Content Brainstorming Tools for 2013

Here are a few brainstorming techniques to try out for your next group session: …but first a few ground rules as a good reminder: Encourage Free-Thinking, No Boundaries No Criticizing or Dismissing Keep the Process Moving Let Ideas You Don’t Understand Go

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Content Brainstorming Tools for 2013

When it comes to content marketers, there is one question that always piques our

interest – Where do others get their ideas? And with more brands creating content than

ever before, it can be challeng ing to continually keep ahead of trends, churn out fresh concepts and repurpose ideas – let alone do so across multiple platforms To inspire the creation process, I’ve hig hlig hted a few resources to help g uide your brainstorming and idea g eneration efforts for 2013

Whether it’s a long -form blog post, a resource article, an infog raphic or video, a g ood brainstorming process should be your jumping off point to fuel ideas Not only is it helpful in uncovering new topics or trends, but also in tapping into the perspective of others and steering creative direction

Here are a few brainstorming techniques to try out for your next g roup session:

…but first a few g round rules as a g ood reminder:

Encourag e Free-Thinking , No Boundaries

No Criticizing or Dismissing

Keep the Process Moving

Let Ideas You Don’t Understand Go

Mapping

A simple, g raphic form of listing ideas by jotting down thoug hts on a larg e writing area and making connections by associating ideas with color-coded circles or lines,

indicating other relationships by linking

1 Write down an idea or topic in the middle of your space

2 Start adding words, in no particular order, that relate to the main idea

3 Once you’ve exhausted ideas, ask who, what, when, where and why to prompt new thoug hts

4 After the space is filled, look for any patterns among words

5 Group thoug hts that are related or repeated by color

So urce: http://www.examtime.co m/6-tips-o n-ho w-to -create-an-o nline-mind-map-with-

So urce: http://www.andyeklund.co m/creativestreak/2009/11/brain-writing.html

6 Use the g rouping s to provide areas of focus for your concepts

Brain

Writing

An alternative

method to

brainstorming

that tries to

encourag e

uniform

participation

within a g roup is

brain writing

Like

brainstorming , it

is desig ned to

g enerate lots and

lots of ideas in a

short amount of time and typically follows a 6-3-5 method: 6 in g roup/3 ideas per round/5 minutes per round

1 Give everyone a brain writing sheet

2 Hand out sheets with space for a topic or keyword at the top of the pag e and space where ideas can be written

3 It can be a different topic for each person or the same for everyone

4 Write ideas

5 Pass the sheet to the next person, who adds more ideas, using the existing ideas to build off where possible

6 Keep g oing until your done

Trigger Method

This method involves

brainstorming as many

ideas as possible, then

selecting the best ones

as “trig g ers” to expand

on This is also

referred to as the “Idea

Purg e Phase.”

1 State the objective

or topic

2 Have the g roup

write many ideas

rapidly on a sheet

of paper

3 Take a two minute

break

4 Continue the

So urce:

http://www.no bo euro pe.co m/Blo gEN/? tag=/Brainsto rming-tips

So urce: http://afirekindled.co m/

4 Continue the

exercise for an another minute

In some cases, traditional brainstorming methods

may best suit your team environment and g oals For

those who prefer virtual collaboration, there are a

variety of online brainstorming tools available that

can help you move past a topic or idea that seems

stuck

Online Mind Mapping Tools

Bubbl.us helps to org anize thoug hts or jumbled

information throug h the use of text bubbles – making

it easier to sort ideas and start planning

Mindjet is a g reat way to

expand your ideas in a

g raphical way and lead your

imag ination in new directions

You can download the software

for free with a 30-day trial

offer The application will walk

you throug h the process of

creating a sample mind map

and familiarize you with the

various features

Word Storm visualizes the

association between words by

creating a map of closely

related words Start with a

keyword to use as a jumping off

point for this word association tool You can also

tailor the search to be narrow or broad by selecting

the number of words returned Scroll over each word

for various definitions

And if you still find yourself at a dead end…Just

Goog le it! As one of my colleag ues likes to say, “it’s

worth a Goog in.” Type in a keyword and let Goog le’s

automatic search do the work by filling in sug g estions

based on relevant topics

I hope the creative tools and resources in this article

will help you to start 2013 with a focused mindset

How does brainstorming

work with your team? Please

let me know in the comments

below.