// description
Brainstorming is a group ideation technique governed by four rules: defer judgment, encourage wild ideas, build on the ideas of others, and go for quantity. A facilitator poses a problem, the group generates as many ideas as possible within a set time, and all contributions are recorded without critique. Evaluation happens only after the generation phase ends. The premise is that separating ideation from evaluation removes the social pressure that kills early-stage ideas.
// history
Alex Osborn, co-founder of the advertising agency BBDO, introduced brainstorming in his 1953 book Applied Imagination. He developed the method through years of running creative sessions for advertising clients and observed that mixed groups produced more ideas when criticism was temporarily suspended. Despite later academic studies questioning whether groups outperform individuals working alone, brainstorming remains the most widely recognized ideation technique in the world.
// example
A creator planning a new Etsy product line holds a 20-minute brainstorm on niche angles for a "dog lover" sticker sheet. No filtering. Ideas range from practical (dog training milestones) to absurd (dogs in period costume) to hyper-specific (specific breeds doing specific activities). The absurd idea about dogs in Victorian clothing gets the most energy in the room. Research reveals it's an underserved micro-niche with passionate buyers. The resulting "historical hounds" sticker sheet sells out in its first week because the premise itself is conversation-worthy.
// katharyne's take
Solo brainstorming works too — the research just says it works differently. I give myself a timed session (usually 10 minutes with a timer) and write everything without stopping to evaluate. The rule "no filtering" is crucial. Your worst idea during a brainstorm can be the seed of your best product. I also use ChatGPT as a brainstorming partner: feed it your niche and ask for 50 product variations. Then brainstorm your own 50. The overlap tells you what's obvious; the non-overlap is where you find differentiation.
// creative uses
- Run a timed brainstorm on Midjourney prompt variations for a single subject — 10 minutes, go for 40 prompts, no filtering. The prompts you'd normally dismiss as too weird (dramatic lighting from below, surreal scale distortions, mixed-media textures) are exactly what produces scroll-stopping thumbnails.
- Use a brainstorm to generate Etsy listing titles before you do keyword research — write 20 title options for a product, ignore what's searchable for now, then cross-reference the best ones against actual keyword data. You find angles competitors haven't optimised for because they went straight to keyword tools.
- Brainstorm the objections your ideal buyer has about purchasing your digital product or course — "it's too expensive," "I don't have time," "I've tried before" — and use each objection as a FAQ entry, a testimonial prompt, or a sales page section. The brainstorm becomes your conversion copy brief.
// quick actions
- Set a 10-minute timer and write every possible product variation in your niche — aim for 30. Don't stop to evaluate. When the timer ends, circle the three ideas you'd never have reached in the first five minutes. Those are the ones worth researching.
- Open ChatGPT and prompt: "Give me 50 KDP low-content book ideas in the [your niche] space. Include obvious ones and weird ones." Then write your own 50 separately. The ideas in your list that don't appear in ChatGPT's list are your differentiation territory.
- Run a community brainstorm: post in your Facebook group or Discord and ask members to drop one product idea they wish existed in your niche. No voting, no discussion yet. Collect 24 hours of responses, then identify the three ideas that appeared most often or that you find most exciting.
// prompt ideas
Run a brainstorming session with me for [niche] product ideas on [KDP / Etsy]. Give me 40 ideas without filtering — include the obvious ones, the weird ones, the hyper-specific ones, and the ones that seem impractical. No evaluation yet. Just volume. I'll filter afterwards.
I need fresh angles for [product type] in the [niche] space. Brainstorm 20 Etsy listing titles that don't use any of the keywords my top three competitors use. Ignore searchability for now — I just want differentiated angles I can then research. Give me ideas that feel slightly uncomfortable or surprising.
Help me brainstorm every possible objection a [target buyer] might have before purchasing [your product]. Don't filter — list everything from price to trust to timing to relevance. Once we have 15–20 objections, help me turn the top five into FAQ entries or sales page sections that address them directly.