Taming the "What to Write About" Problem

Yesterday, Jeff McKay and I recorded the 200th episode of marketing podcast, Rattle and Pedal . It's not released yet, but when I tell people we've produced 200 episodes they seem surprised.

Jason, that's a lot of content!

I guess it is. But it never really felt that way. It was just a conversation with a friend, and the occasional guest, every few weeks about something that interested us.

How Do We Find Topics!?

To be honest, identifying topics never felt difficult. Every time we open the door on an issue, we find a 1,000 other doors to explore.

Determining what NOT to talk about tends to be more difficult than coming up with ideas for new things to talk about.

But, I realize that's not the case for a lot of professional services firms. When we talk to firms with new or nascent thought leadership programs, the first thing they say is .... we don't know what to talk about! And, the most downloaded episode of our podcast is the one on thought leadership strategy.

Ask People!

This sounds like ridiculous advice. But it's so rarely heeded. When faced with the question of what to write, most of us crowd into a room and brainstorm a list.

But the best place to start is usually with a few conversations. Talk to some clients. And ask them about their most pressing challenges. Then do the same with your practice leaders and subject matter experts.

You don't need to talk to 100s of people. Just talk to 5. Use a system like Fireflies to capture the discussion and help make sense of it.

The Issues to Own Matrix

Then, categorize, group, and organize everything you heard. We've found the best way to do this is with a simple table. Cluster topics into 5-6 master issues for your firm to own. Place those across the top rows. Then, group sub-topics beneath them.

With a few weeks of effort, you'll have at least 70-80 content opportunities to explore. For most small or mid-sized firms that's well over a year of content opportunities.

Often, we validate these with a broader client survey. But, you don't have to do that. You can start by just picking a few that you believe are critical, urgent, or timely for your clients and get started. Voila. You have next quarter's content calendar.

This article was first published to the Rattleback weekly newsletter on professional services marketing. Visit our website to subscribe.