Content Marketing For Startup: How to Generate Ideas

In digital marketing, content is king. But, producing consistently engaging content that resonates with your target audience takes time and produces uncertain results.

But what if there was a way to validate content ideas before spending vast amounts of time and energy producing content no one reads?

You can do just that by applying lean startup principles to content creation: let the market tell you they need your content before investing the time and energy in creating it.

The best part is we’ve developed a repeatable process for doing just that. In seven steps, inspired by the lean startup methodology, you can build content that resonates with your audience, helps them solve a problem, and drives them to your website to become a customer.

Understanding Content Marketing

Definition of Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. At its core, content marketing involves understanding your target audience and crafting a content strategy that addresses their needs and interests. By consistently delivering high-quality content, you can build trust and establish a strong connection with your audience, ultimately driving engagement and conversions.

Importance of Content Marketing for Startups

For startups, content marketing is a game-changer. It offers a cost-effective way to build brand awareness and establish your company as a thought leader in your industry. Unlike traditional marketing methods that often require significant budgets, content marketing can be done with minimal resources. You can attract potential customers, drive website traffic, and generate leads by sharing your expertise and insights through blog posts, social media, and other content formats. This approach not only helps you stand out in a crowded market but also fosters long-term relationships with your audience.

Benefits of Content Marketing

The benefits of content marketing are manifold. Firstl, it increases brand awareness by consistently putting your message in front of your target audience. Second it drives website traffic and generates leads, providing a steady stream of potential customers. Additionally, high-quality content improves your search engine rankings, leading to more organic traffic. By establishing your startup as a trusted resource and thought leader, you build credibility and trust with your audience, which can translate into increased customer loyalty and sales.

About lean startups and minimum viable product

If you aren't yet familiar with the lean startup methodology, you must familiarize yourself. This will help you apply these principles to generating excellent content.

The Lean Startup Background

Derived from Toyota's lean manufacturing, Eric Ries's adaptation of the lean startup model emphasizes rapid product testing to validate market demand. The focus is creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test hypotheses, measure results, and iterate based on feedback.

Our twist is instead of a product, we are creating Minimum Viable Content (MVC). We don't start with a long blog post about a subject we pulled out of thin air. Instead, we start with something small: answering a question in a forum or a LinkedIn post to validate that the market wants what we are writing. More on this process later.

Emphasize Viable Content

Start with a minimum viable product that starts solving the problem

A typical example of building and iterating on an MVP is developing a product that gets people from point A to point B. You may have envisioned a car in your head, and as an entrepreneur, you would go out and build that immediately to test your concept. However, a vehicle would take years to develop, and in this fictional world, you're not even sure there is a demand to travel between two places. So, instead of starting with the car, you start with a skateboard. That is both minimum - the easiest thing you can develop quickly - and viable - it serves a purpose. What wouldn't qualify as an MVP would be creating just a steering wheel - while minimum, it doesn't help your user to travel and thus doesn't help you validate the problem you are trying to solve.

So, just like you wouldn't sell just a steering wheel as a mode of transportation to validate your idea for a car, only offer complete insights with your MVC. Start with an essential yet functional piece of content, then refine and expand based on feedback.

Steps to Generate Content Marketing Strategy Ideas

Now that we’re comfortable with the lean startup concept, let’s dive into practical applications for using this methodology to generate content marketing ideas and develop effective content marketing strategies.

Throughout, I will use a real example of how I developed a Guide to Launching on Product Hunt with this model.

Want a consultation with the Peak Digital Studio team on generating content ideas? Book a one-hour session with us.

1. Hang Out in Target Audience Communities

Identify platforms frequented by your audience. Look for recurring questions or challenges posted by other members that align with your expertise.

Example: I used to hang out in forums and Slack channels for startup founders, looking at ways to get more customers for their products. Often, they would want to know how best to launch on Product Hunt - a website where startups share their product with the world.

2. Share Quick Insights

Offer succinct insights or solutions in these communities. Respond to these questions or challenges directly in the forum with your thoughts; this is your Minimum Viable Content (MVC).

Example: Whenever I saw someone ask, “What are your top tips for launching on Product Hunt?” I would answer with the two or three things that worked well when I launched on Product Hunt for the first time.

3. Monitor Engagement

Positive engagement (upvotes, thanks, shares) indicates resonance while lacking it suggests the need for refinement or reevaluation.

Example: I noticed every time I posted my top tips, the original poster and other Slack/forum users would thank me and ask follow-up questions. They were super engaged, and my tips helped them answer their questions and solve a problem.

4. Learn and Refine

When a post or reply is well received, the content resonates and is worth the investment in creating content for a blog or other platforms. For lesser-engaged content, diagnose the cause and adjust your approach.

