Strategic content marketing means thinking long-term and to plan.
This also includes ensuring the production of new content over a longer period of time.
But both newcomers and those who have been in the business for a while quickly reach a point where they seem to run out of ideas for new content.
Seemingly I say because on closer inspection that definitely cannot be the case. Rather, it is a problem of poor planning! But at the latest with this continuously growing (!) list you will have enough starting points to generate new ideas for blog articles and other content formats fairly quickly in the future.
Disclaimer: This article is over 3,000 words. You can use the links in the table of contents to jump to individual sections and at the end you will find a link back to the top.
There should someone again claim that a high bounce rate is bad … đ
One note before I let you loose on the list:
What really counts is the added value or .”utility” of your content, not necessarily the content format. Put yourself in the shoes of your target group when finding a topic and look at individual aspects from their perspective.
Are there any questions that your target group is asking that you haven’t yet answered?
What problems do you notice that you haven’t thought of before?
- Do you see this as a chance to prioritize your different ideas (in terms of time)?
- What do your readers value?
- What makes your blog articles worth reading?
- What makes your content shareable?
Always ask yourself: How does my reader benefit from my content?
By the way, the answer also applies to the question of how you benefit . If we look at the effects of the latest Google Core Update (see searchmetrics blog), then the sites that best meet the needs of their users are the winners.
Or as Marcus Tober writes:
High-quality content that treats topics holistically is common with many Themes the winners. However, it is not the sheer amount of content that is decisive for the ranking, but the question of whether the content is relevant to fulfilling the user’s intention.
Whenever there is new content, keep in mind that with which intention your target group should consume this content or becomes. This is how you stay on the right track.
Table of Contents
Content Curation
Content curation, and more importantly, simply collecting (and sorting) content, is one of the best ways to create new blog articles To find topics.
Subscribe to interesting blogs, newsletters or people in social media who deal with similar topics as you. In this way, you get new ideas sent to you. What matters is what you make of it…
- You can take up the topics and prepare them for your target group and in different content formats
- You can reply to this content with your own posts, thereby fueling a discussion that will increase the visibility of your own content. Feel free to use quotations and mention (i.e. link) the people mentioned. Many of them will have set up an alert and this will make them aware of your article.
- You can combine different ideas into a new blog post (in a way I’m doing the same here) or just feature the best content in a separate roundup post and thereby provide your readers with input. A good example of this is The Reach Group:
(Keyword) research
Another obvious way to generate blog topics and other ideas for new content is (keyword) research. I deliberately exclude âkeywordsâ here, since research works well without looking at individual search terms in detail.
Approaches to topic research are:
The review of available materials, for example sales documents, brochures but also e-mails with customers, suppliers and other cooperation partners. However, make sure not to publish any confidential information here, but only use these sources for inspiration. In particular, look for any questions or problems you have faced in the past.
The trend view using Google Trends or the (hashtag) search on Twitter. With the help of such indicators you can easily find out what is currently being discussed a lot (or not) and set up your topic plan accordingly.
If you exclusively If you use keywords as a guide, I strongly recommend that you check your search volume. After all, you benefit little if you rank at the top for your keyword, but nobody is searching for it in this form.
“The goal of keyword analysis is to identify the keyword recommendations with solid potentialâ writes Olaf Kopp in his article. He suggests choosing the best search terms based on the relevance of the topic, the potential for use and the strength of the competition.
Roughly speaking, this means for you: The larger the search volume and the lower the competition, the better the chances.
Of course, other methods are available for research, such as market analysis in the sense of a competitive analysis (which content publish them and where?) or the study of target group needs and interests. However, these are the basis of your content marketing anyway and hopefully they are known. If not, be sure to check out my article on content planning: How to find out what your audience really wants.
Social Listening & Surveys
Speaking of the target audience, why don’t you just ask them what want her?
Tell me, what would you like to read more about here at ? Write me a comment!
Whether within an article, via social media or through online panels – the best way to find out the needs of your target group is to ask them.In practice, this could look like this, for example, by asking specific questions via your social media channels (e.g. via a Twitter survey). Or draw attention to a survey within your blog with a popup or a widget. Alternatively, you can ask yourself the questions and change your perspective. Tools like the W-Questions tool help you ask the ârightâ questions.
Social listening also involves specific ones Monitor keywords (and of course competitors or individuals) using tools like Mention or Google Alert. So you always know who is doing what.
You should also listen in Facebook groups, Twitter chats or forums. Not to mention the many blogs out there that are full of comments. Comments – also in foreign blogs – can be a veritable gold mine for new content ideas! They also offer the opportunity to place the content you produce and to contact interested parties directly.
Interviews & personal conversations
Use your contacts to create new content to generate. It doesn’t matter whether you “only” have an email address or whether you know each other personally and want to chat. You couldâŠ
- get their opinion on a topic or a specific question, which you then process in a new blog article.
- ask her for an interview or offer yourself for one – and not only in writing, but also as a podcast or webinar!
- regularly exchange ideas with them and thus receive suggestions for new content (then rather randomly). I have experienced it several times that a discussion “at eye level” can take on completely new forms and give rise to ideas.
In addition to backlinks from relevant blogs is before above all the access to new reader groups an incentive for cooperation. If you manage to win the sympathy of other readers, they will follow you to your own website and sooner or later they may even become enthusiastic regular readers.
Reporting (Events)
Speaking of exchangingâŠ
Where do discussions often take place? That’s right, where interested people come together: at conferences, trade fairs and other (public) events. Such opportunities are good for meeting colleagues and making new contacts.
You don’t have to be there as a speaker right away. It is more important to show your presence. Because as Woody Allen said:Â “80 percent of success is about showing up.”
