How to never run out of content ideas again

The way I see it, there are two ways of seeing the world of running your own business right now…

either it’s

gimme gimme gimme I’m ready and I’m willing and I need to be told what to do by you, you blue haired queen you!

OR

Lord alive, it’s that SEO woman again, beating her way into my inbox to see if I’m feeling motivated to be visible right now, and I want to be, I just don’t. 

Sound familiar?

Whichever way your cookie crumbles right now, you know that people like free stuff because we like free stuff. And yet there’s resistance to showing up with that free advice on social media, on your blog, because if you post and you don’t get bookings you want to throw the whole baby out with the bath water.

Stop right there, lovely.

Logic tell us that creating content – writing blogs, showing up on social media truly is a fantastic way to not just to remind people you exist, but to show off your expertise, and to show them that you are the person they have been searching for. But it’s hard to always come up with fresh ideas, and to not be hit by an existential crisis after every post leaving you questioning if you can do this whole running a business thing?

Well, I have 8 tips for how you can create content that connects you with those dream clients, and how to get more value out of the content you already have. After all, we aren’t trying to recreate the wheel here!

I’m going walk you through all the assumptions people make when it comes to content and their audience, I’ll walk you through the solutions, and I’ll show you how to never run out of content ideas ever again.

1. Stop overthinking it

So often we are attaching way too much of our sense of self worth to everything we put out into the world. And that’s great, it shows we care. But we need to create habits from promoting our business, otherwise we’re just going to be relying on how we feel all the time. And that ain’t a great way to run a business even when it’s not 2020. See also: stop worrying you’re giving too much away in your social media + blogs. Even if someone avidly read every word and put it together, they still wouldn’t know half as much as you about what you do + the way you do it. So keep putting stuff out there. See what works.

2. Think about the customer’s journey

So often people get stuck in panic mode when they hit publish and bookings don’t come immediately through the door. Why isn’t that happening? Because you’re not showing up consistently. We can’t expect to send unsolicited d*ck pics and then be concerned as to why they’re not marrying us and yet that’s what we’re doing if we’re not showing up often and showing our value, our experience, our expertise, how we can benefit them. We have to keep in mind the four step customer journey before we expect anyone to buy from us

Awareness – if you think about it, when we as customers are looking for something to buy, we’re already aware there’s a gap in our lives that needs to be filled by the new thing. But often, our audience aren’t aware yet they have that gap in their life, so we need to make them aware by showing up with what we do.

Interest – this is where we start to think about looking for a solution for that gap, ooh there’s that option, or that option, or oh I didn’t even know that was a thing! Again, we need to be showing up so they come across us on social media, Google, word of mouth conversations.

Decision – this is when we choose to buy, we’re actively looking for a solution now and we have open wallets. Because you as a business owner have been busy showing up and getting in front of their faces, boom, there you are on page one and boom you got sales.

Action – this is when the customer buys / books / uses the solution and we need to keep that visibility game up to remind them why they made a good decision. This is particularly effective for getting more word of mouth referrals so your customers can share your posts with their pals.

3. Tell people know how it all works

So often we assume that people know what we do, what’s involved and how it all works. We cannot assume any of that. Even if it feels like the most obvious thing in the world – well I’m a nutritionist, so I sell nutritionist advice, or I’m a photographer so I take photos – people do not know. What kind of questions do they need to ask you, what do they need to look out for, why is what you do even a thing. This is where we can go with creating content, writing simple posts whether on social media or blogs, keeping the tone light and informative and informal and seeing what gets engagement.

4. Tell people what the options are

Again, we assume way too much about what our audience knows. Pretend your customer is an alien from out of space and they have no idea what it is you do or what the options are. It may seem obvious to you but it makes perfect content to your ideal client! What if it rains when they’re planning to do an outdoor shoot? What if they want to buy your art but don’t know what colours go with what? You know about this stuff, so tell them. Keep it nice and simple and you’ll have them singing to your cart.

5. Tell people how what you offer fits in with their lives

Remember how we have to keep the customer journey in mind? Most people if they’ve never really thought about having a wedding planner or think it might be too expensive, don’t know how it will benefit them. It’s up to us to tell them with emotions. What kind of emotions will it add to their lives? What kind of emotions will it take away? Talk about that often, rather than simply saying what you do over and over. If you are a values driven business, like an eco business for example, talk about what led you to those decisions, what kind of sources inform you, talk about the things that drive you, and again you’ll have your ideal clients engaging with you all the way to “Buy” button.

6. Revisit repurpose recap

This one will be particularly timely if you’ve had a year of little bookings due to you-know-what. Revisit older blogs you have and check if the Yoast light is green for your keyword phrases (i.e. what you want to be found for). Rewrite any guest posts you have had published on other sites and rewrite them for your own website. Create roundup posts solving a problem you know your clients have i.e. repurpose the images you’ve already shared on other blog posts / social media posts and do a top ten ways to include your loved ones in your wedding, or top five ways to plan an eco Christmas, or something relevant to your audience that you can talk about easily. Within the round up post, link to the older posts for each point, meaning your audience stay on the site and check out more useful content you’ve written.

Related post – what do you want to be found for anyway?

Related post – what on earth are my keywords?

7. What are your FAQ?

Do you have an FAQ page? Have you gone through each Q&A on that page and linked to a blog post in as many of your answers as possible? If not, do it. People don’t want to get in touch with us to ask simple questions, they want the answers right there in front of them please and thank you. So write a short version on the FAQ page, and then link to a longer answer in your blog posts. Be super obvious with all the questions listed on your FAQ page and it will give you even more content. Keep it simple!

8. Tell them stories

P.S. If you liked this do come and check out the rest of the episodes here

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