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“I don’t know what to write about.”

“I stare at the blank page for ages and then give up.

I hear variations of these statements in most of my ​strategy sessions​. And it’s a damn shame because my clients are wicked smart. I won’t let a bloody blinking cursor intimidate you or them.

So today we’re looking at ways to never run out of content ideas — without posting crap, of course.

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Full disclosure: writing was always easy for me, even before I went to school. I’ve been writing (almost) my entire life, sometimes for my own pleasure, other times for work or business. I can’t imagine my life without writing.

So for a while, it’s been hard for me to advise people on how to write. “You just sit down and click-clack on your keyboard” was all I could think of because that’s what I did. Or that’s what I thought I did.

You see, no matter how much you like writing, there are days, weeks even, when words need more beckoning than usual. They don’t come easily and, when they do, they form disjointed phrases or fractured trains of thought.

When that happens, do you rage quit or push through?

I used to think I could push through (most days) because I have a knack for writing. But when I analyzed my processes, I realized that what I had were systems.

Inspiration is fickle. Systems aren’t

If you rely on any form of content creation to get clients/traction/awareness, you know that no-inspiration days can harm your business. The insatiable machine needs feeding.

We feel pressured to create content, more content every day. Post it here, link it there, talk about it again.

It’s understandable why so many people crack under the pressure. We’re not meant to be machines. Nor machine feeders.

Essentially, when you don’t feel like writing/creating any other kind of content, you have two choices:

  • You skip it and move on with your day → a very valid choice (please do this rather than jeopardize your mental health).
  • You build systems so that content ideation becomes less overwhelming.

I can’t help you decide when it’s healthy to say “screw it” and move away from your computer. But I can help you build ideation systems.

Let’s do that.

Your first step: build an idea bank

You never know when the gods of creativity are going to bless you with a good content idea. This is why it’s a good idea to be prepared when it happens.

Choose a tool, any tool to gather ideas. Personally, I use Google Keep because I can access it across devices (some of my shiniest pennies drop when I’m not at my laptop). You can also use:

  • A spreadsheet
  • Any note-taking app
  • Old-fashioned pen and paper
  • A Google Doc
  • Notion

Ideally, choose something where you can easily create categories. These are my categories in Google Keep:

This idea bank is your lifeline when your well of inspiration is empty. My process is fairly simple: I write a headline attempt and a few details of the post/newsletter issue. Sometimes, I get carried away and write everything in a single sitting but that’s rare.

When I don’t know what to write about, I open Google Keep and there’s always at least one good idea to get me started.

Now that you’ve got the bank let’s fill it up.

You have access to two types of sources of content ideas. I like to call them primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources of content ideas

Your go-to should always (always!) be your clients or your audience. The questions they ask, the challenges they face, even the wins they celebrate are great content topics.

Why?

Because they’re who you’re writing for. If one of your clients/audience members faces a challenge, odds are others do too.

Perhaps you’ve noticed how some of my newsletter issues start with something along the lines of “I get asked this question a lot in ​strategy sessions​” — this issue, too.

This is not a fluke. It happens because I take the time to document every little question I get. Not in the idea bank but in a separate spreadsheet that I started in 2023. These are the first things I added in there (names blurred for privacy reasons):

After every strategy session, Zoom coffee, group chat, and so on, I take five minutes to write the questions and challenges I learned about.

With time, patterns start to emerge. When I spot an issue popping up over and over again, I know I should write about it, build a product/service around it, or both.

This spreadsheet is my main source of ideas for the idea bank in Google Keep.

Primary sources you can try:

  • Client calls (from discovery calls to paid calls, document everything)
  • Zoom coffees with your peers
  • Comments under your social media posts
  • Comments under your peers’ social media posts
  • DMs
  • Group calls in various communities and business networks you may be a part of

There is a single rule here and it’s simple: if it’s a question coming from someone who fits your ICP, document it.

At first, this spreadsheet will feel intimidating, much like the blinking cursor on a blank page. With time, however, it will be one of your best assets.

What if you have no primary sources (yet)? Or not enough of them?

Enter secondary sources

If you haven’t found your groove with documenting client interactions, secondary sources are a great place to start.

My favorites are:

  • Reddit: there’s a subreddit for everything, so you’ll definitely find the one where your ICP hangs out. If you’re a copywriter for SaaS companies, you can look in SaaS- and copywriting-related subreddits for inspiration. ​Find a primer to using Reddit here​.
  • ​AnswerThePublic​: this free platform tells you exactly what questions people are asking about your industry. Start with a broad search term (like “copywriting”) and go deeper and deeper once you’ve explored all the options.

