If you can create great content on your website, in emails, and on social media, your business will be unstoppable. However, many businesses don’t know how to generate content ideas. They fail to understand that effective content must be thoughtfully planned in advance. Without solid content ideas and careful planning, messages can fall short, be off-topic, and, ultimately, be ignored. If you’re trying to maximize your business’s impact, the last thing you want is for your audience to click away from your content.

Many think it should be simple to find and create ideas that make your target audience sit up higher in their seats. But most businesses struggle with generating impactful content. They are either too busy or don’t understand what the focus of content needs to be. Many businesses want (and need) to build content that helps them get found on Google and converts prospects to customers. They spend money on the latest technology or a complete website overhaul thinking that will solve their problems. But when leads fall off, these businesses are at a loss for how to get them going or how to fix the issue. In the end, they must understand that content needs to bridge a business’s goals with the needs of its clients and customers.

So, what’s the secret to being discovered on Google and generating leads? It’s simple: create content that delights, informs, and persuades your target audience. If you’re wondering how to generate content ideas that encompass these three factors, we put together this article with you in mind. Take a look through our top strategies for brainstorming content for blogs, social media, email, and more.

Guide for How to Generate Content Ideas

Step 1: Brainstorm Ideas

The first step in generating quality content is taking the time to brainstorm ideas. You’d be surprised how many people skip over this step. Simply carving out a set amount of time to think over different ideas can help you better bridge the gap between your business goals and your clients’ needs. Brainstorming can be done in any way that works for you, but we like to try a few of the following when we are feeling stuck:

1. List the pain points of your customers and clients.
2. List the related questions and objections your customers might have about those pain points.
3. Meet with your customers and clients to discuss issues.
4. Research keyword autocomplete topics on Soolve.
5. Discover ideas with Reddit’s trending topics.
6. Research your competitors with a keyword gap analysis.
7. Review social media groups and forums for topics and questions.
8. Ask your sales team their most frequently asked questions.
9. Utilize keyword tools to research questions.
10. Ask yourself whether your existing content can be updated to better inform your audience.

Step 2: Curate Your Best Ideas

To curate your ideas, ask yourself the following questions. They can help you reduce or reprioritize your ideas for content topics.

1. Is this really a problem that needs to be solved?
2. What other articles are out there that are already written?
3. Do those articles need more added to them to answer the question?
4. What within this article would fascinate a five year old?
5. Are there any amusing or creative tidbits that your audience would appreciate?
6. Can we provide a solution that helps this problem or pain point?
7. Why does this article matter?
8. Will I enjoy writing this article?
9. What is the most important thing I want to communicate to my audience?
10. What is the best thing that could happen if someone read this article?

Step 3: Prioritize Your Curated Ideas

Once you have a list of curated ideas, prioritize them based on your business goals and your content needs. To start prioritizing your ideas, try the following methods:

1. Have someone else review your ideas and give you thoughts.
2. Ask yourself what is the most interesting or creative angle on this topic.
3. Use a simple priority system such as the Fibonacci Sequence or even a “Low, Medium, High” ranking to gauge priority. Base priority on your goals and whether it will resonate with your target audience.
4. Ask yourself if there are any topics that give you pause. If so, add them to your backlog.

Step 4: Schedule Time

The last step is one of the most overlooked. Schedule time to write consistently and often. Regular, impactful content shows your audience that you care about their needs, and it can also help boost your rankings in Google.

By following these simple steps, you can easily generate fresh, interesting content for your business that will help it stand out from the competition. Need help with copy? We have certified marketers and writers who can help you with the toughest of your writing challenges. You can hire Big Storm to brainstorm and implement copy and content that converts. Drop us a line today!