It is a universal principle that successful CEOs tend to dream big. This can sometimes lead to a long to-do list. There is NOTHING wrong with setting lofty goals; but you must have the right systems, processes, and resources to accomplish your business objectives. We live in an “instant” society, and it’s easy to get frustrated when your big goals aren’t achieved in a matter of a few months.
It’s normal to spend months without seeing any concrete progress on your goals. This can create significant internal pressure, frustration, or even overwhelm. It’s important to have strategies to help yourself out of overwhelm. After all, business is often about troubleshooting multiple problems concurrently. Here are 3 tips that can help you move out of chaos and into progress.
Sssh. Want to know a secret?
If you’re racking your brain trying to figure out how to create great content, I’ve got something to tell you: creating great content doesn’t have to be hard. Once you know how to go about it and get your routine down, chances are you’ll turn into a content machine that spills out ideas on a daily basis.
Find that hard to believe? Well, your brain is an organ that actually works pretty similarly to a muscle. The more you exercise it, the better it gets. Some studies have even shown that brain exercises improve processing speeds, executive functions, and memory.
What this means for you is that the moment you learn how to create better content and start exercising your brain regularly in that area, the easier it will get to churn out ideas consistently.
As someone who helps cybersecurity companies figure out how to market and differentiate themselves inside of very crowded marketplaces, I know firsthand how vital it is to provide great content. Content marketing helps you establish a relationship with your customers and future customers while also driving more traffic to your website and generating leads.
At a time when 66% of marketers expect their content marketing budget to increase in 2022, creating great content is essential more than ever. Many of us struggle, however. A client told me recently, “I love the idea of creating content for my clients and prospects. I really struggle to come up with ideas, though!”
This is where the issue often lies. Ideas. How do you force your brain to come up with ideas, concepts, and thoughts that will form into a full video or a blog post?
Here are my three tips!
Tip Number 1: Wake Up Your Brain
Wake up your brain by looking for content everywhere you go. Train it. Hone a razor-sharp focus on seeing the world as ideas. Everything is inspiration if you look at it from a certain angle.
The secret is that you don’t have to come up with every single idea on your own. There are so many big media outlets available to us nowadays—all you have to do is open a website or turn on the TV! Forbes, USA Today … these are all content goldmines.
It’s not hard to find outlets from inside the industry, either: Channel Pro, MSSP Alert, the list goes on and on. Many vendors have phenomenal content that you can read and repurpose, which we’ll talk about in the next section.
The very first step is simply realizing how many ideas there are already available to you, right at your fingertips! The content is actually already written for you—all you have to do is look.
Everything is content.
Tip Number 2: Use Existing Content As Your Launchpad
The moment you find an article that addresses a topic you’d like to share with your clients yourself is the moment you can get to work. Instead of coming up with an idea on your own, why not use the already existing information as your launchpad?
In the 21st century, it’s nearly impossible to be original. Almost everything has already been said and done. What you can do, however, is bring your own unique point of view to the content that’s already out there. Jean-Luc Godard said:
“It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.”
Let’s look at an example:
You’ve just found an article that talks about five password security tips (I love posts that are numbered – this gives you plenty of ideas in one single read). After reading the article, you’ve decided four of those tips could be really helpful for your clients and prospects. The fifth one, however, advises you to write your passwords on a Post-it note.
Ouch. We’re going to have to throw that one out.
Now we’ve got four password security tips. You’ve noticed that in one of the sections, the article recommends a specific tool. You’ve actually used the tool before, and you think it’s not really the best. Wouldn’t it be better to share the tool you do recommend to give your audience the best advice?
And there you have it. You’ve got an article with four different tips that include your own advice stemming from your own experience. Rephrase the article as you wish. Change it. Morph it. Make it your own.
You don’t have to copy someone to create great content. All you need is to take those ideas as inspiration. Use them as your soup starter. And then add your own spice.
Tip Number 3: Repurpose Your Own Content
Repurposing content is a great way to multiply one single idea. If you’ve taken inspiration from an article on security passwords and then shot a video about it, why not repurpose the content of the video for print?
You can take the very same concept and use it in as many ways as possible to reach the widest audience. Videos, blog posts, newsletters … you can create little snippets from a longer article and post those on your LinkedIn profile, tweet them, use them as Instagram descriptions.
The possibilities are endless. Instead of coming up with seven different ideas for seven platforms, all you need to do is repurpose one idea and share it via every medium you can think of.
Don’t worry about being repetitive – most people will find your content on one or two websites but probably won’t venture onto seven different platforms to check if you’re talking about the same topic repeatedly.
As long as you’re not doing simple copy-and-paste all the time, repurposing will lead to more online activity from your side, which might drive more sales and attract more prospects.
Creating Great Content: To Sum It Up
There you have it.
Wake up your brain and train it to look for content everywhere; take a lot of inspiration from what is already out there in the world; create your own version to provide the best possible advice, and then… repurpose, repurpose, repurpose.
And do it all again.
Incorporate this method into your routine – the more you practice, the more ideas you’ll see around you.
And there are plenty to choose from, waiting to be discovered.