Have you ever been asked to think up an ingenious idea - and then had a complete mind blank? Here’s how to fill that blank with lots of juicy content ideas.
It’s one thing to see the worth of a strong content strategy; it’s quite another to come up with the ideas that will form the basis of that strategy.
How best to do this? A good old fashioned brainstorm of course! You may not have brainstormed since you were at school, but it’s a great way to get the creative juices flowing. So how can you brainstorm effectively?
Set out themes
It’s no use going into a brainstorming session completely blind, without any clue as to what sort of ideas you should be coming up with. If you do this you’ll end up with some rather strange and very unusable suggestions.
Instead, think about the themes and topics that you want your content to address. Whether it’s interior design, gardening, finances or even the history of stationary, your brainstorming session will have far more focus if you have subject areas to work with.
Work alone, then as a team
They say two heads are better than one, but when it comes to brainstorming two heads is probably not enough. So try and get a small team together to be really effective.
Having said that, it’s often counter-productive to have everyone trying to come up with new ideas together. It’s far more effective for everyone in the team to come up with some ideas on their own first.
Once everyone has a few ideas of their own, bring the team together to discuss and expand on these ideas – the different angles taken by each person will inspire others in the team to come up with yet more ideas.
There are no bad ideas
In a brainstorming session, it’s important to say ‘anything goes’ and allow all ideas to be put forward – no matter how odd or unworkable they may be.
A title like ‘Top five sexiest kitchens’ may not actually see the light of day, but it could inspire someone to come up with a great idea. Just make sure no bad eggs slip through the net!
