Content Writing Your Guide to Content Ideation – Never Run Out of Content Ideas Again

Content marketing professionals often come across idea blocks and need some help to get back on track. However, there is no shame in running out of ideas. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to overcome the content ideation hurdles. 

What is Content Ideation?

Content ideation is the process of finding out new content ideas to establish a content pipeline. It is done to align content with with business objectives. Since it is a core aspect of the content marketing, its primary goal is to source relevant topics for content creation. The future content marketing efforts vastly depend upon an endless stream of content ideas that you are able to generate in present.

Steps to Take for Excellent Content Ideation

To get started with your ideation stage, make sure that you have a place where you can collect all your content ideas. Content ideation also helps you in building and maintaining your content portfolio.

Here are the steps you can take to achieve competitive content ideation goals:

Observe and Identify Content Gaps

Although it may seem like most of the content ideas that you want to cover have already been covered, the truth is that the existing content will have some gaps. Whether there is a lack of expert insight, an absence of engagement with readers or just an overall lack of updated knowledge on subject matter, multiple content gaps exist in the content industry.  

At this stage, take an eagle-eyed view of everything you have created so far. Look for any existing content gaps. Do extensive research on existing topics to extract latest subject matter knowledge. You will realize that finding content gaps is way easier than looking for fresh new content ideas.

Collect and Address Pain Points

Your readers want to read content useful in their daily lives. Especially when you are running a niche blog, your responsibility is to connect with your readers on a personal level by identifying and discussing their pain points. Since your content development might have considered the potential pain points already, you need to go one-step further and identify the pain points of potential, new customers. 

Present ideas which interlink your blog’s theme and content it offers with the pain points of your new and existing customers. 

Pain Points of Existing Customers

For existing customers, your focus for identifying pain points should be more on customer relevancy than product features. Explore new avenues of product usage and benefits to let your existing customers know how your offering can become more relevant to their pain points.

Paint Points of New Customers

For new customers, you can emphasize on the primary benefits of your product and how it can change the life of your new customers.

Let’s Take An Example

For example, phone cases were created to protect smartphones from breakage, cracks and scratches due to falling and hitting on other surfaces. The innovations in the design have come up with multi-purpose phone cases which can not only serve as a wallet, a makeup pouch but also a phone stand. Here, the primary concern was to protect the phone. However, for existing customers, you can discuss how the phone cases can offer other functions in addition to protecting your phone.

How to Identify Customer’s Pain Points

Now comes the question, How to identify customer’s pain points? The best way to source pain points is directly ask from your customers. Use platforms like social media and community groups, focus groups and newsletters to conduct a survey of customer’s pain points in relation to your offering. Social media’s interactive stories have made it easier than ever to source customer’s pain points, desires, wants, needs and preferences easily.

Fetch Inter-Departmental Insights

Working with other departments in your organization offers you a myriad of useful insights which you can filter to find fresh ideas for content ideation. People from first-line departments like sales and customer service have access to the customer’s viewpoint. Here is what you can do to connect with other departments of your organization:

1. Come up with a list of questions you need to ask from heads of other department 
2. Schedule recurring one-on-one discussions or meetings with interdepartmental heads and team leaders 
3. Schedule department-wise meetings to meet all representatives of each department and collect insights periodically
4. Collect ideas in the form of responses to forms or email replies and let the representatives know that this is a periodic activity bound to continue

Why is it Important to Connect with Other Departments for Content Ideation?

Your customer’s buying journey involves complex stages, each different from yet connected to one another. Since each department interacts with customers on a different buying process stage, they can offer different detailed insights on what people go through as a part of the buying cycle. This activity establishes a two-way feedback loop which allows the content marketers as well as other department heads to get closer to customers and address their concerns more accurately.

Leverage the Power of Social Discussions

Social listening is a powerful tool in any content marketer’s arsenal. It supplements your competitive trend analysis efforts and allows you to dig deeper into prevailing brand sentiment. Identifying new industry trends and people’s brand perspective will help you spark new content ideas instantly. 

Take Help from AI for Content Marketing Ideation

Social listening is highly contextual to existing customer and industry trends. Using AI powered content marketing ideation tools can help you generate high context blog ideas, article ideas and more for your business website. AI powered content ideator can help you find:

1. Ad and Post Caption Ideas
2. Blog Ideas
3. Article Ideas
4. Video Ideas
5. Business Ideas

Initiate Team Brainstorming Sessions

It is true that more minds are better than a singular mind when it comes to content ideation. The ideation funnel requires people to sit down and brainstorm for new content ideas. You can schedule periodic or recurring content brainstorming sessions with interdepartmental representatives or brainstorming experts to dig out new ideas. Content ideation can enhance individual creative performance by upto 50%. _^[1]

Keep in mind that your brainstorming session should not be rigid. Rather, it should be flexible. All you need to do is ensure that the brainstorming is relevant to your offering, theme, and target blog audience. Once you have a collection of preliminary ideas, you can weed out extra or redundant ideas to retain fresh content ideas.

AI powered Content Ideation is 20X Faster

Having a consistent flow of fresh content ideas in your content marketing pipeline is a challenge in itself. Instead of spending hours in extensive research or getting under the influence of writer’s block, seek help from AI. Using our AI content ideator tool can save you a lot of time, money and effort.

Final Word

Your content ideation process shall align with your business goals and offer you a consistent flow of content ideas for the future. A well-planned and established content pipeline will help you stay in business. Moreover, it helps you beat your competition by letting you stay one step ahead of others.

References:
[1] Group Brainstorming – HBR Org