# [[Module 2 - Ideation]] Course:: [[How to Write Thought Leadership Content]] ## Summary > [!abstract] Summary > Coming up with ideas is the hardest part of the thought leadership content creation process, and that's because it's about *thinking*, not about writing. > > Use the following frameworks for coming up with ideas: > - *Yes, and...*: Take a popular work, agree with it, and then add new value to it. This way is less risky, because the idea has already been proven. > - *Challenging truisms...*: Cite an idea generally held to be true, and then say why it isn't always true. Make sure your position is defensible. > - *Personal experience*: Share a personal experience and generalize it to come up with actionable takeaways that would be useful for others. > - *Analyze events:* Provide insight on things in the current zeitgeist (pop culture, acquisitions, news) and add nuanced commentary about why events happened, whether decisions were good or bad, or talk about what that means for your industry. ## Log [[Idea Generation|Ideation]]. Thought leadership is a thinking problem, not a writing problem. So ideation is the most important part! The most difficult part of starting with thought leadership content is overcoming [[Impostor Syndrome]]. ### Yes, and... - Respond to an existing idea and then add *new value* to something that has already been proven (it wasn't something you created). - Collect opinions that you agree with from popular blogs, social networks. Prioritize popular content to increase the chances of your content doing well. What do you add? - Keep it positive! - *Validate experience* by sharing a time when you also experienced it. - *Tactical process:* Share how to implement an idea. - *Elaboration:* Explore the topic in more detail. - *Spin-off angle:* Explore a tangentially related topic. ### Challenging truisms Truisms are things that people generally hold to be true: - Best practices - Top-rated content - Common assumptions - Competitor marketing - Sales conversations Example: [[Your Blog Is Not a Publication - Animalz]] Collect truisms! Challenge them not for the same of challenging them but for providing insight and exposing faulty logic. Structure: - Narrative: *HubSpot is the best example of content marketing.* - Counter-narrative: *The strategy that worked for HubSpot won't work for you.* - Point 1: - Point 2: - Point 3: ### Personal experience Make sure your personal experience is actually going to be useful for others! - Share your experience. - Generalize your experience into an actionable takeaway. Your experience doesn't have to be an *impressive* experience. In fact, it might be even more relatable if it's a mundane, common one. What's useful to others? - Hard problems solved - Remarkable stories with useful takeaways - Processes created - Meta-content: The process of creating something, like [[Learning in public]]. - Career development content - Run an experiment ### Analyzing events - Provide context for events that have happened in the industry. - Explain why things happened the way they did. - Identify factors that contributed to the event. Finding relevant events: - Pay attention to marketing campaigns like the Coinbase Superbowl ad: QR code floating around screen. - Popular culture: Squid Games - Acquisitions What to comment on: - Why it happened - Whether it was a good/bad decision - Possible consequences of that decision ## Processed into: - [[Forms#For shorter form written work]] - [[Idea Generation]] - [[Thought Leadership Content]] - [[Idea generation for thought leadership content]] - [[Popular culture]]