The editorial schedule is empty again and you need new ideas for your magazine and your content marketing? No worries! With these tips, you can generate new ideas for interesting content that your customers will like.
Goals of the content ideas
It sounds simple, but if you think about the goals of your own content strategy, you approach the idea generation in a much more focused way. Therefore, the first step in any brainstorming session is to visualize these goals. You have these options:
1. Show expertise
This goal is closely linked to expertise. Your customers need to be able to trust you to find an answer to their specific problem. Content that builds trust helps. This can be achieved through expertise, clarity and comprehensibility.
3. Generate and develop leads
In the vast majority of cases, your content is not only there to generate reach and attention – it should also convert. On the one hand, you have to think of a clean lead generation strategy. On the other hand, the topics and content ideas should also be developed in such a way that they aim at a specific lead generation goal or help with lead nurturing, i.e. the development of leads.
4. Generate sales
Ultimately, the ultimate goal is to increase sales. You can also pay attention to this with your content ideas: Does the content help in any way to turn contacts into leads and leads into customers? Does the content answer important questions customers have? Does the content solve customers’ problems?
Sources for new content ideas
There are various sources for coming up with new content ideas for the editorial plan . The most important of these are within the company itself. The very first step should therefore be to ask customer support, sales or the social media and marketing team what problems and questions your customers have. Most customer-facing teams have this knowledge, and you should use it. If there is still no content for certain problems or questions that keep recurring, you have already found the first possible ideas.
But that’s not the only source you can use for content ideas. Here are more inspirations:
1. Do keyword research
You can use keyword research to find out which topics are popular and in demand with people at the moment. With tools like SISTRIX or Ahrefs you will also come up with new ideas. Simply enter your main keywords there and look at the search phrases that are frequently searched for. By the way, search volume is not the only factor you should pay attention to. Keywords with a small search volume can also have potential, since the competition for them is often not that great.
2. Look at existing content
Most companies have already produced a range of content: videos, podcasts, articles, etc. See if there are any points of departure for further content. Is it possible to recycle the content and package it into another form of presentation (e.g. a companion article to the podcast)? What reactions are there among the recipients – are there open questions or points that could be interesting for content ideas?
3. Ask customers directly
Do you have a direct line to the customer, for example via your social media channels? You should also use this and look directly for content ideas via surveys or a conversation. The followers may always have the same challenges that are current at the moment. You can connect to them.
4. Consume news and go to events
Timeliness always plays a role in content creation. You can find out what’s going on in the industry via news and events. There’s plenty of fodder for your content here! Of course, that doesn’t mean that you should copy the news and presentations of the events 1:1. Always see what added value you can generate for your customers – even if it’s just an important trend that’s relevant to them.
5. Pick up popular hashtags or topics
Social media is always a source of inspiration and content ideas. Especially currently trending hashtags or relevant topics can often be easily converted to your own area. So keep an eye on current trends on social media, for example using tools like Buzzsumo.
6. Recurring Formats
Over the long term, recurring formats for content creation make sense. With their help, you will come up with new ideas relatively quickly. Be it the “tip of the week” or recurring expert interviews – create a recurring format that you can use again and again.
Also Read : The Role Of Influencers In Corporate Marketing Startegies