Did you ever draw a blank or feel like you have exhausted all avenues when it comes to coming up with new blog post ideas for your B2B technology blog? Or does your content marketing strategy just feel bland?
If so, you are not alone. At some point, there comes a time for any writer or content manager when you just feel like you have said it all and your blog post idea well has run dry.
But don't despair! There are always topics you haven't covered yet and new ideas to explore.
Gold Mine #1: Your Sales People
Let's cut right to the chase. One of the ways — if not THE most effective way — to brainstorm new blog post topics is to ask your sales people. Working tightly together with sales is one of the most under-utilized keys to success marketing has at their disposal.
Why? Because these guys and gals are out there talking to potential customers every day. They know what questions your prospects are asking, where there might be misunderstandings or misconceptions that could block a deal from moving forward, and what, in the end, closes a deal. Since they also have a finger on the market's pulse, they know when something is shifting, such as a change in customer demand.
To get the discussion started, you can ask your sales team these questions:
- What is the biggest obstacle you have to help buyers overcome in the purchase process?
- Are there any preconceived notions some prospects have about our product / service / company / niche?
- What are the most frequently misunderstood product features?
- How price-sensitive is our customer base?
- What features do prospects react well to when you demo the product?
- Where do you see the customer demand shifting to in the next 12 months?
You can also ask them if they would be comfortable with you sitting in on some of their sales calls every month to get a better understanding of what your prospects need.
Pro Tip: Set up a separate email address, like blogtopics@companyname.com, to collect blog post ideas. Simply ask your sales team to forward any emails containing blog post ideas, such as leads requesting a specific piece of content or asking an interesting question, to that address. This way, it is very little extra work for your already busy sales people but you still get the topic ideas.
Gold Mine #2: Your Company's Most Frequently Submitted Support Tickets
Another great way to identify gaps between the existing content and your prospects' or customers' understanding or perception is to look through the most frequently submitted support tickets.
- What content are customers looking for but having trouble finding? This might be a matter of creating the content if it doesn't exist, reorganizing and surfacing it if it is there but cannot be found, or updating or re-vamping it if it is outdated.
- With which problems or obstacles do your readers struggle? Maybe you can create a piece of content, like a step-by-step how-to guide or a whitepaper, that provides them with a solution.
- Are there any common misconceptions about the product or how to use it correctly that could be better explained in a help article, an explainer video, or even a webinar?
Looking through the top 20 support issues will give you plenty of food for thought to expand your editorial calendar.
Gold Mine #3: Survey Your Customer Base
The third way to get content ideas is to directly go to the source. Survey your existing customers or even your leads to get better insights into where their minds are, where any potential friction points are, and where your opportunities to delight lie.
This can be done in so many different ways. Depending on what questions you are trying to answer, you could use Net Promoter Scores and follow up specifically on something that stands out. You could also use quick website polls (e.g., using Hotjar) or specifically designed chatbots to find particular points of friction or opportunity. I also like to use quizzes to take a snapshot of where my audience's mind is or to understand where there is a need for further content to explore a topic more in depth.
These are just three examples of where you can find inspiration to create high-quality and helpful content. I hope you found this useful and give some of these a try.
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