Lots of Mileage from 1 Idea

Let us, for a minute, agree on a premise: It’s the idea espoused by content marketers that these days, “we’re all publishers.”

In a nutshell, that means in order to get ahead and stand out in any area — business, academia, or whatever — it’s not enough anymore to simply put your head down and do your job. You’ve also got to create and publish stuff that 1) shows you know what you’re talking about; and 2) solves specific problems faced by your audience.

But what kind of stuff? And where do you get ideas for what to create? Writer’s Block can metastasize into full-blown Creator’s Block if you’re not used to the “ideation” process. OK, ideation is a weenie corporate-speak word, and I hate it … but I put it out there so you’ll know what the jargonistas are talking about when you hear it.

One cool and effective solution is to go with what you already have. Chances are good you already own a trove of valuable expertise and opinion on your chosen topic. The trick is simply to package it well — in as many formats and venues that make sense.

Say, for instance, you’re a plumber. Over the course of many years unstopping toilets and installing bathroom sinks, you see the same problems and answer the same questions over and over again. Your knowledge base balloons to the point you can answer most folks’ plumbing questions in your sleep. Here’s where the “cool” part comes in: You can greatly ratchet up your perceived value — how many clients are drawn to you and how much you can charge as a result — by publishing a mere sliver of what you know.

By “publishing,” we’re talking about a few things: writing articles; creating tips guides for current and potential customers; doing how-to videos for both customers and your fellow practitioners in the industry.

The trick is to pick a topic and then figure out how many ways you can present it. Here go a few to consider:

• white paper-style extensive report (around 2,000-3,500 words) for download, usually in exchange for email address
• series of articles based on above
• series of short videos based on above
• speech or live presentation developed from white paper/special report
• DVD, CD set or other products that deal with the problem set out in the original report

As you can see, you have many directions in which to run with a single concept — so you don’t need to come up with lots of unique ideas. Just a few will do (and will keep you focused). The real trick is finding time to make the content in between actually doing your bread-and-butter job (you can always delegate it to staff or hire an outside contractor).

Give it a try: look around and see what intellectual assets you have that you can slice and dice into brand-building content.

In a future post, we’ll explore just what kind of content catches the public’s fancy and what doesn’t.