Marketing Creativity: Introverts & Extroverts

Kaizen Creativity: The Science of Creativity & Innovation

Some of us are shy introverts, some of us are outgoing extroverts, but we all need to market our creativity. Marketing is always a tough topic for creative people because the skills the we use to create our products is different from the skills we use to market them.

Introverts who are creative tend to be very good at the early stages of the creative process. They can find a quiet area and lots of time to thinking through their ideas.

Extroverts tend to be better when it comes to marketing those ideas. They’re more comfortable putting themselves out there than an introvert.

Some fascinating studies have been done on introversion and extroversion. A Harvard study showed that extroverts, and particularly confident extroverts, are more likely to have their ideas chosen in a group. This makes sense. The extroverts are the ones putting their ideas out there. The group can only make decisions based on what options are made public to the group. But the same study, as well as multiple other ones, have shown that it was more often the introvert who had the best idea. The members of the group responded to the confidence of the extrovert and valued their ideas higher than it should have been. They confidently lead the group in the wrong direction.

We can’t escape our personality. We can only recognize what opportunities and threats it creates for us. If you’re an introvert, the biggest threat to your project tends to come at the very end, when it’s time to market and persuade others. If you’re an extrovert, the threat tends to come at the beginning. It’s the lack of time spent alone thinking throughout the implications of your idea. We need both, but we can only excel at one.

How do you do this if you’re an introvert? The introvert needs to get feedback throughout the entire project, not just at the very end. A steady stream of feedback boosts confidence and makes it more likely that you’ll be willing to put yourself out there later. The more you know about how people are already responding to your idea, the easier it will be when that idea is complete.

It’s like a new comedian telling a new joke on stage. The first time they might be shy and timid about the joke, but the more they tell that joke, the more confident they become in it. Receiving positive feedback from earlier performances gives them confidence to take the next step.

You don’t have to fake the confidence. Confidence will come from the feedback you get. Your job is to get good quality feedback and apply it throughout the entire creative process. If you end up with a product that solves people’s problems in an elegant way, your confidence will follow. You can confidently say of your product “I know it will help you, because it’s helped so many other people.”

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