The pros use a content strategy because it works: Here are two things you need to get started

Have you noticed what successful online health pros have in common when it comes to their content (blog, podcast or video episodes, email, socials, etc.)?

They seem to always know what to talk about.

They have chosen content topics every week or day. They talk specifically to their brand/niche/audience. They’re able to hype up interest for their products and programs days and weeks before launching.

One of the critical pieces to this kind of success is having a content strategy.

A content strategy helps you

• Grow your email list and followers between launches/promotions
• Warm up your audience in the days and weeks leading up to a launch/promotion (before you send out any salesy stuff)
• Align your brand with other like-minded brands and events to help elevate your authority and get you more visibility

But, what all this really comes down to is that you purposefully use your content to attract more perfect-for-you readers and—eventually—convert some into paying customers, clients, and patients.

Imagine knowing exactly what content to create on what day that promotes which of your opt-in incentives/lead magnets. And saving time every single week (or two) figuring out what to post. Plus, knowing what to publish when you’re in “list/follower building” mode between launches. And, more importantly, having your audience ready and engaged when you’re in “launching/promotional” mode.

An excellent content strategy will encompass these things to ultimately make your business more successful.

So, here’s where to start . . .

What is a content strategy and how do the pros use it?

It comes down to investing about half a day every season to brainstorm, strategize, and plan your next few months of content. It’s putting your CEO hat on to run your business (and content posting) like a CEO.

In a nutshell, a content strategy involves creating and documenting your:

• Business vision and goals
• Content mission statement that encompasses these goals
• Strategic content plan/editorial calendar to make this happen

As you can see, your content strategy is your long-term vision for your content marketing. It incorporates your mission, vision, niche, target market, and how you help them. Once those are clear, you can create your detailed editorial calendar that maps out topics, types, formats, and categories of content for every week (or however often you publish) for the next several months.

Here’s how these are foundational for the kind of success you’ve seen online (but almost nobody is teaching you how to do this—amirite?). I personally start with my owned media (blog and email newsletter) as the foundation of my digital content strategy . If I was still on social media, I’d leave that to follow afterwards and always link back to my owned media because they’re on some billionaire’s network and can be removed or de-prioritized from the algorithms without warning. The posts on our owned platforms (blog and email) demonstrate business excellence while positioning us as the go-to experts in our niches.

Let’s say you have a signature program or service that launches every year. You have a website, blog, email list, and social media accounts. How do you figure out what content to create and promote when?

Without a strategy, some people publish OKish content on general topics and then at promotion time, send out sales emails. This can work, but only to a certain extent. That’s because the content isn’t aligning with the launch.

By incorporating both of these together, you can get a much more powerful content strategy (and more sales).

Here are examples of how you could strategically publish content:

• Build your email list and subscriber base with ideal clients between launches using content designed to increase your visibility and build brand awareness
• Nurture your subscribers with valuable niche-specific quality content every week (or more) to increase engagement with your brand (you can even do some market research by throwing in opportunities for people to vote or reply to you with their thoughts)
• Create content to “warm-up” your audience in the weeks leading up to the launch by addressing common hesitations and questions customers have (but not in a salesy kind of way; instead it’s in a “providing valuable content” kind of way)

This is how health pros can strategically use content to set themselves up for an uber-successful business!

How do you make this work for you? What are these two things you need in place so you can dive into creating your business-building (and time-saving) blog strategy?

Before you create your content strategy you need . . .

Your business blog/vlog/podcast should be designed to organically grow your business. It’s not a hobby blog or an online personal journal (although you most certainly can have these!)—it’s a business blog. Its main function is to market your business using valuable content that attracts ideal clients, demonstrates your business excellence, and positions you as the expert.

And your business starts with your:

• Why
• How
• Who
• What
• When

Once these are clear, you have a direction to base your content strategy on.

These ensure your messaging is clear and targets the people who you want to work with. Now, let’s group these into two categories: your vision/mission and your niche.

1. Your vision and mission: your “why” and “how”

There’s a reason you started the business you did. You know why you studied those specific areas of health and wellness and these are the ways you help your ideal clients. These are your vision (your “why”) and your mission (your “how”)

Here’s my vision & mission (my “why” and “how”):

I help credible health and wellness professionals build their authority with strategically-planned and engaging, easy-to-read research-based content. They want to stand out in the crowded, often unqualified, market of entrepreneurs. I help them build a reputable brand, establish trust with their audiences, and save them a ton of time so they don’t have to do the research or writing themselves.

My vision is to help research-based health pros stand out and have a bigger online voice and reach. Why? Because I want online health information to be credible and correctly based on the best science available. I want the general public to find the right information for their health goals so they can reach them en masse. I want people to not get caught up in fake controversies or over-hyped new studies.

These are the fundamental reasons I love to do what I do.

That’s my vision. That’s my “why.”

So, how do I do this? By creating epic easy-to-read research-based health articles. I also help strategically plan and promote blog content (via email marketing and social media). I work to boost credibility with solid research and content marketing expertise, and in turn, grow their businesses so they can reach more of the general public en masse.

That’s how I execute my vision. That’s my mission.

Having a concrete vision and mission direct your content strategy.

2. Your niche: your target market (“who”), what you help them with (and when to post)

The second thing you need to have a pretty good grasp to begin creating your blog strategy is your niche.

Your niche includes who you help and what you help them with.

For me, I help credible health pros. That includes science-based nutritionists, fitness professionals, dietitians, chiropractors, naturopaths, health coaches, etc. I’ve even helped several medical doctors.

What do I help them with? Credibility and content. I

• Boost credibility and authority with high-quality well-researched health articles (many are ghostwritten)
• Work 1:1 to strategize blog content to scale businesses by growing audiences, subscribers, leads, and sales
• Conduct content reviews and create plans to optimize blogs for maximum engagement
• Repurpose content into different kinds of posts content (for example if my client has written a book, I can take excerpts and turn them into blog posts)
• Run brand-specific keyword research reports and optimize blog posts to start ranking for those keywords
• Find, sort through, and translate medical research for those who want to create the content themselves, but don’t love PubMed as much as I do. 🤓

That’s very specifically who I help and what I help them with. This is my niche.

Having this clarity makes strategizing, planning, and creating content easy! 

Ready to start your content strategy?

When you have a clear vision, mission, and niche you’re set to get started! You can pull in those pieces to create goals for your content marketing which will define your blog strategy. This strategy and the actionable (week-to-week) plan to make it happen guides you before you publish anything. Staying in line with these ensure you’ll stay “on brand” and speak to your target market, thus organically growing your audience, email list, and customer/client/patient base.

With all of these in mind, go ahead and start creating your blog strategy by documenting your content marketing goals and planning your content to meet those goals.

Conclusion

When you’re clear on your vision, mission, and niche, you’ll be ready to create your content strategy. Documenting these and creating a detailed editorial calendar (plan) to make it happen is how the pros use content marketing with such success. By demonstrating your excellence and positioning yourself as the go-to expert, you’ll organically get more readers, subscribers, customers, clients, and/or patients.

Signing off and toasting: To start creating your content strategy so you can use it like the pros!

Over to you

What do you think? Have you seen how flawlessly some of the pros build their businesses with content? Do you have a content strategy that defines your goals and how to reach them with content? Is your editorial calendar strategically planned to boost your email list at certain times and promotions at other times?

I’d love to know (in the comments below)!

Originally published October 2017, updated with more awesomeness May 2020 and September 2025.