How to create curious content with the subset strategy
Hi,
Finding new and interesting angles for content can often be a struggle.
We may spend hours trying to find one good idea for our next blog or video. But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if you could generate an endless supply of ideas in a matter of minutes.
That's where the subset strategy comes in.
You'll see how to use the power of subsets to generate endless content ideas, all of which will be unique and interesting.
Let's get started.
Rodney
How to create curious content with the subset strategy
When my niece was very young, I asked her if she was excited about her upcoming trip to the zoo.
"What's at the zoo," she asked.
"A lot of animals," I said. And I listed a few, including pandas.
Her eyes lit up. "Do they have a Kung Fu panda?"
I tried not to laugh and said, "No, just a regular panda." And the twinkle in her eye left.
What excited my niece was not just a panda but a specific type of panda - a subset of pandas, if you will.
When we write articles, we can also create more interest and sometimes even excitement by moving from the general to the specific, from the set to the subset. By doing so, we create articles with much greater curiosity.
Let's look at how we can create curiosity with the power of subsets in our writing.
What is a subset when it comes to creating articles?
A subset is a set of ideas that fits under a larger umbrella.
For marketing, you might have the following subset.
One person business
Pricing
Selling
Scarcity
Value propositions
Uniqueness
For fitness, you might have the following subset of ideas
Running
Weight lifting
Nutrition
Warm-ups
Injuries
For house cleaning, it might be
Decluttering
Dusting
Sweeping
Moping
Windows
And each idea in your subset can be broken down into yet another subset.
For example, Marketing > Scarcity can be broken down to
Time scarcity
Number scarcity (limited quantity)
Consequence of scarcity
False scarcity
But so what? Why do subsets matter?
My niece's interest in a "Kung Fu Panda" showed one reason - a subset is far more interesting than a general topic. There are a million general articles on marketing but very few on pricing for a one-person business.
Thousands of articles on decluttering have been written, but few discuss one area of clutter in depth.
The more specific your article, the more useful it will be. And because focused articles are shorter, readers can get a result quickly which builds your authority.
And how do we turn subsets into ideas for our content?
First, you start with a broad topic. Second, you develop a set of ideas under that topic (a subset). Finally, you break those ideas down into their own subsets. Let's see an example.
I write about courses, so here's one way I've broken down ideas into subsets.
At the top level is just one idea "courses."
I found three aspects of courses: building them, marketing them, and running them. So far, my list looks like the following.
Courses
Building
Marketing
Running (as in running a live course)
Then, I make a subset under each of these ideas, breaking it down even further.
Let's look at Courses > Building, which looks like this.
Courses
Building
Results
Topics
Exercises
Feedback (to students)
Feedback (from students
Rest days
I break down Courses > Running into the following.
Courses
Running (as in running a live course)
Onboarding
Offboarding
Feedback (to students)
Feedback (from students)
Content delivery
Live meetings
And I could continue with Courses > Marketing, but I think you get the picture.
Once you have your list, you can take any of the ideas and turn them into article topics
For example, Courses > Running > Feedback could become "How to get critical feedback at the end of a course (even if students are reluctant)."
And Courses > Running > Content Delivery might turn into "Why it's important to deliver incremental content and avoid shock and awe."
Finally, Courses > Building > Exercises could be “Why the exercise first model builds highly effective learning experiences (and why content first often fails)”.
As you can see, when you focus on a subset, it's easier to come up with content ideas.
But just like any exercise that produces many ideas, you won't like them all.
Which may lead to a question about motivation.
What if I'm not inspired by all the ideas I list?
When you don't like an idea, then don't write about it. If you're not interested, it will be hard to get readers interested. As a writer, you're transferring your enthusiasm to the reader.
If you don't have enthusiasm, there's nothing to transfer.
And as you saw, this method can generate dozens of ideas very quickly, so there's no reason to force yourself to write about topics, that are not interesting to you.
But what if my idea is too niche?
Guess what? All the non-niche topics have been done to death. How many articles exist on how to create an online course? Or how to make an online workshop?
Notice they inspire no curiosity.
Compare that to
Or
Everyone knows they don't know what you're going to share when your topic is so specific because they haven't heard that angle before. That's why such unique topics make the right people curious.
Now, let's sum up what we've discussed so far.
Summary
A subset is a set of ideas that fit under a larger umbrella.
Each idea in a subset can lead to a deeper subset.
Each subset gives you many more ideas for articles, videos, podcasts, and you name it.
One power of a subset is that it creates unique and interesting topics for your content.
To use subsets, take any idea, find the subideas under it, and break those ideas down even further if need be. You'll end up with dozens of ideas.
If your idea seems too niche, keep in mind that all the general ideas have been talked about to death. Your idea will be more interesting since people haven't heard that angle before.
And if you are not inspired by all the ideas, that's OK. Only write about the ones that interest you most.
The subset has power and so does the subset under the subset. The more you drill down, the more interesting your article will be. And you'll create interest that's genuine.
No need to add in any fancy bears.
With the power of subsets, you can continually find new approaches to writing about the same topics forever.
Do you have a winning course idea?
No one wants to spend weeks or months creating a course they cannot sell. Imagine if there was a way to ensure your idea had legs before you put in too much effort. Well, you don't have to imagine it. I've created it. Read my article “How to Create a Winning Course Idea" and you'll discover there are rational steps that will help you shape your idea into something you can sell.