Start a conversation with your marketing copy

Creating marketing messages that have personality, that communicate authentically who we are usually requires us to step out of the box of traditional marketing communications speak. After all, marketing your business is about having a conversation. And what do people do in conversations? They tell stories.

Here are five ideas to get your juices flowing in finding and telling your own stories. Start by thinking about something that you want to communicate to your audience. Something you might be a little stuck with is good. Or something that feels dull. Then, let's play.

• What happens if you draw this message?
• What if you find one seemingly unrelated image and just start writing about how it's related?
• If you force yourself to tell this story in five words? Which words are they?
• What if you told this story in five images? What do those images say?
• How about taking the long view? Try starting at A and going all the way to Z, adding an alphabetical piece of the message each way. Don't lose your focus. What does that story look like?

You may or may not end up with copy you can use straight from this exercises. But I'm willing to bet that you do get some new clues, connections and the beginning of a conversation. Try it. I'd love to hear how it works for you.