The One Page Content Strategy | Your Quick Start Guide
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Creating content that’s informative, inspiring and interactive is an unavoidable part of building a brand in the digital age.
The world of content is vast. It moves fast and can seem incredibly complex. It can absolutely seem like you’re playing a game of chess.
If you’ve had trouble working out exactly where to start, then you aren’t alone.
No matter how much or how little you know about content, one thing is certain.
The research shows that if you’ve got a documented content strategy then you’re likely to be significantly more successful with your efforts, than if you don’t have it written down.
Having a documented strategy allows you be focussed, make good use of your resources
and clearly connect your content efforts to your business goals so you’re actually getting to where you want to go.
Sound complicated?
Well, the good news is it doesn’t have to be. One of the most important things you can do for your content marketing effort is to simply get started.
And this quick start guide will show you how.
What is the Quick Start Guide to Content Strategy?
This isn’t going to help you write a complete content strategy.
But the Quick Start Guide will get you moving on content quickly in a strategic way, by asking the right questions.
This is a bit of strategy, a bit of planning and a bit of content marketing all rolled into one page you can fill out for each content channel you’re going to create for.
What’s a content channel?
A content channel is anywhere you publish content. Think Facebook, Instagram, Lead Magnet (like an eBook or a quiz), your email marketing list, your website, your blog, your podcast – you get the idea.
Who is this Quick Start Guide for?
This guide is for you if:
Know you need a content strategy, but don’t know how to get started
Are struggling with content strategy
Don’t know what questions to ask to build a content strategy that will give you a return on your efforts
Want to get started quickly and then build on your strategy over time.
The Content Strategy Basics You Need to Know
Before you get started with the guide and writing your one page, here are some content strategy basics you need to know.
Be clear on what you want to achieve.
If you start with the end in mind, you’re much more likely to end up where you want to be. Be really specific on what you want to achieve, both within your strategy itself and with your chosen channel. Do you want to build brand recognition? Convert sales? Increase your database? Have more leads in your funnel? Whatever it is, write it down and choose the best way to measure whether you’re succeeding.
Be where your customers are
There are plenty of content marketing channels to choose from. But you don’t have to be actively creating content everywhere. You just have to be where your customers are.
Funnel to your own channels
If you decide you’re going to use social media or another third-party channel, it’s very important that you funnel your potential customers to a platform that you own and also capture their attention there. This is because you don’t control how you get to communicate with your tribe when you use these shared channels.
Quality not quantity
Contrary to the traditional marketing approach of saturating everyone with your message in the hopes that the right people might see it, the digital age and content marketing have made it easier than ever to communicate directly with the people that matter to you. This means that it’s quality, not quantity that counts.
Think about what you can repurpose
Could the content in that blog you wrote be turned into an Infographic? Could you use the tips and tricks from your eBook as Facebook posts? Whatever you’re creating, think about how you can repurpose it across multiple channels and mediums.
Be consistent
Being consistent helps you build trust with your customer. This has two meanings:
1. Be consistent with your brand. (Same tone of voice, same design style, same values, same feeling across all content channels).
2. Be consistent with content delivery. Don’t start a blog and then suddenly stop (without good reason). Don’t start posting to a Facebook page and then leave it dormant for six months.
Success is a marathon, not a sprint.
Content is the smart, connection-driven, long game. You’re making an investment in your brand, your business and your customer by choosing to inspire, inform and interact with them (instead of simply marketing AT them). Commit to your strategy. Review your results regularly so you can pivot and tweak the things that aren’t working. Over time, you’ll reap the many rewards that come from truly connecting with your customers.
Your one-page channel content strategy needs to include
A purpose
Why are you wanting to create this content? Why are you wanting to publish on Facebook, or write a blog, or create a podcast or build a lead magnet sequence?Audience Position
Where in the buyer journey are my customer when they see this content? How can I create content that will help them make the next step in the journey?Frequency
How often are you going to create content?Topics
What are you going to write or speak about? What do you want to communicate through this channel?Distribution
Where else are you going to publish this content? Is there any way you can repurpose it across other channels?Measurement
Based on what you’re trying to achieve, how will you know that my efforts here are successful? What will you measure and how often will you measure?What next?
What do you want the customer to do after they engage with this content? What is the next step or call to action you want them to take?Action Items
What do you need to do to make this channel happen?
Sometimes, you just need to start.
While I’m an advocate for doing content strategy, this doesn’t mean that you have to spend hours and hours on it.
Sometimes, you just need to start and this guide will enable you to do that, while heading in the right direction to a full-scale content strategy that will deliver.
Then you can come back later and refine what you’re doing – but at least you’re getting started in a way that will allow you to achieve things with your content. Taking a strategic approach, even if it’s only a small strategy, is better than just throwing things out there and hoping that they work.
Download your FREE Quick Start Content Strategy Guide
Including a One Page Content Channel Strategy worksheet that will help you ask all the right questions, and get you moving on your content strategy.
