4 Simple Brainstorming Techniques To Help Write Killer Content

4 Simple Brainstorming Techniques To Help Write Killer Content Brainstorming is supposed to be about harnessing the power of thinking outside the box to solve that  impossible problem.  Its the magic that helps you find amazing, unique ideas. Its not magic,  of course, but when youre desperate- possibly with writers block- magic sounds good. Brainstorming techniques are what you turn to  when youre stuck and dont know what to do next. They can be  great tools because anyone- group or single person- can use them. 4 Simple #Brainstorming Techniques That Will Help You Write Killer #Content via @JulieNeidlinger4 Reasons You Should  Brainstorm If You Want To  Become A Better Writer But why go through the hassle of  using brainstorming techniques at all? There are generally four reasons that people turn to brainstorming: You need ideas. You have a problem to solve. You are looking to improve creative thinking. You want your team to work together better. The first two reasons get the lions share of the attention, but the last two, which lean toward extra-curricular exercises, are just as important. If you want to be ready during go-time for the first two, youd better take a few practice swings at it using the last two. Whether its just you or youre a part of a team, make brainstorming and creative challenges a regular habit. Brainstorming as a group. First, a caveat. Its no secret that Im wary of group brainstorming. That particular method of getting ideas has become a  standard solution for teams trying to solve problems. While it can sometimes create more problems than it solves by encouraging social loafing and rewarding some personalities over others, there are times when your team has to get together and come up with ideas. Brainstorming techniques  are also good for helping teams learn to work together. Brainstorming on your own. Brainstorming isnt reserved for groups of people, though thats how most of us think of it. There are times when youre on your own and need to generate ideas and solve problems all the same. As an artist and writer with deadlines, Im most familiar with brainstorming on my own.  In fact, I did a little solo brainstorming recently, for this very topic. While trying to come up with an idea for my own  blog post, I realized that it might be helpful to readers if I told them how I came up with ideas and got  past creative blocks in my own work- 14 ideas in all. As I looked through those 14 brainstorming techniques, I began to see three basic approaches to brainstorming that I thought would be useful to you. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour. - Mary Kay Ash 4 Brainstorming Techniques That Will Help You Write Creative Content Brainstorming techniques can take a few basic approaches. Once you understand how they work, you can mix and match them for the best results. 1. Use associative brainstorming techniques to get unstuck. Association is a powerful way to get past typical thinking, and to get out of a rut. We generally come up with ideas that are obvious at first, and associative brainstorming is a good way to artificially force yourself past that point instead of hours of work. Its a kind of shortcut that taps into the subconscious, the associations you already know but dont allow yourself to think. Associative brainstorming works best for copy writers, creativity exercises, or when youre stuck in a creative project and dont know what content to create next. This  can also be fun during your regular team building exercises. Word storm. A word storm is where you write down the words that come to mind when you see another word. You might start with a word or two based on your project, and begin writing down any word that comes to mind. These words are then grouped together according to how they are related to each other. Youll quickly create words that are associated or related, according to categories. There is a Word Storm website that can help you get started with word storm techniques. Word association. Word associations are the same as a word storm, except that you dont group according to how the words are related to each other. It works better as a technique to get creativity flowing when you dont want to bother with over-thinking how words are related. Start with a word or two, and write down the first words that come to mind. Dont over-think the process; you should be surprised at the words that pop into your head, particularly as you get warmed up. The goal is to find those hidden words that people associate with a topic that you dont immediately think of. Mind mapping. Using a mind map is a way to visually organize data and information.  