Stephanie Donelson

Tired of creating the same kind of blog posts over and over? While it’s great to have a template and tried-and-true blog style, it can become exhausting finding new topics or finding different ways to say the same thing over and over again.

Shake things up this year by trying new blog formats or even new topics. 

Business blogging is still a fantastic content marketing tactic to draw in new customers and keep current customers engaged with your brand. It’s also an easy way to optimize your website for the right keyword terms, but both the search engines and your blog’s readers want fresh content.

Repurposing content is a valid way to get more out of one piece of content, but you should also dedicate time to crafting new, original content for your audience. If you’re unsure of what other formats or styles to try, these 15 ideas are a great starting point!

15 blog ideas for 2021

1. Thoughts from the CEO

Make your company’s CEO accessible by having semi-regular blog posts from their perspective on what’s going on in the industry, trends they’re watching, career advice, or anything they deem relevant to your customers and prospects. 

Not only does it establish your CEO and brand as a thought leader but it also adds a human element to your blog post as the readers know there’s a person behind the post. 

2. Employee interviews

Interview new and tenured employees so customers can get to know the people they may interact with or the people who design their favorite product. It’s your chance to show off the amazing people that work for your company, recognize their talent and skills, and help authenticate your brand’s culture through the people that live it every day. 

3. Customer profile

Call attention to your cool clients and customers by doing a business profile or interview with them! You could also get a two-for one out of this idea by linking to a gated case study on that same client. 

4. Career milestones

This post could be written from anyone in your organization and have the feeling of “things I wish I knew when I started my career” behind it. Maybe your CMO shares their career highlights and advice they have for others desiring a C-suite role in the future or interns could share what they’ve learned during their experience and tips to set future interns up for success. A lot of people are looking for career advice or insider information about working in a specific industry, so be the one to provide it.

5. A day in the life

An alternative to sharing things people wished they knew before getting into their career could be doing a day in the life-style post where you follow an employee around and show what their day-to-day responsibilities include. Mix it up by following leadership executives and on-the-ground workers. Mix in how these employees contribute to the company’s mission and showcase the values each and every day. 

This kind of post isn’t just limited to your own company! You could ask business partners or clients if they want to share what a day in the life looks like at their company or in their specific industry. 

6. Recommended reading

If your company or a certain team has a book club, share information about the book they’re reading or create a recommending reading list for people interested in your industry. You could even pull out specific quotes or write a chapter analysis to add more to the discussion. 

7. FAQs

Talk to your sales and customer service reps to learn what questions might not be answered by your website’s content and create content around those questions! Maybe this is a quarterly roundup of the most popularly asked questions or a monthly post – it’s dependent on how many questions your customer-facing reps get and how you can properly address them in a blog. 

8. Fact vs. fiction

It’s time to bust some myths in your industry and share what’s true and what’s fake. Maybe there are common misconceptions about your industry or even your product that you can shine some light (and truth) on. 

9. Curated/Roundup-style

Point your customers in the right direction of great content by doing a roundup of top news, articles, blogs, infographics, etc. and link to them from your blog. This style of blog should have some regularity to it and be a staple of your blog’s calendar, otherwise it’ll just seem random and it will look like you were backed into a corner and couldn’t come up with something better. Perhaps start with a monthly roundup of the top five things your audience must read. 

10. Analogy

Have a technical product? Simplify it for new audiences by creating an easy-to-understand analogy or story to walk people through it. I once did a piece on SEO and how it’s like dining at a restaurant. The customer was the person running the search, the waiter was the search engine, the menu was the keyword index, and the dish was the actual website. 

These types of posts can take a complex topic and translate it into something we’ve all experienced. 

11. Checklist

Help other industry professionals or your customers get more out of your product or service by having checklists. These are quick pieces of content that can help solve a customer’s problem or position your brand as a leader in the space.

Checklists could be along the lines of:

• 10 things your blog needs before you hit publish
• 5 things to do when changing your last name
• 4 ways to prepare for your first visit
• Test your software installation in 3 steps
• Day-of checklist for hosting a webinar

12. Inside jokes

Every industry or group of professionals have their own jokes or can relate on a certain subject.

Turn those jokes into a blog post or roundup of the funniest ones your brand has come across. Is this kind of content groundbreaking? No, but it’s fun and can help humanize your brand and get people engaged – especially when it’s shared on social media. 

13. Top problems in your industry and best solutions 

Do a mini industry report or industry research by surveying others and discovering the top problems in your industry and the best solutions available today. This post could also include quotes from industry influencers, links to free trials of software solutions, or ideas of how to future-proof operations. 

14. The evolution of your industry or company

Take your audience on a journey as you walk through the timeline and major milestones of your company or important dates in history for your specific industry. 

15. A review of the conferences and events in your industry

If your company attends or exhibits at certain conferences or tradeshows, talk about it! Attend the sessions, listen to what people are saying, meet with exhibitors and write a recap of the event or things people missed if they couldn’t attend the event themselves. 

You could also do a compare and contrast of two similar events to help attendees learn which show is better or worth their investment in continued education. 

What other creative business blog ideas are you implementing in 2021? Share your ideas in the comments below or tag me on Twitter!