Benefits of a Strong Content Strategy

The #1 most painful regret I hear from new clients: Running paid ads without an organic content strategy. I hear it all the time: “We’ve burned $100K in 3 months with nothing to show for it.” Or they’re stuck on the ads hamster wheel, handing $0.30 of every hard earned dollar to Meta / Google. Thanks, Zuck! Don't get me wrong - paid media is important. But - after working with 75+ founders, here's what I've seen work best: 1. Start with organic, then layer in paid marketing • Lower cost way to establish and build brand equity • Even if outsourced, organic CPMs are lower than paid. 2. Organic content creates familiarity • Build familiarity with your dream clients. • Educate and entertain them in a low-stakes environment to build authority and trust (ultimately generating organic leads) 3. It's free market testing • Posting organic content costs $0. Testing ads cost $1,000s.  • With a thoughtful content strategy, you will learn the topics, perspectives, hooks, and media your clients find useful. • Can then double down on proven content with paid. 4. Organic has a halo effect on ads: • When people see your ads, you've already captured mindshare and trust, so ads will convert much better vs a paid-only approach. Additional benefits of an organic content strategy: • Higher customer LTV and loyalty • Shorter, easier sales cycles • Attract and retain A+ talent So, here's the recommended sequence: → Start with an organic content strategy → Post consistently with the goal of 'value-bombing' your audience → Double down on your best organic content with ads Agree/disagree? Let me know in the comments below.

I've had five conversations so far this month with organizations concerned about declining SEO rankings caused by AI search. That makes it a trending topic in my world! I'd already started doing research about what is and isn't working in real time, and when I contacted previous content strategy clients I discovered that the strategies I'd created for them are still working. Their rankings are holding steady. Have you noticed a drop in your search rankings? AI-driven search results—like generative answers and featured snippets—are becoming the norm and it’s changing how content gets displayed and found. If your content is guided by an SEO-driven content strategy, it's time to make some changes. Here’s how a well-rounded, audience-first content strategy can help you stay ahead: 1. Focus on Your Audience, Not Just SEO SEO still matters, but if you’re crafting content just to check off SEO boxes, you’re missing out. AI-powered search is prioritizing content that truly addresses what your audience is searching for. When you focus on delivering value and answering real questions, you naturally align with what search engines—and people—are looking for. 2. Go Deep with Content Pillars and Clusters To stand out in AI-driven search, depth and breadth are key. A content strategy built around pillars (your core topics) and clusters (supporting, related content) helps you cover topics thoroughly and become a trusted source of information. Not only will this boost your rankings, but it also keeps your audience engaged with valuable, interconnected content. 3. Build Authority with Valuable, Consistent Content AI search favors authoritative sources. That means it’s time to make your expertise known through consistent, high-quality content. For businesses, this establishes you as the go-to resource in your industry. For freelancers, helping clients build authority can make your services indispensable. 4. Optimize for AI Features AI results often pull from well-organized, structured content like FAQs and how-to guides. By incorporating these elements into your strategy, you increase the chances of your content being featured in AI search results, driving more visibility and traffic. The bottom line is if you’re a business trying to stay visible or a freelancer looking to offer a cutting-edge service, now’s the time to shift your focus from SEO-driven content to audience-focused strategy. SEO is still relevant, but focusing on the audience and optimizing for AI search (which is honestly just good content practices) are what will get you ahead of the curve. ********************************************************************** Want to learn more about content strategy? The next Mastering Content Strategy Bootcamp is November 4 - 8. I’ve updated the content to include more information about how you can use AI in the content strategy process. I’d love to have you join me! 

If I was the Head of Content of a $50M ARR SaaS, and I was given a $100,000 content budget, here’s the exact content playbook I’d run (broken down by budget): BACKGROUND: Content should be the #1 focus for every GTM strategy. Scroll-stopping, valuable content drives revenue, builds trust, and entertains buyers. Here's my plan (which is similar to what I am running at HockeyStack): 1. Anchor Content - $30,000 Invest in 3-5 high-value pieces of “anchor content” per year. Think: - In-depth research reports (industry benchmarks, original research) - Interactive tools (ROI calculators, diagnostic quizzes) - Long-form guides (20+ pages that prospects bookmark and share) I’d prioritize first-party research over everything else because once you have enough research, it gets exponentially easier to build interactive tools and guides around the report. These gets you backlinks, social shares, and authority. Bonus point: If one of the research reports is controversial enough, it can go viral and bring you an insane amount of traffic. I know from first-hand experience :) 2. UGC/Customer Stories - $20,000 Nobody cares about low-quality Zoom case studies. You need to invest in high-quality customer stories with high production value. Travel to the customer, keep the conversation long, and invest in post-production to have the best clips, blog posts, and social content. Then build a content library with necessary tags like industry and pain point for all your revenue teams to utilize. 2. Fast, Relatable, and Entertaining Content - $25,000 You also need fast, relatable, and entertaining content assets to support this strategy. This category is everything from skits to product launches to TikTok style videos for the feed. These are great to build affinity, stop the scroll, and stay top-of-mind. 3. Distribution Strategy - $25,000 Once you have the content, now it’s time to invest in distribution. Start collecting emails on your website and setup a weekly newsletter Start running ads on everywhere relevant Post from employee profiles, your profile, and company page Collab with influencers And more. BONUS: I would also invest at least $10,000 in experimentation. Tools, new channels, and new tactics. Start small, find what works, and double down. TAKEAWAY 2025 will be the year of moats. - SEO is no longer a moat. - Paid ads aren't a moat. - AI isn’t a moat. If you focus on what others cannot replicate easily in your content and utilize your product’s unique differentiators, you can create a massive moat. Otherwise, in a quarter, all your competitors will copy what you do, This content plan works because it requires a ton of data, takes a long time, and focuses on distribution. If you focus on your moat and build product fast, 2025 will be your best year.

