Inbound Content

Chapter 3Generating Content Ideas

Why Do You Need a Process for Generating Content Ideas?

Humans are always coming up with new ideas. Whether we're lying in bed, commuting to work, or going for a run, our minds have a seemingly endless ability to generate new ideas.

But as natural and easy as this process may feel, it gets tricky when your job depends on it.

A content marketer—or any creative type, for that matter—doesn't have the leisure to have an “off day.” Your content ideas fuel your work. Run out of gas, and your content initiatives will stall.

A content process helps you generate ideas that may not be easily apparent. Some ideas seem to drop from the heavens right into our minds, whereas others must be wrestled into submission. Those ideas are hard earned and not easily captured. You have to fight for them. The benefit is that it feels so much better when you finally unleash them into the world.

There are four main reasons why every content marketing professional needs to know how to generate content ideas:

1. Your days are busy.
2. You can uncover ideas that you may not have come up with on your own.
3. You will, at some point, run out of good ideas.
4. You need to keep up with increased demand of content creation.

Your Days Are Busy

You've got blog articles to write, webinars to record, and podcasts to produce. And not only do your content ideas need to be good, they must also be relevant to your buyer personas and align with your overall marketing strategy.

A content generation ...