If you’ve ever woken up, realized you “haven’t posted in a while,” and then rushed out something half-hearted just to feel productive… That’s what a missing content strategy looks like.
Without a plan, your content usually ends up:
- Inconsistent
- Random
- Repetitive
- Or completely disconnected from what your business actually needs
You might be posting, but your content isn’t doing much. It’s not building trust, it’s not nudging people through the customer journey, and it’s definitely not helping anyone understand why they should choose you.
This is also where most businesses burn themselves out: lots of activity, very little traction.
A content strategy fixes that by giving your ideas structure, intention, and an actual purpose. Once you have a clear direction, the whole thing stops feeling chaotic and starts feeling like an efficient system.
Below are the steps I use with clients when we build a content strategy. They’re simple, realistic, and actually help you grow.
Pick one goal & keep it simple
This is your starting point. Forget yearly plans for now. Pick one specific, realistic goal for the next three months. It might be more booked calls, better quality enquiries, or improving your content marketing efforts so they’re not scattered across ten different places.
Once that’s set, look at the biggest challenges your customers deal with day to day. What do they complain about? What questions come up over and over again? These are clues to what your target audience wants you to talk about.
If you feel stuck, think about the last five people who contacted you. Why did they reach out? What did they Google before they found you? The answers help you create content built around real needs rather than assumptions.
Build out your “big” content pillar & the smaller ideas that support it
A topic cluster is simply one big idea with smaller supporting pieces. The main topic is your pillar, and everything else branches from it. This props up your content marketing plan by giving structure to what you publish.
Let’s say you run a home renovation business.
Your pillar might be “planning a kitchen remodel.” Your supporting topics could be budgets, timelines, materials, or design tips.
Those supporting pieces link back to your main guide, and the main guide links back out. Internal links help readers move naturally between subjects and help search engines understand the relationships between your ideas.
This basic structure becomes your content strategy framework and simplifies decisions about what to make next. When you’re not sure what to write, open your list of clusters and pick the next piece.
Pick formats that match how your buyers like to learn
Not every format works for every business. You might not need a podcast, newsletter, daily Reels, and long blogs. Pick two or three things you can genuinely maintain.
If your audience prefers visual content, short form videos might work well for them. If they’re readers, stick with blogs. If they spend time on social media platforms, then a few thoughtful posts each week can carry a lot of weight.
Formats should feel doable. If something makes you groan, skip it. You want formats that fit naturally into your week so you can create content without feeling trapped by it.
This is also where your wider social media strategy can plug in so everything feels connected rather than random.
Create a content calendar you can realistically stick to
A content calendar isn’t meant to intimidate you. It’s simply a schedule that helps you commit to a repeatable rhythm. Choose how often you want to publish and stick to that. Twice a month is fine if you’re consistent.
Add your topics, who’s responsible for what, and the approval steps if you have a team. Your content plan should also include how you intend to reuse what you make so you’re not creating everything from scratch.
Each blog can be broken into several social media posts. A single video can become transcripts, quotes, screenshots, or guides. When you repurpose content intentionally, you save yourself a lot of time and increase touchpoints with your audience.
While we’re on the topic of strategies, don’t forget to read: How to Create a Marketing Strategy Without Having a Meltdown!
Share all that content in all the right places
Planning and creating is only half the job. You then need to get your content in front of people. Use the channels your audience already checks.
Blog posts help you show up in search engines where people look for answers day and night. Social media helps you reach people who don’t know you yet. Email deepens relationships with the people who already follow you.
Share your work across your main social media channels, add context to your email newsletters, and make sure your posts increase brand awareness for the right crowd.
A documented content marketing strategy is simply how you know where your content lives and how it travels.
Track a few metrics that show what’s working well
Tracking everything is too much. Instead, focus on a handful of clues that tell you whether people find your work helpful. Look at sign ups, assisted conversions, time on page, and rankings for the ten terms that matter most to your business.
If you notice more comments, replies, saves, or clicks, that’s movement in the right direction. Your content marketing program doesn’t need perfect numbers. It just needs clear signals that your efforts are connecting with real people.
You can also check which pieces create lead generation opportunities and notice where readers fall off in the customer journey. If a certain topic brings higher engagement, it’s definitely working, so create more of it!
Build a simple repurpose system so your content works harder
This is where content marketers save time. A repurpose system means every idea gets squeezed for all the value it can give.
Take a blog and cut it into shorter emails. Pull highlights for social media posts. Turn a long video into clips. Share screenshots of comments. Turn customer testimonials into graphics. Use user generated content where it fits. Share industry news when it adds context to your topic.
You can even pull fresh quotes from older pieces and share them again on different social media channels. The point is to stretch your ideas and reduce your workload so you can produce valuable content without burning out.
Anything you publish on your site can bring more website traffic when reused in multiple places. All you need is a simple folder structure and a content management system that keeps everything as organized as possible.
Ready to simplify your content?
When you follow these steps, you start to see how everything connects. You’re no longer posting based on mood or guessing at topics users want. Your content creation becomes intentional and steady, rather than a chaotic pile of ideas you can’t keep up with.
If planning all this still feels like a little too much to handle, I can help map out a clear content strategy that fits your week and matches how your buyers make decisions. I’ll even look after the copywriting work if writing’s not your thing.
Reach out now and let’s build a strategy that helps you attract the right kinds of people to your business.