Secondary sources aren’t just backups to your primary sources. They are a great way to break free from echo chambers and find out what people care about outside your bubble.

So don’t discard them even if you’ve already filled your idea bank with ideas from primary sources. Go to platforms you don’t usually hang out on at least once a month — you’ll be surprised at how diverse the world outside your “home” is.

One idea → more pieces of content

Content ideas aren’t single-use plastic. I encourage you to explore multiple facets of the same idea for a well-rounded perspective on it.

Let’s use the copywriting for SaaS example above.

Say you landed on a topic you know your audience is interested in, like “how to write high-converting landing pages for SaaS companies”.

You’ve got an actionable/educational blog post/social media post/newsletter issue.

Don’t stop there. Try these facets too:

  • A contrarian take. For instance, “most people think landing pages for SaaS companies have to be very long. I disagree. Here’s why:”. [​Find a formula and a template for how to use this approach here.​]
  • A quick win. Example: “want to improve your landing page’s conversion rate by 5% in 10 minutes? Try this:”
  • A prediction. Example: “I expect SaaS landing pages to be video-centric by 2027.”
  • A round-up of stats. Example: “20 statistics about SaaS landing pages.”

Of course, not all topics lend themselves to multiple facets — but most do. You can incorporate everything above in a single long-form piece of content or break it down into several social media posts, depending on your strategy.

Unusual suspects — look beyond the blank page

There are some non-systematizable ways to get content ideas.

Consume content in your industry to get ideas for your own. Do NOT copy what you see but let it inspire your own take on the same topic.

For instance, I follow a lot of people I disagree with on most topics. I do it for two reasons: to avoid echo chambers and to get inspiration i.e. write on the same topic but from a completely different perspective.

Believe it or not, most creative ideas come when you don’t try to force them out. Have you been staring at that damn blank page for half an hour? Take a walk instead, play some of your favorite music, cook — do something away from your computer.

My friend Michael has a knack for letting his walks inspire him. Something as common as a walk can inspire uncommonly good writing, like ​this essay of his​.

He’s a philosopher at heart, which is precisely why we can all learn something from him. Philosophers know that your best ideas come unprompted, uncoherced, and unexpectedly (sorry for the faulty parallelism here but I kinda like it this way).

Now that you’ve got so many content ideas, should you post them all?

Not so fast. Let’s be strategic about it.

Start by cross-referencing your content idea with your ​content pillars​. Can you find a match? If so, hit publish on that thing. If not, hold on.

I get the appeal: we are complex beings with complex interests. Your business may have a preferred topic or two, but you care about a few dozen.

The key here is balance: you can, of course, step away from your content pillars every once in a while, but not every day. You don’t want your content to be all over the place because it will be confusing for your audience.

Case in point: in my strategy sessions, I get a lot of questions about LinkedIn and the LinkedIn algorithm: what works, where should I put the link, how often should I post, and more.

I answer my clients, of course, but I rarely write about it.

I’m not a LinkedIn coach and I don’t want to be one. Moreover, like ​all social media algorithms​, LinkedIn’s is finicky and unreliable. By the time I finish a newsletter about it, it will have changed. I might write about it but I won’t make it a content pillar in my strategy.

Finally, the most important question:

What purpose does your content serve?

Listen, there’s plenty of noise on social and non-social media. Don’t add to it just for the sake of meeting a posting quota.

Before you write something, ask these questions:

  • Is it something genuinely new for my audience? It doesn’t have to be cutting-edge research, a new perspective on an existing topic is enough.
  • Will they enjoy reading it?
  • Will they benefit from it?
  • Will it help my business? ​This is a good framework​ for figuring out what to post depending on your goals.

The best thing you can do for your business is map your content to your business goals. For instance:

  • Planning a launch in three months? → Start writing content on that topic now, to pre-suade your audience. Map out your launch sequences and more.
  • Focused on audience growth? → Leave room in your content calendar to tackle current trends as soon as they appear.
  • Need to increase your revenue? → Create more content that gives you a chance to plug your offers.

Ideally, you should have a year-look outlook on your business, with quarterly priorities. These should dictate your content strategy.

Content mapping to business strategy is precisely what I do with my clients in ​The Growth Intensive​. We analyze every offer, find new opportunities and low-hanging fruit, and then make sure every piece of content is mapped out to support your business goals.

Curious? ​Grab one of only three spots​ or reply to this email to learn more about this offer.

🎙️ My podcasts and interviews

I spent an hour geeking out on newsletters with Brian Ondrako on the Just Get Started podcast. If you’re curious about welcome sequences, how to sell through a newsletter, and how to grow it, listen to the episode on ​Spotify​ or ​Apple Podcasts​.