As a child, people told me I asked too many questions. Now, I utilize that curiosity to generate ideas. I use these 10 questions and prompts to begin the blog brainstorming process for my content marketing clients, and you can, too.

Personal Experiences and Turning Points

Consider the decisions you have made in your business. How did you start? Why did you choose to focus on one product over another? Did you have a client or vender experience that changed the way you think about a service you provide? Connect with your clients by relating your own experiences and insights to the challenges your clients face.

A Day In The Life Of Your Customer

Consider your ideal customer for a product or service you provide. Why and how did they choose your product? How do they spend their days as they use your product? This blog brainstorming prompt works best when you can write about a pressing problem your customers face, capturing the emotion and urgency behind that problem.

Answering Customer Questions

A collection of the questions your customers ask is a goldmine of content marketing ideas. These questions work well on an FAQ page, and they also provide some insight into what your customers are thinking. To gain more customer insights for your content marketing, the next time your customers ask a question, you might try prompting them by saying, “Great question. Why do you ask?”

Avoiding Mistakes

Write about your mistakes, missteps your prospects make, and blunders you’ve helped your clients prevent. Your readers will appreciate stories of failure-turned-success. They may also benefit from your tales of woe, rather than learning by making the mistakes themselves.

Client Case Studies

A client or customer case study tells a story. It describes the problem or challenge your customer faced, the solution or action you took, and the results. Compelling case studies build credibility and show that you understand your customers.

Keyword Research

Consider how your clients discover your company or organization online. Using your website traffic data from platforms such as Google Analytics, you will find the keywords and phrases your website visitors typed into search engines to find you. You can tailor your blog to use these. Keyword research tools, such as Google Trends or BuzzSumo, can also help you learn more about what your target audience might be seeking.

Blog Post Inspiration From Influencers

Just as journalists seek new angles on old stories, you can read what key industry influencers are writing and provide your own commentary. When you do this, you share others’ valuable insights while demonstrating your own knowledge and experience. You can also create original blog posts by combining insights from multiple sources.

Industry Trends

Researching and writing about industry trends is another way to show expertise. Posting about trends that affect your customers will show them that you are not falling behind in a rapidly changing industry.

Categories and Multi-Part Blog Posts

Categories generate ideas for multiple blog posts. On blog platforms like WordPress, interested readers can click on the categories you create and get to know your brand even better. Categories can be broad, like Content Marketing, or specific, like Reporter Relationships. If you are still running low on ideas, you can continue with one topic across multiple blog posts. As an added benefit, readers interested in part one of your series may subscribe for part two.

Ask Customers

So many business owners forget this one. Asking customers for blog post ideas is one way to start non-sales conversations to build relationships with customers or prospects. Try variations on this theme, including:

• What aspect of my industry do you find the most interesting? The least?
• Maybe there’s something you’ve been dying to know about my industry but haven’t asked yet?
• What could you learn in a blog post that would help you right now?

More Blog Brainstorming Ideas

My will include a chance for participants to have mini blog brainstorming sessions with me. Take the hot seat or just observe as we generate ideas together. If you are ready to take your blog writing to the next level, or if you have questions, please contact me.