Hi Reader,
Are you ready to transform your content strategy and attract the right audience? In this email, I'll share 7 proven steps to help you build a powerful content strategy that drives results.
Let's go!
Step 1: Define Your Brand's Narrative
Think about how your customers would describe your brand in five words or less. This is your brand's narrative, the core idea that all your content should amplify.
For example, a brand's narrative might be "be seen be loud" which means all content should support that idea.
This narrative acts as a magnet, drawing in people who resonate with it. It’s how people identify with your brand and why they choose to buy your products or services.
Understanding your narrative is the first step towards creating a successful content pillar.
Step 2: Ask Key Questions
Ask yourself these four questions to uncover potential content pillars:
- Why do customers come to you? What specific topics do they ask you about or interact with your brand about?
- Where do you offer unique value? Think about what unique skills or experiences you have that give you a different point of view.
- What challenges does your audience face? Look at reviews or competitor content to identify the pain points of your audience.
- What solutions are they looking for? Determine the solutions your audience is actively seeking, as these can become content ideas and pillars.
Step 3: Research Your Competitors
Explore what your competitors are doing. Look at their content buckets, topics, and formats to find areas that are performing well.
Use tools to see what websites, podcasts, and social media channels your competitors' audience is also consuming. This will help you find common themes and content ideas.
Identify the type of content that does well in your niche, such as how-to guides or listicles. Then, use this to formulate ideas that you can test with your audience.
Step 4: Test Different Formats
Take one central topic and see how many ways you can present it. This can include tutorials, challenges, breakdowns, vlogs, interviews, and more.
By testing various formats, you can find what resonates with your audience and what the algorithm favours.
A single topic can be transformed into multiple pieces of content through different formats.
Step 5: Find Your Content-Market Fit
Content market fit is when your content aligns with what the algorithm favours, what you enjoy creating, and what your audience wants to consume.
Test and refine your approach until you hit the sweet spot. Pay attention to audience engagement like likes, shares, and saves.
Don't give up after one try. Instead, test an idea or format three times before discarding it, changing the format or content slightly each time.
A 3% change to your content may be all you need.
Step 6: Establish Content Pillars
Content pillars should fall into four categories: content to inspire, educate, entertain, or convert.
Align your content pillars with your goals. If your goal is to build a large audience, focus on educational and inspirational content.
If your goal is to launch a new product, focus on converting customers.
Make sure you have top, middle, and bottom-of-funnel content for each pillar.
- Top-of-funnel content is meant to reach a wide audience.
- Middle-of-funnel content is meant to turn followers into fans.
- Bottom-of-funnel content is meant to deepen relationships and promote conversion.
Identify 3-5 content pillars. These pillars should be central topics that your audience is interested in.
Step 7: Create Content Series and Scale
Under each content pillar, create a series of content around that topic.
Take your central series and package them in different formats to create even more content.
Key Takeaways
- Identify what works in your niche.
- Reverse engineer audience desires.
- Create content that attracts, engages, and converts.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, don't hesitate to reach out.
I'm here to help you every step of the way as you build a content strategy that truly resonates with your audience and achieves your goals.
Keep going,
Tristan