Generating Ideas for Content Marketing by @staceycav

How to Come up with
Cracking Content Ideas
Stacey MacNaught
Tecmark
@staceycav #learninbound

The world is full of products that started with a shit idea.

Via h<p://paradoxoﬀ.com/ﬁles/2012/04/canned-whole-chicken.jpg

And the internet is full of content that started the same way…
@staceycav #learninbound @staceycav #learninbound

I’m not saying bad ideas are the only
reason that content fails

But starOng with a shit idea makes the
journey much tougher

And not everyone always agrees on
what consOtutes a good idea

I’ve got an idea…

Great! Let’s hear
it…

Flamingos!

Flamingos?

Yes, you know those
“spot the hidden thing”
images?

Yes… aren’t they
a bit done to death?

Maybe. But right now
the media is eaOng them
up. Here’s my research.

InteresOng.

And the ﬂamingos?

A hidden ballerina
in a sea of ﬂamingos.

Ok…. I sOll worry this is a li<le
unoriginal, not necessarily
worthy of top Oer publicaOon
and possibly tough to pitch to
the client. Costs?

Two hours design Ome
and half a day in
promoOon Ome

Ok. Let’s go for it.

3 days later….

Plus 30 other pieces of global
coverage/links

Drinks on you, Stace?

So, why do we bother with ideaEon
process at all if we can just distribute
ﬂamingos?

Because most projects
are more costly than
this. And for every
ﬂamingo there are
several failed
experiments.

Failure is devastaEng.

And it pisses
clients oﬀ.

We’ve invested a
heavily into the
ideaEon aspect of
content markeEng

But it’s perhaps not as simple
as that looks….

IdeaEon is challenging

Challenge 1: The Brief

Challenge 2: ParEcipaEon

Challenge 3: QuanEty

“Nothing is more dangerous than
an idea, when it's the only one we
have.”

(Émile CharOer)

Challenge 4: Assessing Quality

1
WriEng a Solid Brief

The brief is all too
oTen ignored.

The brief isn’t that brief!

It should contain:

1.  ObjecEves
2.  Audience Info
3.  Examples of successful pieces you’d like to emulate

4.  Key limitaEons (compliance, Emescale, budget)

2
Overcoming ParEcipaEon
Issues

Not everybody feels comfortable
pung their ideas out there for the
criEque of colleagues

How many amazing ideas do you miss
because your ideaEon sessions
alienate them?

For quick ideas gathering, we allow
people to choose anonymity

Try getspeakup.com

#ttlpresents @staceycav
h<ps://getspeakup.com/

For tougher verbal brainstorms, we
use the ‘Worst Ideas Method’

“You want my
shiest ideas?”

We give people preparaEon Eme.

3
Overcoming QuanEty
Issues

Confession: I hate (most)
brainstorms

How we hope brainstorming will be

The reality.

h<p://blogsession.co.uk/2014/03/635-method-brainwriOng/
635 Method of
BrainwriEng

h<p://635.tecmark.co.uk/

4
Assessing Quality

What makes an idea “good?”

It isn’t simply the fact that you like it.

#learninbound
We are oTen
not the target
audience for
our content.

Instead, the quality of an idea should
be determined by the likelihood of it
achieving its objecEves.

NUF TesEng to cut a long list to 10 – 20
ideas
h<p://blogsession.co.uk/2014/04/nuf-tesOng/

Verbal shortlisEng
and development
sessions to get to a
top 5 using “Succes”
Principles

Simple
Unexpected
Credible
Concrete
EmoEonal
Stories

For press targeEng content we
use our “is it a story?” criteria

Timely
Relevant
Unexpected
New
Close to Home
Human Interest

Before going into
producEon…

Get external
opinions

Ask your key inﬂuencers
(journalists, bloggers) for
their opinion

Warning: It’s tough
having everyone in
your team believe in
an idea for it to be
shot down at this
stage.

But it could save you
a pricey error

But what did Google
Consumer Surveys think of
the Flamingos?

Why did it work?

Not parEcularly
original. But…

Simple.

Unexpected.

Annoying.

Lesson 1: SomeEmes
you should skip
process in the name
of experimentaEon

Lesson 2: It doesn’t
maler if you believe
in an idea as long as
the key people in
the project do and
can back up why.

Lesson 3: There are
excepEons to every
rule. SomeEmes,
things “just work”.

#ttlpresents @staceycav@staceycavstacey.macnaught@tecmark.co.uk

Generating Ideas for Content Marketing by @staceycav

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Generating Ideas for Content Marketing by @staceycav