Though we’ve started a brand-new year, there are some things that haven’t changed. For example, a winsome content strategy remains paramount for building your brand, engaging your target audience, and driving sales.

Whether you’re building a content strategy from the ground up or looking to revive a strategy that’s been on life support, we’ve got a few tips to start the year off right.

Do the Groundwork

First things first: Before you start creating content, it’s important to have a clear sense of what you’re trying to achieve. We recommend spending some time auditing your current assets, checking up on your competition, and brainstorming about where you want your content to take you.

Some specific considerations include:

  • Set your objectives. One way to provide direction to your content strategy is to set some clear, measurable, and specific goals. This may be as simple as deciding that you wish to grow your email list by 50 percent or want to hit a particular benchmark for website traffic or time-on-page.
  • Define your audience. Who are you addressing with your content? Which people are you hoping to bring to your business website? Do some customer research and create a set of buyer personas, helping you zero in on a target audience.
  • Create a keyword list. Keywords reflect the terms and phrases that consumers use as they seek information about your products or services. You can find keyword ideas in your Google Ads or Google Analytics dashboards, or even by playing around with Google Autocomplete.
  • Audit your existing content. Spend some time reviewing the content on your business website and blog, as well as any other assets you have. Vet for quality, but also check the metrics to see what kind of content seems to perform well for you (and which assets haven’t performed well at all).
  • Make a set of categories. We also recommend developing a list of categories based on your previous/existing content. For example, if you own a plumbing company, you may have a category for preventative maintenance, a category for DIY tips, a category about energy efficiency, etc. These categories can help you brainstorm new content ideas. And, they help you see if there are areas you’ve been focusing on too much, or areas you’re neglecting.

Produce Content

Once you’ve laid the groundwork, the next step is to get serious about producing content that’s aligned with your strategy. A few recommendations:

  • Develop an approach to content ideation. You’ll need to be producing new content ideas on a regular basis. Schedule regular brainstorming sessions with your team members, perhaps using your keyword and category lists to facilitate the discussion. Also make a habit of consuming content from your competitors or from industry authorities; you never know when inspiration will strike!
  • Create a topic list. As new topics arise, add them to a shared spreadsheet. Include a working title, a one-or-two-sentence summary, a proposed call to action, and a list of relevant keywords to be used in the content. You might also include inspiration/research articles, when applicable. Also make sure you denote any landing pages or other assets to which you’d like the content to link.
  • Make a schedule. In conjunction with your topic list, develop a regular rhythm of writing. You may want to use your topic list to assign a due date, or to assign different writers to each topic (if you’re lucky enough to have a team of writers collaborating with you).
  • Check for quality. Make sure your process includes a quality check. An editor or proofreader should review all content for grammar and typos, and also confirm that it aligns with your overall objectives. A plagiarism check may be wise, too.
  • Vet for SEO. Also make sure content is reviewed by someone with some SEO knowledge, who can advise you on things like linking, meta data, and keyword usage.

Produce and Promote

Once you develop and publish new content, you’ll also want to make sure you promote it to all the appropriate channels.

  • Compile topics for newsletters. Hopefully, you have a regular e-newsletter where you can share the latest blog posts, videos, etc.
  • Share to social media. Also be sure that you have a team member who is in charge of sharing content to all of your branded social media accounts.
  • Consider paid promotion. For content that you really believe in, promotion via paid ads may prove fruitful.

Read more: 5 Key Elements of a Successful Content Marketing Strategy