Content
The best new business content ideas are the ones that build the know, like, trust factor with a specific audience, not the ones chasing whatever format is trending this week. I built Delivered Social from scratch, so I know the pressure of staring at a blank content calendar while also trying to run a business. This article gives you ideas you can actually execute without a big team or budget.
Table of Contents
- Why do most new businesses run out of content ideas so quickly?
- What is the fastest way to generate a bank of new business content ideas?
- Which content ideas work best when you are starting from zero?
- How do you turn one idea into a week of content?
- Should you use customer content instead of making everything yourself?
- What content ideas help you grow an email list or generate leads?
- How can Jonathan Bird and Delivered Social help you put these content ideas into practice?
- Key Takeaways
- References
Why do most new businesses run out of content ideas so quickly?
Most new businesses run out of content ideas because they lack a system for capturing and organising them, not because they lack creativity. Founders treat content as a one-off task rather than a repeatable process, so inspiration dries up the moment things get busy. The blank page feels like a personal failure when it is actually a process failure.
Content builds the know, like, trust factor that leads to bookings and sales, according to Monroe Creative. Stopping and starting undermines that entire mechanism. Your audience forgets you exist, then you have to rebuild the relationship from scratch every time you return.
I have run a digital marketing agency while producing a podcast, a blog network and a constant social output. Motivation has never been a reliable fuel source. Some weeks I feel inspired. Most weeks I feel like I am juggling client work, team management and the school run. The only thing that keeps the content engine running is a system that captures ideas before I need them.
Rachel Pedersen, a social media strategist, makes the same point in her content idea system. She argues that idea generation is a skill you can train, not a gift you either have or do not have. That reframe matters because it removes the excuse of waiting for inspiration.
Treat this article as a practical system plus a bank of ideas, not a listicle to skim. The system is what stops you running dry in month three.
What is the fastest way to generate a bank of new business content ideas?
The fastest way to generate a bank of new business content ideas is Rachel Pedersen’s structured sprint method, which produces 100 or more ideas in under an hour. Her approach uses five content buckets: Authority, Relatable, Value, Proof and Belief-Shifting. Each bucket serves a different psychological job for a new business trying to earn attention and trust.
Authority content positions you as someone who knows their subject. Relatable content shows you understand your customer’s daily reality. Value content teaches something useful. Proof content demonstrates that your product or service works. Belief-Shifting content challenges a common assumption your audience holds, which is often the most memorable type of post.
The 60-minute sprint works like this: pick one bucket, write 15 to 20 ideas for that bucket alone, then move to the next. Pedersen reports that entrepreneurs who run the sprint with her finish the hour with 100 to 120 ideas, according to Rachel Pedersen. The time pressure stops you from editing yourself before an idea has a chance to breathe.
Pedersen also recommends studying 5 to 10 creators you admire and copying their structures rather than their words. She reports that one of her reels made $10K in sales after she reverse-engineered patterns from other creators. Structure is not plagiarism. The way someone opens a video, the rhythm of their carousel, the hook they use in the first three seconds, those are patterns you can learn.
This beats waiting for inspiration, especially when you are a founder wearing five hats. Inspiration arrives when it arrives. A system produces ideas on demand.
Which content ideas work best when you are starting from zero?
The content ideas that work best when you are starting from zero are the ones that introduce you, teach something useful and show the human behind the logo. A (re)introduction post is the easiest win for a business nobody knows yet. Tell people who you are, what you sell and why you started. Monroe Creative lists this as a foundational content type for building connection, according to Monroe Creative.
How-to guides answer the questions your customers are already asking. If you sell accounting software, explain how to categorise expenses. If you run a bakery, show how to store sourdough. These posts earn search traffic and social saves because they solve a specific problem.
Behind the scenes content shows the human side of the business. A photo of your packing station, a video of a team meeting, a story about a delivery going wrong. Monroe Creative includes behind the scenes in its list of 15 engaging content ideas. People buy from people, especially when the business is new and has no brand recognition to lean on.
Memes and light-hearted posts earn reach without a big budget. Hootsuite lists memes among its 40 social media post ideas, noting that humour travels further than corporate polish. Short-form video is also worth prioritising. Hootsuite reports that brands published 71% more short videos in a year, citing a Metricool report. The audience has moved, and new businesses should follow.
How do you turn one idea into a week of content?
You turn one idea into a week of content by using Rachel Pedersen’s Domino Content Blueprint, which converts one core idea into five pieces across formats: reel, carousel, blog post, IG Story and podcast or live stream. The core idea stays the same. The format changes to suit the platform and the audience’s attention span.
