It’s the season of goodwill. So, in the spirit of giving, I am releasing every single idea from my guide – A to Z of Marketing Ideas – over the course of December. There are 26 letters, so this should keep us going through ’til New Year’s Eve (with a few days off).

I wrote it because, there’s nothing more daunting than a blank sheet of paper. And, there’s never been more pressure on marketers to continually come up with interesting things to say.

Whether it’s something to Tweet, an offer to drive a little interest, or something the start a conversation at a networking event. Coming up with a constant stream of content ideas is challenging. Coming up with a constant stream of good content ideas is even harder.

Marketing content ideas beginning with the letter A

Advice

Our advice is to give good advice. You can do this for free in blogs or tutorial videos to generate awareness, word of mouth and search-driven traffic. You can create a useful download or online event for which people register, thereby giving you leads to follow-up. Introductory offers, like free trials or online reviews can generate hot leads. Or, you can charge for your advice with audits, reviews or training events.

Ambitions

Sharing your personal and professional ambitions can do a number of things. Public declarations often help people to focus on making things happen. You will often find people willing to help you with your challenges. And, people often share their ambitions with you in return. It might be that what you do professionally (and for a profit) can help them. Or, you might know someone who could help, and vice versa.

Analogies

We love a good analogy. Using something from everyday life to explain a tough concept or bring an idea to life can make for an interesting read, a fab cartoon or a perfect viral video. For example, we like to compare marketing to DIY or a fitness regime. What in your business could be helpfully, or amusingly, compared to something we could all relate to?

Anecdotes

Amusing or interesting stories from real life can make great conversation starters. Observing a customer receiving excellent (or not) customer service, for example, in any setting could be the starting point for a discussion on what constitutes good service.

Anniversaries

Marking your own anniversaries, like number of years in business or key milestones in your business development can make for an interesting retrospective. You can also look to historical events or markers in your industry to spark off your own thoughts. Perhaps there was a key scientific discovery that was important to your technology, the formation of your industry body, or a legal reform that meant something profound. In a one-to-one marketing setting, have you thought about marking customer anniversaries – perhaps they get a special discount or ecard when they’ve been with you a year?

Assumptions

Challenging assumptions can be good for getting attention. Have think or brainstorm with colleagues about assumptions in your own industry, then break them down to see if they’re a help or a hindrance. In marketing, for example, people often assume that older people don’t use the Internet – just not true. Or, business decision-makers don’t use social media. This could make a great discussion in an appropriate LinkedIn group.

Astrology

Astrology can be fun, perhaps you could get the astrological charts done for your key people to see if it really sums up their personalities? Retailers also have opportunities to theme gifts around astrological birth signs for a given month.

Awards

You can, of course, enter awards – but that’s not the only way to make use of them. How about critiquing the entries and winners or reviewing what the entry criteria tells us about best practice. You could even run your own awards – do you have partners or resellers, could you run an annual award for them? Could you ask your customers to vote for the best product, service or employee? You should certainly be aware of the awards in your own industry and keep an eye on who wins what and why.

© Bryony Thomas – The Watertight Marketer.