Do you ever find yourself looking for a great promotional idea? Or staring at a blank computer screen, trying to come up with just the right words for marketing copy? Do what savvy marketers do: Consult your idea box.

If you don't have an idea box, start one today. The next time you see an ad that really seems to work, or you read copy that makes you sit up and take notice, put a copy in your idea box. The things you save don't have to be related to your industry or for products or services that are similar to yours. They should simply be examples of great marketing.

Then, use your idea box as brain food. The next time you are stuck, pull out the idea box and review the items you have there. Your idea box may include books, sales letters, clever advertising specialties, print outs of Web sites or emails, and other materials.

The point is not to copy the items in your idea box, it is to use them as inspiration. S

ee how they are constructed, what buttons they press, and how they present benefits, and learn from them. Use bits and pieces of ideas from several to create something that is uniquely yours.

Don't copy the words, and don't duplicate what someone else has done, but do learn from what has worked for others.

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