1. Listen to your clients
The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott has been such an abundant source of information for me. I love that Scott advocates for building a business with integrity and then, with that backbone in place, creating thoughtful messaging to best tell the company’s story. In one chapter of the book, Scott features a lawyer who says that many of his firm’s blog ideas come from client interactions. “‘A good source of blog material comes from prospective clients asking the same questions, and so we use that as an opportunity to turn it around and try to provide a detailed response.’” The same principle can be applied to any business—listen to what your clients or prospective clients are asking and use your blog to answer those questions
2. Monitor the news
News stories can also provide inspiration for blog posts. Those posts will be timely, connecting to an event or topic that is likely very present on people’s minds. For instance, the refugee crisis stemming from the war in Ukraine is regularly making headlines these days. Companies and nonprofit organizations that are providing aid or working in that space might consider commenting on the situation in Ukraine, possibly even highlighting their work, in a blog post.
3. Search websites
You can also use targeted searches on search engines to figure out which types of questions people are asking about your industry. Or you can start with a general topic (like “press release” or “blog”) and use a platform like Keyword Tool to find a list of Google searches that people are doing related to that topic. This is a “good way to come up with ideas for the types of problems people actually want you to solve for them.”
4. Read, listen, and watch
Reading books, articles, and blogs not only helps you learn, but it is also a great source of inspiration for blog posts. “If you read something new every day, you’ll never run out of ideas to write about.” The same can be said for listening to podcasts or audiobooks and watching videos. For instance, recently I’ve been consuming as much content on PR and communications strategies as I can. Several of the books I’ve read, including Known, Contagious: Why Things Catch On, and The New Rules of Marketing and PR, have given me new blog post ideas.
5. Review social media content, forums, and online communities
Find out where your customers spend their time. Are they on Instagram and following certain influencers? Are they commenting on trending topics on LinkedIn or Twitter? Are they part of specific communities? “Those communities can be gold mines for blog post ideas. All you need to do is look at the types of questions that keep coming up.”
Importantly, keep an ideas file, collecting blog post ideas as they come to you! That way if you are ever in a bind and can’t seem to come up with an idea for a new post, you’ll have unused ideas right there waiting for you.