Creating Content When You’re Uninspired

Gary Vaynerchuk has been quoted saying “Content is King and Queen.”  Yet, the vast majority of people who are struggling in their business, don’t actually have a cash flow or a lead generation problem. They have a marketing problem. That marketing problem is directly linked to creating content.

In today’s world, your content is your marketing.  It is how people find you, get to know you and make decisions about doing business with you.

The three most popular formats for creating content are written blogs, video content and audio content.

I’ve found most people know what to do, they struggle with how to do it and how to do it well, especially when inspiration is lacking.  It’s easy to write content when you have a great idea that you want to share. It’s much harder to do when you’d rather be doing something else.

Take me for example…it’s Thanksgiving Monday here in Canada. I’ve got a turkey in the oven and the last thing I really feel like doing is writing my blog but, I have a really busy week. If I don’t do it now, I’m creating all kinds of pressure for my team to get my blog and newsletter set up because they won’t have it on time.

So here I am writing, and I’m writing about creating content because I’m not feeling very inspired to write. However, that is exactly the time you need to step up and start.

In Steven Pressfield’s book, The War of Art, he talks about resistance and how most writers face resistance every single day.  The only way to overcome resistance is to start and once you start, something magical happens. Suddenly you have something to write about and more often than not, it turns out quite good.

The magic is really about self-discipline and a willingness to simply start.  That’s not what you were hoping to hear, were you?

Okay, so here are six other ideas you can borrow when you are uninspired and need to create content:

1. Pick up the newspaper and scan what is happening in the world.

Find a topic that is relevant to your industry in some way and write about it.  You can write a commentary on the article, or you can use the article as inspiration to write about that topic.  For example, last week I was in Palm Beach and as I scrolled through the newspaper, there was a full-page ad taken out by Facebook discussing the election results and the Russian ads.  This full page article addressed the issue and listed five things Facebook is doing to prevent this from happening again.

I could use that one-page advertorial and write my opinion on what Facebook is doing, or I could write about trust and factual information online.  Either angle would help me to write a great blog post…all from the inspiration coming from what I saw in the newsletter.

2. Keep a question log.

Last week, my blog on “playing a bigger game” was written as a result of a message a client sent me. She wanted to talk to me about how she could play a bigger game. It struck me when she asked the question that she was not the only one wanting to play a bigger game.  Her question sent me down the path of considering what I do when I want to play a bigger game and that was the inspiration for the blog post that I wrote.

3. Make a list blog.

Let’s say you’re a Realtor, you could write a list blog on five things you need to know when buying in a particular area. Or five things you need to consider before selling. Or five things you should look for when hiring a realtor. Maybe the five things that make your listing stand out online.  When you pick a topic that is in your area of expertise, you should be able to riff and find 5-7 ways to talk about that topic easily.

4. Interview experts.

You can always reach out to a handful of people and ask them a question.  In 2018, I am hosting a year-long business book club called Thought Readers.  I could easily reach out to seven authors and ask them what book they are reading right now. Then, I could create a blog listing the seven books these best selling authors are reading.  Most people are willing to reply to a simple question like that and it allows you to easily create blog content.

5. Transcribe it.

If you’re creating video content, doing Facebook lives, or even Podcasts, keep a library of transcripts you can pull and use to create content.  This is something you can always delegate to a member of your team to help you when you’re in a pinch and don’t have time to write.

6. Use other people’s content.

Two years ago, a client of mine did a TEDx talk and asked me the best way to get views.  I suggested she write a blog and share her top 5 favorite TED talks and add her own blog to the list.  She did this and now has over 25,000 views on her TED talk.  Curating content from other people is a great way to create content.

I’ve now given you six ways to easily create content when you’re not feeling inspired and I’ve fixed my own lack of inspiration by creating.  Creating isn’t easy for anyone when they are not feeling inspired. That’s why we need to also have a commitment to creating and the discipline to do what is necessary to build our business.

As a final note, I would like to leave you with a video to watch.  I find this video a great 10-minute exercise in getting myself fired up about creating and I hope it will serve as inspiration for you too.

Remember, if you’re trying to build a bigger business, your content is your marketing. Without it, you’re making it much harder than it needs to be for people to get to know, like and trust you.

Leave me a comment and let me know which of the six ideas above you’re going to use to get inspired this week.