5 Ways a Content Strategy Fuels Your Entire Marketing Plan

Talk to six different content strategists and you’ll get six different “best strategies” for developing a content plan. But if you talk to all six of them, you’ll find some common threads. And the key here, really, is that a good content strategy can fuel your entire marketing plan.

WHAT?!?

That’s a great big statement. But, every word is true, especially if you have any kind of lack of focus in your marketing or your blogging. And that’s where a content strategy really comes in.

Grab my free 5-Day Content Planning Course here!

1. A content strategy makes you think big picture

So much of the time our blogs get relegated to the back burner. They’re not as important to getting new clients, as, say, sales calls. And, while this is 100% true, having a blog that is current gives you a certain panache.

But you have to know what to write.

All too often, people take the dartboard approach, which isn’t all that effective. Why? It means that you’re not being consistent in what you write about. Your clients might be a bit confused about your expertise. You’re all over the map, and writing becomes a chore that’s exhausting and time-consuming.  And ? you ? don’t ? want ? that. Not ANY of that.

A content strategy makes you think ahead of time to identify:

  • what your clients want to know about
  • how your expertise ties in
  • what actions you want them to take.

As a result, you get GREAT content to share, content that’s meaningful to your clients, and a solid plan of action that makes content SO MUCH easier to write. Those are huge benefits, and I haven’t even gotten to how it fuels your marketing plan!

2. It builds SEO

Why is SEO important? Well if all of social media, or even one or two popular channels were to go away, your website is all you have for traffic.

If that happened, how would you get the leads for the all-important sales calls I just mentioned in the first item? With hits to your website.

How do you get hits to your website? With great content & SEO.

How do you get great content + SEO? Well, with blog posts.

That’s a super-duper high-level explanation. So let’s break it down a little further:

How SEO works:

SEO or search engine optimization literally means making your content or website more popular in search results. It relies on a whole lot of detail, technical algorithms, and formulas.

As long as SEO has been a thing, people have been trying to trick it. First people started with keyword stuffing, which led to unreadable posts. Then people tried to get readers to stay on the page longer with insanely long posts.

The reality is that the best way to get ahead of the SEO game is to write really good content that your readers like. Google is getting smarter and can tell what is valuable and what isn’t.

So while yes, you want to choose keywords that work, and optimize your posts for them, you don’t want to jampack your posts full of them. Write content that your readers are hungry for, and make it as long as that needs to be. Maybe, that is 5000 words. But, maybe it’s only 500.

Regularly published content is also helpful to SEO, and that’s another way that your blog, and therefore a solid content strategy, comes in handy.

Find out more about writing good SEO content here.

3. It helps you write blog posts with purpose

There’s a lot to unpack in that statement too. But a solid content plan helps you write better blog posts. And it helps you plan posts that are going to guide your readers to do what you want.

What action do you want them to take after reading each post? Common ideas are:

  • Download a lead magnet (or a freebie in exchange for their email address)
  • Sign up for a course
  • Check out another blog post or page
  • Join your membership
  • Buy your book
  • Book a discovery call

But if you decide upfront what action you want them to take after (or while) reading your post, then you can tailor your content to it. Therefore, having a content plan gives your posts purpose.

4. It helps you speak directly to your clients’ needs

What good is it to write content that no one cares about?

I’ll tell you. It’s no good. So why would you waste ALL ? THAT ? TIME writing meaningless content that no one will read?

You wouldn’t. So to deliver content that counts, you must carefully consider:

  • who your audience is
  • what they care about
  • what they want to know
  • the questions they are asking

Would you do that without a content plan? Maybe. Does it take a dartboard approach? Definitely.

5. A great content strategy fuels ALL of your marketing!

Yeah, yeah. I said it before. I know. I’m saying it again now, though. So let me ask you this. What channels are you using to market:

  • Google Ads – cool!
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Blog
  • Word of Mouth
  • Cold Pitching?
  • Job Boards
  • Email Marketing?

ALL of those (and more) are great channels to market to. But, what’s your offer? How are you getting people in the door?

If the answer is anything but “well, the items I pre-determined in my content strategy,” it might mean that you’re not driving traffic consistently or with a meaningful message.

Let that sink in for a minute.

A content strategy is more than keywords.

It’s more than what you’ll be posting and when (aka a calendar).

Content strategy is also about so much more than your actual words (although they had better be good.)

It gives you a rock-solid direction for categories you’re going to speak to, what you’re going to write about, and how you’re going to turn readers into buyers. And a solid content strategy helps you drive traffic consistently and meaningfully into your funnel or flywheel.

WOW. Right? KRAMER MOMENT.

Ready for another one? I can help you create a content strategy that works.

I just released a brand-new workbook that goes through the ins and the outs of content strategy, how to find keywords, how to write a converting blog post, and most importantly, how to create a content strategy that works for you and your business.

Get the workbook here!

Wrapping it up

I’m a copywriter at heart. My one true love (don’t tell my husband) is messaging and helping clients deliver words, in their voice, that speaks to their clients. So why do I harp so hard on strategy? Because strategy drives everything. If you’re not sure what you need to be doing for marketing…if you’ve got big ideas but aren’t sure how to get the word out…or if you have so many ideas, you’re not sure what to focus on first, then building a content strategy is worth your while. In fact, it’s my challenge to you!

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