How to never run out of helpful content

I started creating truly helpful content five years ago when I launched The Small Business Big Marketing Show.

At the time, I didn’t give much though to the problem of running out of content.

Afterall, there’s was no shortage of marketing questions business owners had.

And there was no shortage of business owners using marketing to successfully grow their business.

And in fact, I still don’t give much thought to this problem.

However, and it’s a big however, many business owners considering a helpful content marketing strategy seem to have big concerns about running out of things to say.

So, if the concern is there, then let me address it.

Here’s 7 secrets to never running out of helpful content.

1.  Simply accept that you’ll never run out. Easier said than done, but in my experience of podcasting and blogging for five years, it’s never taken me more than five minutes to come up with a topic idea. Having faith in one’s own abilities, knowledge and experience is key.

2.  Be an elephant. Huh? Yep, an elephant. Have big ears for listening and a small mouth for talking. Ask your staff, client, supplier and prospects what questions they have and then create content that answers them. Exactly like I’ve done with this blog post.

3.  Use Google’s predictive search. You know when you’re typing in to the Google search box and a drop down menu starts to appear?  That’s Google making an educated guess about what you’re searching for. It’s putting forward searches with the highest volumes for that particular search. It’s telling you what people are already searching for / asking! In the search below, I’m looking for public speaking tips, and once I select that phrase and scroll to the bottom of page 1, Google provide additional searches related to public speaking tips eg. public speaking anxiety. This is great fodder for writing blog post, filming videos or recording a podcast that answers each of these searches.

4.  Use YouTube’s predictive search. Once you’ve exhausted Google, move on to the world’s second biggest search engine in YouTube and use their predictive search.

5.  Put it out there on social media. Ask your friends on Facebook, your followers on Twitter or connections on LinkedIN, what questions they have that you can answer. In addition, you can go to the search box on each platform, key in a keyword / phrase and see what people are saying about it in real time.

6.  Check book reviews on Amazon. Find a book on Amazon that’s relevant to your industry. Then see how people are talking about it in the customer reviews.  If I were a financial planner looking for content, the below review of Rich Dad, Poor Dad would encourage me to create content that answers the questions What is the best financial book ever?, Should I avoid debt at all costs? and What’s the best way to use credit cards?

7.  Visit Forums regularly. Online Forums are a great source of content as  often they’re main aim is to answer questions. I manage The Small Business Big Marketing Forum, and every single day there are questions being asked by motivated business owners, which I then (along with many other Members) answer. Forums are a never ending source of helpful content.

So, they’re you go. 7 ways to never run out of helpful content.

And remember, someone has to be the most helpful in your industry, it may as well be you.

Do you avoid creating content in your business? If so, why?

Or, if you do create content on a regular basis, what’s your best source of inspiration?