Ever sat down to write a blog or a social media post for your business and stared at a blank page for way too long? The trick to avoiding that is always having a list of content ideas to pull from.
Whether you go as far as creating a full editorial calendar or simply keep a running list of ideas, here are some tips for sourcing marketing content ideas for small business.
Brainstorm with your team or a friend
Content ideas always seem to flow better with more than one person. Grab a team member or ask a friend for help. Capture all the ideas in one place, even if you don’t think they’re great ideas initially — you can always refine them later. Focus on generating as many ideas as possible during your brainstorming session. The ideas you capture now may spark some additional creativity when you go to review them later.
Pay attention to what others in your industry are doing
Scope out your competitor’s content or businesses like yours in other places. You don’t want to copy them, of course, but if another business like yours had some really great content a few months ago, find a way to write about that same topic from a different angle. If your industry has an association of some kind or trend reports available, keep an eye on those trends for content ideas.
Ask ChatGPT to generate ideas
ChatGPT and other AI tools are great for giving you content ideas when you’re stuck. While there are paid versions of ChatGPT that’s useful for some businesses, the free version works well for generating content ideas. It’s based on prompts, so you might say, “Give me 10 blog topic ideas for a florist.” Then, based on the answer it gives, you can ask additional questions to refine the list. Not all of the ideas it gives you are going to be a good fit, but think of it like a virtual brainstorming partner.
Look for pain points in your process
Is there some part of your process with clients where things seem to break down? Or questions you get asked a lot? Maybe there are some common misperceptions around the services you provide. Sometimes those pain points or questions make for great content to help educate your customer. Of course, if a pain point in the process is telling you it’s time to change your process, don’t ignore that need.
Ask your customers for ideas
It’s always a good idea to check in with your customers or clients about what content is valuable to them.This can be as simple as asking them in a social post what they want to see sending an email with a survey link or simply asking for feedback.You can also check your own analytics on past content to find your highest performing content and rewrite those topics from another angle.
Content ideas for small business marketing are everywhere, but sometimes we get so wrapped up in the day-to-day that we miss the ideas right in front of us. By taking some of these steps to generate ideas and looking out for ideas that pop up in your daily work, you’ll have an ever-growing list of content ideas for your business.
If you need help generating ideas or applying those ideas to your blog, social, or email channels, reach out to the StoryPath team today to talk about how we can help.