The goosebumps test. Or how to tell if your idea is good.
Knowing what to write is over half the battle, don’t you think?
Sure writing is hard work, and it can be time consuming, but if you’re working on an idea that excites you then it’s usually a good experience.
Here’s how to find an idea that you’re excited to pursue, and which will help you win more of the right work.
Why are you writing?
Motivation around writing is interesting. Curiosity can motivate you to write - you write to find out more. A desire to help someone can motivate you - you write to make things better. A bigger goal of your own can motivate you to write too. There’s nothing wrong with a dollop of self-interest to give you the spur to get the work done. In fact, it’s pretty essential when it comes to marketing your business.
If you’re in business development mode and looking to build a pipeline of clients or projects, you’ll need to motivate yourself to write a high volume of content. That’s a lot of worrying about what to write. Approach it ad hoc, piece by piece, without planning first, and that’s a lot of opportunities for doubt to step in.
Is this the best thing to be focussing on? Am I sure this is right? No one commented on the last blog. What if no one is interested?
And before you know it the whole enterprise has fizzled out before it’s had a chance to get off the ground.
But do the big thinking first and you’ll be able to use your content to build a sustainable lead generation pipeline.
You’re looking for something that will stretch. An overarching concept that throws up lots of conversation starters. A focus that you’ll be happy to sink into for the next few months. And, in an analogy that will date us, a double album not a one-hit wonder.
Devote some time to finding a fertile patch of territory to explore through your content - something that excites your curiosity and is useful to your ideal clients - and you’ll give yourself the best chance of success.
How to find a good and sustainable content idea
Step back. What work are you looking for? And who do you want to work with?
Be precise, not woolly. Think about what you want to be known for, and the kinds of conversations you’d like to have over the next few months.
Say, for example, you’re a marketing gunslinger, looking to work with start ups and scale ups. What content could you create over the next few months that would lead to productive conversations for you? Good places to start would be the challenges that your ideal clients are facing. (You want to write the content that these people are hungry for, stuff they’re seeking out).
So you could plan to write something on a few of the key challenges over the course of the next few months, or you could decide to lean into one and explore it in more detail over the same period. Flesh out the first solution and it might lead to a short guide on marketing your startup which you could share with prospects. The second might lead to something more in depth on marketing to securing funding, or marketing to recruit the right team that you could use to start conversations.
They’re both ideas that could work, but the choice of which to pursue really comes down to you.
Where would it be most useful to put your attention? What focus will help you connect with your prospects? And - don’t overlook this bit because it really matters - what are you most fired up to write?
Give ideas time and space to flourish. Writing is hard work, so finding something that you’re motivated to devote your time and energy to is time well spent. And when you’ve hit on something that gives you goosebumps, plan out a package of content that will let you explore it in more detail.
How can you tell if it’s an idea that will sustain you over the next few months?
The goosebumps test
So you’ve come up with an idea that you think could work. Does it pass the goosebumps test?
It gives you a little shiver of anticipation
You know somebody who needs it.
You can think of at least three people who will love it.
You hope nobody else has thought of it first.
It’s an idea that will stretch.
It makes you smile.
You can think of a few different angles on it straight away.
Headlines start writing themselves in your mind.
You feel excited to get started.
When you’ve found an idea that you believe in, and that you’re excited to write, draw up your content plan.
We’ll go into more detail on how to do that in our next post.
If you’d like to work with us to uncover your valuable content, check out our one day Content Planning workshop.
