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5 Ways To Generate New Blog Content Ideas

Have you ever calendared the time to sit down and write your new blog content and as soon as you sit down your mind goes blank? Suddenly, you panic and your mind spins about what topics to talk about or what kind of content you create. If so, you’re not alone. Utilizing tools like ChatGPT or Answer the Public can help in blog writing efficiency.  When used effectively these software tools can provide a variety of topic ideas and blog titles on a given subject and can take the headache of finding new topics.  

Setting up Google alerts on a type of industry such as “Marketing Tips for Small Business” can keep fresh ideas coming into your inbox.  You can set the frequency as to how often you’d like to see news but these types of stories can be utilized for inspiration or reshared on your social media channels with comments and engagement.

Here are 5 ideas for creating new blog content:

new blog content ideas - word abstract in vintage new blog content ideas - letterpress wood type blocks with a cup of coffee

1. Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a way to “brainstorm” a topic. You usually start in the middle of the page with the central theme or one of your core business concepts, and from that point, you work outward in all directions (like the spokes of a bicycle tire) to create a growing diagram composed of keywords, phrases, concepts, facts, and figures. All of these spokes or ideas can be used to generate new blog content that reinforces your business’s core values and resonates with your audience.  

2. Look at Your Competitors’ Content Strategies

Who better to learn from than someone else who also knows your audience? Examining your competitors’ content lets you know where there are gaps in your content marketing plan. These gaps can create more opportunities for your business to reach out to the audience that you have missed or overlooked.

By reviewing their blogs on their website, you can see the different content they are using and how effective that method of delivery is working. For example: If you see a certain topic is driving a lot of traffic or comments, you may want to also cover that topic and share it with your audience.

The main objective is to understand what interests your target audience and how you can fill in the gaps in your marketing content without replicating your competitor’s content. Think about how you can bring in your core advantage and offer your unique perspective through your business voice while keeping your core values intact.

3. Join Social Media Conversations

If you are not active on Social Media, you might be missing out on opportunities to recognize topics of interest to your audience. Social Media is a way for your audience to express their thoughts, interests, and preferences. By participating in these conversations, you will gain valuable information that you may not have thought of or been aware of. Also, by joining the conversation, you and your company will gain exposure to share your expertise and increase your brand awareness by being seen and heard by a wider audience. In a nutshell, thoughtful participation allows you to show your audience that you care about them by listening to what they have to say.

4. Explore Google Search Suggestions

Google Search suggestions are a quick way to identify what people are searching for in real time. Here is how it works: When someone starts to enter a question into the search box, Google Search automatically looks at common and trending queries that match what someone else has already been searching for. Google Search then gives you several choices for completing the question. Writing to these search queries is a smart way to brainstorm ideas around highly targeted content.

5. Ask Your Audience

It’s so simple that we often overlook the obvious. Ask your audience what they want. This boosts engagement, gives your audience a voice, and shows that you care about what they want. You can use your social media channels, email newsletters, or even a simple survey on your website to gather their opinions. Remember to always ask open-ended questions so your audience can indicate their choices and elaborate on them. Engaging your audience this way can provide you with targeted content ideas as well as letting the audience know they have a choice in the content you create.

There are endless ways to come up with new blog content ideas and these are just a few. Hopefully, by implementing any or all of the 5 ideas above, you will be well on your way to creating new blog content that resonates with your audience, shows you value them, and establishes you and your business as an industry leader.

If you need help putting your blog content together, give the Edmiston Group a call at 724.612.0755. We can create the blog content for you or help create a blog content calendar for the continued success of your business. 

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh-based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

3 Ways to Refresh Your Business

Refresh Your Business 2 - printed paper on blue background with text Finding Original Creative Unique Solutions

You’ve worked hard to build your business. But as with life, there are ups and downs. If sales have been slowing and you feel like you are losing touch with your customer base, now is the perfect time for a change! It’s time to “Refresh” your company brand, messaging, and/or product. Small changes can go a long way. To successfully refresh your brand, you need to rethink your approach to your product, story, marketing materials, and your messaging to your customers.

1. Refresh Your Brand

When a brand sells products, it’s selling a story. When consumers buy products, they are buying into this story. It is important to ensure your story stays current and relevant to the current marketplace. Keeping up with the latest trends will help you keep an edge over your competitors and show that your brand has the flexibility to better relate to your customers’ changing demands. For example, if your brand looks outdated, it is essential to review your marketing materials. 

Review your logo, graphics, fonts, flyers, and brochures. How do they look? Are they appealing in today’s business environment? Do they represent excitement or boredom? Is your messaging consistent throughout all of your branded material? (see point 2 below). You want all these items to inspire your customers while still staying loyal to your branding story.

2. Refresh Your Messaging

Your messaging is the direct connection between you and your audience. Over time, your messaging has built trust with your customers. In return, the customer will thank you by purchasing your product. It is essential to nurture your customers. By making them feel important and showing you understand their wants, needs, or expectations with your products. you strengthen your message with your audience. 

How do you do this? Ask yourself, “What are your customers or clients thinking? What are they feeling? What are they experiencing? What are they focused on right now?” 

By refreshing your messaging with the answers to these questions in mind, you can reinforce this relationship and help avoid losing a customer if your customer resonates more with your competitor.

