Mastering the Art of Brainstorming: Structured vs. Unstructured Techniques

May 1, 2023

Are you feeling stuck on coming up with content ideas for your next post?

Brainstorming content ideas is an essential part of the creative process that can help you develop fresh and engaging content for your audience and help you stand out from the competition.

Whether you’re creating articles, social media posts, podcasts or videos, generating new and exciting ideas can feel exciting and challenging at times.

Learning how to brainstorm effectively is crucial for your personal brand or business. In this article, we will explore some practical tips and brainstorming techniques for generating content ideas that will help you create engaging and valuable content.

Are you looking for ways to come up with content ideas quickly and efficiently? Content creation can be a daunting task—but it doesn't have to be. In this blog post, we'll explore various techniques and tools to help you brainstorm content ideas through structured and unstructured methods. From using mind maps to leveraging online resources, you'll learn how to come up with content ideas in no time. Read on to learn more!

Common creative barriers

Consider evaluating what might be holding you back from brainstorming content effectively:

Perhaps you’re feeling burned out from producing content regularly or maybe you’re not sure where to start when it comes to researching and generating new ideas.
You could be sticking to familiar topics or formats that may be limiting your creative options.
You might feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the volume of content already available on the internet and feel that you’re unable to contribute new or exciting value to the conversation.
Perhaps you’re feeling uninspired or are not very familiar with the field or topic you’re creating content for.
Additionally, you might find it challenging to produce a lot of high-quality content in a short time and feel doubtful about your abilities. You might feel a lack the confidence to share your ideas with others and feel a sense of analysis paralysis with the execution of brainstorming content.

Whatever the case may be, there are a variety of techniques and tools that you can leverage to help you create compelling and shareable content.

Identifying these creative obstacles can help you move past this and spark new ways to create compelling and original content ideas.

With the right techniques and attitude, you can brainstorm content like a pro!

Techniques for brainstorming content ideas

There are different ways to brainstorm content ideas and they can be described as structured or unstructured brainstorming techniques. The preference for these brainstorming techniques may vary from person to person or team and there’s no right, wrong or best way.

You might follow a structured approach one day and then allow the flexibility to generate ideas in a spontaneous, unstructured, free-flow state that lends itself to creative thinking.

Some people may thrive in a structured environment and may feel productive in the process, while others may feel creatively constrained and prefer a more flexible, open-ended approach.

The most effective brainstorming approach may depend on your needs or your team’s preference. To figure out which approach, take into account the strengths, weaknesses and brainstorming goals. Combining structured and unstructured techniques may be necessary to meet the specific requirements of your brainstorming efforts.

At the end of the day, you want to make sure you create a space for ideas to flow and capture them. The approach that enables you to generate high-quality and relevant content ideas is the best one that works best toward helping you achieve that goal. Remember, you never know when an idea may strike and you want to be ready for it!

The trick to generating endless content ideas? Having ONE main place to store and capture your ideas for easy access.

Brainstorming Content Together

Stop struggling with content creation and let’s work together to come up with fresh and engaging ideas. Book your content brainstorming session today.

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Need help developing a content plan that will drive traffic and engagement? Let's schedule a content brainstorming session and create a strategy that works for you

Have you ever experienced writer’s block or a lack of inspiration when brainstorming content ideas? Do you find yourself spending hours searching for inspiration, only to come up with nothing?

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Through a Content Brainstorming Session, I will help you unlock your creativity and generate a ton of ideas that are tailored for your business goals and target audience.

By working together, I’ll help you create a content plan that is strategic, focused, and aligned with your brand voice. So, what are you waiting for? Schedule a session and start unlocking your content potential!

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A structured approach to brainstorming content ideas

Structured brainstorming techniques typically follow a more formal and organized process for generating content ideas. This approach may involve a defined framework with rules or guidelines to follow.

This approach may be beneficial for you or your team if you struggle with creativity and need a more structured process to guide your brainstorming efforts.

Some examples of structured brainstorming techniques include:

Keyword research: You can use free or paid tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner, Keyword Tools, Ahrefs, Semrush or Google Trends to research popular and relevant keywords related to your niche or topic. This can give you a good starting point for generating content ideas.
Mind mapping: A helpful brainstorming technique is mind mapping where you create a visual diagram to connect related ideas and concepts. One way to get started is to create clusters of topics and break them into smaller chunks and explore different connections between ideas. You can then start to identify common themes. This can help you map out pain points, frequently asked questions or solutions you could offer your audience.
Competitive research: Looking at what your competitors are doing is a helpful way to identify opportunities for you to distinguish your unique value proposition and business in the market. Competitive research involves looking at accounts that are talking about similar topics, products or services as you. These accounts may be targeting your ideal customer and you may be able to gain some insights and takeaways.

