Why You Shouldn't Create Content for Your Business Without a Strategy

Once upon a time, there was a business owner who wanted to start creating content to increase her brand visibility. She had some great ideas for blog posts, emails, and social media content but no real plan for how to begin.

Three months went by, then six, and then a year passed, and this business owner still hadn't seen the results she wanted from her content creation efforts. Why? Because she didn't have a plan.

I'll spare you the day-to-day details about how much time she wasted creating random social media posts about whatever came to mind that day and starting to draft blog posts that she never published. You don't want to hear the long, sad story about how this business owner ultimately ended up with a sporadic social media presence with little engagement, an outdated blog page, and website copy that didn't reflect who she was or what she was capable of…

Unfortunately, this is the story of many business owners I know. Can you relate? Are you avoiding the one thing you know could help you grow your brand recognition and land more customers? 

The Power of Accountability

Hypothetically, almost anyone can "create content," but creating content that your audience cares about and sharing it in the right places at the right times requires strategic thinking and a focused effort. Could you make a content strategy and implement it yourself? Absolutely. But do you have the time? And, more importantly, do you have someone to bounce ideas off of and to hold you accountable? 

There is a huge misconception that creating content can be done on the fly with little thought or time investment. A blog is "just a few paragraphs about something business related," right? Creating content for social media is as easy as "taking a quick photo and adding a short caption on Instagram," isn't it?

Well, sort of. If you've spent time developing a content strategy or creating content consistently, you know there's way more involved, and everything always takes longer than you thought it would. If you're creating content to generate leads, increase conversions, build brand awareness, or develop relationships with potential customers, a quick photo with a dull caption won't be enough to wow your audience. Without a solid content strategy in place, you simply won't see the results you're expecting. 

What Is a Content Strategy?

What is a content strategy, anyway? And how exactly can it benefit your business?

A content strategy is simply a plan for creating content designed to help you achieve specific goals. But it’s more than just a few ideas in a spreadsheet. It's a comprehensive plan that guides the content you create, develop, and manage for your website, social media platforms, email campaigns, and more. 

It’s a strategy that defines how your content will work in synergy to achieve your goals for your content marketing efforts. By first determining who you want to reach with your content, you can then decide what type of content to create and how to share it so it reaches and influences your target audience in the most natural, organic way.

Ultimately, your content strategy becomes the roadmap for achieving your goals.

What Are the Benefits of Having a Content Strategy?

Developing a well-thought-out content strategy for your business will help you get the most out of content creation efforts. It allows your business to create a consistent flow of engaging content that resonates with your target audience.

Top Reasons You Shouldn't Create Content Without a Strategy

1. You can't reach goals you haven't set.

A content strategy helps you get clear on what exactly you're trying to achieve with your content marketing efforts. Are you looking to increase your brand visibility and customer engagement? Are you trying to get more leads? Do you want to grow your email list? Do you want to educate your audience about your offerings? While similar, each of these goals requires a slightly different strategy. How will you know if you've achieved your goals if you're not sure what they are?

2. You risk creating an unrecognizable brand.

A content strategy provides a framework for the content creation process. With a clear plan, you'll know your target audience and what tone and style to use when communicating with them. And by maintaining a consistent brand voice and message, you can create a positive and recognizable brand identity that inspires long-term loyalty.

3. You might be targeting the wrong audience.

A clear content strategy allows businesses to tailor their message to a specific audience, making it much more effective. A well-rounded content strategy involves analyzing current and relevant content themes and trends and understanding competitors' actions and using that knowledge to develop unique content that stands out from the competition. Having a strategy also helps ensure your content is optimized for maximum visibility and reach across all platforms. 

4. You can't accurately analyze (and improve) your efforts.

Keeping track of your content marketing metrics is like tracking your progress on a journey. You can use specific metrics to determine how far you've come and to identify where you need to go next to reach your goals. Understanding how well or poorly your campaigns perform can provide helpful insight into which strategies and tactics are working vs. those that are not. Analyzing this data can help you make necessary adjustments to your current marketing efforts and better decisions about your future actions to increase reach, engagement, and conversions. 

5. You're wasting time creating content without a purpose.

Having a content strategy before creating content is crucial to producing high-quality content and reaching your marketing goals. While planning is often the most challenging aspect of content creation, creating the actual content becomes much easier and faster once it's done. By developing a strategy before producing any content, you set yourself up to remain focused throughout your efforts. When you commit to creating content according to a plan, the result is content that matches your brand message and identity.  

Let's Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business

Having the right content strategy for your business can mean the difference between great success and wasted time. Sure, you can keep putting off building a content strategy, or you can bite the bullet and finally invest in a plan to keep you on track. Don’t know where to begin? Let’s hop on a call to find out what's keeping you stuck and how we can help!