If you struggle with constantly coming up with fresh new ideas for interesting, unique and effective marketing content, this blog is for you.

They say “Content is King”, Bill Gates said it 3 decades ago (apparently) and it’s still relevant today. Consistently sharing great content, that your ideal clients resonate with, will grow your audience and your business too (if you have other necessary things in place to capture and nurture those new leads).

But coming up with unique ideas, new ideas, fresh ideas, insightful ideas, good ideas or even OK ideas – can feel like a bit of a mission for most solo business owners.

So why is it so hard?

I’ve identified 5 main reasons why people find it so hard. I’ll explain each one and offer a suggestion or two to help you overcome it.

5 reasons it’s hard with suggestions to make it easier

#1 Creating anything from scratch takes a lot of work.

Content doesn’t have to be totally fresh and original every single time. It can be repurposed from a blog you’ve written, the email you sent yesterday to your list (perhaps that can be more than one piece of content for social media) or a live video you did.

Make sure you’re making the most of what you are creating.

Content can also be sharing someone else’s content, eg a blog, post, tweet, article, video or whatever with you adding your opinion or comments to it to kick-start a conversation.

#2 Consistently doesn’t mean constantly!

Yes be consistent, ie share relevant content regularly, but that doesn’t have to be daily or more (cripes!) and it doesn’t have to be on every social media platform going.

That kind of ‘constant’ feels stressful, pressurised and time-consuming, even to the best of us. And you won’t be at your most creative if you’re feeling under pressure and stressed out.

Make sure you’re spending some dedicated time each week on marketing promotion, with content creation being a part of that. Schedule it in if your week runs away with you and you struggle to find time to prioritise it.

Take the pressure off by creating when you feel creative. This is often called batch-creating, so it means when the writing/creative juices are flowing easily, write! Perhaps capture the outlines of some blogs or emails, write a whole email or jot down some notes for a social media series.

And let inspiration take you! Don’t overthink it. You have an idea, it flows out of you; type, click, post, done.

#3 “I don’t know what to post!”

I hear this one a lot, especially from people a bit earlier on in their business. While you’re still figuring out your niche, who your ideal clients are and what you really do, you can either be overwhelmed with too many ideas options and don’t know where to start, feel stuck wondering whether your idea is OK to post or not or get caught in comparisonitis (where you feel like it’s all been done before and you couldn’t do it better so what’s the point)!

It’s really hard at the start to even think about creating and sharing content when you’ve not got it all figured out. It feels like your socials or whatever will just look a mess.

I get it, I really do.

But, you’ll only figure it out by doing.

You can’t steer a parked car! You have to take action, no matter how uncomfortable it feels. You’ll never know what will work until you put it out there. You can’t wait until you feel ready or until you have all your ducks in a row – I’ve had my business for 8 years now and I still don’t have all my ducks in a row because my business is still evolving (the trouble with a soul-led business!).

You will only find your voice, see what resonates, get to know your ideal clients by doing it – creating and sharing content. There is no shortcut on this one, it’s not easy to grow your audience or email list, but the sooner you start, the longer you’ll have to grow it.

#4 You run out of ideas / don’t have enough ideas

Listen to your ideal clients, mix with them, hang out with them. Listen listen listen, as often as you can. They are the key as ALL of your content should be shared with them in mind.

It should speak to them, attract them, resonate with them, help them feel heard and seen.

Here are some sources of inspiration:

a) Client sessions. These are full of gold for you to mine, they are literally telling you what they’re struggling with, how it’s affecting them and what they want instead.

b) A new client intake form. Make sure you’re asking new clients a few questions (around your specific topic area) that will help you in your marketing, such as, where are you now, what do you want, what are you struggling with, what’s stopping you, what have you tried that didn’t work, what are your 3/6/12 month goals? Again, full of gold!

c) Capture those ideas you have when you’re not sitting at your desk. We’re usually more creative when doing something else, like vacuuming, having a shower, or driving. So have a way to capture those ideas (because let’s be honest you won’t remember them) when you’re out and about. I like apps that I can access via my phone and laptop, such as Notes, OneNote or Trello, I also use an audio recording app on my phone.

d) Grab my FREE BRAINSTORMING WORKBOOK, The Meaningful Marketing Content Ideas Generator to help you create at least 25 pieces of content that will resonate with, connect and attract your ideal clients. Find the link at the bottom of this page or go here if you can’t wait.

#5 Lack of planning and strategy

I say a lack of planning but I don’t mean to plan ahead every single piece of content weeks in advance. I plan about half my content a week or two in advance, blogs further ahead and the rest is more ad-hoc and usually inspired by a conversation with someone or another post I see.

I do, however, plan in key strategic pieces (such as this blog) that are leading to something else in my 90-day plan.

For example, this blog leads me neatly to offering you my free content ideas brainstorming workbook to help you create at least 25 ideas for marketing content that is meaningful, relevant to your ideal client and will resonate with them. Pop your details in below to get your copy instantly.

Get my Meaningful Marketing Content Ideas Generator FREE BRAINSTORMING WORKBOOK to help you create at least 25 pieces of content to help connect with, resonate and attract your ideal clients.

Just pop your details below and I'll send it to you forthwith! Or go here for more information.