Isn’t it weird how guilty marketing can make you feel?
Like, maybe you know you should be doing more, or doing it differently, or doing something new.
But when you go to actually get your marketing done, so many other things immediately feel more urgent, more important, more interesting.
Right?
In that moment, you might think the problem is you’re out of ideas or inspiration. Or you might criticize yourself and say you’re not a “writer.”
But, in my experience, that’s not the heart of the problem. The heart of the problem is that you are a writer, a creative, a marketer.
And you’re experiencing something every writer does and always will:
The blank page, and the energetic toll it takes that we must pay.
So, you know what professional writers do? They don’t resist it, they embrace it and they work with it.
What you want to be able to do is flip the problem around, and instead of staring at the blank page, you start by filling in the blanks.
You start with a simple framework, a useful tool to get yourself going. And then once the work is flowing, you can choose to re-constrain or un-constrain yourself, based on how it’s going and what you need next.
Think about the conventional “story structure” that Hollywood writers use to get their plots in order and fuel their inspiration.
- In Act 1, the subject (your audience, not you), has a routine that isn’t working for them
- In Act 2, they search for the solution, but they run into difficulty and endure a series of trials
- In Act 3, they pay the price to get what they wanted, which changes how they behave at the end of the story
Notice how well this maps to your marketing:
- Your audience has a pre-existing habit you can name (Like, “You’re getting stuck trying to get your marketing done”)
- They go in search of answers (Like, “You scroll LinkedIn and subscribe to newsletters looking for inspiration”)
- They find the solution (Like, “You discover a simple set of frameworks that get you started, but they require you to creatively constrain yourself”)
Once you have the pieces, you can assemble them any way you choose.
But if structure’s not the problem, it’s the actual prose, try this out:
While you’re typing away and you feel the momentum slowing, don’t write that last word down. Write, “Wait—” instead.
Or, “But that means...”
And notice that once you prime your mind to correct yourself, the ideas flow more smoothly. It’s like you’ve prompted your own creativity, like you’re prompt engineering your own mind.
So the next time you get stuck, and you start berating yourself for not having the right words, slow down.
Remember that your creativity requires constraints. You need entry-points for your inspiration.
Grant yourself the peace that comes from a process, like applying the story structure or prompting your own creativity.
Because the problem was never that you didn’t have the ability.
You just needed a starting point.
And now you have it.
Kelford Inc. is the marketing team that’s never at a loss for words. If you’re struggling with what to say and where to say it to attract ideal clients, we’ll show you the way.