Do you have a creative muse you seek out for content inspiration?
As a PR professional who loves to write, I’ve always loved the word “muse.” It has a certain romantic vibe to it, and for someone who has always been a sucker for romantic gestures, movies and songs, this fits right into my repertoire of favorite words. It’s such a fabulous word and one I like to think about when brainstorming writing assignments.
I also like the word because of the history of the term itself. The muses in ancient Greek mythology were the sources of inspiration for literature, science and the arts. For my fellow Disney fans out there, you might remember the five muses who served as the narrators in the 1997 animated film Hercules. “We are the muses!”
Content creators are tasked with generating new and unique copy on a weekly and monthly basis—and, therefore, must also always be on the lookout for inspiration. Below are three ways to find your creative muse and hopefully make your clients very happy with the result.
Hot Takes On A Trending Topic
One of the easiest ways to find a fresh idea when creating content is to get regular insights from a key spokesperson or executive.
It is our job as PR professionals to stay on top of trending or breaking news in the industries we serve. However, your clients are spending more time with customers and prospects, and have an inside view of what their challenges and pain points are.
At our agency, we make time at least every quarter to speak with our clients’ CEOs or key players to get their “hot takes” on industry trends. We ask the right questions to get what I like to call “golden nuggets,” or sound bites, that can be used for thought leadership purposes. We then take that information to create vendor-neutral bylined articles, company blogs and even proactive pitches to the media.
Every CEO or key executive has a story or viewpoint that is different from their competitors, and it is our job to pull that information out of them to create newsworthy content.
Data, Data And More Data
In one of my previous articles, I discussed the different ways PR professionals can strike gold with the right data. Original or company-owned data can be the inspiration for a robust PR and marketing campaign.
This could include a bigger anchor piece, such as an e-book or white paper, that could provide a breakdown of survey data conducted by a third-party research company. From there, you could create a series of short-form content pieces, social media posts and, of course, more proactive pitches.
By dissecting the data in just the right way, PR professionals can easily find headlines that will capture the attention of the media.
The Pop Culture Zeitgeist
If you look at my other previous articles and even some of the blog posts I’ve written for my agency, you can clearly see that I use pop culture references as my muse. That has been my go-to content strategy for years. After all, I’ve always thought that if you are excited about doing—or in this case, writing—something, other people will pick up on that joy when reading it. Whether it is a trending movie, song or book, I pull inspiration from these sources to help me set the stage for whatever I’m writing.
For example, one of my favorite articles I wrote in 2019 was about what PR agencies can learn from the band Queen about success. It was fun to write and inspired me to continue using pop culture references to talk about the things I am passionate about. Of course, when it comes to pop culture, there is always something to pick from!
Content Inspiration Is Everywhere
As writers and PR professionals, it is up to us to look for unique ideas and takes on topics. This not only gives clients the content they need to execute key marketing and communication strategies but also encourages us to keep writing—and to have fun doing it, too!
American science fiction writer Orson Scott Card once said: “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”
I encourage my fellow PR professionals to look for inspiration in the places that excite them most. By taking this approach, I guarantee you and your readers will like the end product!
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This article first appeared in https://www.forbes.com
Guest Author: Catherine Seeds
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