Your impressions of events you can prepare for your readers afterwards (and of course during the same). If possible, add impressive pictures and give your readers a look behind the scenes. Let them be part of the experience!
Discussion or review of specialist literature
In addition to events, you can use other expertise, namely in books, magazines and online media.
I myself try to read a new book every month. It’s not always about learning “new things” for me, but also about getting to know the perspectives of other authors. They often have a different view of things and make up their own minds.
I recommend many of these books here on the blog, if I have the feeling that they fit the topic and help you. I also present a small part in dedicated reviews.
How you process the input from books into new content is ultimately up to you leave. You canâŠ
- Write reviews,
- recommend several books in the form of a âbest listâ,
- take up and supplement individual aspects,
- the Oppose the author’s opinion to your own, and much more.
Be creative! After all, anyone can read and copy them. Combine reviews with interviews or let the authors present their book themselves in a guest article (see below). There are many possibilities. đ
Explanations of terms from your industry
With your “Further education” through specialist literature goes hand in hand with another idea for content planning: the preparation of what you have learned for your readers, because they usually only occasionally have the same knowledge as you.
One way to do this would be to explain methods and concepts or to define common technical terms. Depending on the topic, there are of course different numbers, but you could collect them all in a central glossary. By regularly adding new ones and referring to them in new articles, you even improve your internal link structure at the same time.
This tactic is particularly helpful when dealing with foreign-language terms. Many are very grateful for translations â also from English (!). The credo applies here again: Put yourself in the situation of your readers and solve their problems. It can be so easy! đ
The freestyle would be to translate exclusive content, like Mael Roth did with the book by Robert Rose, for example has: The new role of marketing in the company.
And while you’re about to throw technical terms around you…
Mind Mapping & Brainstorming
Use these terms and definitions as a starting point for creative brainstorming.
Note all relevant or related terms that come to mind. You probably already know some of this from your keyword research, but I’m sure you can find many more aspects that you could write about.
Pat Flynn explains this procedure very clearly, using the example of a book:
The nice thing about this method is that you can throw the many terms together in new small groups at any time to make them whole produce different content. You take the trouble to illuminate a topic âfrom aboveâ and then you have a lot of starting points for future blog articles.
Practice Guides
Once you can write a book, you most likely have enough content (or at least the ideas) to write shorter guides and guides.
Give your target group a jump-start in the form of instructions, worksheets or other directly practical tips – they will thank you. Because how did Philip Kotler put it:
The great advantage of this content format is the potential for lead generation. Because the greater the demand, the higher the price; And you determine that. If, for example, you also offer a suitable checklist (as a PDF download) as part of your instructions (as a blog article), you should consider whether you are only giving it in exchange for information or possibly even cash.
You can find a detailed guide (can you tell?) for this at Brian Dean, a few examples in the LeadPages blog and a suitable WordPress plugin here.
How-to guides are great for attracting new readers. But they also give you expert status, because you develop into a kind of “teacher” who willingly passes on his knowledge and from whom others can learn.
Blogging leads to more than you might think at first… đ
Content Optimization & Recycling
âBeginningâ, that’s also a good keyword!
Each of us starts small and gets better with time. It is completely normal that our understanding of a topic changes and the quality of our content changes with it (in the best case, of course, it increases).
This results in another approach to content production, which I described as âhistorical content optimizationâ in my previous post. In doing so, we update, revise and optimize existing content based on various criteria.
Since this is about new ideas, this method only affects old content that you really extensively revise. Because classic “content recycling” also creates new content, but these are not necessarily suitable as “new” blog articles.
The claims and after all, your readers’ expectations also increase over time.
Caution: Expectations and quality requirements continue to rise. Don’t feel obligated to give 110 percent every time. The danger of overtaxing yourself and getting on a hamster wheel is great.
My tip: Take a break. Sometimes it helps to take a little distance and let the project rest – even if only for a short time.
Me meditate for a few minutes every now and then to clear my head and organize my thoughts. I certainly won’t write articles like this one in one go… đ
Stop, Breathe & Think is the motto, try it!
Invite guest authors
By the way, a break can also take the form of inviting guest authors who do your job to take over. Your readers will be fine as long as the guest posts are of good quality and provide them with value.
Who you choose to do it depends Of course, it depends on the content or the idea that the person brings with him. You could offer fellow bloggers a new platform or let customers have their say. However, I would rather advise against âsponsored postsâ at this point. If you’re going to be paid for advertising, then at least write such articles yourself so that the quality is right and the advertising has a reasonable context.
More Ideas: Blog Parades, Leaderboards & Infographics
It’s slowly creeping up on me we get the feeling that this list won’t end because we keep coming up with new approaches.
Excellent!
Then let’s keep elaborating this article and describing new methods. Let’s create an extensive collection of ideas that you can fall back on at any time.
In this sense, I’m going to put the the following ideas:
Infographics – I didn’t explicitly mention Pinterest in the research section, but when it comes to infographics, it’s a real one (at least when it comes to marketing). gold mine. Use these infographics as a starting point for explanatory blog articles.
Blog Parades – You can either participate in an open one or start one yourself. In any case, they are an excellent source of inspiration to find new ideas.
Leaderboards – Like this article, you can create various lists for your theme; with tips, reading recommendations (e.g. â20 blogs I read when Iâm looking for inspiration in online marketingâ), tools (e.g. â20 tools for effective content production, promotion and success measurementâ) or the results of your blog parade (e.g. â 25 Definitions of Content Marketingâ).
But now it’s your turn:
Complete the list! Where do you get your ideas for content from?
The comment field belongs to you!