How To Generate Top Content Ideas Week After Week

Content marketing can seem like a never-ending uphill climb. To keep up a content marketing strategy you have to produce content consistently, every week, whether you feel like it or not. After a while, it can become difficult to find new and novel subjects to talk about that haven’t already been written about dozens of times by others. Still, you should take comfort in the fact that there is always something new to write about. Otherwise, how would magazines, news sites and newspapers produce content regularly, year after year? Company blogs aren’t so different. Here are a few ways that you can make sure you’re using all your available resources to come up with fresh content ideas that haven’t already been overused.

Stay Tuned-In to the Pulse of Your Company

As a content marketer or a person who manages their company blog, you need to be on the front lines of company news, product updates and anything else that happens in your company. Any kind of new development can be an excellent topic for at least one piece of content, if not a whole series.

Talk to other co-workers and departments within the company you work for and make sure they know to inform you about any new releases or exciting updates about your company. Soon enough, they will get used to letting you know whenever something newsworthy happens.

Keep Current With Industry News

Journalists are immersed in the news at all times. They have to be because it’s part of their job. Journalists stay up-to-date on breaking news and new trends in their area of expertise so they can keep providing fast, current content.

As a content marketer, you have to do the same. Whatever your industry, whether it’s higher education, recruiting, finance or anything else, you need to know what the hot stories are. Find reputable news outlets for a certain area and scan them daily for stories and topics that you might be able to write about for your blog. This tactic alone can do wonders for your content creation.

Look for Story Ideas from Your Customers

Your customers and clients can hold a wealth of interesting and unique story ideas, whether you’re aware of it or not. These story ideas can fall into several categories:

Case Studies

You’re probably quite familiar with case studies and how effective they can be. Case studies are essentially articles that display the value of your service or product through the words and experiences of your customers.

Guest Posts

Guest posts from partners, customers or influencers in your field are a win-win on all sides. You get content for your blog and the guest writer gets to spread their content and ideas to a larger audience. And, if they’re a well-known guest writer, you might benefit from being exposed to their audience as well.

Answering Questions

You likely get questions from your customers through a variety of different channels. Whether they contact you on social media, leave comments on your blog post, call you or email you, customers often need clarification on something that you do, make or offer. The answers to these questions can sometimes make very interesting and nuanced blog posts. Just be sure to get the permission of a customer or client if you are answering a specific question and want to mention their name.

Consult Your Personas

Do you have buyer/customer personas? If you don’t, you should start working on that right now. If you do, look to those personas for guidance on what to write about next. Look at your content from the point of view of your personas and ask yourself what they would want to read.  

Hold an Editorial Meeting

If you’re part of a content marketing team, however small, you might be happy to know that you don’t have to come up with all of the content ideas on your own. Your teammates can share the load of brainstorming and ideation. Try holding a weekly meeting to plan out content and asking each team member to compile several ideas to discuss at the meeting. Out of everyone’s suggestions, agree as a team on the best three to five stories. Or, if your content marketing team has a leader or editor, have them decide what goes into the blog for the week.

Quality content writing is tough, but worth it. Part of managing a successful content marketing program is coming up with a stream of ideas that your target audience cares about. Use the methods described here to make sure you’re not missing a single opportunity to produce amazing content.