Content Marketing Strategy

Whether you‘re just starting out with content marketing or you’ve been using the same approach for a while, it never hurts to revisit your content strategy plan and make sure it’s innovative and engaging for your prospects and customers. In this post, we’ll dive into what content strategy is, why your business needs a content marketing plan, and what steps you need to take to create your strategy. Plus, we’ll explore some examples of effective content marketing strategies for inspiration. Table of Contents What is a content strategy? Why Marketers Need to Create a Content Marketing Strategy Content Marketing Strategy Statistics Elements of a Content Strategy Plan What You Need to Create a Content Marketing Strategy How to Create a Content Strategy Framework Questions to Ask When Creating a Content Strategy Content Marketing Strategy Examples Content Strategy Template Content Strategy Tactics Your content strategy is the foundation of the attract and delight stages in your buyer’s journey that follows the inbound marketing framework. Say your business goals include increasing brand awareness. To achieve this, you might implement an SEO-focused content strategy to increase your website’s visibility on the search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive traffic to your products or services. Along with attracting prospects to your brand, you can leverage a content strategy for sales enablement and customer satisfaction. Plus, with 70% of marketers actively investing in content marketing, developing a good content strategy is critical to competing in your industry. Why Marketers Need to Create a Content Marketing Strategy A couple of years ago, I worked as a content writer for a literary company that had just launched. Despite all the pre-launch meetings, the founder and CEO of the company didn’t understand the importance of creating a content marketing strategy for our forthcoming website. Three months after the launch, the CEO expressed dissatisfaction with the poor performance so far — neither the website nor the company’s social media accounts were seeing organic traffic, and the paid ads were not converting at all. I suggested that we create a content strategy plan for the next quarter. Sure enough, by the end of Q2, we recorded an increase in traffic and conversions from both the website and social media profiles. No matter the kind of company or industry you work in, a content marketing strategy is integral for the success of your digital marketing efforts. 1. It aligns the team on goals and objectives. When content creators, social media managers, writers, and other team members are aligned on goals such as brand awareness, lead generation, or customer engagement, they can produce content that consistently supports these aims. This increases the chances of getting tangible results. Carl Broadbent, a digital marketing expert, values content marketing strategies for the alignment they bring. “After years of publishing blogs, ebooks, and videos, I‘ve learned that a strong content strategy acts like a guiding compass. It points you towards topics and formats aligned with business goals, so you’re not just cranking out content for content’s sake,” Broadbent says. Broadbent also notes that teams will make mistakes along the way. He recalls, “‘I’ve made that mistake! Last year, we invested heavily in podcasts, thinking it would attract our target buyers. Turns out our audience preferred snappy infographics. Our podcast push fizzled out fast without the right strategy in place.” 2. It guides content creation and distribution. Ayomide Joseph, a freelance content marketer for SaaS companies like Aura, Nextiva, and Trengo, explains the purpose of a content marketing strategy: “The concept of ‘strategy’ in content marketing is simply to give you a roadmap that’ll guide you from where you are to where you want to be,” Joseph says. For example, Joseph notes that if you’re looking to drive more inbound leads via content, ideally, creating bottom-of-the-funnel content is the way to go. “A content marketing strategy answers the questions, ‘How do you go about it? What’s the keyword you’re going to target, search volume, difficulty — and what distribution approach will you utilize?’” Joseph says. “If you don’t have a content marketing strategy, you’ll be working blind.” A content marketing strategy requires you to plan the type of content to create, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, and podcasts. You’ll also determine the most effective channels for distribution, whether that be social media platforms, email marketing, or the company’s website. This planning ensures that content is consistent, timely, and relevant to the audience’s interests and needs, fostering brand loyalty and advocacy. 3. It optimizes resources. When you map out a fully fledged content marketing strategy, you’ll be able to allocate resources more efficiently, whether those resources are time, budget, or manpower, to bring the strategy to life. By knowing the type of content you need to produce and the platforms through which you’ll distribute it, you can direct your efforts and budget toward activities that offer the best return on investment (ROI). 4. It improves online visibility. A well-executed content marketing strategy can alleviate this problem by improving a brand’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). High-quality, optimized content is favored by search engines and ranks higher in search results, which leads to increased organic traffic. By targeting specific keywords and topics relevant to your target audience, you can attract more qualified leads to your website. 5. It builds brand authority and trust. By consistently producing high-quality, relevant, and valuable content, you can establish your business as a thought leader in its industry. This authority builds trust with your audience, which is crucial for long-term relationships and customer loyalty. A content marketing strategy ensures that your content not only attracts attention but also provides value and encourages your audience to return and interact with the brand further. Content Marketing Strategy Statistics Here are some statistics that show the results a content marketing strategy can help you generate for your business: More than 90% of marketers are either maintaining or increasing their investment in content marketing in 2025 (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2025) 15% of