Repurposing beats creating from scratch when you are time-poor. A single recording session can become a week of posts if you plan the extraction before you hit record. Pedersen’s blueprint is described in her content idea system, and it works because it removes the daily decision about what to post.
The platform data supports this approach. Hootsuite reports that Instagram carousels pull in around 10% engagement in recent benchmarks, and TikTok engagement climbed 35% in a year, citing Metricool. Carousels reward depth. TikTok rewards speed. The Domino Blueprint gives you both from one idea.
Longer-form anchors make the slicing easier. NYTLicensing recommends starting a podcast and writing blog posts as part of a content marketing strategy. I run the Delivered Social Podcast and a blog network, and one recording typically becomes a blog post, several short clips, a carousel and a handful of quote graphics. The recording is the anchor. Everything else is downstream.
Should you use customer content instead of making everything yourself?
Yes, you should use customer content, especially when you are a new business with no track record of your own. User-generated content such as product reviews, testimonials and social posts featuring your product carries a credibility that brand-created content cannot match. NYTLicensing recommends utilising user-generated content as part of a broader content marketing approach.
The trust data backs this up. Hootsuite cites a study in which 60% of consumers said they trust what individuals say about a brand more than what the brand says about itself. That is a significant gap, and it matters most when nobody has heard of you yet.
Customer testimonials work as a content idea in their own right. Hootsuite includes them in its list of 40 social media post ideas. A screenshot of a kind email, a short video of a customer explaining their result, a before-and-after story, all of these count as proof content.
Asking for customer content does not need to feel awkward. The simplest approach is to ask a specific question after a positive interaction: “Would you mind if I shared that?” Most happy customers say yes. Then repurpose the answer across formats, always with permission and credit.
What content ideas help you grow an email list or generate leads?
Content ideas that help you grow an email list or generate leads are the ones that offer something valuable in exchange for contact details. An e-book or whitepaper is a proven lead generation tool for growing an email list, according to NYTLicensing. The key is making the resource specific enough that only your ideal customer would want it.
Collaborating with other brands is another lead-generation lever. NYTLicensing recommends collaborating with other brands to reach an audience you do not have yet. A joint webinar, a co-authored guide or a shared social campaign puts your business in front of people who already trust the partner brand.
Writing blog posts that target the questions people search before they buy builds a long-term lead engine. These posts capture search demand and introduce your business at the exact moment someone is researching a problem. NYTLicensing lists blog posts among its core content marketing ideas.
Lead-gen content should sit alongside reach content rather than replace it. Reach content builds familiarity. Lead-gen content converts familiarity into contact details. At Delivered Social, content production feeds directly into client lead generation because we plan both types in the same calendar. The reach posts warm the audience. The lead magnets capture the ones who are ready.
How can Jonathan Bird and Delivered Social help you put these content ideas into practice?
Jonathan Bird runs Delivered Social, an award-winning digital marketing agency that offers website development, social media management, SEO services, creative content production, training and workshops, plus the Delivered Social Podcast. The agency exists for business owners who want results without building an in-house marketing team from day one.
The training and workshops side exists specifically for business owners who want to learn the system rather than outsource it. If you would rather understand the content buckets, the sprint method and the repurposing process yourself, the workshops give you the framework and the practice time.
Creative content production is for founders who have the ideas but not the time or the team. The agency can take a single recording or a core idea and turn it into the week of content described in this article, handled by people who do this every day.
The agency is based in the UK and works with small-to-medium businesses across the country. The website is the best place to see the full range of services and start a conversation about which option fits your stage.
Key Takeaways
- The best content ideas for a new business are the ones that build know, like and trust, not the ones chasing the trendiest format.
- Rachel Pedersen’s five content buckets are Authority, Relatable, Value, Proof and Belief-Shifting.
- Pedersen’s 60-minute sprint method has entrepreneurs finishing with 100 to 120 content ideas.
- The Domino Content Blueprint turns one core idea into five pieces across reel, carousel, blog post, IG Story and podcast or live stream.
- Brands published 71% more short videos in a year, and TikTok engagement climbed 35%.
- Around 60% of consumers trust what individuals say about a brand more than what the brand says about itself.
- An e-book or whitepaper is a proven lead generation tool for growing an email list.
References
Jonathan Bird
Head-Honcho over at DeliveredSocial.com – an award-winning digital marketing agency. You’ll often find me tucked away watching Star Trek (yep even Discovery…) or reading the latest business book (it’s my thing!).
Head-Honcho over at DeliveredSocial.com – an award-winning digital marketing agency. You’ll often find me tucked away watching Star Trek (yep even Discovery…) or reading the latest business book (it’s my thing!).
