Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

Sometimes it’s just hard to be creative. It really is. I consult with many technology and start-up organizations, and I work with dreamers who love to drain the right side of my brain. By the end of a work week, my creativity is often tapped out.

And as a part of my business, and as a way of giving back, I blog. And (I often liken it to caring for a dog) just because you’re tired doesn’t mean you can neglect your blog.

This past week I’ve been talking a lot about blogging as I’ve been networking around town. And one of my basic tenets of blogging for business is this:

Never tie a corporate blog to just one person.

It’s precisely because we get tired (or go on vacation… or get sick… or are out walking the dog…) that we sometimes just need a break from blogging.

If you don’t have the luxury of relying on others to keep the blog dynamic and scintillating, you can still rely on others for good blog fodder when you’re out of ideas yourself. Here’s a brief synopsis of where I get great content ideas for my blog:

1. Newsletters to which I subscribe and are delivered into my email - my personal favorites (on the topics of marketing, technology and social media) are those from the ClickZ network and the IAB Smartbrief.
2. Blog posts from the blogs to whom I subscribe and read via my Attensa RSS reader. RSS readership, by the way, is growing this year - 34% percent of global respondents to a March social media survey from Universal McCann said they had “ever” subscribed to an RSS feed, up from 15% in 2007 (via ClickZ).
3. Research in the marketplace. Just this week I got a link from my friend Bryce to a fantastic piece of research from the California Health Care Association called “The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Media.” A woman named Jean Sarason-Kahn of THINK-Health (who blogs at Health Populi) wrote it, and it’s a must read for anyone looking into health care or social media.
4. Invite guest bloggers to post for you. I got such an invitation a few weeks ago from my friend Meryl over at Meryl.net. Her blog turns 8 years old tomorrow - 8 years! - and in celebration, she’s taking some time off. So she invited friends to provide her with some guest posts so she can take time off. I wrote one that will run sometime next week - talk about a little extra pressure, writing for someone else’s blog! But it was great fun, and I look forward to seeing it run.

If you’re going to post using other’s ideas, add some value: sprinkle a little of your own opinion and make sure your examples add to the conversation. That way, even though you’re not being overly taxed to be creative, at least you’re collaborating with- and contributing to- their work in some way.