Want to get your creative juices flowing? Try one of these tactics:

View the problem/product/desired result from a different seat on the bus: In other words, how would a 6-year-old child view it? A college student? Someone who uses a wheelchair? By putting yourself in different people’s shoes, you can see the situation differently.

Do a 180: How would the product talk about itself? Or describe how it works? It sounds crazy, but again, sparking creativity is all about thinking differently. What would a competitive product tease your product about?

Personify it: If your product or service were a person, who would it be? A man? A young girl? How would it behave? What would its personality be like? What would be its favorite book?

Get out: Most people brainstorm and try to spark their creativity in the same work environment they are in every day. One of the best ways to inspire some new thinking is to be in a new place. Take a walk in a park. Play at a toy store. Visit a museum. Play a kind of music you would normally never listen to. Stimulate your senses.

Ask why: Make an assumption about what you are working on. Then ask why. And answer it. Then ask why. And answer that. And so on. See where it takes you. When you can’t go any further, make another assumption and start again.

Play: Have a paper airplane contest. Create a putt-putt course in the office. Play charades. Sometimes you have to give yourself permission to be creative, and being playful is a great way to bring that part of you to the surface.

Your turn. How do you get creative?

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and blogs at www.drewsmarketingminute.com. He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com. © 2010 Drew McLellan