Zillow’s content strategy started by producing market reports and giving them away for free - and helped turn them into a household name doing over $2 billion a year. Content works, but performance marketing will destroy your content strategy if you let it get too close… We work with over 100 teams investing in brand publishing, and *the* most common mistake we see is letting the wrong incentives drive content strategy into the ground. Great brand publishing creates long term authority with potential customers, ensuring that you are top of mind when potentials are in buy-mode. But too often, companies start measuring content by the leads it generates. This quickly incentivizes the content team to produce built-to-convert content, or focus on bottom of funnel topics that might convert a few users but miss the overall picture. If Zillow had produced only “Which mortgage is right for me?” and “Best time to buy a house,” they would never have won. If you’re going to invest in content, don’t kneecap the strategy. What are other examples of brands that get it - and are thinking long term with their content strategies?

Content strategy is not ONLY about content. Here are 7 surprising things that often happen as by-products of all that content work. Content marketing strategy work makes you: ✅ Refine your differentiators. If you aren’t saying something different and unique in the market, it could be because you don’t know your differentiators. Content strategy work makes you pin those down. ✅ Solidify you service offerings. I’ve had some clients actually remove products from their offering because after doing buyer research and talking to customers, they realized their customers didn’t care about that product. ✅ Refine the sales processes. When doing that customer research you will come to learn things about your client that you didn’t know, like that they get a lot of their information from social (and don’t read emails). This will affect the way sales does outreach. ✅ Understand your competitors. It’s one of the first things I guide my clients to do when working on content strategy. Getting to know your competitors better helps you differentiate, sound different, and produce unique content. ✅ Build better relationships with sales and product marketing. A great content program involves and relies on the sales and product teams. When you start collaborating more with them, the work you each do informs and improves the work that they do, and vice versa. ✅ Figure out what your company stands for. When you are choosing things to talk about in the market, it becomes clear lightning-fast that there are some things you don’t need and want to talk about. You can eliminate those and start talking about what really aligns with your beliefs and priorities as a company. ✅ Pin down your company personality. Once teams start digging into old content and looking at what they want to create, they often realize they sound stiff, academic, and boring. Realizing this almost always leads to a voice/tone update which will make you sound more like who you are. Yes, you’ll get blog posts, ebooks, landing pages, and social content out of your content marketing work. But you’ll also gain progress in who you are as a company, the products you sell, and the relationships between your teams.

Here's how content will double or triple your revenues. Trust in businesses is near all-time lows. People are skeptical due to bad experiences with businesses. Because of this, they are often slow to make a purchase decision, especially if it is a significant transaction. How can you set your company above all the noise? C-O-N-T-E-N-T Yes...content is still effective if used strategically. The more you can inform, educate, and inspire your ideal prospects, the more they will trust you with their business and ultimately transact with you. Most owners I consult with do not have any of these tangibles in place, and if they do, they are usually outdated and all about their company rather than how they can help their customers. Imagine you have created content (i.e., white papers, one-page PDFs, blog posts, landing pages) that you can instantly send to someone interested in your products or services. It's magic. This requires strategy and execution, which takes time but will give your business a massive ROI for years. Use my FOCUS framework. F.O.C.U.S. Content Strategy Framework 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗽𝘀: Assess current content. Identify what's missing or outdated. 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲: Top: Attract with blogs, social media, and guest posts. Middle: Educate with how-to guides, webinars, and research. Bottom: Convert with case studies, testimonials, and service pages. 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀: Distribute content where your audience is most active. 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆: Consistently publish and refresh content to stay relevant. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮: Analyze performance and refine your strategy. This F.O.C.U.S. framework helps you streamline your content strategy to build trust and drive conversions effectively. Give it a try, and let me know your results. 👉 When You're Ready👇 B2B business owners hire me to differentiate their services, stand out in the market, and attract their ideal prospects. We will fix the sales and marketing bottlenecks, syncing them for maximum results. Image credit: ORBIT MEDIA

