Content marketing is now widely recognized as an essential marketing strategy in the business world due to its effectiveness. It is a cost-efficient way to attract prospective clients and keep existing customers engaged by providing them with valuable information. Nevertheless, bloggers often struggle to generate fresh ideas as the internet is saturated with content, making it difficult to create new topics or add a unique perspective to existing ones.
Coming up with unique and engaging blog content is crucial as it holds the true value of a blog. If your content fails to captivate your core audience, it fails to fulfill its purpose. In the following passage, nine experts from the Young Entrepreneur Council offer guidance on generating distinct and captivating blog content ideas and highlight how these ideas can aid in drawing in a fresh audience.
1. Look Up What Your Audience Is Searching
Conducting thorough research is crucial. Ensure that the story or lesson you intend to share possesses significance for the target market you wish to engage. Ensure that the identical content is not replicated across all platforms. If it does, ensure you provide a distinctive perspective. Crafting high-quality content demands ample time and effort. It is worthwhile to initiate the process by researching the interests of your audience. Explore the topics your audience is searching for and produce articles centered around those subjects. – James Guldan, Vision Tech Team
2. Be Active In Your Consumer Base
Being active in your consumer base, such as through participating in message boards and subscribing to newsletters, is the ideal approach to generating new ideas. By staying updated on the online discussions related to your industry, you can effectively keep up with the latest trends. For instance, our COO and marketing manager actively engage in Support Driven, a community specifically tailored for customer support professionals, which has proven to be an excellent resource for discovering innovative ideas.
3. Develop Your Audience Personas
Instead of producing blog posts just for the sake of having a blog, it is important to strategically consider the type of content that you are presenting, and this begins with understanding your audience. Take the time to develop and elaborate on the persona(s) of your target audience: who they are, what challenges they face, what concerns keep them awake at night, and what information they are seeking. Offer relevant, timely, and specific content that addresses the needs of your website visitors. Additionally, the blog can serve as an excellent platform for presenting high-quality downloadable resources in exchange for contact information. This allows you to continue nurturing leads while providing valuable content.
4. Bring In Influential Guest Writers
We have discovered that including guest writers who hold sway in their specific communities brings the highest level of attention to our blog. Moreover, this practice attracts readership that we wouldn’t typically have without the presence of a guest writer. To ensure our blog remains dynamic and captivating, we make a point of featuring guest writers from diverse backgrounds. – Kyle Michaud, Experience Expositions
5. Tie Your Content To Trending Topics
By solely focusing on subjects directly linked to your business, you run the risk of restricting your audience. Incorporating discussions on current events or trends in popular culture can broaden the appeal of your blog to a wider range of people. For instance, a prime example is the ongoing conversations surrounding Covid-19 and quarantine. Nevertheless, there are always trending topics like cultural and sporting events, upcoming holidays, tax season, or common challenges faced by many individuals. You could provide commentary on these topics, address frequently asked questions, or find a unique perspective to establish connections with your business or the product or service you are promoting. – Kalin Kassabov, ProTexting
6. Check Most Upvoted Questions On Quora
Quora enables us to cater to people’s preferences by assessing the most highly upvoted questions. By analyzing what individuals are seeking to read and the queries that require a response, we adapt our approach accordingly. We then utilize anecdotes or metaphors that align with our area of expertise to address these questions. Surprisingly, this often expands our audience as we reframe our knowledge in unique ways while addressing these prompts. For instance, if our field is SEO, we can explore Quora for more specific inquiries on implementing best practices. Drawing inspiration from such sources, we create content that incorporates personal narratives to convey our point or provide fresh solutions. This technique has proven effective across various platforms such as blogs and e-books. – Matthew Capala, Alphametic
7. Look At Industry Conferences
OptinMonster’s content teams conduct thorough analyses of industry conferences and review their schedules. The session titles frequently address customers’ concerns, subjects, and current themes. These titles also serve as a valuable guide for determining the keywords to incorporate into your content, thus enhancing your content’s SEO. Additionally, by examining the conference hashtag on social media platforms, you can gather further insights by analyzing attendees’ remarks about the sessions post-conference. This will provide a clear understanding of what was successful and what was not, enabling you to plan your future strategies accordingly. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
8. Partner Up With Other Industry Brands
SeedProd LLC partners with brands in their industry and collaborates on joint guest posts to create highly engaging content. This approach has proven successful as it recognizes that even businesses in the same niche may target distinct audiences. By bringing together two teams from different companies, they generate authentic and stimulating content. Expanding their reach across multiple websites allows them to attract new visitors to their site, where they aim to convert them into customers. – John Turner, SeedProd LLC
9. Utilize Twitter Hashtags
Using hashtags on Twitter is a useful strategy to discover people’s opinions and discussions about a specific product or niche. Frequently, individuals express their dissatisfaction and discuss challenges related to the subject. These conversations are highly beneficial as they guide you in creating relevant content that addresses their queries. After creating a suitable post or response to their concerns, you can share it directly with them by replying. This approach not only allows you to provide helpful content but also helps in establishing a connection. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
13 content marketing tips from the experts
In this article, the secrets of writing an excellent blog are exposed by content marketing experts.
