content-strategy

Content Strategy

When to Use

When building or improving a content program — blog, video, newsletter, social, or any mix — to grow awareness, trust, or conversion.

Core Jobs

1. Define the Goal and Audience

Content without a goal is noise:

• Awareness goal: reach new audiences who don't know you exist
• Education goal: help prospects understand the problem you solve
• Conversion goal: move decision-ready prospects to try or buy
• Retention goal: keep customers engaged and reduce churn

Per goal, define the audience segment: job title, company size, problem they have, where they spend time online.

2. Choose Content Types

Match format to goal and audience:

Format	Best For	Distribution
Long-form blog	SEO, education	Search, newsletter
Short video	Awareness, demos	Social, YouTube
Case study	Conversion, trust	Sales, website
Newsletter	Retention, nurture	Email
Webinar/podcast	Authority, leads	LinkedIn, events

3. Build the Content Calendar

Monthly planning:

• 1 pillar piece (long-form, high-value — blog post, guide, report)
• 4–8 derivative pieces from the pillar (social posts, email snippet, short video)
• 1–2 topical pieces (news response, seasonal, campaign-specific)

Use a spreadsheet: date | title | format | goal | owner | status | distribution channels

4. Measure Effectiveness

Primary metrics per goal:

• Awareness: impressions, reach, new visitors
• Education: time on page, return visitors, newsletter opens
• Conversion: CTR, leads, free trial starts
• Retention: email open rate, content consumption by customers

Key Outputs

• Audience personas (1 per key segment)
• 90-day content calendar
• Content performance dashboard

Anti-Patterns

• Content with no distribution plan
• Publishing cadence you can't sustain
• Measuring vanity metrics (likes) instead of business metrics
• No repurposing — writing every piece from scratch