5 Content Strategy Examples + How to Create Your Strategy

Developing a contented strategy sounds intimidating, but it doesn’t person to be.

We’ve curated 5 proven types of contented strategies to thief you find the correct model for your business. Plus, you’ll study precisely really to create your ain strategy.

But earlier we dive into the contented strategy examples, let’s screen the basics.

What Is a Content Strategy?

A contented strategy is simply a cautiously planned attack to planning, creating, optimizing, and distributing contented that reaches your target assemblage and supports your business goals.

This contented tin beryllium successful formats for illustration blog posts, videos, societal media posts, and podcast episodes.

The correct format depends connected the trading channels you’re posting contented on, your audience’s preferences, your larger marketing strategy, etc. And you whitethorn moreover request a somewhat different attack for each channel.

Executing an effective contented strategy is beneficial because it helps in:

• Getting your contented successful beforehand of group who are astir apt to bargain from you
• Prompting users to prosecute pinch your content
• Achieving your objectives for producing content—like building marque authority aliases expanding conversions (desired actions for illustration relationship sign-ups aliases purchases)

If you request thief getting started, usage the sample contented strategies beneath arsenic inspiration.

5 Content Strategy Examples

Some of the astir celebrated (and proven) contented strategy types include:

1. SEO-Led Content Strategy

A hunt motor optimization (SEO) contented strategy is chiefly focused connected contented designed to heighten your tract for higher rankings (positions) related to applicable hunt motor queries, truthful much users spot your contented and click connected it.

For example, recreation booking tract Booking.com gets astir 28 cardinal monthly organic (unpaid) traffic visits, according to Semrush’s Domain Overview tool.

And the tract attracts that postulation done high-ranking pages for queries for illustration “tokyo hotel,” “flights to ohio,” and “rental car booking.”

An effective SEO contented strategy includes these steps:

• Performing keyword research: Keywords are the words and phrases your target assemblage types into hunt engines to look for information. Identify keywords applicable to your business truthful you tin create contented for them.
• Determining keywords’ search intents: Search intent refers to the user’s intent erstwhile performing a search—navigating to a circumstantial site, researching a product’s pros and cons, etc. Knowing hunt intent helps you create contented that addresses users’ needs.
• Creating quality content: Your contented should connection valuable accusation and beryllium easy to read. It should besides see visuals to exemplify the concepts you communicate.
• Optimizing content: Apply techniques that premier your contented for readers and hunt engines. For example, usage headings to break up the chat into subtopics. And adhd your target keywords to your content’s title tag (the HTML title that shows successful browsers and mightiness show successful hunt results) and assemblage text.
• Monitoring rankings: Once you’ve published your content, usage a instrumentality for illustration Position Tracking to way its hunt rankings complete time. To measurement really visible and apt to pull clicks your contented is.

Learn much successful our guideline to SEO basics.

Topic Clusters

A strategy focused connected topic clusters (groups of related pieces that research a main taxable and related subtopics) is simply a subset of an SEO-led strategy that helps you build authority astir definite subjects to summation credibility pinch users and amended your hunt rankings.

For each taxable cluster, there’s a main page known arsenic a pillar page that provides a wide overview of the topic. And pages that dive into subtopics successful much detail, which are called cluster pages (or subpages).

Here’s a bully taxable cluster contented strategy illustration from Allrecipes:

The site’s header paper links to pillar pages pinch recipes for dinners, regular meals, typical occasions, and truthful on. And hovering your cursor complete each paper point reveals cluster pages for applicable subtopics.

Like pages pinch recipes for chicken, beef, aliases pork if you want recipes that usage a circumstantial ingredient.

If you’d for illustration to execute a cluster strategy, usage a instrumentality for illustration Semrush’s Keyword Strategy Builder to brainstorm your topics and pages.

Open the instrumentality and participate a seed keyword (main topic), take the state your target customers are based in, and click “Create list.”

Once the instrumentality has vanished running, scroll down the “Topics and pages” tab until you spot pillar page suggestions and subpages for each.

The instrumentality will show basal SEO information connected each pillar page (and subpage) idea, including keyword difficulty and monthly hunt volume. Use this information to shortlist ideas to create contented pages for.

Further reading: 9 Pillar Page Examples (And How to Make Yours Just arsenic Great)

2. Video-Led Content Strategy

A video-led contented strategy focuses connected utilizing videos to scope audiences and tends to activity good for brands covering topics that users tin understand much easy by watching aliases listening to them.

Many brands that adopt this strategy chiefly people to YouTube. Which group usage arsenic a hunt motor to observe caller videos and the brands down them.

Linus Media Group is simply a awesome illustration of a marque pinch a video-led contented strategy. It’s posted 7,000+ videos to its Linus Tech Tips YouTube transmission since 2008.

The marque has various online assets, including a organization forum and an online store. But it doesn’t person a blog.

Instead, it focuses connected creating YouTube videos.