Mind mapping has proven popular, particularly if you are better able to understand data visually instead of as lists or outlines. Organized around a central idea, a mind map works like the branch of a tree. Ideas and then sub ideas that are associated with the main idea branch off from the central idea. Word banks. Word banks are collections of words based on the kind of word you need based on a specific topic or theme. This kind of brainstorming technique works well for copywriters who want to find a variety of words that suit a specific project without repeating themselves. You can also use it to build a bank of words to keep on hand when writing your headlines. This is an example of power words we pulled together in a word bank to help you write more emotional headlines. Using a word storm might be one way to start a collection of words for your word bank, though the two techniques are not the same. Visual association. While visual associations aren't a typical tool for content marketers, they can be useful  both in planning beforehand as well as after visual content has been created. Using visual association after a project is completed would make sure that what you've created doesn't raise negative associations in your audience. It is best done by people who weren't on the team so that their associations are honest and not tainted by being too familiar with the project. Visual association is much like word association. Think of a Rorschach test, in which you jot down whatever words or thoughts come to mind when you see an image. The control for this method is what images you will use. I actually have a book where I collect images from magazines and other sources. You might do the same, or use a different image source. Need #brainstorming inspiration? Try word storms, word associations, mind mapping, or word banks.2. Use measurable brainstorming to choose the best solution. In some situations, you need to make decisions that are based on more than random associations. This is where problem solving brainstorming steps in, when you need something concrete. Pros and cons. You probably already use an on-the-fly method of pros and cons to make decisions in life. Writing down pros and cons in a structured manner with a few rules can make this a powerful tool. Write down what you are trying to choose between. Then, list the pros and cons to tally up a total. The option with the most pros is the route to go. You have to be careful to not cheat, though, and purposefully stack the list the way you want it to go. Let's look at an example of cheating. Say that Jim, Todd, and Erica make up Team B.  Cheating would look like this: Con: Team A will be upset. Pro: Jim will be happy. Pro: Todd will be happy. Pro: Erica will be happy. Three pros, one con, the pros have it! Pros and cons help you cut through the gray area where you either aren't sure what to do, or don't want to admit what you know you should do. When done right, the numbers are convincing. Pros and cons (weighted). There are times when some pros and cons outweigh others. In this case, you would need to weight the list because each item is not equally important. To do this, you'd need to start by listing your top goals, the things most important to you. Instead of each list item being counted as one, the more important items in your list of goals would have a higher weight. Pros and cons seem simple, but we have a tendency to cheat. Often, there is a decision we want to be the right one and we try to validate it by loading the pros and cons either way. When pros and cons just don't work, try weighted measurable #brainstorming.3. Take a new view to gain an entirely new perspective. While associative brainstorming helps you find entirely new paths, and measurable brainstorming gives you confidence to make decisions, finding a new view works when you're on the right track but just not able to nail it down. It's that feeling of being so close, but not quite there. Ask, "What if..." By simply asking, "What if?", you can turn everything on its head. Many fiction writers advocate asking yourself "what if" not only when you're stuck, but even when the writing is going well. Wondering what might happen if something changed, and using your brainstorming prowess to run with it, is a good way to get a different view on the project or problem. Think prepositionally. My 7th grade English teacher did me a great service when she helped us understand prepositional phrases by visualizing a box. Prepositional phrases generally tell where something was, and so she said that any time you saw a phrase in a sentence that could be used in relation to a box, you probably were dealing with a prepositional phrase. For example: in the box, under the box, over the box, beside the box, and so on. When it comes to brainstorming, it's not about writing prepositional phrases, but it's about imagining the problem or project you are working on to be like that box. What if you took a swing at it from the other side? From under it? From ahead of it? Now you start challenging yourself to think of something from a different perspective, from a different time (past or present) and all sorts of directions. Ask questions. Oddly, most of us, particularly when working in teams, have the answers we're looking for (or close to it). We feel stuck, though, because we aren't able to sift through all the questions and the rest of the creative noise and pare down to that answer we wanted. By whittling away at what you know and removing the extraneous from the table, you can push aside the curtain and finally see the answer. This is where questions come into play. Write down the questions you have about the project or problem. Then, for each of these questions, start listing the answers quickly. As you begin to answer the initial questions, other questions will come to mind that are associated with the answers you're jotting down. Write down these sub-questions and do the same procedure. In a way, it's like creating an outline that is based on questions.