One of the most tiring parts of writing content is having to constantly come up with new ideas. It can be exhausting! At the same time, you don’t want to rely on jumping on trends to fill in any gaps when you can’t think of any coaching content ideas.
The good news is there are always good content ideas out there. You just need to know where to look.
What Is a Good Coaching Content Idea?
There is no solid definition of a good coaching content idea. Even successful content creators are surprised by what performs well and what doesn’t. We say, as long as a content idea matches your values, brand voice, and content pillars, make it!
The best way to always have a fresh pool of content ideas is to make a note of any ideas that come to you. You can’t trust your memory, so write content ideas down in your notes app. That way, if you’re short a couple of coaching content ideas, you can refer to your notes.
How to Find Your Content Pillars
Content pillars are the main topics you create content about. For blog content, they are your blog categories. Under the umbrella of these content pillars are lots of smaller topics. For blog content, these would be the tags.
Your content pillars will depend on:
- Your coaching business goals
- Your expertise
- Your ideal coaching clients’ interests
- Your ideal coaching clients’ journey
For example, a financial coach’s content may fall under the categories of how to save money, how to make money, investing, and paying off debt.
Inspiration vs Copying
It is okay to seek inspiration from other people. There is a line between being inspired by another content creator and blatantly copying. It has becoming finer and finer with social media trends.
At the very least, you need to acknowledge when a piece of content is inspired by another coach or content creator. This is true even if you have loosely based your content on someone else’s content. It shows integrity, and it will afford you the benefit of the doubt at times when you coincidentally create content that is similar to someone else’s.
Ideally, you should be looking to put a twist on content that inspires you. For example, you could see content by a coach in a completely different industry and make a similar piece of content for your industry. Alternatively, you could do your take on the piece of content. Still credit the original creator in both of these cases.
9 Places to Find Content Ideas
Content ideas are everywhere! Here are 8 places you can find content ideas for your coaching business.
Your Reading List
Did something you were reading inspire you, strike you as funny, or give you food for thought? Write a blog post about it. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a book related to your industry; it could be a book about any field or a fiction book. Inspiration comes from anywhere.
The added bonus is you can add an affiliate link to the book as well.
Your Watch List
Find inspiration in the things you watch. That could be YouTube videos, TV shows, and movies. This adds personality and intrigue to your content. For example, you could write:
- 5 Surprising Finance Lessons from Friends: How to Afford a Central New York Apartment on a Chef’s Salary
- Popularity Lessons from Wednesday that You Can Steal
- 3 Ways NOT To Run Your Business from Wolf of Wall Street
These blog posts and related social media content will stand out, especially if your followers like those shows too.
Current Events
Find content ideas from newsworthy events in your industry and the world at large. Try not to simply report on these events as if you are a reporter; look for an interesting take. This could be a strong opinion you hold (and the reasons why), an unexpected take, or even what people should given this take.
Lessons from Your Life
Share stories from your own life that illustrate lessons you learned. When choosing stories, choose ones that are resolved. Your ideal coaching clients want someone who is an expert, so you don’t want to give them reasons to doubt that you are the right person to help them. Think about the foundational knowledge or mindset required for your coaching area.
Common Issues Your Coaching Clients Face
If you constantly see your coaching clients run into common issues (either before or during your coaching), then write content to help them avoid or troubleshoot the issue. Make a list of the problems you see for content ideas when you run out. Problem-focused content is great for SEO too.
Quotes
Have you seen a quote that inspires you lately? Share it along with some words about what that quote means to you or how your ideal coaching clients can implement the wisdom in the quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Having content that answers frequently asked questions can help you point coaching clients towards the resource quickly rather than answering each question individually. You can mix up the content by using social media content to answer questions with short answers and blog content or video content to answer questions that have long answers.
Ask Your Followers What They Want to See
Let your followers tell you what they want to see. Run polls, use question boxes, or ask for comments to get your audience’s input in your content ideas. This gives you valuable insight into the problems your clients face and their interest.
Old Content
It is common knowledge that refreshing your old content provides SEO benefits, but it is also beneficial for your business. Your coaching business will be attracting new followers all the time, and while some may do a little bit of a dig through your old content, it is unlikely that they will go back further than 6-12 months. That means that there are many people who haven’t seen your old content and any followers who were around back then may have forgotten.
This content only needs a small zhuzh to ensure it is up to date. That’s much less work than writing an article from scratch.