Tips on How Brainstorm for Better Content Marketing Ideas from Larby Amirouche

Larby Amirouche is one of the pioneers in the digital marketing industry. Through the years, he created successful marketing campaigns. Larby Amirouche started his career more than a decade ago and digital marketing is just getting more competitive today.

Imagine, more than ten years ago, marketers have been creating content and campaigns for brands. Today, it is getting tougher to think of new things to serve that will suit the ever-changing taste of the consumers.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a strategy focused on the process of consistently creating and publishing valuable, and relevant content to engage a specific audience. Similar to other marketing strategies, it aims to lead the audience to purchase.

Moreover, content marketing is a long-term strategy. One of its purposes is to build a strong relationship with your target audience by giving them high-quality content.

High-quality content establishes the credibility of your site as well as your brand. When you already have the trust of your target audience, there is a high chance that they will purchase your product.

In addition, content marketing is a more creative way of advertising your product. It is far different from traditional advertising that directly says that people must buy your products. Thus, relatable content is important.

Popular Content Formats

There are a variety of options for content. Here, we will share ideas on what are the popular content formats marketers use that can help you when you start brainstorming.

1. Blog Posts

Blog posts are usually posted on a company’s website. This type of content should be published regularly because this contributes to your site traffic.

Blog posts should be valuable and relevant for your audience, therefore, they would want to share it to their own sites or social media channels.

Marketers recommend that blog posts should contain between 1,000 and 2,000 words in length. However, you should visit your analytics to see if your audience prefers longer or shorter reads.

Blog posts vary from how-to, listicles, curation, SlideShare presentation, up to newsjacking posts.

2. Infographics

Infographics are a more visual and organized version of your blog posts. If you have a post that has tons of data, it is suggested to create an infographic out of it. This way, your audience will be more interested, despite the amount of information.

3. Photos and Videos

Photos and videos are a highly engaging content medium. These types of content are easily shareable across social media and websites.

Compared to written content, high quality photos and videos require more time and resources to create. However, visual marketing is increasing in popularity these days.

4. Podcasts

If you think your audience is not fond of reading your blog posts, you might want to consider podcasting. Similar to photos and videos, the number of podcast listeners is growing. People find this more human and more relatable because they are hearing actual people talk and discuss a brand or a company.

5. Social Media

Social media is a more accessible and engaging channel over websites. People are spending more time on social media so you might want to distribute your content on these platforms. This move is pivotal to amplifying your brand's reach.

However, not every content you have is fit for every social media platform you have. Every channel has its own demands, therefore, you might want to look into that.

Tips on How to Brainstorm for Better Content Marketing Ideas from Larby Amirouche

After learning what types of content you can consider. It’s time to plan and brainstorm which of these are fit for your overall digital marketing strategy.

Larby Amirouche has simple yet helpful tips on how to come up with better content marketing ideas.

1. Pull Out Your Swipe Files

Best way to start a brainstorming session is to get inspired. It is best for entrepreneurs and digital marketers to keep swipe files. Swipe files are a compilation of ideas, images, approaches, and technologies that inspire you.

Always keep your swipe files packed and updated. If your swipe file gets thin, start going back to history because great ideas are repeatedly used but in different ways throughout time.

Your ideas can be from different industries. Gather articles, case studies, and other references so you can review their campaigns. In addition, you can also check out campaigns working for your competitors.

If you find that these content marketing ideas are effective, you don’t have to copy it rather improve it to fit your business.

With all of these ideas from your swipe files, you can always make something better.

A swipe file can be stored in an email folder, an app, or inside a physical folder. Some apps that can help you organize are Pinterest, Trello, and Evernote.

2. Look for Topics Your Audience Likes

Your campaign will never be successful if your audience are not interested in it. You can say that is a success if your content allows readers to feel connected and evokes some sort of emotion, feeling or discussion.

In the first place, before you create a marketing campaign you must know who your audience is. Revisit your analytics to have a more specific persona. Check what the type of content they are sharing. What appeals to them the most? From there, you can spot the common theme.

After conducting your research, draw an idea from this common theme.

3. Create Topic Mindmaps

This method may seem old-school but it still works. Don’t be afraid to use this whether you are working alone or as a team during a brainstorming session.

Topic mind mapping is developed through a word-association style process. You can simply write down the words or you can get more visual.

Start with your key topic in the center of a paper or a board then start writing down associated topics by branching out as far as you’re able to go.Don’t stop until you’re either unable to come up with any further sub-topics or your ideas are getting out of hand.

Every member of your team is free to contribute because there are no right or wrong answers here. You’re simply looking to spark inspiration into subtopics.

Topic mindmaps are used to find a potential area of interest which you can develop further.

4. Treat Failure As a Lesson

Continue your pursuit to a great content marketing idea because failure is a given in creative work.

For every failure you have, there will always be something to learn from. In relation to this, you can always bring back your old ideas. Review your methods and patiently understand why it did not work out back then.

You will be surprised if one of these old ideas will be your next big thing. You can always learn from your mistakes. From there, you can create something even better.

5. Document Everything

Everytime something came up, write it down. If you see an inspiration, take a photo. It's frustrating when you realize that during a brainstorm session no one is documenting.

Usually, when creative juices overflow, you often forget to take notes, therefore, to ensure that no idea goes wasted, it helps to assign a point-person. This person keeps all the agenda and ideas, organizes them, and stores them for later.

Conclusion

Larby Amirouche has gone through tons of brainstorming sessions. He thinks that this is one of the most important steps on creating a successful content marketing campaign. This is where everything starts. Moreover, brainstorming sessions reveal the creativity of every member of a team.