Content is King.
Content is Queen.
We’ve heard it all.
And that’s for a good reason.
Content works for your users and for search engines like Google.
So it is more important than ever to have a strong content strategy as a part of your overall marketing strategy.
And with so much noise out there, and especially uncontrolled, bad AI content, your content needs to stand out from the crowd. To accomplish this, you need a plan.
And not just any plan.
But one that actually helps you reach your goals.
But how does one go about creating a content strategy from scratch?
Let’s establish from the beginning that this should not be a rushed process. It also cannot be done in a vacuum. Multiple people need to be involved in creating your strategy because multiple people will ultimately be involved in implementing your strategy.
So get your team, and follow this five-step process to establishing a content strategy that includes all the necessary steps for an outstanding campaign.
1. Get to know your business.
Yes, you obviously already know you own business, duh!
This step is not just about knowing your products and services inside and out (although that is certainly necessary.) At the forefront of the campaign, everyone on the team needs to be on the same page about:
- Goals: What are the ultimate goals of the campaign (Do you want to increase sales? Or just brand awareness?)
- Limits: What is currently limiting you from achieving your goals? Budget? Team?
- Brand: Your brand identity (Are you a professional and highly experienced service provider? Or a fun and accessible name?)
- Positioning: How you want to position your brand in the market (As helpers? As inspiring? Funny? Education?)
- Strengths: What makes you better than your competitors? Why would a prospect pick a competitor over you?
A common understanding of all of these elements is going to give you direction and have an impact on the type of content you create.
2. Get to know your market
And get to know it well.
While demographic elements like age, gender and occupation are important, you need to take a step back and ask.
Who is looking for your product and why.
What problems are they dealing with.
How can you / your brand help?
Identify who is influencing your customers, where the influence is taking place, and what they are talking about. Are they on Reddit/LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter|X and any other platform talking about [insert your product here]?
Take a good hard look at your competitors, the type of content they are creating and what not.
Knowing what kind of content a competitor is not creation is either a great opportunity for your to be the first to create or a sign that it’s not important/working.
So do your homework, a.k.a, SEO research.
3. Take a content inventory
Create a thorough list of all of the content you already have, both on site and and offsite.
But don’t just log the content’s existence.
Look at how it has performed.
Is it ranking?
Does it get any clicks?
How is the impression share over the last 3 and 6 months?
Are there any comments?
See if you can identify any trends or pieces that performed particularly well and why.
4. Decide on media types and distribution channels
Based on the knowledge you have acquired on your target market and your existing content resources, pick from the following list of content types what you think your market will most respond to.
- Articles
- Interviews
- White Papers
- Case Studies
- Videos
- How-tos
- Photos
- Infographics
- Emails
- Polls/Surveys
- Contests
- Memes/Gifs
- eBooks
- Podcasts
- Webinars
- Press Releases
The possibilities are endless for what you can create, so don’t pigeon-hole yourself. Vlogs (video + blogs) can work very well for B2B businesses that have strong industry knowledge but little time to sit down and write an article.
Blogs and how-to articles work well in B2C.
Again, if you notice your competitors only producing one type of content, see if you can gain a competitive advantage with a new type. But always keep your target market in mind.
5. Create a content calendar
Now, take all of that data you just accumulated and create a roadmap that includes:
- Topic
- Keyword related to this topic
- Article type
- Publishing dates
- Distribution channel
- Goals
Ideally, put the content calendar in a collaborative document such as Google Sheet, Notion, Airtable – so everyone involved can access and update it any time they need.
Do you need help getting started?
Contact me or reach out on Linkedin.
