I may get a bit philosophical for this post but bear with me; I promise you it’ll make sense by the end.
Let me start with this quote:
“No person, act or product is creative or uncreative in itself. Judgments of creativity are inherently communal, relying heavily on individuals expert within a domain.” (Gardner, 1994: 145).
When people ask me to explain what creativity is, I tell them to look up Mark Rothko’s No. 6 painting. It explains it perfectly. Some see colors piled up together, and some see a masterpiece worth 186 million dollars. Odd, right?
Have you ever come up with an idea and shared it with your peers, only to be told that it was not creative enough or it has been done a thousand times before? You probably have.
Now, have you ever heard the phrase “Creativity is subjective”?
Probably not.
Let me explain. I want you to go to YouTube, open up the trending tab, and skim through the first 5 videos created by YouTubers.
They probably have similar colorful thumbnails, clickbait-y titles, a huge arrow or circle, or even a number in the thumbnail. How many of those did I get right? 3/5? 4/5? Good enough!
Now, if all of these are copies of each other, why are they trending and working so well? Of course, there are a lot of factors for going on the trending page, especially when it comes to a platform like YouTube. But let me tell you the biggest factor why these worked so well, even if they’re just copies of each other with distinct differences.
They listened to numbers and data.
Numbers are ALWAYS the fundamental indicator of success.
Are dating apps trending and taking over the spotlight? Research and read the case studies; if you see an opportunity, capitalize on it.
Your TikTok views have been declining since you started making makeup tutorials? Then go back to the winning content you used to make!
Your average engagement on Instagram dropped when you started posting photos of food? Start posting pictures of you again!
Does your audience interact with you more when you’re live streaming? Then Live stream!
Keep throwing ideas against the wall and see what sticks… but in an educated way. Calculate your findings and compare what works and what doesn’t.
That is called educated throwing.
You don’t need to have a one-in-a-million breakthrough idea to go big; you need to know how to read numbers, data, and trends.
I’m not saying you should rip off others and put your name on it. You still have to blend in your own unique value proposition into the project you’re working on.
But there are plenty of blueprints around you that you can use to start improving and create your own thing. Don’t listen to naysayers; they don’t know any better. They don’t spend countless hours into research, brainstorming sessions, reading case studies like you!
Your numbers are your indicators. Nothing else. Always keep that in mind!
