Content strategy fundamentals – Core principles every organisation needs to know

To find answers to questions, complete tasks, research a topic, make bookings and purchases we rely on clear content. Brands build trust and loyalty with their audiences through good content that is consistent when needed. To be able to plan, create, deliver and manage effective content it starts with a strategy. Before any content is created an organisation must understand its users, their needs and the channels they use to consume content. They must also understand their own business goals and how strategic and effective can support those too.

In this article we’ll explore the fundamentals of content strategy—what it is, why it matters and how to implement it effectively. Whether you're new to content strategy or looking to refine your approach, you'll find practical advice to help you create useful and usable content.

There are different definitions of content strategy but the commonality between them all is referring to content strategy as a way to connect content effort to user needs and business goals.

In her article, What Is Content Strategy? Connecting the Dots Between Disciplines, Kristina Halvorson defines content strategy as:

That means understanding goals, needs, pain points, motivations, behaviours, patterns, emotions. The list is comprehensive so without a strategic approach the risk of spending time, effort and money on content that misses the mark is a substantial one.

Content strategy goes beyond individual pieces of content to consider the entire ecosystem: what content you need, why you need it, how it will be created and maintained, and how it will ultimately serve both user needs and business objectives.

Unlike content marketing, which focuses primarily on promotional content to drive leads, subscribers and sales, content strategy considers all content across an organisation. This includes product descriptions, help documentation, social media posts and internal communications. Content management deals with the technical systems for storing and publishing content, whereas content strategy provides the overarching vision and framework that guides content decisions.

Organisations invest in content strategy because it helps them:

• Create more effective, user-centred content
• Reduce redundancy and content sprawl
• Improve management and governance of content
• Define clear roles for the content lifecycle
• Make better use of resources
• Measure and demonstrate content ROI

1. Content audit and analysis

Understanding what content you already have is the foundation of any content strategy. A comprehensive audit reveals gaps, overlaps, redundancies and opportunities for improvement. This includes documenting existing content in a content inventory, assessing its performance, and identifying what needs to be created and what existing content can be updated, consolidated or archived.

2. User research and audience understanding

Content strategy starts with understanding your audience. This involves creating detailed user personas, mapping user journeys, and understanding the context in which people consume your content. What questions are they trying to answer? What problems are they trying to solve? What format and tone will resonate with them? What channels do they use for content? This also applies to an internal audience if your content strategy is concerned with the organisation’s intranet for example.

3. Content planning and governance

Once you understand your users and existing content, you can plan what new content to create and how to manage it over time. This includes establishing editorial workflows, defining roles and responsibilities, and creating guidelines for content creation and approval. Having all of this documented will help everyone involved and also guide any tricky conversations around conflicting priorities and the politics of content.

4. Content creation and curation

With a plan in place, you can begin creating new content and improving existing content. This involves not just writing, but also considering design, multimedia elements and how content will be structured and presented across different platforms.

5. Measurement and optimisation

Content strategy is iterative. Regular measurement helps you understand what's working, what isn't, and where to focus your efforts. This includes both quantitative metrics based on available data and qualitative feedback which you may get from user testing, surveys and other sources.

Start by creating a comprehensive inventory of your existing content. Include:

• URLs and page titles
• Content type and format
• Author and published date
• Performance metrics
• Quality assessment
• Relevance to current goals

The exact list of what you include will depend on your organisation, your content and the data available to you. You could also note when the content next needs to be reviewed, if it relates to any product value themes or content marketing funnel stages, who the owner is (it may not be the author) and any other information that will help you manage and plan content on a long-term basis.

Use spreadsheets or specialised audit tools to create your content inventory and track this information systematically. A spreadsheet is a good way to get started as you can create one straight away and have full control over how information is presented. You can also sort and filter as you audit. Get started today and download our free content inventory template.

Don’t forget that your content inventory should always be a true reflection of your current content and must be updated whenever there is new content created or a change to existing content.

If appropriate, develop detailed personas that represent your key audience segments. Personas can be useful and help others in the organisation better understand who the content is being created for. The information about the personas should be relevant to the content and what you are trying to assess. It’s a common trap for personas to be created and then never used in a meaningful way or left to become out of date. Only spend time creating personas if they will truly be a useful tool for guiding content discussions and decisions.

You can use your personas to map out user journeys, or do the mapping using data, research insights and known details about your audience. The user journey map may include:

• Goals
• Actions
• Pain points
• Emotions
• Touch points
• Opportunities

This will help you understand the journey your users take which will inform the content that you need.

