Six Steps to Acing Your Startup’s Content Strategy

Kris Hughes is a content material technique and storytelling wizard. He:

✍️ Wrote (and offered) blogs earlier than it was cool

👻 Spent years ghostwriting each day social content material for purchasers, from companies to CEOs

🖥️ Runs his personal digital strategy consulting firm (on monitor to hit 30% YoY income progress)

Listed here are Kris’ six ideas for nailing your content material technique — to generate strong, genuine leads.

1. If You Don’t Inform Your Model’s Story, Somebody Else Will

As a founder with 1,000,000 priorities, content material like blogs and social media posts can look like low-priority objects.

However when you don’t inform your model’s story, another person will make assumptions and inform it for you. 

Don’t sit in your palms in the case of content material. Your story and voice must:

• Be genuine
• Really feel pure to you
• Make sense to your target market

Sizzling tip: Check out your opponents — in the event that they’re not doing a robust sufficient job of telling their story, they’re leaving content material gaps on the desk so that you can capitalize on.

2. Do a Thorough Mind Dump

Spend ~30 days on a “mind dump” train, utilizing voice notes and free-form writing. Report each thought you have got in your model, then cross it on to somebody who’s near, however not part of, your online business.

Ask them what they see from the skin trying in. What phrases are used time and again? What subjects maintain returning? This deep-dive step is significant for 2 causes.

One: “Individuals are their very own worst entrepreneurs,” Kris says. “There’s most likely a ton about your individual model story you’re not telling. The deep dive and out of doors perspective brings this to the floor.”

Second, this train will spin off aligned speaking factors so as to hit the bottom working with a transparent technique and financial institution of nice content material — in your individual phrases.

3. Extrapolate 4 Key Pillars for Your Content material

Sift by way of your mind dump and manage every concept, spicy quote, or subject, into one in every of 4 pillars:

Supply: Kris Hughes / Zanate Ventures

Every pillar provides rise to particular kinds of content material, and alternating between them will make sure the subjects you talk about stay diverse and recent, but in addition on model.

For instance, one week chances are you’ll speak in regards to the outcomes you’ve pushed for a shopper (Pillar II), and the subsequent share a few of your founder story (Pillar IV).

And when you ever get author’s block, you’ll be able to return to your pillars as inspiration and a reminder of what you wish to convey to your viewers.

4. Concentrate on Group-Constructing earlier than You Put Out Content material

Create a neighborhood from the get-go by interacting together with your best purchasers, opponents, and friends by way of value-driven feedback and messages.

This step will get you comfy with the way you write, the way you painting your self, and the way individuals obtain you.

Protecting monitor of feedback you make (e.g., in Notion) may even guarantee you have got a content material concepts financial institution; Most worthy feedback can normally be bulked up right into a publish.

5. Now You Can Get Your Content material Out There

Use your pillars, saved feedback, and mind dump to generate content material that’s genuine to your model. Keep in mind to:

📈 Have a transparent KPI: Is your content material to construct generalized consciousness, or drive leads?

📝 Develop a voice information, a useful resource information, and a content material calendar.

Kris is an advocate of scheduling content material to ensure you get it on the market. Whereas the cadence and strategy of posting will depend upon the platform, consistency is at all times key.

6. Keep in mind: Content material Is A Lengthy Sport.

It takes time to construct up a fame to the purpose the place your content material drives leads. Maintain at it. 

“Many founders are available in weapons blazing with excessive vitality, after which fizzle out after just a few months,” says Kris. You’ll miss the magic when you do. Keep motivated by:

• Setting new benchmarks
• Specializing in constructive suggestions
• Reusing your top-performing posts each few months

As a closing tip, Kris suggests speaking to your clients when issues are going properly.

Supply: Tenor

“We have a tendency to succeed in out solely when we have to put out fires,” he informed us. “However getting shopper suggestions in the course of the good occasions means you’ll discover room for incremental enchancment — when you have got the capability to behave on it.” 

Optimistic buyer transformation journeys are highly effective additions to your model story.