Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash
When clients ask me for topic ideas for their blogs or content library, I always ask them, “What do your customers want?” Your customers are your best source of information for any brand or marketing question you may have. After all, they are your target audience. They are the consumers of your content. They are the people you need to convince that your product is the best solution.
Provide Content Your Customers Want to Read
The goal of content marketing is to provide valuable and useful information to customers. Your content is only effective if it engages your target audience. Why not ask them what they want? They will be more than happy to tell you. Send a survey to your email list, post a poll on social media or host a focus group. Ask your customers what questions they have about your product or what is the one related product they can’t find. Ask them how you can make the sales process more straightforward. Then create content that addresses those concerns.
Customer Questions to Consider
Here are some questions to ask yourself and your customers to uncover rich content topics.
- What problems or conflicts are the customers struggling with?
- What problem(s) can you help solve?
- What features and benefits of your products are most important to the customer?
- What would the customer like to know about your product? How can you educate them?
- What are your customers’ challenges and pain points?
- What information did the customer wish they knew when shopping for or purchasing your product?
- Where do your customers look for information about your products on the interwebs?
- Are there specific blogs or websites your customers frequently visit?
- What groups, memberships or forums are your customers part of?
A More Passive Approach
If you don’t have the time or means to ask your customers, search your social media or blog post comments for questions or comments. Check your customer reviews or feedback channels. Use the Google search suggestion tool or other keyword tools. Answer the Public is a really good one. You could also search your competitor’s social media or blog posts for topics they are talking about or (even better) questions their customers are asking. Providing valuable information about your product to those people could make them your customers.
You could also look at industry websites and publications for ideas. Look at news sites and blogs. Research popular hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. Talk about the latest innovations or news and how it will affect your customers. For example, the chatter about AI and ChatGPT is a hot topic right now and many of my colleagues have written useful blogs and articles about it. Speaking of AI, there are also fun content generation tools to play with like this one and this one.
Write About What You Know
Not only is it always best to write about the topics that your customers care about, but to also write about topics you know and have a point of view. If you don’t know much about the topic you’ve chosen, do the research and establish an opinion first. It is important for your readers to see you as an authentic thought leader.
The Case for Repurposing Content
If you are really unsure what to right about, go back to a previous piece of content that got good engagement and update it. Repurposing content is one of those best practices that many content marketers don’t use enough. There is always an audience who missed your content the first time you published it and would benefit from consuming it now. And, because our world moves so fast, there are always pertinent updates you could make to any content you’ve published.
Don’t Forget Strategy
Of course, no matter what topic or theme you choose, your content needs to perform for your client. As fun as I find the ideating phase of creating content, I never forget the goals my client has given me. The topic I choose needs to drive the strategic plan and brand narrative for my client and the CTA must fit within the story I am telling. Even if the piece is purely informative or educational, it must meet the target audience where they are and move them forward in their customer journey.
Malcom Gladwell said, “The trick to finding ideas is to convince yourself that everyone and everything has a story.” I believe that. I think there are new ideas and concepts all around us to write about. I’m inspired by people, places, nature, music, art, innovation, and more. The key for me as a writer is focusing on the ideas and concepts that are important to my reader. I hope the tips and tricks I’ve shared here will help you to find new content ideas as well. If you’d like to talk about how I can help you with your content needs, please contact me today!
Judith