Brainstorm content ideas

Content ideation is a critical step in filling the identified gaps in your content strategy. By generating creative and engaging ideas, you can develop compelling campaigns and content pieces that address the specific needs and intents of your target audience. In this exercise, we will focus on the "4. Ideas" tab within the "Content Plan & Budget Template" to brainstorm and list ideas that will help close the content gaps identified in the previous exercise.

Goal

The goal of this exercise is to generate a list of campaign and content ideas that will effectively fill the gaps in your content strategy. By the end of this exercise, you will have a collection of ideas that align with the needs and intents associated with each content gap.

Instructions & Resources

Copy the Content Plan & Budget Template

1. Open the "Content Plan & Budget Template" Google Sheet and navigate to the "4. Ideas" tab.
2. Review the provided columns: "Campaign," "Topic," "Style & viewpoint," "Status," "Priority," and "Notes." These columns will help you organize and prioritize your content ideas effectively.
3. Refer to the prioritized list of content gaps from the previous exercise, which should be listed in the "Based on the spread of content, which gaps did you spot?" table. Each content gap represents an opportunity for a new campaign or content topic.
4. Start listing campaign ideas in the "Campaign" column that will address the specific content gaps. A campaign is a group of related topics that collectively address a particular need.
5. For each campaign, brainstorm and list content topic ideas in the "Topic" column. Each topic represents an individual piece of content that contributes to the campaign's objective.
6. In the "Style & viewpoint" column, briefly describe the intended style or perspective that should be adopted for each content piece.
7. Use the "Status" column to indicate the status of each content idea. For new ideas, set the status as "New." If you have existing content that can be repurposed or updated, set the status as "Update" and consider copying relevant rows from the "2. Audit" tab into this tab.
8. Assign priority levels to each idea in the "Priority" column based on its strategic importance and potential impact.
9. Utilize the "Notes" column to capture any additional details or insights related to each campaign or content idea.
10. As you brainstorm, consider using the "6. Ideas generator" tab provided in the template for quick idea generation and inspiration.
11. Repeat steps 4-10 for each content gap, generating campaign and content ideas that effectively address the needs associated with each gap.

By completing this exercise, you will have a comprehensive list of campaign and content ideas that target the identified content gaps. These ideas will serve as a foundation for developing high-quality content pieces that engage your target audience, address their needs, and drive meaningful results for your marketing efforts.