How to Steal Great Content Ideas

How to Steal Great Content Ideas

Reader Comments (54)

  1. Brian;

    This has been one of my secrets to success.

    I always look at what works well in other industries and try and figure out how I could apply it to my own.

    The key to all of this: You MUST be looking outside your domain for inspiration.

    Mike

  2. Great post Brian. So who wrote it before you?

    Experiencing outside your industry and understanding how those outside experiences apply to yours is the way to innovate.

    I think Van Gogh always saw himself as a link in a chain and all his work came out of what went before and would inspire what came after.

    Blues musicians are another link in the chain example. The idea is to copy a riff from someone you admire and add a piece of yourself to it thereby creating something both new and borrowed and continuing the evolution of the music itself.

  3. you’re stealing one of your old quotes aren’t you? it’s one of my favourites by picasso. i use it often.

  4. Most ideas are where someone has added their own view to it.

    There are new ideas, for example before we knew about the atom nobody had written about it.

  5. I understand the Picasso quote, “Bad artists copy. Great artists steal.” as:

    Bad artists copy words. Great artists steal ideas.

    Attribution amnesia and copyright infringement are hallmarks of the “bad artist”. A great artist will lift ideas from others’ work like silly putty from newsprint.

  6. Brian, this is a very inspiring post for me. I’ve been struggling with this concept for a while now, as the concept of “stealing” was holding me back to write on several occasions. That’s one of the drawback of naming my blog “How to be an original” I guess.

    I especially like the observation about having revolutionary ideas that have been thought of before by men in robes. Seeing that as a step on the road to greatness is very insightful, and very helpful. Thanks for that!

  7. Wherever I go, whatever I read, I have a little program running in my brain that wonders if this could be related to coping with physical pain, my blog topic.
    While talking with the sushi makers at the Japanese sushi bar, they talked about cramps and pain in their hands and back… hmmm… a post.
    While reading the throw-away magazine on American Airlines, I came across a story about a restaurant that tracks your satisfaction at multiple points during your dining experience… hmmm, how would this work in the doctor’s office? … a post.
    etc.
    thanks for the interesting post.

  8. I can’t believe you just wrote this post today, because I was thinking through very similar things on my blog. Would you do me a favor and take a look at today’s post and comment on it.

    I have been thinking where creativity and good ideas come from, and too often we try to create something out of “nothing”. But creativity is about borrowing other ideas and making NEW ASSOCIATIONS.

    great stuff.

    bill

  9. Or, as Mister Rogers used to say, “You learn something old every day.”

    It’s the unique way you put it to use that makes others want to learn from your take on it.

  10. I’ve seen that innovation doesn’t generally happen in big leaps. Instead, people figure out ways to evolve things better; they apply things that have worked before but in a new application. It’s this sort of cross-pollination that’s at the key to success.

  11. On a similar vain I’d reccomend online copywriters buying a few papers everyday, Skim read them for anything that can all be related to your topic you’d be surprised how much you can find that just needs tying into your specialism.

  12. The key, as I’m sure you all know, is to filter the information in new ways — through your senses, how you think and see the world. In fact, that is a must in adding value. Innovation is also looking at the same thing with new eyes.

    A good lesson in how to grab attention by headline, Brian 😉

  13. I like the part you said about your “mother-in-law” the best — finding answers in unusual places. Priceless!

    For people who are concerned about plagiarism, an idea is one thing while a written piece of work is another one. Hopefully, if other sources are used, the proper citations are included.

  14. I’m going to read this article every time I try talk myself out of writing something that is important to me. My greatest struggle right now is in overcoming the fact that what I want to write about has been written about before, countless times, and in countless ways. I’m always ask myself, “What could I possibly do that is different, and who would really care?” Your statment that one’s special “connection” to the subject matter makes all the difference, and is difference enough, is encouraging to me.

    Thank you!

    Marna Reinhardt

  15. Wonderful post and those quotes are superb.

    Here’s another:

    “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug” ~ Mark Twain

    The right word or words can make or break an ad – and the chances that those words (or the idea those words reflect) haven’t been used before are minuscule.

    If we learn from copy that has gone before – what works and what doesn’t – we’ll all be better at what we do.

    After all, we aren’t called Copy Writers for nuthin’

    -Barry

    (TheScrivener)

  16. This is why the best writers will always be curious thinkers with a broad exposure to ideas and NOT products of a market-based curriculum designed to churn out workers. Fantastic post, Brian.

  17. >>> “There’s nothing new under the sun,” is a saying I’m sure you’re familiar with.

    Translation: I’ve heard that somewhere, I don’t have a clue where it’s from.

    Hint: Ecclesiastes 1:9, Old Testament of The Bible.

  18. I always liked the lines from an old Tom Lehrer song (sung with a bad Russian accent):
    “Plagiarize!
    Let no-one else’s work evade your eyes.
    Remember why the good lord made your eyes
    and plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize –
    Only be sure always to call it please, Research!”
    On a more serious note, one thing that often discourages me as a writer is the tendency, when I’ve had a good idea, to immediately find that idea expressed by someone else.

  19. I think I’m doing this with my Integrated Marketing Comm classes. Brand = blog and product = content. I’d probably be bored to tears without the help of a good metaphor!

  20. I find that a lot of people use the same content, the same news, the same videos, things like that. You can simply look around at what other bloggers are doing and then offer your own commentary on whatever content they’ve posted up.

    stuart

  21. Stuart, that’s exactly what you *should not* be doing. That’s why so many bloggers are unremarkable.

    Look instead to art, science, gardening or pop culture for inspiration, and thereby develop a unique perspective instead of a “me too and here’s my opinion that no one cares about” blog. There are enough of those.

  22. Hi Brian, thanks for all this valuable information.

    I have a question for you about researching a topic:

    Where can I go to find information about different subjects? If I look information on it on the web I always run into OTHER articles that tell a lot of what I need to know but I don’t want to steal their work.

    What should I do??

    Thanks.
    Patrick

    PS. My email is patrick.post.534@gmail.com

  23. Great post, even if you had to beg, borrow or steal it. I prefer to call it inspiration. Either that or my baby boomer brain syndrome that doesn’t recognize the familiar sound of my own and others’ thoughts. 🙂

  24. Some days you’re the windshield, and some days you’re the bug; after one or two bug days, you need a laugh.

    I appreciated this post because it made me laugh myself silly, and because it reminds me of things I’ve thought about previously.

    And all my best ideas were stolen by the ancients is one of the funniest comments on the planet, and I will be using that in an upcoming blogpost; after it’s been properly recycled by my independent imagination, of course.

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