Example: For the Product Hunt article, it was clear early on that practical tips resonated most, not just general thoughts on launching. So, I focused on repeatable steps people could follow to launch.

5. Expand Beyond MVC

With validation, develop your content further in whatever medium you use, be it blogs, videos, or podcasts. Use your initial comment or insight as a foundational framework to create the content. The great part is you have a starting point.

Example: Once I shared my Product Hunt tips a few times, I created a blog post outlining these and more.

6. Diversify and Share

Share your content across various platforms, including social media posts, tailoring your message to each community’s interests and norms. Remember, provide value upfront rather than just sharing links to your content.

Example: Now, whenever I came across someone asking about how to launch on Product Hunt, I would still share my top tips directly in the forum, which provided readers value in the forum and wasn’t seen as overly self-promoting. But then I would also link to my blog post and say, “I wrote a blog on this if you want more tips and advice.” Sharing tips and links in forums generated traffic to our site, and people often bookmarked and shared the post.

7. Scale High Quality Content

Consider more extensive adaptations like webinars, videos, ebooks, or product features for highly resonant content. If it works as a blog, it could work in these other formats, and you can leverage it further as part of a successful content marketing strategy.

Example: We went beyond just a blog post and then created a complete checklist and resources in Notion. We even built a template feature in our product, Taskable, to let people import the list into their accounts.

Conclusion for Generating Content Marketing Ideas

Lean content creation is about minimizing time investment until a content idea proves its worth. It’s about being efficient, ensuring audience relevance, and scaling strategically. Setting clear, measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with business objectives is crucial for optimizing efforts and demonstrating value to stakeholders. Following these seven steps to generate content ideas will help you create better content and find new ideas and channels for delivering that content. The end goal? Providing valuable content without wasting resources that drive traffic and customers to your website. While paid advertising can rapidly consume budgets and offer short-term audience reach, content marketing fosters genuine customer relationships and provides a more cost-effective, enduring impact.

Content marketing strategy FAQs

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and sharing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience. The goal is to build trust, foster relationships, and ultimately drive profitable customer actions like conversions or sales.

How to write a blog post?

To write a blog post, start by identifying a topic that resonates with your target audience. Conduct research to ensure your information is accurate and valuable, then craft an outline to organize your thoughts. Write the content in a clear, engaging tone, and include a call-to-action at the end to encourage further interaction. Finally, proofread and optimize it for search engines before publishing.

How long should a blog post be?

A blog post typically ranges between 800 and 2,000 words, but the ideal length depends on the topic, audience, and purpose. Longer posts (1,500+ words) tend to perform better for SEO and in-depth topics, while shorter posts (800-1,200 words) work well for quick, actionable insights.

What is content strategy?

Content strategy is the planning, development, and management of content to achieve specific business goals. It involves understanding your audience, defining key messages, selecting appropriate content formats, and scheduling content distribution across relevant channels.

How to create a content marketing strategy?

To create a content marketing strategy, first define your business goals and target audience. Next, brainstorm content ideas that address your audience’s needs and align with your goals. Plan your content creation and distribution process, and establish metrics to measure success. Finally, continuously review and refine your strategy based on performance data.

What step should you always incorporate into your content creation workflow?

You should always incorporate content validation into your workflow. This means testing small pieces of content (e.g., sharing insights in forums) to gauge audience interest before investing time and resources into larger content pieces like blog posts or videos.

Why is content marketing important?

Content marketing is important because it helps businesses build brand awareness, establish thought leadership, and create lasting relationships with their audience. It’s a cost-effective strategy that generates organic traffic, nurtures leads, and ultimately drives sales over time.

How to increase organic traffic?

To increase organic traffic, focus on creating high-quality, SEO-optimized content that resonates with your target audience. Use relevant keywords, create engaging and informative content, and regularly update your website. Additionally, promote your content through social media and other channels to enhance visibility and reach.

How does content marketing drive sales?

Content marketing drives sales by building trust and credibility with your audience. High-quality, relevant content addresses the needs of potential customers, guiding them through the buyer’s journey and positioning your product or service as the solution to their problem.

Why content marketing?

Content marketing provides a sustainable way to attract and engage potential customers without the need for large advertising budgets. It builds long-term relationships, enhances brand authority, and delivers value to your audience, which can ultimately lead to higher customer loyalty and conversions.

Why does content marketing work?

Content marketing works because it focuses on providing value to your audience, building trust over time. By addressing your audience's needs and consistently delivering helpful, engaging content, you establish your brand as a reliable resource, leading to increased loyalty and conversions.