3. Refresh your Product or Service

Do your current product offerings still solve the needs of your customers? If not, you are not fully serving your customer base. Your products need to provide solutions and customer satisfaction for where they are today. In this ever-changing business environment, your existing products might have fulfilled a niche for your company and customers for years. However, now might be the time for a new product to create additional value for your existing customers. Introducing new products is a way to bring new life to your business and allows your audience to decide which product is right for them. Introducing a new or updated product can also result in increasing your market share and your revenue streams. 

Refreshing your business is a way to show your customers that you care about them, are inspired by them, and that your company has their best interests at heart. 

If you are considering refreshing your business this spring, call the Edmiston Group at 724.612.0755. The Edmiston Group will help your business update or create a new voice and vision!

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh-based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

3 Advantages of Traditional Advertising

Social media and digital marketing have been the focus of many marketing plans for over ten years. And while many companies continued to use traditional advertising, many looked to the cost-saving convenience of online marketing and advertising.

However, over the years, the digital landscape changed. Each platform became more complicated. Online advertising became very expensive. Suddenly, we realized that we needed to hire teams or know how to manage copy, create graphic assets, use social media schedulers, and read analytics. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of all the work, time, and resources that can go into a digital-only presence. 

As the landscape changed, privacy laws instituted new technological requirements, different audiences leaned towards different social platforms, and the amount of noise skyrocketed. That’s why it’s all the more important to know and connect with your audience as discussed in our blog How to Connect Authentically with Your Audience. It’s critical to target your message to cut through the noise.

It’s also smart to have a two-fold approach. What does this mean? It means having both digital marketing and traditional advertising in your marketing plan.

So, what is traditional advertising? Traditional advertising is any form of marketing that does not use online media to reach an audience. Basic examples of traditional advertising include newspaper ads and print ads, billboards, direct mail, TV and radio advertisements.  There has recently been a shift to direct mail.  My client has had good success with the right letter by drilling down to a target audience to include not only demographics but FICO scores as well.  

Although traditional advertising has taken a back seat to online digital marketing, it remains an effective avenue for boosting your brand. Traditional advertising creates opportunities to reach a large audience in ways that digital marketing cannot. The emotional impact of traditional advertising should not be underestimated. Television and radio, in particular, offer the opportunity to engage audiences on a visceral level through storytelling, music, and visuals. These emotional connections can leave a lasting impression, making your brand more memorable in the minds of consumers.

3 Advantages Of Traditional Advertising

1. Connection With Your Local Audience

Building a connection with your local audience can create a bond that makes them feel appreciated and know that you have a genuine interest in their wants, needs, well-being, and lives. This connection will help them feel they are understood… and who doesn’t like to feel understood and appreciated? 

Today’s consumers rely on relationships more than ever when deciding on how to spend their money. So, why not create the best relationship you can with your audience?

With traditional advertising tactics such as marketing collateral, newspaper ads, local TV commercials or billboards, your company will be seen in the heart of your community and your efforts to reach your target audience will feel more organic and less business-like.

2. Sustainable Promotional Materials

Have you noticed that when you are online, you are constantly receiving promotional materials? Sometimes, a company may post online two or three times a day to keep in front of you and garner your attention. However, this can be a bit overwhelming and even annoying.

Traditional methods of marketing are more sustainable and leave a longer impression on your audience. They also can reach a diverse audience across all demographics. You can also achieve more efficiency by using the same TV commercial, flyers, business cards, or brochures over and over again. You design them once, use them, and update them when needed. Therefore, you don’t have to constantly produce new material and promote your product or service with a frequency that is difficult to manage.

3. Traditional Advertising Establishes Credibility

Consumers are spending a lot of their time online and it seems they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the chaos of digital advertising. With so much digital advertising, consumers are forming a negative association with the company’s brand, service, or product. Digital advertising oftentimes can create a barrier and prevent the consumer from reading an article, watching a video, or browsing a website. According to a Hubspot survey, 57% of participants disliked ads that played before a video and 43% didn’t even watch them. As a result, companies are looking for ways to set themselves apart and cut through the noise and clutter.

While digital channels are susceptible to the perception of fake news and online scams, traditional mediums, such as print and television, often carry a sense of more legitimacy and authority. Printed material and ads are typically viewed as more trustworthy. Why? A company that can place ads in print media such as a magazine or newspaper, or in a commercial on television and radio, is perceived to have the financial means to do so. So, the consumer’s perception is that if the company has the money to do so, the company is growing, successful, and stable.

“With the rise of digital advertising and social media, there was an assumption of the demise of traditional advertising. However, traditional advertising is alive and well!”

Traditional and digital advertising, when used together, can broaden your reach, build more credibility, resonate brand presence, and motivate buying from consumers who otherwise might not watch or listen to digital marketing messages.

Every company uses advertising in one form or another to help promote their business. Are you targeting the right publications? Do your ads contain strong calls to action? If you need help putting your advertising strategy in place, give the Edmiston Group a call at 724.612.0755. We can measure the effectiveness of your advertising plan and make adjustments to drive more success for your business.

About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh-based marketing consulting firm providing senior-level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long-term basis. Core areas of service are business development strategies, website creation and management, social media management, marketing, strategic planning, and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business.

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