In Hollywood they have a joke about screenwriters: “He’s so creative, he doesn’t know how to put on a white shirt and tie.” It’s a lame joke, but it’s supposed to be a compliment. The screenwriter isn’t a boring suit. He’s more creative than that.
There was one guy who was head and shoulders above everyone else in creativity. He invented brainstorming. His name was Alex Osborn. He wrote bestselling books on creativity. Most people know about his book “Your Creative Power” but his last book, “Applied Imagination, Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem Solving,” is much harder to find. Even though it was a best seller when it came out in 1953.
Many people think this was his best book. And most people today could use some tips from the master on creativity, since that will get you better conversions faster than anything else. So we’re going to dip into his most important work today.
In today’s show, we look at six things:
1. Why a more detailed look into creativity?
It’s misunderstood. Some copywriters think it’s wasted time, and some people have the wrong idea of how to do it.
But when it’s done right, it’s the most powerful way you can improve the response rate on your copy. Because it can improve so many aspects and dimensions of your copy.
2. The all-importance of imagination
- Imagination (according to Osborne) is the only kind of thinking that you can’t depend on computers for
And Osborne quotes a famous novelist, who 100 years in advance predicted an event that shook the world: “Whatever one man is capable of conceiving, other men will be able to achieve.”
3. The Creative Problem-Solving Process
In copywriting, creativity is all about solving copy problems. The problem is almost always, how do you present information to your reader in a way that they are motivated to take the action they want.
There are three steps to creativity, according to Osborn. Most business owners and copywriters skip over the first one or two of them. We cover all three.
4. Preparation and Analysis - go hand in hand
Authors Michael Hyatt and Dan Pink team up with Alex Osborn to makes some very important points. If you get what this part is about and make it your own, you’ll cut years off your learning curve.
5. The basis of idea-finding
One thing most people do when they’re brainstorming almost guarantees they’ll fall short of what they could come up with. We talk about it here.
6. Principles and Procedures of Idea-Finding
We reveal the two — and only two — powerful techniques Osborne identified and refined for successful brainstorming.
7. Wrap-up
Finally, a common-sense secret for how to get better and better at brainstorming and coming up with killer profitable ideas.

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The King of Creativity

Copywriters Podcast