Six questions to help you create your 2025 content strategy
I started blogging in 2004 without a content strategy or a plan—I just sat down and typed away. The internet was a very different place 20 years ago.
Take a look at Victoria’s Island and Ottawa.cx there is some great content and some strange twists… That’s the thing about the internet, once you press publish or send, it lives forever.
And this is exactly why you need to think about your 2025 content strategy. And it’s the reason why, everything I write and publish now has a purpose and goal.
Having a strategy helps keep you on track and accountable to yourself, your colleagues, and your readers.
Even as a solopreneur, it helps to know your monthly focus, required content, and where you’ll publish and share it.
Of course, I’ll caveat this needing a content strategy theme with:
Don’t get so caught up in your strategy and plan that you forget to be spontaneous. Some of your best content ideas happen when you’re showering or unloading the dishwasher. Capture these ideas and follow-through with them and don’t worry if they aren’t part of the plan.
How To Create Your 2025 Content Strategy
To create your 2025 content strategy you need a notebook, a pen, your favourite drink, patience, and time to think without interruptions.
- At the top of your page, write: Elevator Pitch.
- Your elevator pitch is your what, why, and who summary of your company.
Fill in the blanks: [Your Company] does [Service/Product] for [Target Audience] because [Reason/Benefit].
For example: Good Words Works specializes in content for small- and medium-sized companies, associations, and not-for-profits who lack content writing and strategy expertise or resources. - Divide another page into thirds (can be horizontal or vertical) with these titles:
Goals, Big Dreams, Must Haves. - In each section start writing, let your brain relax and just write.
Don’t edit your thoughts, just let the words flow.
What do you want to accomplish in 2025?
If xxx happened, 2025 would be amazing!
I really need xxx and xxx to happen in 2025. These are non-negotiables.
There is no judgement here. Write it all down.
And don’t feel like you need to fill up each section, just write until you’re done. If this is one sentence or 30, it’s okay. - Flip back to your Elevator Pitch–do your Goals, Big Dreams, and Must Haves align with your elevator pitch?
Are there items in your list of goals, big dreams, and must haves that suggest you need to update your elevator pitch? Or are there some outliers in this list that don’t fit with your goals and mission?
The idea here is to start thinking about how your goals, big dreams, and must haves mesh with what you do.
I know this sounds disconnected from your content strategy.
But, you can’t develop a content strategy if you don’t know why you’re doing it and who you’re doing it for. - Get up from your desk or sofa, and go for a walk outside. Relax your brain. Look at the trees and listen to the birds.
Be ready for new ideas and decisions about 2025 to pop into your brain. - Sit down, start a new page, write down all the ideas and thoughts you had on your walk.
Below these fresh new goals and ideas, write your Elevator Pitch, and your Goals, Big Dreams, and Must Haves.
Give this a read over. Now you know what you’re doing, who you do it for, and what you want to accomplish in 2025.
Trust me on this. It works. This is the exact process I use.
6 Questions to Help You Create Your 2025 Content Strategy
Your content strategy should be unique to your mission, goals, and audience.
These are the 6 questions I’m using to create my 2025 content strategy. They are built around the pillars of helpful and human content: who, what, why, how, where, and when.
I recommend getting out your notebook and writing down your answers to each of these questions.
- Who is your audience?
Who is visiting your website, reading your blogs, following you on social media, and subscribing to your newsletter?
Who is buying your products and services? Who needs what you offer?
Who are you helping? - What does your audience need help with?
What are their challenges, problems, and pain points? What questions does your audience have?
What is your expertise?
What types of content can help you achieve your goals, big dreams, and must haves? This may include blog posts, newsletters, social media updates, videos, or podcasts
The content you create and share needs to align with your business goals, elevator pitch, and what your audience needs. - Why are you creating content? Think about the gaps you’re filling and why this content will help your audience.
Do not create content for the sake of creating content. People are fickle and short on time. They want to know that when they read your blog, subscribe to your newsletter, or follow you on social media that you’ll add value to their day.
Why does this content help my readers? - How are you going to create this content? Think about how much time you have in your schedule.
Are you a natural writer and do you understand social media? Do you have the time to spend writing and editing blog posts, newsletters, social content, and webpage content?
This blog took me 6 hours to plan, write, edit, and publish… and I’m a professional writer.
