Creativity doesn’t have to be something you express only on the weekends or during off-time—it’s an essential part of anyone’s professional skill set, and particularly relevant when hiring or looking for content marketing jobs. Not only does creativity lead you to innovative thinking, it inspires effective problem solving, new strategies, and fresh ideas.

Yet, people don’t always feel supported to express their natural creative talents at work due to tight deadlines, limited resources, or little encouragement from managers.

Why does this matter more than ever for businesses?

Creative insights can help improve internal systems, the quality of customer outreach, and so much more when applied to online marketing.

To get a better understanding of how tapping into the unused creative potential of employees can have a big pay-off for everyone and enhance productivity and innovation on your teams, check out these 10 stats on how creativity can change how you do business.

1. Creative industries boast faster job growth and slower job loss than other sectors of the economy. (Tweet This!)

No matter what industry you work in, a company needs a creative department to develop marketing and content, as well as online marketing campaigns for products and services. Creative positions can include content developers, programmers, graphic designers, social media professionals, and the project managers coordinating the details—all of which companies need to compete for users attention. Creative positions are becoming more integral to the the bottom line for all businesses, especially when trying to establish a strong online presence that’s engaging and effective.

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2. 75% of people think they are not living up to their creative potential. (Tweet This!)

Wow—that says a lot. When people are showing up at work day after day without the ability to express their true gifts in some way, it can start to shift their mood, perspective, and performance. Making sure employees have the tools to express creativity within their area of speciality, as well as the time to play with creative options at work, can go a long way.

Google currently has a program that serves to foster innovation in-house called the 20% project. It allows engineers to spend 20% of their work week on projects that interest them to help tap into the many talents of its employees and give them an opportunity to consistently work on a personal passion—which is great for internal innovation and morale.

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3. 6 in 10 people felt that being creative is valuable to their country’s economy (7 in 10 in the U.S.). (Tweet This!)

While making money is an essential reason behind why people work, sharing a special creative skill is also seen as valuable to the economy. When employees have a special skill they contribute to the pool, they feel effective and useful. Yet, (to reference the stat above) 75% of people feel they are not living up to their creative potential.

It’s a big disconnect, and also an invitation for businesses to provide ways employees can connect specific creative skills within a job role and encourage ownership.

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4. People reported increasing pressure to be productive rather than creative at work. In the U.S. and U.K., 80% of people felt that way, while the number rose as high as 85% in France. (Tweet This!)

Stress squashes creativity, no doubt, but looming deadlines are a reality in every workplace. Creatives working with online content also have the pressure to keep up with a 24-hour content cycle. It takes planning, creativity, and time to pull together engaging content that entices potential customers—all against a deadline.

Putting together a clear content strategy with doable deadlines can go a long way, especially when you share it with the whole team. This enables anyone to jump in and take care of more tactical to-do’s.

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5. People spend more than 50% of their time online looking at content. (Tweet This!)

People are hungry for content, and companies need creatives to generate, distribute, promote, and curate content to get potential customers interested and engaged. A creative team that’s inspired to innovate means they can help create online content that’s “click-worthy.”

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6. Buyers go through about 57% of the purchasing process before ever talking to sales. (Tweet This!)

Alrighty folks – potential customers are doing more work on their own than ever before to pull themselves through the sales funnel, but it takes creativity, strategy and well-executed creative content like an engaging website, well-done blog content, interesting social media and strategic email marketing campaigns to get them there. All of this work is done by creatives, well, it should be if you want it to be done well.

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7. When CEOs were asked, “What is the skill you most value in your people?”, they said creativity, the ability to solve problems, come up with new solutions, and use brainpower to figure things out. (Tweet This!)

When you look at what company leaders are saying, they absolutely value creativity in their employees because they know it has a positive impact on ROI for a business. Creative people are independent thinkers and innovative with problem solving, which helps reveal solutions for marketing, content strategy or social media outreach that more business or technical minded people might overlook.

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8. About 60% of CEOs polled cited creativity as the most important leadership quality, compared with 52% for integrity and 35% for global thinking. (Tweet This!)

When looking at the power of creativity in leadership—well, it’s one of the most highly desired of skills. Creative leaders are also more prepared to break with the status quo of industry, enterprise, and revenue models—and they are 81% more likely to rate innovation as a “crucial capability.” Good leaders are adaptable and think on their feet and are more willing to implement innovative strategies to get ahead in marketing, sales, or other key areas of business development.

Doing the same old thing doesn’t build success, but being able to see a way to change and break out as an industry leader definitely takes creative thinking and vision.

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9. New research is the most in-demand content type sought by LinkedIn users (77%), followed by breaking news (68%), and case studies (55%). (Tweet This!)

Being creative in business also means you are staying up-to-date on industry trends and fresh ideas. Taking current business strategies and infusing them with fresh insight can go a long way and bring new life to current customer outreach.

Also, guess what? Your customers are looking for creative innovations in your industry—and then comparing them to your business offerings. The more educated they are, the more important it is for you to be on the cutting edge in your field for products and services, as well as your online marketing and educational efforts.

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10. Consumer’s average attention span is 8 seconds—1 second less than a goldfish—dropping 4 seconds since 2000. (Tweet This!)

This is probably one of the most important reasons to encourage creativity in your business and in the workplace. People don’t want to be sold to; they want to be entertained—and it’s getting harder and harder to do that as content distribution channels consistently expand and attention span falls with them. You need employees who are engaged, creative, and can drum up new ways to reach your target audience.

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These 10 stats show you all the ways creativity is essential for staying connected with employees, supporting what they need to succeed, and creating more effective online marketing. What’s not to like about that strategy?

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