Most marketers would rather spend time their time ideating on the perfect topics for the next blog for their business than writing the blog itself. And, there are a plethora of talented freelancers and bloggers out there that can take a topic and turn it into blog gold. But what does a marketer do to find topics when it seems that the proverbial content well has run dry?
A great strategy to ensure that you never run out of content is to avoid falling into the trap of identifying one topic at a time. Allow yourself to spend a few hours creating a content calendar, especially when you feel that your brain is in a creative frame of mind. Brainstorm enough topics to cover two blogs a week for a six to twelve-month period (longer if the ideas are really coming). This will help ensure that you have plenty of topics upfront and aren't searching for topics when you are busy trying to manage another project.
Also, be sure to review comments that are being made on your blogs (and ensure that you have an option for people to post comments). In many cases, a customer or follower may post a question that will serve as an idea for a future topic. Make a note of this and add that to your “topic pool” so that it can make it onto the content calendar when the time is right.
Make a review of competitor websites. Look at what they are blogging. Does your company have a similar point of view? Or a different point of view? Either way, this can give you content ideas. If you share a point of view, don't hesitate to put it to paper (aka the web in today's modern world) but in your own words. And if your ideas are different, then voila, you have the opportunity to get your perspective out into the marketplace.
Finally, look at events that have been taking place in the news. You probably don't want to be the one to break the story, but if something is being talked about that is relevant to your industry, this is a good time to share your opinion on the topic. And this is a perfect time to adjust your content calendar so that your blog can be released when the topic is hot. With blogs, you should always strike while the iron is hot, and fall back on that content calendar the rest of the time. Following the above tips will help ensure that you have content topics at the ready, and that you can keep your customers interested and engaged.