“The role of content excellence is to behave like a ruthless editor, otherwise we risk just creating noise” ~ Jonathon Mildnehall VP of Global Advertising at the Coca-Cola Company
Inspiration. One of the toughest things for a writer or a video blogger is to find inspiration for their first or next post. When I started my
video blog, and eventually my written blog, I wasn’t really sure where to look for content.
It was tough, sitting down in front of my laptop and coming up with a new post. A post that I hoped would help to answer some questions.
Then, I read Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk. If you haven’t read this book, I am convinced it will give you all you need in the inspiration department. In the book, Gary mentions that if you can’t sit down and write out 50 topics or ideas for your blog, then you probably shouldn’t start. I was able to write down 100, immediately after reading that section of the book!
Turn Down the Suck, Turn Up the Good
As I mentioned in my previous post, my content marketing strategy consists of quality, not quantity. I don’t want you to create ‘just noise’. I want you to create compelling content for your audience, who just so happens to be your potential client.
I am going to give you the three tools that I used to find my ‘100’. If you keep reading to the end of this post, I will give you 10 topics to help get you started.
1. Google Keyword Tool: Not sure what people are searching for online? Use this tool to search out how many times a certain phrase is being looked at on a monthly basis. In the photo below, you will notice there are 1300 Local Monthly Searches for “How to buy a house in Calgary”. Find out what people are looking for in terms of real estate and come up with ideas around those search items.
2. Pull from past experience: Please don’t tell me you don’t have any past experiences worthy of a post. As REALTORS®, we have stories to tell each other every day. (Video) Blogging is storytelling. It is content marketing — informing the consumer about what or how to do something with respect to buying and selling real estate. You have stories, I know you do. Every sale has a story to it. Start there.
3. Find Inspiration from your peers: I read a ridiculous amount of blogs, books, and news articles. Some are written by colleagues (blog posts I mean), and some by published authors. You should be able to find at least one idea per day from conversations you have, books you read or videos you watch. Make sure to jot those ideas down on your list of 50, and continually add to it each and every day. If you do this, you will never run out of content ideas.
Ten Ideas to help get you Started
Here is a list of ten ideas to help get your content marketing strategy onto paper or the video screen:
- Condos — Develop a series of posts for condo buyers and sellers
- First Time Buyers – Define the ins and outs of buying a home
- First Time Sellers — These people bought 5-7 years ago but have never sold
- The Offer Process – What is involved in making an offer on a home?
- Interview Professionals – Contact your go-to mortgage broker, lawyer, or home inspector about an interview
- Recent Rule Changes – Check with your local board, association, state or province
- The Pre Approval Process — Why it’s so important
- What are Escrow Costs? (Americans) What are Closing Costs? (Canadians)
- How Much Do I Need For a Deposit or a Down Payment? And Why?
- Niche Marketing – Talk about the neighborhood that you farm. Activities in the summer and winter. It doesn’t always have to be about real estate
I really love this post from Copyblogger on Content Marketing, the 70/20/10 content plan (Idea #2). Seventy percent is your ‘bread and butter’ (see the list of 10 above), 20% is innovation off of what works, and 10% is high risk content (“Today’s loony idea is tomorrow’s cornerstone content”).
If you are just getting started, focus on your bread and butter. This is where the majority of your business will come from.
