At a loss for some good ideas? I was starting at my screen today trying to think up some ideas for new products, blog posts, free content, tutorials… you name it. Since I wasn't in the mood and therefore wasn't getting very far, a little Google search was in order.
The result? I found a few nifty tools and resources for quickly generating ideas when you're at a lost or just need some inspiration – whether it's a blog post topic or an idea for improving your product.
And if these few resources aren't enough for generating ideas, I did another post earlier on 12 Top Tools for Generating Blog Post Ideas. That should keep you busy for a while!
100 Whats of Creativity
This slide presentation is actually a free version of a book by Don ‘The Idea Guy' Holliday. While at first the ‘what if' questions look like they're more for improving physical products, don't let that fool you.
Instead, take one topic/service/product/challenge you have and randomly pick some ‘what if' questions to apply to it.
Freeplane
Freeplane is from the same people who created Freemind, but it takes mind mapping to a new level. One thing that always frustrated me with traditional mind mapping software like Freemind is the inability to put some notes and ideas in a separate map on the same page.
Freeplane lets you do ‘post its' on your map and all sorts of other things. Like Freemind, it's open source software. In other words, it's free!
If you really want to get some inspiration quickly WITHOUT going through Google, head to the visual source – Pinterest. No slogging through blog posts for ideas. It's all there in a snapshot.
Take a look at a few of the pins that came up when I typed in ‘content marketing' in the search box on Pinterest:
Just scanning through, I can find all sorts of topics that are popular and which I could create new products about.
What's your favorite way to generate ideas in a pinch?
If you need something more than just generating ideas, be sure to also check out our customizable course on Brilliant Brainstorming Methods.
It includes 7 methods that are great to use for any problem you need to tackle, small or large:
==> Brilliant Brainstorming Methods
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