Further reading: Video Marketing: The Ultimate Guide for 2024

3. Product-Led Content Strategy

A product-led contented strategy makes your merchandise the main attraction of your contented (for example, by showcasing its unsocial trading points and demonstrating really it helps users) to seduce group who prosecute pinch your contented to bargain your product.

Check retired ClickUp for an illustration of a product-led contented strategy successful action. The marque promotes its task guidance package done contented like:

• Pages that screen cardinal merchandise features successful detail
• Use cases for different teams and institution types
• Educational resources, including merchandise demos, video tutorials, and webinars for users to study really to usage its software
• Customer stories that show really its package has helped different brands succeed
• Blog posts that talk readers’ symptom points and really its merchandise is the solution for these. For example, this ClickUp blog station pitches its package arsenic 1 of the champion options for users looking for free task guidance software:

4. Thought Leadership-Led Content Strategy

A thought leadership-led contented strategy involves utilizing contented to pass caller ideas and investigation that gets attraction connected your brand, which tin construe to much marque consciousness and conversions.

On X, for instance, writer James Clear positions himself arsenic an master successful building bully habits:

Clear backs up his profile’s declare by regularly posting tips connected that very subject. 

These tips routinely get a batch of engagement because they’re inspirational and thought-provoking. But still easy to understand.

As he posts his tips, Clear besides promotes his email newsletter to promote group who for illustration them to subscribe:

The result?

His newsletter presently has complete 3 cardinal subscribers.

5. Customer Support-Led Content Strategy

A customer support-led contented strategy emphasizes creating contented that helps customers understand and summation the astir worth from your product, truthful they proceed being loyal customers.

Since this contented strategy targets group who are already customers, brands often usage it alongside different contented strategies that cater to users higher up the content trading funnel (i.e., prospects searching for a solution to their problem).

Here’s an example:

As portion of the brand’s customer support-led contented strategy, Figma’s thief halfway contains dozens of articles explaining really to usage its merchandise creation software. 

Like this one:

And the level has shared champion practices to thief users do much pinch its software.

This contented strategy for supporting and retaining customers is utilized alongside Figma’s main product-led contented strategy to pull caller prospects. 

One illustration of the prospect-focused contented the marque creates is simply a assets room to present beginner merchandise designers to merchandise creation concepts and really to use these successful Figma:

How to Develop Your Content Strategy

Now, create your ain contented strategy pinch this six-step process:

1. Set Your Goals and Choose Your Strategy Type

Decide what you want to get retired of publishing contented and usage that to group the goals for your overarching contented strategy, which will impact everything from your formats to the strategy type you determine to use.

Make your goals arsenic circumstantial arsenic possible, truthful you tin way your advancement toward them. 

What do you want to achieve? By when? And what number will you request to hit?

Also, guarantee your goals are realistic to guarantee you don’t group yourself up for failure.

For instance, alternatively of trying to summation 100 relationship sign-ups overnight, purpose for gradual maturation complete a fewer months.

Here are examples of goals you could group and really they could pass your contented strategy type:

• Boost integrated hunt postulation by 25% wrong six months → Pursue an SEO-led contented strategy
• Improve merchandise income by 30% complete the adjacent 2 years → Implement a video-led contented strategy that features process overviews and actionable tips for utilizing your product
• Drive 500 relationship sign-ups each week complete the adjacent 4th → Use a product-led contented strategy that drives relationship registrations
• Increase full website postulation by 20% successful the adjacent twelvemonth → Use a thought leadership-led strategy that focuses connected original investigation to get media sum and thrust nonstop visits
• Reduce package subscription cancellations by 10% successful the adjacent six months → Use a customer support-led contented strategy to supply much guidance to customers

2. Research Your Audience

Getting a thorough knowing of who your assemblage is (backgrounds, desires, etc.) helps you find what contented to create and wherever it should live.

More specifically, it’ll inform:

• The topics you should screen to pull your prospects’ attention
• The platforms you should people connected to scope your target audience
• The format your contented should beryllium successful to suit your platforms and your audience’s preferences

Semrush’s One2Target instrumentality helps you investigation your assemblage to summation the insights you need.

To usage the tool, participate up to 5 competitors’ domains, prime your target location, and click “Analyze.”

Use the tabs astatine the apical of the study to study much astir the domains’ audiences:

• The “Demographics” tab breaks down these audiences’ ages, genders, and countries. Use this accusation to understand which life stages to speak to and whether you should create localized contented for different areas.
• The “Socioeconomics” tab sheds ray connected these audiences’ acquisition qualifications, truthful you tin tailor your content’s readability to their acquisition levels
• The “Behavior” tab shares these audiences’ interests, favourite societal media platforms, and preferred instrumentality types. It’s awesome for identifying the platforms to create contented for.
• The “Audience Overlap” tab shows you different domains these audiences sojourn astir often (when you scroll down). These sites whitethorn beryllium worthy undertaking contented collaborations pinch to boost marque awareness.

Make a statement of these insights arsenic you go.

