6 Strategies To Generate New Content Easily

Content is the foundation of any successful online marketing effort. You need content for your newsletters, website, blog, and social media efforts, as well as your audios, videos, and all your other content sharing. To generate that much content regularly means that you need to have a lot of ideas. Now, for some people, idea generation is easy – they seem to always have something they are thinking about and working on and planning to write about.

Many people struggle with coming up with new content ideas and this can be a bit of a challenge – and it’s for you I’m sharing these six strategies for generating new content ideas. When I think about writing new content for my blog and newsletter, as well as articles I write for distribution, and other avenues where I share my ideas, I notice that there is often a similarity or overlap in the themes for the month. Sometimes it is just easier to dive more deeply into a topic than it is to try and come up
with different topics for each required item.

So, for example, my thinking process might go like this: I write for my blog, and then I expand on the concept for my newsletter, and then I reformat that newsletter article slightly to become an article that will be sent out for syndication. That way, I’m constantly building on my original idea, and refining my delivery of it, and this process makes sense.

So how do you generate great content ideas in the first place?

I want to share with you these six strategies I use to develop new content ideas:

Strategy #01: I develop ideas from books I’m reading. So, for instance, whenever I read a book, I think about how I might apply this to my business, and then, also, how my clients might apply this information to theirs. Similarly, though I don’t watch a lot of television, when I do see an idea or concept on TV, I will see if I can develop it into a blog post or article as well.

Strategy #02: I listen to themes that reappear in my client work. Very often, my clients will mention or report similar struggles or frustrations around the same time. I listen for these themes and find patterns in them. During a week, if different clients mention the same thing, I know this is worth paying more attention to and generating content around. What’s also great about this approach is that it often helps my clients feel I’m speaking directly to them, and I can share more ideas and information as my
understanding develops further.

Strategy #03: I read the questions I receive on social media sites or email. When people reach via email or Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, I pay attention to what they are asking and see whether I have content about it already. If I do, I often times share this article or blog with them. If not, though, I will respond to them, and then take the email response and convert it into a post or article. When I receive media requests, I pay attention and I save my replies for these and may write articles from them as well.

Strategy #04: I discuss or free-think about ideas or concepts my clients might want to know about. I also have a list of 20-25 subject ideas or topics that I keep as a set of “spare” or “back-up” ideas – ones I can use if I ever need to create content and can’t think of something to say.

Strategy #05: I pay attention to trends and share them with different people on how to use or apply them. It’s especially fascinating to pay attention to advances in neuroscience, psychology, and technology and be able to provide some feedback or explanation, or to help people see things in a new light. People always benefit from being on the forefront of new knowledge.

Strategy #06: I pay attention to ideas or strategies I use in my own life and work. If I want to be seen as an expert, I need to contribute something about what I’ve tried, what’s working, and what isn’t. So I use myself as a way to test ideas and strategies and then to share my results. People are often intrigued in the personal aspect of this process; they feel like they know me better – and trust me more.

Each of these are strategies you can adopt too. If you’re stuck for new content ideas, start applying these six steps to observe the world around you. I’m certain it won’t take too long before you have more ideas than you can handle.