A Writing Prompt Challenge for Business Bloggers

How do you “ignite your creativity engine” and “fuel your inspiration”?

Writers’ Digest advises novelists to use story starters or writing prompts. And while as blog content writers, we aren’t dealing in fiction, at least some of the 52 prompts suggested by Brian Klems and Cris Freese could conceivably pump up the creativity level of our content marketing.

In fact, I challenge readers of this Say It For You blog to write in ideas about how they’d go about using one of these prompts in one of their own posts.

My own favorites from among the Writers’ Digest prompts:

• “You return home from work to find a ‘Dear John’ letter on your table.  Oddly, it’s from a FUTURE romantic relationship.  What does the letter say?”

(Couldn’t professional service providers use this? In what ways might the blog reader’s future relationship with you either succeed or fail? Paint a picture of what it’s like being a client or patient in your service or practice.)

• “You’re trying to read the morning newspaper when your cat begins pawing at your leg.  You brush him away, but he jumps on the table and begins meowing.  Final, the cat speaks.  What does he say?”

Successful business blog writing reminds online searchers of the annoyances and frustrations they are have in dealing with their present service providers, and that you and your staff have the experience, the information, the products, and the services to solve exactly those problems and meet precisely those needs.

• “At work, you’ve been getting a Post-it note on your desk every morning that reads, ‘Why did you do it?’ You’ve talked to your boss, the night cleaning crew and your co-workers, but no one seems to know who’s putting the note there or why.  You decide to work through the night in hopes of catching the person.”

In many marketing blogs, the blog content writers focus on appealing to consumers’ fear.  To appeal to a better kind of customer – the kind that buys for the right reasons and then remains loyal, I train writers to appeal to readers’ better nature and focus on the problem-solving aspects of the offered products and services.

Ask yourself:  Could writing prompts pump up the creativity level of my blog?