How will you find time for your content strategy?
Focus on consistency and quality rather than quantity. - Where are your readers? Are they on LinkedIn, do they like to read blogs and articles, are they following you on Instagram or Facebook?
You cannot be on every platform and provide quality content in every format–especially if creating content is not your primary role.
Think about how you can streamline your content strategy with scheduling social media posts, bulk writing of blog posts, and designating one day a week to creating content. (Or hiring a professional writer to do this for you.)
Review your website stats to learn how people find your site and what content gets the most visitors and views.
If you’re posting content on LinkedIn–what types of posts get the most comments, views, and interactions?
Where are your clients coming from? You need to focus your content strategy on where your clients are. - When do you need to achieve your Goals, Big Dreams, and Must Haves? It’s important to know what your key dates are and work backwards from these with your content strategy and schedule.
If December is a key time period for you, your content needs to be ready, posted, and shared in October and November.
People like to research, plan, and ask questions before making purchasing and hiring decisions–make sure your content, messages, and brand are easily available to them during this research and decision-making phase.
When are you going to create your content? You need to schedule time for planning and research, writing, editing, finalizing, publishing, posting, and distributing your content.
Golden Rule: Your content strategy needs to be doable, purposeful, and helpful for you and your audience.
The Extras Every Content Strategy Needs
A content strategy is about more than writing blogs, social media posts, and newsletters.
Everything you write and publish needs a helping hand to stand out and get noticed.
These are your must-haves for everything you write and publish:
- Helpful: every piece of content in your content strategy needs to be written for real people. Your content needs to answer questions, solve problems, and provide useful information.
Avoid writing clickbait-style content or recycling themes and ideas from other websites.
You want to give people a reason to follow and read your content. This is how you build trust and authority. - Thought Leadership: thanks to the internet we can get answers to any question we have. So you need to do more than answer questions.
You need to provide a new perspective and provide insights about your domain and industry with others. Give people something new that they can’t find from a Google search.
Be bold, tell people what you think. Make strong statements. This is not the time to blend in. Look for ways to educate and help people.
You created your company, products, and services because you recognized a gap in your industry–the same holds true for your content. - Distribution: it’s not enough to click publish or send. How are people supposed to know about your blog or social media post, if you don’t tell them about it?
For every piece of content in your content strategy, have a plan for how you’ll repurpose and distribute it. Make sure you create time in your schedule for this.
How can you repurpose and distribute your blog content, on social media and in your newsletters? Take a look at what I do on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Every blog post I write is turned into three sets of Instagram slides and LinkedIn carousels. The content for these is pulled directly from my blogs.
By repurposing my content, I’m able to distribute it and send it to a different audience and to repeat my message and value in different formats.
TL;DR Know Why You’re Creating Content
You’re thinking “this is great. But when am I going to find the time to do this?”
I get it, you’re busy.
If you don’t have the time, resources, or energy to do all of this, make sure at a minimum, you:
- Write down the top three challenges your clients have.
- Write down three ideas for each of these challenges.
This can be one blog, one social media post, and one newsletter theme.
Create a rough outline for each idea. The more detailed you are, the easier it is to write your content. - Schedule time in your calendar to create these three pieces of content.
Consider setting aside two days for a blog, two hours for a social media post, and half a day for your newsletter. Create an alert for one week, two days, and one day prior to your scheduled content creation days.
When the scheduled day comes up in your calendar, sit down and write. - Schedule publishing, posting, and sharing dates for each piece of content.
Make sure you create an alert for one week, two days, and one day prior to the schedule date. This way your content priorities do not slip through the cracks and get lost in the busyness of running your company. - Once you’ve published and shared your three pieces of content, it’s time to repurpose these.
Use your blog as source content for three social media posts.
Use your social media post as source content for your newsletter.
Use your newsletter theme as a springboard for a new blog post.
This pattern can be repeated for two more cycles. Then it’s time to return to step 1 and follow the process again.
If you’re struggling, focus on your clients and why your company exists.
How can you help people solve their problems and challenges? What questions do they have?
Always Ask: Is this piece of content helpful?
I’m here to talk about your words, your website, and how I can help your clients find and trust you.
Let’s talk about your words and how I can help you.
If you have any questions or want me to review your content, send me an email. I’m always happy to help you out.
Good Words Work 