Your content goals should directly support broader organisational objectives. If your business goal is to reduce support tickets, your content goal might be to create comprehensive self-service documentation. Here are some other examples:

Content goals:

• Create product comparison guides that highlight unique selling points
• Develop case studies demonstrating ROI for key products or services
• Produce educational content that addresses common buying objections

Content goals:

• Develop troubleshooting guides for common issues
• Build an accessible knowledge base with clear navigation
• Create onboarding content that anticipates user questions

Content goals:

• Establish regular customer newsletters highlighting new features
• Produce content that builds community around your products
• Create personalised content based on customer usage patterns

All of your goals need to be clear and measurable.

Establishing clear and documented workflows is essential for efficient content production and content quality. A well-designed content workflow specifies who's responsible for each stage of the content lifecycle, from initial concept through to publication and ongoing maintenance. For each stage, document the inputs, outputs, and handover points between team members. Create clear definitions of who does what within your content workflow and set realistic timeframes for each stage of the workflow.

Developing a comprehensive, well-documented content workflow creates a foundation for scaling content production while maintaining quality.

Effective content governance provides the structure and guidelines needed to maintain content quality and consistency at scale while ensuring alignment with organisational objectives.

Establish clear frameworks for how content is created, approved and managed through its lifecycle, including comprehensive documentation of content standards, style requirements, and quality benchmarks that all team members can reference.

There are a lot of tools available to plan, create, and measure content. What your content toolkit looks like will depend on your needs, content, budgets and your overall content operations. Here are some examples of useful content strategy tools and techniques.

This provides a visual method to evaluate your existing content against user needs across different journey stages. This technique reveals areas where you might have content redundancies, insufficient coverage or entirely inappropriate content types. Doing this task will help you make strategic decisions about what content deserves priority.

Tools like Trello, Asana or specialised content planning software can serve as the operational backbone of your content strategy when used appropriately. These systems help you manage your content pipeline efficiently by coordinating team members, tracking progress on individual pieces, and ensuring you maintain a consistent publication schedule that aligns with broader business objectives.

These establish the foundation for high-quality content across your organisation. Comprehensive guidelines should include voice and tone, grammar and usage conventions specific to your brand, formatting standards for different content types, accessibility requirements to ensure inclusive content and anything else that will help anyone create content.

These allow you to monitor essential metrics that demonstrate content effectiveness. Your measurement framework could include traffic and engagement statistics, conversion rates for content with specific calls to action, search performance indicators, user feedback mechanisms, and content ROI calculations that connect your efforts to business outcomes.

Use data to demonstrate current content inefficiencies and highlight potential improvements. Start with small wins to build credibility. Understand the individual concerns of stakeholders so you can talk about content strategy in a way that is meaningful to them. Here’s an example, the finance director may respond to cost-saving arguments but marketing leaders might be more interested in improved conversion rates.

Create modular content that can be adapted for different channels. Implement a "create once, publish everywhere" approach where core content is produced centrally then adapted for different channels, rather than creating channel-specific content from scratch each time.

Move beyond vanity metrics to measure real impact. Connect content performance to business outcomes, whether that's lead generation, customer satisfaction, or operational efficiency. Regular testing of content provides evidence of which content best meets user needs, allowing you to continuously improve based on data rather than assumptions.

Be realistic about what you can achieve with available resources. Focus on high-impact content first and consider ways to repurpose existing content before creating new content. Develop clear prioritisation criteria based on business value, user needs, and resource requirements to make decisions about what content investments to make first.

Resist the temptation to mirror your internal structure in your content. Instead, organise content around user tasks and goals, even if this crosses departmental boundaries.

Schedule regular reviews to ensure content remains accurate, relevant and useful. Set up alerts for time-sensitive content that needs updating. You could use your content inventory to track these review dates too.

Build relationships with stakeholders across departments and create forums for regular communication and feedback. Connecting silos is a good way to involve the right people in the most meaningful way.

By taking a strategic approach to content, you can create more value for users whilst better supporting business objectives.

Important takeaways:

• Start with user research and content audits
• Align content goals with business objectives
• Establish clear governance and workflows
• Measure and iterate continuously
• Encourage collaboration across teams

Content strategy requires ongoing commitment, regular refinement and continuous adaptation to changing user needs and business priorities.