No one wants to get into a debate with a writer about the anguish of writer's block, but you know firsthand that the “content crunch” is rife with anxiety, too.
It's not that you don't know what to say about your company; this type of indecision constitutes a block. It's that the content coming to mind.
- Sounds rote or dull
- Sounds repetitious (and probably is)
- Sounds oddly out of step – bordering on irrelevant – to the wants and needs of your audience
Whether you write your company's content or supervise it one thing is for certain: When you feel the "content crunch", it's time to refresh your marketing mind in both concrete and holistic ways. Find relief in these surefire ideas:
Refresh with concrete steps
- Vary your word count comfort zone. We all tend to fall into the trap of producing content of the same length., all the time. But readers can surprise you, so try surprising them for a change. If you've fallen into the habit of, say, producing one, 500-word article a week, publish a short teaser piece. Publish a longer white paper or publish a picture with a provocative caption. Escaping from your word count comfort zone should automatically unleash more content opportunities.
- Embrace multichannel marketing. Expand your content horizons to both online channels (the web, blogs, email, social networks, mobile devices) and offline channels (direct mail pieces, TV and radio) – all of which demand a different writing approach and technique.
- Write and publish press releases. Otherwise known as the art of self-promotion, a well-written press release should answer the journalist's fundamental questions: Who, what, where, when, why and how. Though admittedly self-serving (not that there's nothing wrong with it), a press release also should convey timely information about your company.
- Offer to write guest posts for ancillary but non-competing businesses. You might find particular satisfaction (and relief) in this step, for even the ideas you've presented to your target audience will be new to an unknown one. The bigger point: be sure to link back to your company site from the guest post and encourage comments to trigger a recursive content creation process.
- Solicit content ideas from colleagues and employees on all levels of your organization. They probably are harboring a virtual gold mine of ideas; it behooves you to excavate them. One way to get the ideas flowing is to find out what questions people repeatedly ask your team.
Refresh with holistic steps
Once these concrete ideas provide some relief from the content crunch, take that heady feeling around the bend with some tried-and-true ideas from writers who regularly unblock their creative logjam by:
- Taking a brisk outdoor walk to release energy-releasing endorphins
- Closing your office door and playing a few of your favorite upbeat tunes (at a respectable volume, of course)
- Temporarily moving your workspace to a different (and invigorating) environment
Check out a free guide offered by the experienced marketing professionals at ADTACK. They can show you other ways to jump-start your marketing initiatives – and make the content crunch an affliction of your past.
