One of the most common things I hear from people regarding content marketing is they have NO IDEA what to write about. ? They feel totally overwhelmed by the thought of creating content for their blog, email list, social media, and more…

But here’s the truth: Content can be REPURPOSED. Which means that you realistically only have to write ONE piece of content that you can then convert into all of these other forms…

And with that being said, there are SO MANY sources out there that can bring us new ideas every single day, but you just have to pay attention. ☝?

Here are my go-to methods for knowing what to cover…

?? LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR TARGET MARKET ASKS YOU

This is probably the most important one — and one that will generate DOZENS of ideas. Every time I speak to a client or jump on a consultation call, I listen to what they’re having trouble with regarding marketing and I WRITE IT DOWN. It’s so easy to do, but it’s also GENIUS!

Think about it: You’re hearing DIRECTLY from the people you want to work with the issues they’re facing. Blog posts serve as a way to solve the problems that people have — so each “issue” you hear from someone is an idea for an entire blog post! And you KNOW your post will resonate with your audience because they physically told you what they want to know. So keep a notebook handy as you work so that you can jot these ideas down as they come to you!

? PAY ATTENTION TO TRENDING TOPICS / RELEVANT TIMES

What’s going in your industry at the moment? Is there something important enough that you should share with your audience that could benefit them? It always helps to share the “latest news” so that your audience is “in the know.”

Here are some examples:

• If you are a marketer, you can talk about planning your marketing strategy for the second quarter of 2019
• If you are a business coach, you can discuss ways that entrepreneurs can prepare for the busy months this spring
• If you are an accountant, you can outline how business owners can project their financial goals before the next quarter

The most important thing to remember is that all of this information is RELEVANT to the time it’s happening and RELEVANT to your audience. They will LEARN from you and therefore view you as even more credible.

?? LET IT COME TO YOU

If you’re REALLY feeling stuck, you can search through various sources to get ideas. I love looking through Pinterest and Twitter to find topics when I feel as though my ideas are running on empty.

But here’s the thing: DO NOT make your post similar to what’s already out there. BRAINSTORM how you can make yours DIFFERENT from everything else. What can you share that will make your post “special”?

Here’s an example: I know that MANY social media managers write about how to plan and schedule social media. I wrote about it too, BUT I made mine different by 1) creating a freebie for a content calendar that I’ve never seen before and 2) writing my entire post around that freebie and how I specifically use it.

So it’s OKAY to find suggestions from other people, but you need to make sure that you’re NOT COPYING them and that you are SETTING YOURSELF APART.

These are my three tried-and-true methods — but there are SO MANY other options out there! How do you brainstorm content? ✏️