I’m sure we can all agree that content strategy and blog strategy are important parts of our business. But, wait, are those the same thing? Or are they different? And if so, how?
In my mind, they’re two very different, closely intertwined aspects of what you do online. But I’ve found that many clients and fellow bloggers see the two as the same thing. And to be honest, so did I not all that long ago.
So today I want to go over why you need both a content and blog strategy, how they’re related, and how they’re different.
How Your Blog And Content Strategies Are The Same
Let’s start off by going over a few ways that your blog and content strategies are similar
1. They both support your blogging and business goals
Both types of strategy allow you to gain focus and clarity in your blog and business. They allow you to define specific long and short-term goals and work towards meeting those goals over a period of time.
If you started your business without a set of goals, getting started with a blog strategy is a great way to get yourself going. Check out this post on setting high-value goals for your blog strategy.
2. They help you to clarify your messaging
Something that a lot of my clients struggle with is their overall brand message and the direction they want to go with their blog. You know what I have them start with? Those goals we just talked about.
Setting high-value blog and business goals will help you gain clarity with what you need to be doing. As you develop strong blog and content strategies your sense of clarity will continue to increase. If you previously struggled to focus on a topic you’ll find yourself narrowing in and developing a strong perspective of your own.
3. They allow you to learn about your audience.
In defining your blog and content strategies, you’ll learn a lot about your audience. With your content strategy, you’ll take note of which posts and newsletters get the best reaction and which content formats are the best received. With your blog strategy, you’ll be able to see what buttons are the most clicked, which pages are the most viewed, and which path your audience is most likely to follow through your content.
Noticing these things will help you to make your content and blog strategies even more effective.
4. They position you as an expert
Something that strong content and blog strategies are great for is making you look like the expert that you are. In creating your strategies, your entire brand, blog, and business will become one cohesive unit. You’ll remove distractions, hone in on the topics you’re most passionate about and produce content that’s perfect for your audience.
Not only will this make things more easy and enjoyable for you, but your audience will love you for it!
How Your Blog And Content Strategies Are Different
First of all, it’s important to understand that your content strategy is a part of your blog strategy. And a very significant one, at that.
Caressa had it down when I asked, “Do you see your blog and content strategies as the same thing or different?”
However, many think that once they figure out their content strategy they’re done. But in reality, there’s so much more to your blog strategy. Your blog strategy is what defines the layout of your blog. It defines what you put where, what calls to action you include, and how you lead your readers through your brand.
Quirkney got the difference perfect:
Um, YES!
Your content strategy is what you create including your blog posts, newsletters, courses, and social media posts. And your blog strategy decides how those things are presented to your readers and what leads them from first-time blog readers to paying customers.
Now let’s go a bit more into each and look at the amazing things that my viewers had to say!
What Does Content Strategy Mean To You?
Editorial Calendar
Your editorial calendar and the plan you have for what you create is an important part of your content strategy. If you’re unable to come up with enough ideas to fill an editorial calendar a month or two in advance, it may mean that you need to spend some time getting clearer on your goals.
One great option for your editorial is to work in themes, like Caressa. Choose an aspect of your niche to blog about each month or each quarter and teacher your audience all you can on that particular topic. Doing so makes it easy to come up with blog posts, newsletters, video content, paid products and more that all fit together perfectly.
If you’re not one to work in themes, sit down and brainstorm various topics you could post about. What are some things you wish you knew right when you were getting started that would be useful for your audience?
Lead To Products And Services
These ladies have it figured out! Your products, challenges, blog posts, and more are all a part of your content strategy. All those things should fit together in one cohesive bundle. If you’re a web designer and you suddenly offer a product on webinars, your audience would be thrown off a bit, right?
That’s why it’s important to have a defined content strategy. Each time you consider creating something new you can look back and make sure it will fit in with your overall blog and business goals.
Your content strategy is the perfect way to introduce your audience to paid products and services.
Let’s be real here. People aren’t going to visit your site, see your header or sidebar promotion for your paid course, and buy it right away. They’re going to want proof that they need your product, that you know what you’re talking about, and that your product will be valuable to them.
That’s where value-packed and focused blog posts, newsletters, and more come in. Be sure you’re writing on your product’s topic and showing your audience the value they’ll be able to get from your paid product or service.
Now that you’ve got a good idea of what your content strategy is good for, let’s learn a bit more about blog strategy.
What Does Blog Strategy Mean To You?
Your Blog Design And Layout
Your blog design and layout play a huge part in your blog strategy. This is how you determine what your audience sees and how they work their way through your brand and business. Think of it as a path. How is someone going to go from a first-time reader to a client or customer?
For example, if you want to have more signups for your paid course, maybe you want a great call to action in your sidebar that will get more signups for your free course. Then, in that free course, you have the ability to give a lot of valuable information, while leading people to your paid content.
If you want to read a little more on how your blog strategy decides your overall layout take a look at this post on your footer and this post on your above the fold content!
Strategically Growing Your Blog And Business
A defined blog strategy is the way to see significant grown in your blog and business. It’s important to analyze the goals you have and decide on ways that you can reach those goals. Whether that’s through blog posts, social media, free and paid products, collaborations and more.
Like Quirkney said, teaming up with others is a great way to grow your audience and build your business. Doing strategic collaborations with those in your niche, but with at least slightly different topics is a great way to see a significant growth in your audience. (Oh, and it’s super fun too!)
How Do Your Blog And Content Strategy Fit?
So now we know that your content strategy is a major part of your blog strategy. While a content strategy is the perfect place to start it’s important to keep the rest of your blog strategy in mind and work on making small additions consistently.
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