Capturing Ideas for Content Marketing

There’s a lot that goes into content marketing. Once you develop a strategy and have a clear idea of what kind of content you want to write, it’s all about generating ideas for the content. It’s easy to fall into a rut and write about the same topics, with the same perspectives, all the time. Whether you hire a digital marketing agency to oversee the strategy and write the content or you take care of this in-house, you still need to have plenty of ideas.

The funny thing about ideas is that they can be fleeting. You need to be in the mindset of generating them and capturing them in order to really get the most out of it. Here are some thoughts on the best way to not only capture ideas, but to generate them, as well:

Train Yourself to Pay Attention to How You Think

We have endless thoughts scrolling through our brains, many of which we don’t pay attention to – and this includes ideas. How many times have you had an idea that you know felt good, but by the time you got around to writing it down, you totally forgot? Capturing ideas isn’t just about keeping a list. Anyone can keep a note on their phone for ideas.

The trick is to pay attention to your thoughts in the first place. When you think to yourself, that’s actually a really good idea. Train yourself to stop what you are doing in those moments and actually write the idea down. More often than not, you won’t remember it if you wait. Capture as many ideas as you can this way, and then you can figure out later if you actually want to use the idea or not.

Hold Brainstorm Sessions to Generate Ideas

Even if you aren’t writing the content in-house, you might want to contribute to the process by generating ideas on your own, on purpose. After all, you have insights into your business that a third party simply won’t have, even if you’ve hired them to work on your strategy. Get into the habit of hosting regular brainstorming sessions in order to generate these ideas.

Everything that you experience in the business can be fodder for content, as long as it aligns with your strategy. A conversation with a potential or existing client, for example, can spark plenty of ideas. You may not have the ideas on the spot, which is where the brainstorm session comes in.

Ask Other Departments for Ideas on Content

Another option is to ask other departments what they think should be written for content. For example, your sales team may have insights that you simply won’t think of. After all, they are talking to prospects constantly, and they know people’s pain points, objections, and what ultimately gets people to become paying customers. These are all great insights for content.

In order to get the most out of your content marketing, it really is a good thing to find ways to capture ideas. If you are working with an agency, you can absolutely tell them what these ideas are, and they can work it into the strategy.