Let’s get something straight up front content ideas aren’t found, they’re made.
They come out of the rants you have with your team when you see another “Monday Motivation” post go viral. They bubble up when you’re answering the same client question for the seventh time and realise, “Why isn’t this on the website?” They arrive when you stop scrolling and actually start paying attention to what makes you laugh, what gets you ranting in the car, or what you’d happily roast over a beer.
Most NZ businesses are recycling the same vanilla “content inspiration” posts and wondering why nobody’s DMing for a quote. But if you’re already bored before you’ve even hit post, then your audience definitely is. The best content inspo doesn’t come from “growth hack” snake oil salespeople on Facebook. There’s inspiration, and then there’s inspiration that makes you want to throw your phone out the window and start an off-grid commune. Or maybe that’s just us.
Inspiration lives in the gaps your competitors leave wide open because they’re too scared to be honest and hides in the customer emails you keep meaning to reply to. It happens when you’re brave enough talking about the stuff people care about, even if it’s unpopular, messy, or has a whiff of chaos, and stop playing content posting bingo.
Want the cure? Get mad. Or at least, get real. For instance, we love to rage-listen to the Angry Designer podcast when we need a break from the to-do list. Their ranting about why the work feels flat, how lazy marketers kill good ideas, and why “authenticity” is usually just code for “I have no ideas, so here’s a selfie.” is cathartic AF. But it also often brings some wild inspiration! Not to mention, one of our favourite episodes talks about how designers look at the world differently. Everything around us can inspire if we stop and just look for a while. Not saying that is your own ‘on tap’ way to get things flowing, but that you need to find content that you yourself connect with, and then dissect it and see how you might use something in there for your own audience. Don’t just straight up copy other people’s work though. But use it to understand what is connecting and resonating? Hell yeah!
That’s the real lesson. Inspiration isn’t about moodboarding your competitor’s feed or taking your “content pillars” for another walk around the block. It’s about what pisses you off, what you think is missing, or maybe what you’d love to see more of in your industry. Be the one who says something new, and say it loud. Sometimes inspiration is a strong opinion, an inside joke, or a collective “WHY are we all still doing this?” vent in the kitchen.
So, if you’re stuck, start with what bothers you. Whatever it is, is probably a pain your audience shares. And that happens to be copywriting AND sales 101…addressing pain points. (And to those out there saying that way of thinking is out of date? They can get stuffed.) You do not need to chase ‘best practice’. Make content that feels exciting to you first, the audience will come.
Ready to try? Good. Permission granted. Go break something bland.