4 Ideas To Fuel Your Content Marketing Machine
Posted by Anita Oye on Mon, Aug 13, 2012
How many times have you sat staring at a blank page at a loss for ideas, with a deadline approaching?
Using ideas from daily conversations and the sources listed below, quality content can be created for your target audience. Ideas for great content are all around us, we just need to start looking and listening and in new ways.
Here are a few simple ways to generate ideas to fuel your content marketing machine:
1. Introducing Yourself
The way you introduce yourself to someone new as you network, socialize at a party, or at an informal business meeting can give you ideas for your writing. What questions do you get in response to your introduction? Your answers to questions on these occasions and the conversations that result can give you ideas for topics to write about.
2. Notes From Phone Calls
Whenever you or the members of your sales or support team are on the phone, you probably cover subjects that can give you ideas for creating content. Many times, when your customer service team sorts out a problem during a courtesy call, a content ideas exists, and a simple guide to solving a problem could be created.
Answering questions about high prices might lead to a discussion of the value of quality content. You could easily develop a blog post, a guide for your customers, or even a whitepaper for prospects about why quality content is important to the industry. Having a notebook or whiteboard dedicated to questions will help you keep these ideas organized and accessible.
3. Check Your Email
Chances are, if you respond to questions about content marketing using email, you’ve probably got some great material to use for blog articles or a guide for your customers stored safely away in your outbox. Remember, if one person has a question, there’s a good chance several others have the same one. Your email responses just might help you dislodge a severe case of writer’s block.
4. Your Company’s Training Materials
Most companies have internal training programs that cover the most important topics of the industry. These topics can be easily adapted into ideas for writing content. They’re already organized into concise text you can turn into valuable information to share with both prospects and clients. You might even get ideas to start a new blog on insider secrets. The next time you facilitate a training session, the instructions and material you present can help you realize the potential for relevant content.
Inspiration for great content is all around us -- keep your eyes and ears open!
Have unusual sources of inspiration? We'd love to hear from you!