Try to not spend too much time in this section because you don’t want to end up going down a rabbit hole and you also don’t want to start copying or getting influenced too much by your competitor’s content strategy. You want to get a lay of the land and a pulse of what’s working and not working for your competitor.
SWOT analysis: A brainstorming approach can include a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to a particular topic or idea. This brainstorming technique can be very valuable if you want to evaluate a particular idea from multiple perspectives and help you identify potential challenges or areas for opportunities.
Six Thinking Hats: This brainstorming technique involves “wearing” a hat and viewing a certain topic from different perspectives. The Six Thinking Hats approach means assigning each member of your team hats to “wear” that represents one lens, angle or style of thinking, such as creativity, risks, or data/trends. This brainstorming technique can help you generate a wide range of ideas on topics.

If you’re doing this solo, try “wearing” different hats and look at the topic through each lens. If you’re in a group, you can assign the hats to everyone to get a balanced discussion or you can go through different perspectives as a whole group.
Round Robin Brainstorming: This approach involves sharing ideas in a group setting where you gather people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives to generate content ideas. This brainstorming approach can be helpful if you want to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to share and also build on each other’s ideas in a collaborative and constructive environment.
Research: Different research-related activities can also help you come up with content ideas such as reading, listening to podcasts, attending seminars and talking with your customers. Make sure you keep a list of potential ideas to stay inspired and motivated to create content regularly. Here are some ways you can improve your content marketing efforts with research.

A structured approach to brainstorming content ideas may be helpful for you or your team if you prefer a more organized method to come up with ideas. When you follow a set of guidelines, you can focus your thoughts and ideas and this can lead to more targeted and effective brainstorming sessions.

Brainstorming Content Together

Don’t let a lack of content ideas hold you back. Schedule a content brainstorming session and let’s get your creative juices flowing.

Brainstorming content ideas with me can take your content to the next level. We’ll work together to identify the best topics for your audience, create a content strategy that aligns with your business goals, and develop a plan for repurposing your content across multiple platforms.

Whether you’re struggling to come up with new ideas, or you just need help refining your existing content, my brainstorming sessions can help you elevate your content and achieve better results. With my guidance and expertise, you can take your content marketing to the next level and grow your business.

Schedule a brainstorming session

Unstructured approach to brainstorming content ideas

If you prefer a more spontaneous, free-flow approach to generating ideas, then an unstructured approach may be best for you.

Some examples of unstructured brainstorming techniques include:

Free writing: This process involves writing down all ideas that come to mind without worrying about the structure or organization of your ideas. This can include writing down lists or bullet points. To get started, you set a timer and you just start writing down as many ideas as possible.
Brainstorming prompts: This process involves using prompts to guide the brainstorming process such as, “What are some common myths about this topic?” or “What’s something people often find surprising to learn about this topic?”
Word association: This process involves choosing a random word and brainstorming content around it. Make sure to give yourself a time limit and just start writing down words that come to mind. After the timer goes off, you can go back to review and refine your ideas. You could also create a “word storm” and cluster a bunch of words together related to a topic and see where those ideas take you.
Post-it notes: You could incorporate post-it notes into your process to help you brainstorm content ideas and group them by similarities or cluster topics together based on certain colors.
Asking questions: The process of asking open-ended questions to your clients or people in your team can help spark new ideas and angles.
5 Whys: This process involves asking yourself “Why?” over and over to help you get to the root of a problem and solve problems for your audience. You start by defining the problem and then asking yourself, “Why is that happening?”
Take a shower or bath: Shower thoughts are a real thing and can help stimulate creativity and help you uncover new ideas and thoughts. Showering is a relaxing and a bit of a mundane task and so it lends itself to helping your brain make sudden or profound realizations. Give your brain and body some rest with a nice shower and see if any ideas come your way!

You can use a combination of structured and unstructured methods to brainstorm content ideas. By practicing these different techniques, you can generate a wide range of ideas for your brand or business.

Content Brainstorming Session

Want to create content that your audience will love? Book your content brainstorming session now and let’s craft a strategy that speaks to them.

.By working together, I’ll help you create a content plan that is strategic, focused, and aligned with your brand voice. So, what are you waiting for? Schedule a brainstorming session and start unlocking your content potential!

Nancy Casanova

Nancy Casanova is a content marketer specializing in storytelling, workflows and brand strategy. She loves sharing content ideas, inspiration and tutorials online.