One of the most important things you will hear from any marketing expert is that you need great content. But what makes great content? Well, FIRST, you need a great content STRATEGY! Why? Well, because without a solid strategy, you’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall or bouncing around trying to keep up with the latest trends that may or may not actually move the needle forward for YOUR business. So I’ve come up with an easy content strategy exercise that will help you organize those thoughts and start churning out content!

What’s the Difference Between a Content Strategy and a Content Plan?

• A content plan means you’ve selected your content and set the day to post/publish that content.

• A content strategy informs the why behind the what…what you’re trying to accomplish with publishing that piece of content.

Creating lots of content is great until you spend months creating content that leads to either no sales or minimal sales because there is no strategy behind it!

Having no content strategy leads to these issues: 

1. You never know if/when you’ve hit the goal because you’re not aiming at anything specific.

2. Burning yourself out quickly by creating just for the sake of creating.

Here is the one simple content planning strategy exercise that I’ve used for myself and tons of clients to HELP us all work smarter- not just harder- when it comes to creating great content. 

The Wagon Wheel Exercise for Great Content Strategy:

The whole purpose of this exercise is to get down to the WHY. Your why is the most important thing for a content strategy. To start this exercise, you will need two sheets of paper. On one sheet of paper, you are going to answer 4 questions. On the second one, you are going to draw a wagon wheel. How it looks is up to you. Get crazy, and get creative. Get detailed!

4 questions for an authentic content strategy:

1. Why are you in business?

This might seem like a simple answer, but it really isn’t. If you answered “to make money,” that just isn’t a good enough answer. Of course, you want to make money. We all do. We all want to provide for our families and be able to take our kids to Disneyland. However, you do not need to start your own business to provide for your family. You can get any other job somewhere else.

Why do you want a business? Ask yourself why. And then ask again and again. Be real and dig deep!

2. Why do you want to serve the specific people you are targeting?

Why did you choose these people? This niche? Why do you want to serve the people you serve? It’s a pretty easy question to answer.

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3. Why do you want to serve them the WAY you are serving them?

This is another answer that is going to require you to dig deep. Figure out why you want to serve your people the way you are serving them. You chose these people, this niche. Again, we all want to make money, but why do you want to do what you do? There has to be a strong reason for your choice. What is it? When you know this answer, it is going to help you figure out your content strategy.

4. WHY?

There’s that question again. Why? Why are you doing it? Is it your calling? Is it so you can spend more time with your family? Fulfilling a dream? Be honest, and don’t forget to DIG DEEP!

Now that you’ve answered all 4 questions, it’s time to move on to how this will help your content strategy. Write your “why” in the middle of the wagon wheel. The spokes of the wheel will be your content buckets. These are the categories you are going to talk about that pertain to your why AND your ideal client.

An Authentic Content Strategy Speaks To Your Client’s Heart

Seems simple, right? You may be surprised with your answers to these 4 questions. These answers will guide you to a great content strategy that not only feels authentic but speaks directly to your ideal client’s heart. You can repurpose your long-form content for shorter daily content and fill in that content plan in no time flat. But now that you have a solid content strategy, all the pieces will fall together so much easier.

Once you have your wagon wheel set with all your categories and your “why” you can work on getting your content out to your people, you will start to feel good about the traction you are getting and even generate more leads. Remember, be honest with yourself, follow the steps, and most importantly, DIG DEEP!

Read About How to Never Run Out of Content Ideas Here!

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