Writer’s block strikes everyone at some point. Even the best journalists, authors and bloggers will sit down, digital pen in hand, only to be bereft of ideas. Words, literally, fail them and it can happen to us all at some point.  We all struggle for inspiration.

This can be a common problem for businesses that delve into email marketing and particularly those that write the content themselves.

If you find yourself staring at a blank email, itching to catch up on your Twitter timeline instead, there are a few simple tips which can get the creative juices flowing.

Invite someone else to contribute.

This isn’t a cop out. Aside from bringing a fresh perspective to your email marketing, you’ll be giving someone else the opportunity to express themselves and they may just have the topic you need to reignite your campaign. If you publish note of the author in your emails, a fresh face will also engage your audience further.

Bring out the inner journalist in you

Journalists sniff out stories. If there’s nothing staring them in the face, they’ll hunt a topic down. Email marketing is no different. Go and have a chat with the head of Projects or the guy you steer clear of in accounts. Something may have happened in a department other than your own that is gold dust in terms of marketing. A successful project, a new, easy way of customers making payments to you… Inspirational stuff.

Why not interview an in-house expert on their subject of expertise and include the transcript in your email?

You get the idea; leave your office and mingle. A great email marketing campaign is a collaborative one.

Invent news

This isn’t an excuse to dream up fanciful stories about products or case studies that don’t exist, but rather a creative way of drumming up subject matter during quiet months.

It is often said your customers are your best salespeople and they can be your best marketeers, too. Write a case study about a long-standing customer and throw in some free advertising for them. Similarly, pick a product or service and get some quotes from two or three customers, offering the same free exposure for them as a thank you. Before you know it, you’ve got an email newsletter packed with interesting content and for relatively little literary effort on your part.

Quite often, inspiration is where you least expect it. Don’t be afraid to explore.