It’s no secret that content marketing is not a “one and done” strategy for building a successful creative business, or any other type of business for that matter. Instead, it’s a long-term strategy that requires ongoing generation of new content ideas.

The one thing to be careful of is that you aren’t always only pushing your products and services in your content. In a previous article, I talked about content marketing being about more than just sales, and how you can use it to generate sales without directly selling. To do that, you need to come up with new ideas for creating content that are a little outside the box.

Here are 8 more tips for generating new content ideas you might not have thought about:

Tip #1 – Ask your community!

This is one of the first places you should go when you’re generating new content ideas. Asking your community what they want to read about or learn more about is one of the best ways to make sure you’re creating the content they want. Use conversations, surveys, and social media posts. One of the simplest ways to ask is to have people reply to your newsletter with what they’d like to see you create next.

Tip #2 – Host a contest, giveaway, or challenge

Hosting an even like a contest, giveaway or challenge is another outside-the-box way to come up with new content ideas. Besides creating the content needed for the event, you’re also inviting your community to engage with you by submitting photos, videos, or ideas on the topic.  

Here’s an example of what I mean:

On my other site, I have a membership that supplies customers with a new set of coloring patterns every month. I want people to use these to create new products instead of just saving them, and so I’m setting up a monthly challenge where they can submit something they’ve made for people to vote on.

It provides value to my members because it gets them creating new products, and it gets those products in front of people that might not otherwise see them. And it gives me more ideas for content to create for them that I might not have thought of otherwise.

Tip #3 – Keep an eye on your analytics

Analytics are so important to a successful business, and so many people just don’t pay enough attention to them. They can be especially useful for coming up with content ideas, since they give you a birds-eye view of what topics are the most popular with your audience.

Take those topics and create more content about them, or write about them from a different perspective.

Tip #4 – Create “behind the curtains” content

Your customers and community members want to know more about what you’re doing. Creating “behind the curtains” content is a great way to add something new to the mix and show your people exactly what’s working for you now.

Over the shoulder videos when you’re creating a product, or a podcast talking about what motivates you to do what you do are all examples of the types of content that will really help your community get to know you better.

Tip #5 – Host Live Q and A Sessions or Webinars

This is one of my favourite ways to come up with new content ideas. If you do a live Q and A, you will never know until you get there what direction the conversations are going to go in and this can result in content ideas that you might never have thought of.

Tip #6 – Pay attention to trends

I mentioned this in a previous article,  but it bears repeating. You can use topics that are trending in the news and on social media to come up with new ideas. If you can, find ways to relate them to your products and services. Using a tool like Google Trends will give you ideas as to how popular different topics are, and how seasonal they are too.

Tip #7 – Share niche news

Your business doesn’t operate as an island, so you need to keep up with what’s happening in your niche. You can create new content by searching for articles and news relating to your market and sharing it with your community in a roundup style post. Add your own commentary as well, and you’ll give your audience more insight into your views on important topics and let them get to know a little more about you.

Tip #8 – Create a resource list

I love resources lists. You can create lists of anything from tools you use, to books you’ve found helpful, and in doing so you share your knowledge and provide useful information for your community.

Final Thoughts

As you can see from this list, new content ideas are all around you if you think outside the box a bit and look beyond your own products and services. Use your own creativity to come up with even more ideas and pay attention to what’s going on around you, and you’ll be able to create engaging, helpful content for your community on a consistent basis.

This is Part 6 in a 10-part series on Using Content in Your Marketing Strategy. Other posts in this series include:

1. 7 Reasons to Make Content a Key Marketing Strategy for Your Creative Business
2. 6 Good Reasons for Using a Content Calendar
3. Got Creators Block? 5 Common Reasons Why This Might Happen to You
4. 7 Tips For Getting to Know Your Community
5. 7 Tips for Generating New Content Ideas
6. 8 More Tips for Generating New Content Ideas (this article)
7. Four Ideas for Creating a Content Idea List Using Data
8. 8 Tips for Using Social Media to Gather More New Content Ideas
9. Five Reasons to Outsource Content Creation
10. Coming Soon