Not Content with Your Content? 5 Ideas to Mix It Up
Powerful, punchy headlines are just the start of creating content that attracts and entices your ideal audience. Your headline is the hook, but your content is what continues to pull them in. Choosing topics that are interesting to your audience ensures that you are building regular readers who keep coming back for more. Quality content writing affects multiple areas of your business. It supports customer retention, brand awareness, and lead generation. It is both a dynamic and necessary skill.
However, that is much simpler than it sounds. What do you do when writer's block hits and your creativity runs dry? It happens to us all, but you can overcome these stubborn roadblocks. Take a look at these five strategies to inspire a fresh flow of ideas as you brainstorm new content.
1. Hey, Google! What Do I Write About?
Google processes over 8.5 billion searches per day. It’s safe to say that your clients are using Google as a resource to find what they need. So put Google to work for you. Start by entering your topic in the search bar on Google.com. Typing one word at a time, pay attention to what Google auto-populates your search suggestions. For example, if you were looking for “productivity tools,” Google will show you that people are searching for “productivity tools for project management, for work, and for students,” just to name a few. How can you leverage your product/service to match those top searches?
Take it one step further. If your chosen search is “productivity tools for project management,” you’ll find two great tools for content creation right on the first page of Google results. The first is “People Also Ask.” Here are a handful of great questions you can ask yourself and provide content to answer them. The second is found at the bottom of the page, where Google lists variations of similar searches. You will find more top searches and keywords that can spark a new stream of content ideas.
2. Dive into Your Archives
No one writes content so that it can survive a 24-hour lifecycle on social media only to not see the light of day again. Your past content is a massive wealth of information that can serve you up renewed ideas over and over again.
When repurposing old content, use data to drive your decisions. Take a look at your Google Analytics or social media insights and see what created a buzz last year. Numbers like bounce rate on Google can show you what pieces of content held your audience’s attention and kept them on your website. Saves and shares on social media are high indicators that your followers found value in your posts.
As you review high-performing pieces of content, look for common denominators across your platforms. Did you answer some hard-hitting questions that are relevant once again? Are your clients facing the same obstacles this time of year? Or did you approach a topic from one angle, but now you see it differently? As new clients enter your audience, they need answers to some of your most asked questions. Don’t be afraid to revisit past topics. Just like you use Google to spark fresh content ideas, you can also find inspiration in your own work.
3. Use Some of the Top Tools for Content Creation
If creativity is truly escaping you, there are some free tools that generate topics and questions to help you create content. Check out these helpful content creation tools:
Answerthepublic.com
With Answer the Public, you type in a few keywords, and the site populates several graphs jammed packed with data and content ideas. The site is focused on helping you answer the questions of your ideal client. Returning to our example “productivity tools,” you’ll find topics like “how productivity tools help students,” “productivity tools to measure customer success,” and “productivity tools with advanced application techniques.” Even a quick skim of your Answer the Public results can have you reaching for pen and paper to jot down fresh ideas.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo does all the heavy lifting when it comes to generating fresh content ideas. Under the free version, you can search up to ten topics a month and receive all the latest trending articles and news. Schedule one content planning session a month and bookmark all your brilliant ideas.
Portent Idea Generator
You might snort-laugh at your desk, but Portent’s Idea Generator is a quick hit for snappy blog titles and ideas. Our example “productivity tools” produced “Why Productivity Tools are Scarier than Clowns.” At face value, maybe that’s not what you’re looking for, but on a deeper level, maybe there is something scary about productivity tools that you can dive into. If your first search result isn’t a hit, just tap the “See Another Title” button for unlimited idea generation.
4. Check-in on Your Competition
While having an ear out for what your competition is doing is a smart idea, it’s even better to know what your competition is not doing. Take a virtual stroll through their Google reviews, blog comments, Yelp reviews, or YouTube comments and find out where they might be falling short. Look for one-star reviews and dissatisfied customers. Customer tags on Twitter often include cries for better customer service or better problem-solving. You may have to dig deep to uncover what your competitors don’t want people to see, but there is a fantastic opportunity to solve solutions here.
You can learn:
What features their clients are looking for
How you can deliver even better customer service
Why you are different
Create content that speaks to these pain points and shows that you are, in fact, the better choice.
5. Make It a Team Effort
A creative brainstorming session with your team members can be a powerful jumping-off point for sparking new content ideas. For something new, try seeking ideas beyond your closest colleagues. Go talk to the IT department: what questions do they hear the most or what do they wish your customers knew more about? Check-in on the sales team: what clever promotions are coming down the pipeline and how can you prepare for content leading up to the launch? Maybe the C-suite has some topics that have been top-of-mind that they want to share.
Even with all these tools at your disposal, you can often find the most value in partnering with a content marketing agency. Our team of confident writers at Comma takes pride in delivering creative content over and over again so that your reservoir of brilliant ideas doesn’t run dry.
Want help from your friendly-neighborhood content writers? Schedule a free consultation call to really get the creativity flowing.