1. Your blog must be useful:
According to Doug Kessler, a renowned content marketing expert and co-founder/creative director at Velocity Partners, his belief is that…
Out of all the qualities – timeliness, urgency, insights, entertainment, utility, personalization, and data support – that make a blog post exceptional, utility holds the highest significance.
2. Do your research:
According to Chris Smith from the Guardian Media Network, he suggests that one should follow his advice.
An important suggestion that I have is to utilize Evernote for gathering ideas and articles for your upcoming blog post. When you are prepared to write, simply access your account, search for the appropriate tag, and compile a selection of those articles and ideas to reignite the concepts you previously had for that blog post.
3. Make it easy to read:
Graham Charlton, the blog editor for Econsultancy, shares his top tip.
Blogs ought to be easily comprehensible, using straightforward language and avoiding the use of marketing terms. Additionally, they should be properly structured with concise sentences and paragraphs. Lengthy blocks of text discourage readers.
He suggests incorporating headers, bullet points, bold text, and images to enhance the attractiveness and readability of the blog post.
4. Challenge convention:
“According to Eric Wittlake, a digital marketer specializing in B2B in the United States, it is advised to…”
Create content that serves a purpose or defies traditional norms. Numerous bloggers simply repeat well-known information.
According to Michael Brenner, the author of the B2B marketing insider blog, he concurs with this statement.
In my opinion, my preference lies with blogs that address and provide solutions to the most pressing inquiries on the minds of marketers, leaders, and business individuals.
5. Be personable:
Michael Brenner, an experienced blogger, further emphasizes
Simply put, a great blog is characterized by content that is helpful, thoughtful, and creative. In my opinion, a blog should have a personal touch rather than following a rigid formula. It is not feasible for every post to be titled “6 Ways To…”. Some moments of venting and expressing strong opinions are necessary to counterbalance the informative and instructional posts.
6. Satisfy your customer:
Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs and author of “Content Rules,” states that…
When creating content, consider it as something that will satisfy your customer or potential customer, rather than focusing solely on pleasing your CEO. Many marketers still produce content that is centered around their company, failing to connect with customers effectively.
7. Think long-term
Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute advises content marketers to view every blog post as a component of a series or a bigger content package. He proposes that content creators adopt this approach.
Many bloggers perceive their posts as individual pieces. Consider envisioning each blog post as a chapter in your upcoming book. Imagine transforming your next six posts into a white paper. Bloggers should view their content posts as a progression towards a highly valuable and influential content package for their audience.
And six ways how to keep your readers coming back for more:
1. Use your blog to engage your audience:
Michael Brenner: Here is how I would rephrase the text while maintaining the same meaning: The following is the perspective of Michael Brenner:
Engaging your audience with blog content is the most effective method for gaining followers. By conducting a survey among my audience, I compiled a list of the top B2B Marketing blogs. The publication of this list prompted an influx of feedback from both those who didn’t make the cut and those who did, creating a dialogue that the audience then continued.
2. Use your blog to build relationships:
Joe Pulizzi gives his recommendation on…
It is essential for every blogger to possess a list of influencers, consisting of at least 10 to 15 individuals. Create content packages that showcase these influencers. By doing so, you will endorse their commendable efforts, foster relationships with them, and gradually, they will begin sharing your information. As a result, your audience, network, and subscriber base will progressively expand.
3. Keep doing what originally got their attention:
Eric Wittlake goes against the conventional belief by stating:
The objective is not acquiring and retaining followers, but rather gaining and retaining attention.
He is of the opinion that you should continue excelling in the aspect that initially captured your audience’s interest, whether it’s through a reliable content filter, facilitating insightful discussions, or delivering up-to-the-minute news coverage.
4 Socialise your blogs:
Graham Charlton, according to him, is a marketing expert who is constantly seeking new strategies and approaches to stay ahead in the industry.
We share our blog posts on Twitter primarily, and also on our other social channels to a lesser degree. Additionally, our daily email newsletter showcases the blog posts from the previous day, attracting more visitors to our website.
Graham is of the belief that a well-crafted blog will be able to market itself effectively.
The most crucial aspect is that something being good will result in praise and a higher likelihood of people sharing it. Additionally, a captivating headline can also be beneficial in achieving this.
5. Have a consistent flow:
Doug Kessler from Velocity affirms the results of the Hubspot report, stating that they strive to maintain a steady stream of “helpful and enjoyable blog posts.”
At times, it can seem unappreciated, as if no one is paying attention. But suddenly, a post resonates deeply and we are reminded of the influential potential of the platform.
6. Create your own newsroom:
that Ruth Hoskins, of White Horse Digital, suggests considering your blog as your personal newsroom.
To retain the interest of your readers, make sure to share different types of content on a weekly basis, familiarize yourself with your audience’s preferences, and communicate the upcoming content regularly.
