idea generation

by

Coming up with content ideas that will make anyone care enough to link is hard work.

When I first started NeoMam, every project we produced was a result of one of my ideas.

As the years went by, I got everyone involved in generating ideas but I was always the one deciding whether an idea had potential to attract big links.

If I wanted to scale the agency, it was very clear that I needed to let go so I trained up people who were dedicated to just this step in the process.

But last year everything changed when Mark Johnstone hosted a virtual workshop on idea generation for the team and I joined them. His course reignited my passion and I decided it was time to get involved in client work again.

Whilst it reduced my time available for marketing activities and other founder stuff, it’s been great to get back to doing something I love doing – similar to how Gisele feels about being back to promoting content.

I’ve always liked to use frameworks to avoid the time-wasting rabbit holes and all-too-common pitfalls of idea generation so as soon as I was back, the first order of business was to update them.

In our early days of infographics, I found that identifying different types helped me generate new ideas. Later on, I was certain that uncovering new formats was key to moving our agency towards ideas we have never thought of before.

It took me a few weeks to go through past campaigns and review content produced by other teams, but after all that, I was ready to update our framework.

Throughout the 4000 words that comprise this guide, you’ll learn the unspoken rules I follow at NeoMam to ensure every campaign has the very best chance to succeed.

I will share with you the NeoMam rules for idea generation and I know that you will not agree with all of them. 

That’s why I made sure to include real-world examples to accompany these do’s and don’ts and hopefully that will help you at least understand the reasons behind the rules.

If you have experience creating content for links, then you’ll find value in our experiences as this is not a newbie’s guide.

That being said, if you’re just getting started with link building with content, please read on; these rules will help you avoid some of the most costly ideation mistakes everyone makes at least once.

Let’s get to it.

Read more

by

If you work in marketing, you might have a love-hate relationship with the trusty group brainstorm (or thought shower).

Did you know that no study has ever shown that this process works well since it first appeared in 1953?

You will have seen the extrovert taking over the room or the introverts stepping back and letting everyone get on with it.

group-brainstorming-fail

When group brainstorming goes wrong, it can be a massive waste of time.

In this post, I am going to share four simple improvements that will mean your next meeting will produce loads more original ideas.

Read more

by

This is part 4 and the final blog post series about developing concepts for content marketing. Read part 1, part 2 and part 3.

In the last 3 blog posts, you gained insight into the audience you are targeting and your information should now be organised in a spreadsheet like this: http://bit.ly/1RXgemI

It makes sense to invest a lot of time in the information-gathering stage so that in the future, you can simply provide updates but you will still have a core understanding of the content needs for your specific audience.

So how do you develop ideas using this dossier of knowledge?

Read more

by

This is part 3 of my blog post series about developing concepts for content marketing. Read part 1 and part 2.

Over the past 5 years of creating content, we have found that practical content ideas perform really well – even if they only make someone’s life 0.01% better.

It’s not just our experience that tells us this. In his 2011 book, Contagious, Jonah Berger identifies practical value as one the key factors behind ideas that get shared. He explains that it’s to do with the natural desire within all of us to help others. By sharing practical value content, you know that the person you are sharing it with will get some value and that in turn makes you feel good.

Read more

by

Before you produce any content, you first need to ask yourself one important question, ‘What do I hope to gain from this?’ In most cases, it’s usually that you want to attract more prospects, which in turn leads to more sales.

Disclaimer time: my background is working in SEO and the primary goal of my content marketing campaigns always was links, links, links; big media placements that encouraged long term ranking in Google, and it didn’t really matter who the primary audience was.

We now live in a world where this type of ‘link building’ is far less effective and has a limited shelf life due to the changes in the Google algorithm. Campaigns need to possess significant marketing value that stretches beyond just the links themselves.

Read more