James Webb Young’s book, “A Technique for Producing Ideas”, teaches that idea creation is not just about waiting for inspiration but there is a process. As a content marketer, it is inevitable to struggle with generating new ideas all of the time. Young’s 4 step process may help you if you find yourself or your team running dry while generating new ideas.
1. Gathering “raw” material
Effective content marketers are curious about a wide breadth of topics and employ this trait to read content from a wide variety of places, including facts, concepts and stories. Indulge on interesting content from books, articles, videos or any source of content to open your mind to new possibilities. Keep notes or annotations during this process for what resonates most to you.
2. Digest material
During this step, review your notes and annotations with the purpose of looking for relationships, connections and combinations. Keep track of these relationships on a new set of notes.
3. Unconscious processing
Now it is time to leave the notes behind and do something else entirely. Get in nature, hit the gym or engage in an activity that gives you a “breath”. To read my blog on what gives me a much needed breath from work, visit https://ryeoverly.com/4-26-outdoor-breath/.
4. The “eureka” moment
Finally, the eureka moment. From gathering raw material, to making connections, to giving your brain a break to sift through all the possibilities an idea will come to you when you least expect it. As Webb teaches, “an idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements”.
HubSpot teaches that “curiosity and the will to act on it is a helpful prerequisite for any content marketer”. Make use of your curiosity and make a habit out of consuming constant content from multiple sources frequently to continually develop your content generation skills.
To find James Webb Young’s book, visit https://www.amazon.com/Technique-Producing-Advertising-Classics-Library/dp/0071410945.
To learn more from HubSpot Content Marketing, visit https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/content-marketing.