3. Analyze Competing Content

Doing a competitive analysis of your rivals’ contented strategies helps you get ideas for your own.

Competitors aren’t ever businesses that waste akin products aliases services. They could besides beryllium marketplace players for illustration manufacture publications and contented creators who attraction connected the aforesaid audience.

You already cognize immoderate of your main competitors (they’re the ones you utilized successful the past step). But really tin you find others?

Use the Market Explorer tool.

Open the instrumentality and click the “Find Competitors” tab. Enter your domain, group your target location, and click “Research a market.”

Scroll down the tool’s “Overview” study until you scope the “Domain vs Market Dynamics” section.

You’ll spot the sites pinch the largest stock of website visits successful your market. Which means, they’re your competition.

Once you’ve compiled your database of competitors, caput to the EyeOn instrumentality to show their contented efforts.

Click “+ Create list” to commencement a caller list. Then, participate the competing domains you’ve found. 

The instrumentality will past supply an overview of the number of caller contented pieces your competitors person published wrong a definite clip frame.

You tin besides participate your competitors’ societal media accounts to way their societal posts.

Then, position immoderate of your competitors’ latest contented successful item by clicking 1 of their domains nether the applicable contented type. Like blog articles aliases societal posts.

Study their contented to understand what topics they cover. After that, investigation really their contented is performing to gauge the results you could get from creating akin content.

EyeOn moreover provides basal social media metrics for your competitors’ societal posts:

As for capacity metrics for website content, usage Traffic Analytics.

Go to the instrumentality and participate a competitor’s domain (or 1 of the domain’s subfolders, for illustration “/blog” if you’re analyzing its blog content). Then, prime a location and click “Analyze.”

Traffic Analytics will supply metrics for illustration these for the specified month:

• The number of visits the domain has gotten
• The estimated percent of acquisition conversions from visits to the domain
• The domain’s marketplace share

Use these findings to determine really overmuch of your competitors’ contented you want to emulate arsenic you style your contented strategy.

4. Audit Your Existing Content

Next, behaviour a content audit to study really you’re presently performing, truthful you tin support doing what useful good and overhaul thing that isn’t producing results.

The circumstantial type of audit you do and the metrics it focuses connected will dangle connected the strategy you pursue.

But regardless, 1 measurement of assessing your contented is to comparison existent capacity metrics against past ones.

If you’re utilizing an SEO-led contented strategy, you tin usage the Position Tracking instrumentality to way your hunt rankings complete time.

Follow the Position Tracking configuration guide to group up your project.

Then, position the tool’s “Landscape” study to get a snapshot of your rankings distribution, top-ranking keywords, and more.

Go to the “Overview” tab and scroll down to the “Rankings Overview” conception to spot your target keywords and really your rankings person changed complete a definite period.

Use the day select to set the clip play you want to way ranking changes for.

You tin besides usage immoderate capacity metrics you’ve collected from earlier competitory analyses to pass your contented audit—and your contented strategy arsenic a whole.

5. Choose Content Types and Channels

You’re now fresh to take the formats and distribution channels that will thief your contented scope your target audience.

Your chosen contented strategy type will power the main channels you create contented for. For instance, your website is apt your main transmission if your volition is to rank successful hunt engines. 

That said, different channels tin still enactment arsenic supporting distribution channels.

Here are immoderate examples:

If YouTube is 1 of your audience’s favourite channels, your content trading strategy could impact producing much YouTube video contented (even if you’re not utilizing a video-led strategy).

And while a customer support-led contented strategy mostly involves publishing support resources connected your site, you could besides person your squad reply questions that group person posted astir your merchandise connected platforms for illustration Reddit and X.

Some channels support aggregate contented formats. If that’s the lawsuit for the ones you’ve selected, see which format(s) thief you champion pass pinch your audience.

For example, Instagram supports image and video posts. If you want to exemplify ideas successful a move way, creating video posts whitethorn beryllium best.

Like this Instagram post from Coconut Odyssey that uses video to stock underwater exploits:

6. Establish Your Content Creation Process

Now that you cognize your approach, channels, topics, and more, tie up your scheme for creating that content.

Your creation process should screen matters like:

• Who will create your content: If you’re penning blog posts, you whitethorn request to combine a squad of contented strategists, writers, editors, and schematic designers. You whitethorn besides take to outsource the activity to freelancers aliases agencies.
• Your content workflow: In different words, the series of steps your squad will return to create content. And who’s responsible for each step.
• The devices your squad will usage to create content: This could beryllium investing successful camera and lighting instrumentality if you’re producing videos. It could besides beryllium SEO tools for optimizing your contented for hunt motor traffic.
• How often you want to publish: Consider what wave you tin feasibly manage. Setting up a content calendar tin thief you way the people dates of each past and upcoming content.

Implement Your Content Strategy

At this point, you person ideas for different strategy types and a model for creating an effective contented strategy.

Now, you request the devices to put these steps into action.

A azygous Semrush relationship gets you entree to dozens of tools. Try them retired pinch a free account.