Content Ideas Hiding In Plain Sight
I was on the train back from Portsmouth to Chichester in early December when I spotted it – HMS Warrior sitting in its usual spot in the harbour, dramatic clouds rolling overhead, light playing across the water. The kind of scene that makes you grab your phone.
So I snapped the photo and sent it straight to my client, Shazia Mahmood, an artist with 30+ years of practice under her belt.
My question was this: "Is it more Turner or Constable-esque?"
What happened next was a simple trigger unlocking some content gold. And it helped pass a 40min train journey :)
Shazia didn't simple say "Turner". She reeled off why it was Turner-esque – the master of light, how that light makes you feel, his skill with observation versus Constable's safer approach. She talked about Turner pushing boundaries, being the Tracey Emin of his time. Turner is dramatic | Constable is safe.
She was well n truly fired up. I could feel it in every WhatsApp notification ping!
So I asked one more question: "Which other artists have inspired you over your career, and which specific pieces of theirs stand out?"
She named eight artists, just like that. The feeling, the inspiration – it was all right there, deep in her practice, waiting to be asked about. A few of the names I knew, because she's mentioned them over the past 6 years of us working together, but the why and what really brought it to life for me and you can see/feel their influence in her work; and the lessons each of them taught her.
Here's what that one photo and two questions became:
A blog post + Eight individual blog posts (one for each artist) published on her website and as an article on her business page
A 22-page book (just for Shazia, for Christmas) - designed in and directly shipped from Canva
Still to come ... potentially a series on one of her social channels, we’ll test out how it lands before committing.
All from a photo and genuine curiosity.
Of course there's a lesson or two in here!
The best content ideas aren't hiding in complicated content calendars or marketing frameworks. They're not buried in AI prompts or template libraries.
They're in the things you already know. The things that fire you up. The knowledge you carry so deeply you forget other people don't have it.
If you're stuck for content as a business owner:
Ask yourself what made you fall in love with your work in the first place. What gets you animated at networking events or socials? What would you talk about for hours if someone just asked?
That's your content.
If you're working with a marketing professional on your content:
The magic happens when they're genuinely curious about what makes you tick. Not following a template. Not asking generic discovery questions. Actually listening and noticing what lights you up.
If you're a marketing professional creating content for others:
Your job isn't to be clever or manufacture "engaging posts". It's to notice what's already remarkable and ask the right questions. Sometimes that's a photo of a ship. Sometimes it's a throwaway comment about their product or process. Always, it's about genuine curiosity.
The content is there. Right under your nose. In your WhatsApp chats, your voice notes, your off-the-cuff explanations, Google bookmarks, scrawled in a notebook or on a post-it.
You just have to notice it.
