Content Marketing Strategy: 10 Steps to Build a Results-Driven Plan

Want to create a content marketing strategy that actually works?

You’re in the right place.

Through content marketing, Backlinko attracts over 772,000 monthly sessions.

Below, you’ll learn how to do the same.

We’ll show you (step by step) how to create a content strategy that drives consistent, long-term traffic.

Let’s get started.

1. Identify Your Goals

Before you do anything, set specific, time-bound goals for your content marketing strategy.

Why?

Because clear goals give you direction, help you measure success, and keep you focused.

Sample goals include:

• Increasing product sales by 30%
• Boosting organic traffic by 20% in six months
• Growing email subscribers by 15% this quarter

Then, outline the actionable steps you’ll take to achieve each goal.

For example, you might launch a new blog series targeting long-tail keywords to achieve your organic traffic goal.

And an email marketing campaign offering exclusive deals.

You’ll map out these assets in your content calendar, which we’ll explain later in the article.

2. Define Your Target Audience

You can’t create great content if you don’t know who you’re creating it for.

That’s why understanding your target audience is crucial.

It helps you tailor your content to your audience’s specific interests and needs. And choose the right channels for your content.

Use tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to ask your audience about their challenges.

If you’re unsure what to ask, start with a template.

Both platforms offer pre-made surveys you can customize. This saves time and ensures you’re asking smart, strategic questions from the start.

Look for recurring themes or problems in audience responses.

This information will come in handy when building audience personas.

Next, use Google Analytics to research essential demographic information (if you have enough existing data). Including where your audience lives.

Knowing this will inform everything from the language you use to your local SEO strategy. It’ll also help you choose which social media platforms to focus on, as different demographics tend to prefer different platforms.

Navigate to Reports > User Attributes > Demographic details.

There, you’ll see a geographic breakdown by country.

Knowing how your audience prefers to consume content can also help you choose the right formats and channels.

Go to Reports > Tech > Overview in Google Analytics to see what browsers and operating systems your audience uses.

This data will help you optimize your content to your audience’s preferences.

Finally, use the insight you just gathered to create detailed audience personas.

Personas help you visualize your ideal audience and create content that speaks directly to them.

Here’s how to create effective personas:

• Give your persona a name and face: This makes them feel real. Use stock photos if needed.
• Define demographics: Age, gender, location, job title, income level
• Identify psychographics: Values, interests, lifestyle, personality traits
• Outline their goals and challenges: What are they trying to achieve? What’s standing in their way?
• Describe their content preferences: What formats do they prefer? Where do they consume content?

3. Analyze Competitors

Now, it’s time to learn from your competitors.

Analyzing your competitors’ content gaps will reveal topic opportunities.

Performing this task is easy with Semrush’s Keyword Gap Tool.

Add your URL and up to four competitors. Then, click “Compare.”

View the reports to see how your site’s keywords perform against your competitors.

This includes keyword overlap, which tells you how many common keywords you and your competitors both rank for in the SERPs.

You’ll also learn which keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t.

Select the “Missing” filter to see this list.

Now, select the “Weak” filter to see which terms your competitors outrank you for in the SERPs.

All of these terms are opportunities to create new content or update existing content.

4. Research Topic Ideas

Now that you know your audience, it’s time to decide what to write about.

You probably have some good ideas from studying your audience and competitors. But you can also conduct keyword research to find more topics.

This time, you’ll focus on topics that have a decent search volume. And low difficulty.

This way, you can increase the likelihood of ranking for these terms—and boosting your web traffic.

Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool is great for this task.

Type your main topic (like “acoustic guitar”) or keyword and click “Search.”

This returned over 150,000 results.

To improve your chances of ranking, select the keyword difficulty (KD) filter.

From the “KD%” dropdown, choose “Easy” or “Very easy.” Then, click the “Apply” button:

Now, you have a list of terms that should be easy to rank for in the SERPs. (As long as your content is high quality and addresses user intent.)

Another way to find relevant topics is Google’s “People also ask” SERP feature.

These questions make great topics because they come straight from Google. (Which means you know that people are actually searching for them.)

Type your topic or keyword into Google. In this case, “acoustic guitar for beginners.”

Then, scroll down the page until you find the “People also ask” list.

Click the down arrow on the right to get more questions related to that topic.

Each time you do this, more questions will appear.

Do this multiple times until you’ve got a complete list.

5. Decide on Content Formats

Using a mix of content formats lets you cater to different audience preferences.

And address various stages of the marketing funnel.

For example, blog posts and infographics can attract top-of-funnel audiences. While webinars and ebooks can nurture leads further down the funnel.

Content formats include:

• Blog posts: Great for in-depth information and SEO. Works well for audiences seeking detailed explanations or analysis.
• Ebooks: Good for lead generation and comprehensive guides. Helpful for audiences seeking in-depth knowledge on specific topics.
• Videos: Perfect for visual learners and complex topics. Especially effective for product demonstrations and tutorials.
• Infographics: Ideal for presenting data in a digestible way. Works well for audiences who prefer quick, visual information.
• Webinars: Valuable for interactive learning and lead nurturing. Works well for audiences who value real-time interaction and expert insights.
• Podcasts: Excellent for on-the-go consumption. Caters to audiences who prefer audio content during commutes or multitasking.
• Social media posts: Ideal for engagement and brand awareness. Great for sharing bite-sized content and driving traffic to your website.

