Six Steps to Acing Your Startup’s Content material Technique

Kris Hughes is a content material technique and storytelling wizard. He:

✍️ Wrote (and bought) blogs earlier than it was cool

👻 Spent years ghostwriting every day social content material for purchasers, from businesses to CEOs

🖥️ Runs his personal digital technique consulting agency (on observe to hit 30% YoY income progress)

Listed here are Kris’ six ideas for nailing your content material technique — to generate strong, genuine leads.

1. If You Don’t Inform Your Model’s Story, Somebody Else Will

As a founder with 1,000,000 priorities, content material like blogs and social media posts can seem to be low-priority objects.

However should you don’t inform your model’s story, another person will make assumptions and inform it for you. 

Don’t sit in your arms with regards to content material. Your story and voice have to:

• Be genuine
• Really feel pure to you
• Make sense to your target market

Scorching tip: Check out your rivals — in the event that they’re not doing a robust sufficient job of telling their story, they’re leaving content material gaps on the desk so that you can capitalize on.

2. Do a Thorough Mind Dump

Spend ~30 days on a “mind dump” train, utilizing voice notes and free-form writing. Document each thought you could have in your model, then move it on to somebody who’s near, however not part of, your enterprise.

Ask them what they see from the skin trying in. What phrases are used over and over? What subjects maintain returning? This deep-dive step is significant for 2 causes.

One: “Persons are their very own worst entrepreneurs,” Kris says. “There’s in all probability a ton about your individual model story you’re not telling. The deep dive and outdoors perspective brings this to the floor.”

Second, this train will spin off aligned speaking factors in an effort to hit the bottom operating with a transparent technique and financial institution of nice content material — in your individual phrases.

3. Extrapolate 4 Key Pillars for Your Content material

Sift by means of your mind dump and set up every concept, spicy quote, or subject, into certainly one of 4 pillars:

Supply: Kris Hughes / Zanate Ventures

Every pillar offers rise to particular kinds of content material, and alternating between them will make sure the subjects you discuss stay different and contemporary, but additionally on model.

For instance, one week it’s possible you’ll discuss in regards to the outcomes you’ve pushed for a consumer (Pillar II), and the following share a few of your founder story (Pillar IV).

And should you ever get author’s block, you possibly can return to your pillars as inspiration and a reminder of what you need to convey to your viewers.

4. Give attention to Group-Constructing earlier than You Put Out Content material

Create a group from the get-go by interacting together with your excellent purchasers, rivals, and friends by means of value-driven feedback and messages.

This step will get you snug with the way you write, the way you painting your self, and the way folks obtain you.

Conserving observe of feedback you make (e.g., in Notion) may even guarantee you could have a content material concepts financial institution; most useful feedback can normally be bulked up right into a put up.

5. Now You Can Get Your Content material Out There

Use your pillars, saved feedback, and mind dump to generate content material that’s genuine to your model. Bear in mind to:

📈 Have a transparent KPI: Is your content material to construct generalized consciousness, or drive leads?

📝 Develop a voice information, a useful resource information, and a content material calendar.

Kris is an advocate of scheduling content material to be sure you get it on the market. Whereas the cadence and strategy of posting will depend upon the platform, consistency is at all times key.

6. Bear in mind: Content material Is A Lengthy Sport.

It takes time to construct up a repute to the purpose the place your content material drives leads. Preserve at it. 

“Many founders are available in weapons blazing with excessive vitality, after which fizzle out after a number of months,” says Kris. You’ll miss the magic should you do. Keep motivated by:

• Setting new benchmarks
• Specializing in optimistic suggestions
• Reusing your top-performing posts each few months

As a remaining tip, Kris suggests speaking to your prospects when issues are going effectively.

Supply: Tenor

“We have a tendency to succeed in out solely when we have to put out fires,” he advised us. “However getting consumer suggestions through the good occasions means you’ll discover room for incremental enchancment — when you could have the capability to behave on it.” 

Constructive buyer transformation journeys are highly effective additions to your model story.