In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin didn’t just revolutionize science and politics—he mastered the art of content creation. As the publisher of Poor Richard’s Almanack, Franklin understood his audience deeply. He combined practical advice, wit, and relatable anecdotes into a structured format that resonated with readers year after year. His content wasn’t random; it was carefully designed to educate, entertain, and build trust. Franklin’s almanack became a staple in households, cementing his legacy as a thought leader of his time.
Franklin’s approach teaches us that content, when crafted with strategy and purpose, can transcend its medium to create lasting impact.
Just like Franklin tailored his content to resonate with 18th-century readers, your personal brand needs a structured content strategy to engage and inspire your audience. Let’s dive into the actionable steps and frameworks to craft a strategy that leaves a mark.
How to Create a Content Strategy
Questions to ask yourself before creating a content strategy:
About your journey:
What sparked your current path?
What motivated you to change the course of life?
What was the biggest obstacle in making this shift?
What were your initial objectives?
When did you truly believe in achieving your goals?
How has this journey transformed you?
What significant challenge emerged once you started seeing progress?
What doubts or setbacks challenged your commitment?
What kept you motivated during challenges?
What is your ultimate vision for your work?
About your expertise:
What common beliefs in your field do you believe are misleading?
What under-discussed ideas hold great potential in your field?
How can you demonstrate your approach to achieving results?
About your achievements:
What accomplishment brings you the most pride?
What unique evidence establishes you as a credible expert?
Choose your 2-3 core topics that you want to talk about and stand for.
Once you’ve explored your journey, expertise, and achievements, it’s time to lay the foundation for your content strategy. A clear strategy ensures your message resonates with your audience and aligns with your brand goals.
The 3 Layers of Content Marketing
I learnt this strategy from Pierre Herubel.
1. Content Strategy Layer
Begin with a deep understanding of your audience’s problems and motivations. Uncover the why behind their buying decisions and the how of their journey to ensure your content aligns with their needs. Analyze their buying process to identify what information they require at each stage to move closer to making a purchase.
- Target Audience — The specific people you want to reach with your content.
Knowing your target audience helps you tailor your content to their needs, preferences, and pain points, making it more relevant and effective.
- Positioning — How you differentiate your product or service from the competition in the minds of your target audience.
Effective positioning ensures your audience understands the unique value your offering brings, setting you apart in the marketplace.
- Messaging — The key messages you want to communicate to your audience.
Clear and consistent messaging helps convey your value proposition, benefits, and what you stand for, ensuring your audience understands and remembers your brand.
- Narrative — The overarching story that ties your content together.
A compelling narrative engages your audience emotionally, making your content more memorable and persuasive.
- Manifesto — A public declaration of your beliefs, goals, and values.
A manifesto can inspire and rally your audience around your brand’s mission and vision, fostering loyalty and community.
- Content Pillars — The main topics or themes around which your content is centred.
Content pillars provide a framework for content creation, ensuring consistency and helping maintain focus on what matters most to your audience and brand.
2. Content Plan Layer
Once you know your audience, shift focus to planning content. Ask, “What do my audience need to see?” instead of “What should we create?”.
Decide on the key ideas, platforms, formats, and types of content that would serve their needs.
- Objectives — The specific goals you aim to achieve with your content.
Clear objectives guide your content creation and measure success, ensuring your efforts align with overall business goals.
- Budget — The financial resources allocated for content creation and distribution.
A defined budget helps manage resources efficiently, ensuring you can produce high-quality content within your financial means.
- Channels — The platforms where your content will be published and promoted (e.g., blog, social media, email).
Choosing the right channels ensures your content reaches your target audience where they are most active and engaged.
- Formats — The different types of content you will create (e.g., text posts, carousels, articles, videos, infographics).
Diverse formats cater to various audience preferences and consumption habits, increasing engagement and reach.
- Repurposing Plan — A strategy for reusing existing content in different formats or on other channels.
Repurposing content maximizes the value of your content, extending its lifespan while saving time and resources.
- Distribution — The process of sharing and promoting your content across chosen channels.
Effective distribution ensures your content is seen by your target audience, driving traffic, engagement, and conversions.
- Insights — Data and feedback gathered from your content performance.
Insights help you understand what works and what doesn’t, informing future content strategies and improving effectiveness.
