We recently met with a non-profit who has been around for 30 years and were getting most of their funding from the government. With recent budget cuts, they’re now forced to look to the public and start fundraising ASAP!  Not knowing where to start and what messages to send we sat down with them and took stock. They had a website (check!), they even had a Facebook page (check!) and a YouTube page (bonus!).

The real value they had beyond this was some pretty amazing content to work with. It took just sitting down and having a conversation to start uncovering all the potential stories and when we did, they realized just how much content they had to work with, and the many different ways they could power a content marketing program.

Why share this with you? Well, sometimes we all get a little too close to our content and take it for granted. So, if you’re feeling a bit stuck, uninspired and need a fresh take, try this… sit down with a friend or someone who doesn’t know much about your business and start telling them stories. Cut through the basics and tell them about:

• A unique customer
• A time when someone on your team saved the day for a customer
• An employee who stands out
• A challenge you or your customers face
• Your biggest obstacle
• Your biggest accomplishment
• A product or service you are known for
• Something hilarious that happened
• How your business helps or supports your community
• A customer success story
• A time when you had to say no to a customer or deal with negative feedback
• An event your business has or attends
• What you’d like to do better or differently
• Something that gets you really excited
• The most embarrassing thing that has happened in your business and how you handled it
• A change big or small that made a difference in your business
• How your business got started

Starting to see where we’re going with this? As you tell the stories, take note of your friends reaction. What spurs questions and conversation? Each and every one of your stories can lead to some great content marketing you can and should use in your email marketing, as a post on Facebook, a short video for YouTube, information for your website, testimonials. See how easy it gets?

So, what’s your story and how will you tell it?

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