigns have a million moving parts. Careful planning is essential, but campaigns are also proven to build brands. So I'm admitting that campaigns are no cakewalk, but I'm also saying that the payoff is there. So that's a wrap on Gemma's question about how to spark fresh ideas for new campaigns.
The second question I [00:15:00] received was actually in relation to a recent podcast episode about being a military spouse or army wife, and I got asked a question about moving and like physically packing up and relocating. And, um, this question came from Brooke and what people don't know, or maybe they do, I don't know, is that defense moves us and it's actually pretty sweet.
So what happens is we book a relocation date and then defense subcontracts that to toll transitions. Who subcontracts that to a local removal company? The removal company will drop off. A few boxes. This is for my personal items that I don't want somebody else to touch, like my underwear and documents and anything that I just don't want people going through.
And, uh, so we pack up a couple of [00:16:00] boxes and then the removalist company comes to our house and they pack up everything, every glass, every plate, every spoon. They take apart our bed, they disconnect our fridge, they pack it all up for us. That night, we go and sleep at a hotel that is paid for by defense.
The removalist company comes back the next day and they load everything onto the truck, and we are there. We don't need to lift anything. We don't need to help. We don't need to pack up. We are just there supervising. Also, letting them know if anything is staying behind. Sometimes things just stay behind, like pots in the garden that we're like, no, no, no, don't.
You don't need to take those. And then we are put up in short term accommodation for as long as it takes for all of our furniture and our household belongings to arrive in our new location. And that could be three weeks, and that is [00:17:00] generally a service department because we are a family and we need to cook, and they pay for all of that.
Now, when we moved back from Newcastle to Darwin, there were floods on the roads and our belongings were delayed. So they ended up paying for two months for us to live in short-term accommodation, which was pretty awesome. Okay. And then the reverse happens when we arrive at the new location. So once all of our gear has arrived, uh, to our new location, the Removalist company unloads everything from the truck, and then you've got an option.
They can unpack it all for you, or you can unpack it yourself. If they unpack it for you, they tend to just unpack it and leave it on the floor in a pile. And so I don't opt for that. I say, please just put the boxes in the right rooms. And I label every box to say, bedroom one, bedroom [00:18:00] two, kitchen guys.
I've done this so many times. I'm an absolute pro at doing this, so I make my life easier and they drop it into the room that it is destined for, and then I take my time to unpack things as long as I like, so that I just don't have piles of stuff everywhere. My top tip for moving. Is have a box that is packed last, that is labeled first box or quick grab box or whatever you want.
In that box is your TV remote. It is your modem. It is your tool so that you can put things back together. It has got a spray and wipe and it has a cloth in it, and so that. This is the box that you unpack first. You do not want to be opening 10 boxes to find your TV remote. Trust me. Okay, so I hope that answers your question about moving.
[00:19:00] With the military, it is pretty sweet. Uh, they do make this very easy for us. Otherwise, no one would join the military given how often we need to move. Alright, so that's a wrap on today's Ask Me Anything episode. Please feel free to send through your questions and I'd love to answer them in an upcoming episode.
Outro
I've started a substack as the ideal companion to the podcast. It's packed with extra insights, visuals, and nuggets that didn't make it into the episodes. Plus, you can revisit past editions anytime. If you want more or just prefer to read, you'll love it. Plus, it's a place for us to connect. Want the backstage past to Got marketing?
Subscribe now at. Got marketing.substack.com. Thank you. You listened right up until the end, so why not hit that subscribe button and keep the good marketing rolling. Podcast reviews are like warm hugs and they're also the [00:20:00] best way to support a small business. You can connect with me, Mia FileMan on Instagram or LinkedIn, and feel free to send me a message.
I'm super friendly.
