16 places to find your next content idea

Where do you find your article ideas? How do you consistently come up with new content ideas? I would do more content but I don't know what I'd write about.

Questions and comments that always come up when talking about content.

And that's ok. Because creating content consistently is tough. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Or at least do a better job of it.

But while coming up with ideas for your next blog article or video or social post can be difficult, it really doesn't have to be because there are ideas all around you. You just need to take the time to look.

Here we look at some of the key places to find your next article or content idea.

If you want some more general guidance on your wider inbound marketing strategy, download our updated "complete 2020 inbound marketing guide".

1. Your sales team

We've put this top because it's the most obvious source of ideas, but we guarantee it's the one that gets overlooked the most - or not used at all. Your sales team spends all day, everyday, talking to leads, prospects and customers about issues they have, problems they're trying to solve and products they want to buy.

Your sales team can be your best source of content ideas that you've never used.

2. Competitor Research

If you really can't think of anything, just see what your competitors are writing or making videos about and take some inspiration. Don't steal their copy. It's not nice, and plagiarism is against the law, but you can put your own spin on the same topics. Similarly, if they're writing a tonne of stuff about a particular topic, it probably means there's something they're not writing about enough that you can take on.

If you are going to borrow ideas from competitors, just make sure that whatever you produce is better than theirs.

3. Google

Good old Google. It's how most of your prospects are going to end up finding you. If you've done your buyer persona research you know what kinds of questions they're asking, so type those same things into Google yourself and see what comes up. Then create better, more informative versions of the same articles so that Google points leads in your direction.

4. Trade Press & Industry Media

No matter how niche your industry, you will have at least one trade magazine or website. If the potato industry has a trade magazine, trust us, your industry has at least one. And yes, the potato industry really does have a trade magazine - it's called Spudman.

These trade mags are full of industry news, opinion, research and trends so have a look at what people are talking about and write you own opinions and thoughts on the industry.

5. Trade bodies

Like the trade press, your industry likely has an industry body or representative group. Keep on eye out for any reports or stats they release. Keep an eye out on any announcements and then create your own content around these topics. You'll eventually become one of those "thought leaders".

6. Keyword Search Trends

Search trends platforms (Google trends is one) is a great way of researching topics that your audience is searching and talking about right now. If you can catch a topic at the bottom of a trend line you can get out in front of it and start creating content before anyone else. Otherwise you can make sure your brand is a part of the conversation.

7. HubSpot Blog Generator

If you really can't think of anything to write about, HubSpot's blog generator tool can be a good source of inspiration. You simply add your topic into the search bar and the tool gives you a load of potential content headlines.

You can get a week's worth of headlines for nothing or, if you hand over some details, you can get a year's worth of content ideas. Not all of them are great (some are a bit "out there") but if you're stuck or starting out the tool can be useful for getting you started.

8. Comment sections

Have you ever noticed under articles on news websites, under blogs, and under social posts on LinkedIn, dozens of people will leave comments, make additional points, ask extra questions?

If you've not, start paying closer attention because comment sections of articles and social posts are a goldmine of new content ideas.

9. Social groups

These can be your offline social or business networking groups, or any groups you're a member of on the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook etc

People are always talking, making points, asking questions in these groups so why don't you be the one to take those questions and give the answers?

10. Social media

We all spend too much time on social. So why not make it more productive and take 5 minutes to jot down any interesting posts, points or questions you see and see if you can make some content out of it.

11. Research & surveys

Investing in some research, whether consumer or B2B can give you a tonne of exclusive stats that you can use to create reports and whitepapers, articles, videos, social posts or infographics that can fuel entire marketing campaigns.

12. Your own website

You'll be amazed how many content ideas you have floating around on your own website. You have product pages with benefits that you can use for videos or product guides, you've probably got older content that can be updated and repurposed as well. Take some time to delve into the depths of your site and see what you can come up with.

13. Conferences & online events

The B2B calendar is full of industry events. Where better to find your new content ideas than in a room full of people looking to sell and buy the products you sell? Check agendas for speaker topics, check event guides or do the old fashioned thing and talk to people. This translates to online events too, and if you're sat listening to a webinar, make notes of what people are saying and asking so you can create content.

14. Case studies

If you've got case studies on your website, have a read through the work that you did for the client and consider how you can use it to create further content. Whether it's a blog or a full "how to" guide, this can be valuable for your own website, but also to leads and other prospects.

15. Keyword research

If you've put your website together properly, then you likely did some keyword research to decide what search word or phrase to target your pages at. Go back to this research and see if it sparks any ideas for new blogs, videos or guides. This also have the benefit of being targeted at keywords you're aiming to rank for anyway.

16. Your own employees

Every brand is talking about company culture today. Why not use some "behind the scenes" style content and let your team take centre stage with some office videos or some blogs posts by your topic experts.

That should help get you started with some new content ideas. There's more places you could look or things you could take inspiration from but honestly this list could give you enough ideas to last the next few years - and that's enough to be getting on with.

If you're looking for more information on how all this content fits into your wider inbound marketing strategy, we've recently updated our complete guide to inbound marketing so download it below and get your marketing firing on all cylinders - to use a good old fashioned clichè.