✨So many attorneys/law firms don’t understand why they need a great legal content strategy.✨ — Not to pick on law firms – MANY business owners don’t get  why a solid content marketing strategy is important. The conversation usually goes something like… “If they need my legal services, they’ll find me, right?” 😁Sure. At least some of them will. The people who dig for a “personal injury lawyer near me” Sifting through dozens of SERPs listings… Before reaching your website May just give in and call you. 🚨But why make them work for it? ✨Here are 3 reasons to invest in a great legal content marketing strategy:✨ 1️⃣ Well-written legal content can bring you MORE and CONSISTENT leads. No, it’s not this cut and dry. You have to determine your 🔹Target audience 🔹Top queries/keywords 🔹Top practice areas 🔹Target service locations 🔹Style, tone, and voice 🔹Brand goals 🔹Mission, vision, and values And that’s all part of the content strategy process. But once you do… And start developing legal content  For your law firm website  With these factors in mind 🎉You can turn your legal site into a consistent lead-building machine. 2️⃣ Legal content allows you to connect with your existing clients. Clients you’re working with can read your Legal blog posts White papers Web page updates 📰To get news on the latest trends in your sector of the legal industry. This also helps build authority and trust with your legal audience Which helps make you an authority in the space online. 3️⃣ Having high-quality legal content fixes you as a thought leader. Creating detailed, highly informative written pieces on your law firm website… ✅Increases your firm’s standing in the personal injury space/other practice area ✅Builds your reputation as a leading expert ✅May prompt other law firms to refer to your content In a world where AI content is booming… 🏆Good SEO content still wins. Whether you’re a local, solo-practice personal injury lawyer Or a nationwide criminal law firm… Having a targeted, clear, and actionable legal content strategy Can help your firm 💎Attract the clients who need your help most 💎Waste less time trying to find new clients 💎Invest that saved time back into the firm More clients + time saved = time and money earned Don’t know how to develop a killer legal content strategy? Excelsior Content can help. Reach out and let me put my 8 years of content experience to work for you. #legalcontentstrategy #legalcontent #legalcontentwriting #contentstrategy #contentmarketing ____________________________________________________ I’m Whitney, owner of Excelsior Content, and I specialize in writing legal content and streamlined content production.

Great content takes time. And because time is so incredibly valuable - and limited- once you’ve put in the work, make sure you have a plan in place to maximize its value. Enter: a waterfall content strategy. If you don’t have one in place, you’re missing out on a prime opportunity to get more mileage of your content. Here's how you can maximize your content's potential: Identify core content: Start with a high-value piece, like a comprehensive blog post, whitepaper, or webinar. Break it down: Pull out key points and insights to create multiple pieces of content. Think infographics, short videos and social media posts. Repurpose & reformat: Adapt your content for different platforms. Turn a blog into a podcast or a guest article into a video. Consistent distribution: Spread out sharing your content across multiple channels over time rather than dropping it all at once. This keeps your key messages continuing to stay in front of your audience. Measure & optimize: Track performance metrics and refine your strategy based on what resonates most with your audience. Once you put this into place with a repeatable process, it’ll be much easier to amplify your reach, drive engagement, and get even more value from all the content you’re creating. 

The world is flooded with AI-generated content… what some might call "AI slop." With tools like ChatGPT churning out blogs, posts, and marketing materials at lightning speed, standing out has never been harder. Expertise and originality are your keys to rising above the sea of slop. Why Expertise Matters? → Expert-driven content builds trust.  → According to Edelman's 2023 Trust Barometer, 59% of consumers trust brands that provide insightful, educational content. → Unique research, proprietary data, or case studies make your content irreplaceable. For example, “76% of marketers using data-driven strategies see higher engagement.” Stay ahead by addressing current trends and challenges in your field. Why Originality Wins? → Share real stories, customer successes, or behind-the-scenes moments.  → Studies show that 55% of people are more likely to buy from brands whose stories resonate emotionally making them feel seen, and understood. Try interactive ads, videos, or gamified content. Interactive content generates twice the engagement of static formats. Challenge norms, explore niche topics, or interview thought leaders to position yourself as a trailblazer. Differentiation isn’t optional, it’s essential.  Focus on expertise and originality to create content that connects, engages, and lasts. Remember… It’s not about producing more. It’s about producing better. Let’s keep it real. What do you think?  How are you leveraging expertise and originality in your content strategy? ================================================= I’m Christopher Rubin. I help SMBs scale faster, with enterprise-grade strategy and creativity without the typical agency price tag. Like this post? Want to see more? 🔔 Ring the bell on my Profile ✅ Connect with me