Here’s A Complete Content Strategy Guide For Startups in 2021

Content Strategy Guide

Content may be used for a variety of commercial goals. High-quality, relevant content assists potential consumers in identifying a solution to their problem while also raising brand recognition.

Startups use a content strategy to generate and disseminate content with the purpose of attaining a certain business goal.

As a business owner, your objective should be to create and distribute content with a clear plan in mind in order to attract your target audience.

Now is an excellent opportunity to rethink your firm’s content strategy in order to assist your organisation to achieve its objectives.

Most startups create content, but it’s likely to be more expensive than it’s worth. This is due to a lack of planning and dependence on luck.

The good news is that great content does not need a large amount of money or time commitment. 

Here’s a step-by-step process for building content strategy for startups

1. Know your audience: research and validate them

Who is the target audience for your content?

You won’t be able to develop outstanding content until you have a firm grasp of this. Begin by forming an assumption about who your ideal audience member is.

You can use one of the many templates available online (search “persona template”) or create your own.

These are the essential things your hypothetical persona must know:

After you’ve documented those details, you’ll have your potential identity. There’s no need to make a complicated, well-designed PowerPoint slide. Simply write down your ideas somewhere you can readily access and update them.

The most crucial aspect comes next: you must verify that this individual exists. Validation is easier than you think, takes only a few days, and guarantees that your information is based on real people rather than assumptions.

There are a few ways to verify your persona. However, when using either of these methods, make sure your initial inquiry qualifies them.

Is there an issue that your product can address for them? If not, the second process of validation means nothing.

• In exchange for a 15-minute interview, ideally using a video-conference platform like Zoom, offer something free that would be helpful to your target consumer. Ask open-ended questions to assist you to confirm whether or not your assumptions were correct. After doing a few user interviews, modify your persona.
• Get out of the workplace. Get out there and see the world. Find a spot where your hypothetical content consumer frequents and ask random folks if they have a few minutes to talk. After interviewing a few folks who fit the bill, you should alter your persona.

2. Observe your competitors

Let’s imagine you conducted research on your target audience and discovered that they want content about X and in Y mode. Suppose you already know how much people enjoy a particular video on YouTube. 

Now it’s up to you to sift through the information on each of those sites and make notes on what they do well, what you might improve, and what sort of content regarding your field is completely lacking on the internet.

The objective is to compare what information does your target audience require. And whether or if that data is already available. If it is already available, consider how you can fill a knowledge gap or generate the same material in a novel and insightful manner.

3. Create your core strategy

You now have enough information to choose the best sort of content to publish for your company. You understand who your content is for, what they want, and what material you can provide to meet their needs in a unique way.

Fill up the template below with the information you currently have, starting with a fundamental strategy statement at the top and moving down to individual content kinds, subjects, and channels.

Our content helps [persona] with [problem] by providing information so they can [do something], [feel something], and ultimately [take action with our business]. 

Content type:

Topic:

Channels:

You may make a couple of these statements if you have a variety of business goals or items. That’s fantastic.

Actually, you can utilise those various claims to create content categories and carefully put that material together.

Here’s an example of a hypothetical centre’s strategy statement:

Our content helps college students with study tips by providing information so they can get better grades, feel confident, and ultimately sign up for tuition classes.

This will aid in the direction of your content creation efforts, ensuring that everything you produce is relevant, helpful, and valuable to a specific audience, as well as immediately supporting company growth.

4. Plan your workflow

Many people have differing viewpoints about content. Perhaps your CEO, product team, and public relations person would all like to contribute content ideas.

However, this is not the best approach to content creation. When there are too many points of view in a piece of information, it leads to confusion and lost time.

Instead, devise a workflow that is as basic as feasible and continues over time to incorporate measurement and learning into the process.

Only one person is required for each stage. Some of the processes may even be performed by the same individual.

A typical workflow can be: Create → edit → approve → publish → measure → learn → and then create again.

It’s also a good idea to figure out how long each section should take. You’ll definitely pick up on things as you go, but establishing a process that’s as detailed as possible can help you keep things running smoothly.

5. Figure out your resources

Your content strategy now has a structure thanks to steps one through four.

It’s now time to assess your in-house content development resources. Content marketing takes time and effort, and producing the volume of content required for success frequently necessitates the hiring of a specialised content staff.

Is there a marketing department at your company? If that’s the case, do they have the ability to shift priorities in order to carry out your new content strategy?

Do you require a content writing team? Many firms, rather than hiring full-time writers, use freelance authors to help them build a content bank and populate websites.

You can also study content marketing examples from different brands to understand their content strategy, format, etc.

6. Finalise your new content calendar

You may start creating a content schedule for your new approach once you’ve hired your content team.

Before you begin writing or posting any material on your website, make a content schedule. This will guarantee that you have a plan in place ahead of time. Start by developing content in bunches so you’ll have lots to share once your new approach goes live.

Content strategy makes or breaks brand awareness

A successful content strategy may help your startup grow its reach while also positioning you, the company creator, as a thought leader in your field.

To begin developing a content strategy, you must first define your objectives and assess your target audiences.

Then, based on your findings, assess the search engine environment and decide on the best sorts of content and channels for your company.

Create content that is driven by research and strategy rather than brainstorming, guessing, and crossing your fingers till something succeeds.

It’s worth emphasising that with only a few employees and little resources, this process might be shut down in a matter of weeks.

Anyone who is willing to put in the effort and receive the rewards will profit from strategic content.