5 Inspiring Idea Sources For Creating Inbound Marketing Content
I don’t know what to write about. It’s a problem every writer, professional, amateur or recreational, faces every day. It’s all very well having an idea and putting it down on screen, or on paper. But we all fear the day when you have to write, but don’t know where to start. We all fear that blinking cursor on a blank screen.
This year in particular, Google has begun to place more emphasis on quality content. Each algorithm update this year has been dragging search away from spamable techniques and focusing on content quality. Which places more pressure on your inbound marketing content. Small businesses can no longer get away with producing mediocre content with plenty of the right keywords and some internal links. You need to write quality content that others will want to read, share and link to.
Which brings us back to the empty screen and that damn blinking cursor. The great thing about inbound marketing content is that there are few rules on topics. The only requirement is to produce something that your target reader will enjoy, share and follow back to your website. The actual ideas can come from almost any source. So, on the days that you are battling with the blinking cursor, there are a few great sources that can get the creative juices flowing.
Think back over the last three days, how many references to the Red Bull Stratos jump have you seen? The short answer is probably, a lot. That’s because it was a huge news story worldwide, it provided a topic people were already interested in. When you can weave stories like that into your inbound marketing content, half your job is done for you. People are already reading about it, talking about it, and sharing content that references it. The market is already there; your job is to give them a different angle. An angle that appeals to your target market.
Businesses in niche markets often claim their industry is ‘too boring’ to write entertaining content. The problem there isn’t the industry; it’s the approach. There are many other ways to make a piece of writing entertaining. One of those is to introduce some pop culture. Your favorite movie, TV show or song may be just the thing to add some color to your inbound marketing content. To put it another way, content with pop culture color goes all the way to 11.
Statistics
Statistics can provide great inspiration too. Twitter or Google are great resources for finding a good stat to respond to, reference or build upon. Infographics are a great piece of visual content that people love to share. Even if you don’t produce them yourself, they can provide plenty of inspiration for blog or social mediacontent. You should never reproduce an infographic verbatim but they can help you to choose a topic for debate or piece of learning to share.
Your Business
You are creating inbound marketing content to promote you business, so talk about it. You do this every day, so tell people about it. Offer tips, share insights or discuss the industry. Building trust is one of the key tasks your content should fulfill. What better way to do that than to demonstrate your knowledge of the industry?
You
A lot of the best blog ideas come out of every day life. It could be something a friend said to you, or an amusing incident from your commute. When you put yourself into the story, people are more likely to engage. When you write blogs or post on social media it creates a one to one experience with readers. You should take advantage of that by giving your inbound marketing content a personal touch.
Most of us use these sources already. We form our ideas and opinions through a combination of the sources on this list. You just need to remember them when you’re creating your inbound marketing content. That way you’ll win a lot more often than the blinking cursor.
Tags: Red Bull Stratos, Google, Twitter, Business
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