6. Create a Content Calendar

Here’s the deal:

A well-organized content calendar is your best friend when scaling content production.

Why?

Because it helps you:

• Track every step of the content creation process
• Ensure nothing falls through the cracks
• Plan content months in advance
• Maintain consistency and alignment with the overarching content strategy

Start by choosing a tool. Google Sheets, Trello, or Asana are all great options.

Another idea is to use a content strategy template with a pre-formatted content calendar.

Then, leverage the audience, competitor, and keyword research you conducted in the previous steps to map out your content.

Use this information to assign publication dates.

Aim for a mix of content types that address different goals and audience segments.

Include all content stages in your calendar, noting key steps like the following:

• Research
• Writing
• Editing
• Design
• SEO optimization
• Publication
• Promotion
• Social media scheduling

Most importantly, ensure each piece ties back to your initial objectives.

7. Create High-Quality Content

What makes content “good” can vary from publication to publication.

But there are several steps you can take to create content that provides value to your target audience.

Google looks for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. These guidelines help your content rank well and gain readers’ trust.

Keep the following content strategy tips in mind to ensure you produce high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your audience.

Experience

Google favors content written by people with firsthand experience.

For example, the travel website The Points Guy features content written by avid travelers who include personal experiences and photos in each article.

Expertise

Your content should be written by knowledgeable authors with relevant qualifications and experience.

Author bios are an easy way to demonstrate expertise to search engines and your audience.

Authoritativeness

Authority comes from content that’s referenced and cited by others.

These citations help you build a strong backlink profile that boosts your authority.

Take TechCrunch, for example. They’re one of the most authoritative sources for startup news and technology trends.

They have 117 million backlinks, which signal to search engines that TechCrunch is an authoritative site.

Trustworthiness

This means your content is factual, reliable, and based on reputable sources. And your site protects user privacy.

Increase trustworthiness through user reviews, testimonials, and a clear privacy policy.

8. Find the Most Effective Channels to Promote Your Content

Creating great content is only half the battle. You need to promote it effectively, too.

Luckily, you have many options:

• Email campaigns: Leverage your subscriber list to showcase new content and drive engagement.
• Social media: Share snippets and teasers across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, TikTok, and more to spark interest and increase reach.
• Influencer partnerships: Collaborate with niche influencers to expand your content’s reach and credibility.
• Paid advertising: Amplify visibility through targeted ads on Google, Meta, or industry-specific platforms.
• Content syndication: Republish on platforms like Medium to tap into new audience segments.
• PR outreach: Get your content featured in trusted industry publications and media outlets.
• Guest posting: Contribute to relevant blogs, linking back to your content to drive referral traffic.
• Community engagement: Share insights in online forums and groups where your audience congregates, such as Reddit, Quora, Facebook groups, and more.
• Webinars/live streams: Host events discussing your content topics to generate buzz and showcase expertise.
• SEO optimization: Fine-tune your content to climb search rankings and boost organic traffic.

But not every platform will be right for every brand.

Choose promotional channels to outline in your content strategy based on audience preferences and your goals.

If you have existing data, view the User Acquisition report in Google Analytics.

There, you’ll see where your traffic is coming from (Organic Search, Social, Direct, Referral, etc.) to analyze what’s working well—and what isn’t.

Don’t have existing data yet?

Use a tool like Semrush’s Traffic Analytics to see which channels work best for your competitors.

The “Traffic Channels by Type” report will show you the most effective channels for each competitor, which you can use to inform your own content marketing strategy.

For example, if the data shows your competitor’s audience loves Instagram and responds well to email campaigns, you can target these platforms in your strategy:

• Instagram: Share weekly carousel posts with quick tips and longer-form content in posts.
• Email: Deliver a monthly newsletter featuring your best content and exclusive tips.

9. Track and Measure Performance

What gets measured, gets managed.

Keep a close eye on your metrics to ensure continuous improvement.

Here’s how:

• Set up tracking: Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console
• Monitor key metrics: Track organic traffic, keyword rankings, conversions, and social media engagement
• Analyze performance: Regularly review what’s working and what’s not
• Iterate and improve: Use insights to refine your strategy

Don’t have access to Google Search Console?

Use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool to track how your content is doing in the SERPs.

10. Create a Content Governance Policy

Maintain consistency as you scale by coming up with a content governance policy.

These are various guidelines that help you exhibit E-E-A-T signals. And grow your website without sacrificing quality.

Here’s what to include in your content governance plan:

• Content approval process: Who will review and approve content before publication?
• Style guide: Define your brand voice, tone, and writing style
• Social media guidelines: Define how your brand voice translates to different social platforms and establish rules for engagement and content sharing
• Quality standards: Set clear benchmarks for what constitutes high-quality content
• Update schedule: How often will you review and update existing content?
• Roles and responsibilities: Clearly define who does what in your content team
• Content audits: Schedule regular content audits to ensure everything aligns with your strategy

Your Turn: Create a Content Marketing Strategy for Your Business

From setting clear goals to analyzing competitors, this content strategy framework will help you skyrocket your organic traffic. And make long-term connections with your audience.

But don’t just set it and forget it.

Regularly revisit your strategy, track your performance, and optimize based on what you learn.

Ready to dive even deeper into how you can use content to get more web traffic?

Check out our SEO and Content Marketing Guide—It’s packed with actionable tips to help you create content that ranks and converts.