- Timeline — The schedule for creating, publishing, and distributing content.
A timeline ensures consistent content delivery, helps manage workloads, and aligns content production with marketing campaigns and business objectives.
3. Content Creation Layer
Crafting quality content requires both strategic insights and skilled execution. Work with talented copywriters, designers, and video editors, and value their expertise.
- Research — Gathering information and data relevant to your content topics.
In-depth research ensures your content is accurate, informative, and valuable, building credibility and trust with your audience.
- Ideation — Generating ideas for content topics and themes.
Creative and relevant ideas keep your content fresh and engaging, addressing your audience’s needs and interests.
- Psychology — Understanding the psychological triggers and motivations of your audience.
Leveraging psychological principles helps create content that resonates emotionally, persuades, and drives desired actions.
- Styling — The visual and tonal elements that define your content’s look and feel.
Consistent styling reinforces your brand identity, making your content recognizable and professional.
- Frameworks — Structured approaches or templates for creating content.
Frameworks ensure your content is well-organized, coherent, and aligns with best practices and goals.
- Copywriting — Crafting written content that communicates your message effectively.
Skilled copywriting engages your audience, conveys your value proposition clearly, and drives conversions.
- Design & Video — Creating visual and multimedia content to complement written content.
High-quality design and video enhance your content’s appeal, making it more engaging and shareable.
- Review — Evaluating content for accuracy, quality, and alignment with strategy before publication.
Thorough review ensures your content is polished, professional, and error-free, maintaining your brand’s reputation.
- Feedback — Gathering input from team members or stakeholders on content drafts.
Constructive feedback helps refine and improve content, ensuring it meets expectations and goals.
- Optimization — Adjusting content to improve its performance and effectiveness.
Ongoing optimization ensures your content stays relevant, performs well in search engines, and meets your audience’s evolving needs.
Now that you’ve established the layers of your content strategy, it’s time to delve into actionable tools and techniques. This cheatsheet will help you streamline the content creation process and consistently produce engaging material.
Content Creation Cheatsheet
- Find Content Ideas
- Youtube
- WhatToTweet
- Quora
- Taplio
- Kleo
- AlsoAsked
- FaqFox
- ViralFindr
- Others Comments
- Justin Welsh Content Matrix
- Formats
- Carousels
- Step-by-step tutorials
- Personal stories
- Case studies
- Listicles
- Collaborative Post
- Text + Image
- Twitter screenshot types posts
- Quotes
- Personal stories with relevant photo
- Specific milestone
- Infographics
- Infographics
- Cheatsheet
- Toolkits
- Video Content
- Short tutorials
- Case studies
- Answer questions
- Carousels
- Sizes
- Carousels: 1080 x 1350 px
- Videos: 1080 x 1920 px
- Images:
- Strategy
- Carousels:
- Videos: Nurture
- Tools
- Writing: Hemmingway, Grammarly, Taplio
- Image: Canva, Figma, Photoshop
- Video: DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro
With above things in place, it’s essential to turn them into a practical routine. A clear content creation schedule will help you stay consistent and productive, ensuring your brand stays active and visible.
Weekly Content Creation Schedule
| DAY | ACTION / TASK | TOOL | TIME REQ. (APPROX) |
|---|---|---|---|
| MONDAY | Find ideas | ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude | 30 mins |
| TUESDAY | Write content | Grammarly, Hemingway | 1 hr |
| WEDNESDAY | Write content | Grammarly, Hemingway | 1 hr |
| THURSDAY | Plan and create visuals | Photoshop, Canva, Figma, Microsoft Designer | 1 hr |
| FRIDAY | Create visuals | Photoshop, Canva, Figma, Microsoft Designer | 1 hr |
| SATURDAY | Finish visuals | Photoshop, Canva, Figma, Microsoft Designer | 2 hr |
| SUNDAY | Schedule | 30 mins |
Creating a content strategy is more than a task—it’s an ongoing commitment to delivering value, building trust, and showcasing your unique voice. By reflecting on your journey, leveraging proven frameworks, and maintaining a disciplined routine, you’re not just creating content—you’re shaping a legacy.
Your audience is waiting to be inspired. Start building your strategy today, and let your content be the bridge that connects your personal brand to the world.