Struggling to come up with fresh content? It’s not easy to brainstorm fresh, new ideas for content all day, every day. Whether you’re in charge of a team of writers and creators or a one-person marketing department, here are a few ways to spark creativity:
Change the scenery
If you work in an office or cubicle daily, consider changing it up a bit. Work in the breakroom or at an outside picnic table. Venture out for lunch and bring your laptop.
If leaving your office is less than ideal, change your office surroundings. Move the furniture, add some plants, and bring in a few new decorative items to jazz it up.
If you work from home a few days a week, work at your local coffee shop rather than your home office, or head to the park with your tablet.
Take a class or try something new
To shake off your content blues, try something new in your personal life. Consider taking a cooking workshop, signing up for a paint and sip class with a friend, or scheduling a daytime excursion like a sunset cruise, trolley tour, snorkeling, or wandering through a hiking trail.
Don’t feel up to going out? No problem. Read a book that’s out of your norm, order takeout from an exotic restaurant, or use YouTube tutorials to draw, bake, or renovate an area of your house.
If you work with a team of content creators, consider planning a field trip. Knock off early on Friday and plan a group outing like a pedal pub tour, ax throwing, or facials. If you’d prefer a more official team-building exercise, consider booking a lunchtime speaker or a virtual stress-busting class.
Plan content exploration time
Do you schedule a time to explore content every day? If not, it’s time to start.
It’s always a good idea to keep tabs on your competitors, so start there and then broaden your search to include other industry brands. What are they creating? What’s appealing about their content?
Next, search for influencers in your field. Influencers are tasked with creating fresh content for brands, so see what they’re up to online. You can find influencers by simply searching for “fashion influencer” or “B2B influencer” on Google or run the same kind of search through a (free) influencer marketing platform.
Bookmark your favorite creative brands and influencers and browse their content during your planned content exploration time.
You can also subscribe to newsletters for continued inspiration. Consider creating a separate email account for this purpose and explore them at your leisure.
Carry an ideas notebook
Inspiration can strike at any time. Rather than letting those fleeting moments pass you by, carry a notebook so you can jot down your thoughts. Creativity often comes in spurts or incomplete ideas, and that’s ok as long as you’re ready for them.
Every content creator should write down their ideas, no matter how scattered or disjointed they may seem.
If you’re not an analog person, you can always add a note-taking app to your phone to accomplish the same thing.
Get a brainstorming session going
You can ease your content anxiety by generating many ideas at once with a brainstorming session. Get the team together and host an any-idea-goes meeting. Have someone write ideas on a wipe board, review them, and pick the session’s best gems to develop.
If you’re looking for something more structured, host a brainstorming session with a goal in mind, like planning the next quarter’s blog titles or focusing on a specific campaign.
During your brainstorming session, do a speed drill, asking the team to develop as many ideas as possible in five minutes.
Are you a marketing team of one? Ask a coworker to toss around some ideas or send a content survey to the entire office, with permission, of course. The short survey could ask colleagues what kind of content they’d like to see on the brand’s site and ask them to share their ideas.
Repurpose existing content
It’s 100% ok to revive older pieces of content from your library. Relying on existing content eases the feed-the-machine stress. Here are a few ways to repurpose content:
- Take an old blog post, freshen up the intro, add updated statistics, and drop in new images.
- Identify your most effective blog posts and create a video or infographic highlighting the same points.
- Reuse company reviews in newsletters and on social media.
- Consider breaking video content into smaller, sharable pieces.
- Turn a webinar into an ebook or several blog posts.
Creativity is a requirement for content marketers, but sometimes it’s hard to come by. If you’re lacking inspiration, give these ideas a try. Remember, stress stifles all things creative, so do your best to spark your creativity before you feel overwhelmed.
