Ah, 2023 – the new year is officially upon us. New beginnings, fresh ideas, and… an updated digital content strategy?

🎶 Oh, yeah 🎶

Let’s face it: the new year is a great time – if not a perfect time – for that always-welcome marketing refresh… especially if your digital content strategy is no longer working for your brand or business.

So, if you’ve been toying with the idea of updating your content strategy – you’ve come to the right place! Let’s take a closer look at just why your digital content strategy might not be converting right now – and what you can do to fix that.

Onward we go!

Putting together a strong digital content strategy

Let’s kick things off with some basics: What is a strong digital strategy?

Well, a well-thought-out digital content strategy should be based on a thorough understanding of your target audience and their needs and a clear understanding of your business goals and objectives.

That’s where it all starts: your why.

From there, you can move forward to focus on designing a plan for creating and distributing high-quality, relevant, and engaging content across multiple channels. These can be your website, social media platforms, email newsletter, and even in-person events!

But strategy doesn’t stop at just planning how and where to share your content. 

A strong digital content strategy should also include a plan for measuring and analyzing the performance of said content – and then using that data to make informed decisions about what other content to create and how you can optimize it, as well as what’s currently missing the mark.

So, why is a strong digital content strategy important?

Overall, a strong marketing strategy can make achieving your goals (the ones from the first step, wink wink) a lot easier by actively engaging your audience and building relationships with them.

Other reasons why you should consider working on updating and revamping your strategy include:

• It can help you connect with your audience and community by providing them with the relevant and valuable content they want
• It helps establish your brand as trustworthy and credible
• It can help drive more traffic to your website where needed (sales pages, product pages, services, etc.)
• It can help you generate leads and ultimately drive sales for your business
• It can also help with SEO, because search engines prefer content that’s relevant and up-to-date

3 reasons your digital content strategy might not be working

Now, let’s say that you’ve done all the “right” things, followed all the guidelines, watched all the videos, and read all the books… and your digital content strategy just isn’t hitting the mark.

Or, maybe, it used to hit the mark – but, today, it’s been feeling a little flat.

First, there’s no need to worry; this was bound to happen. 

Why? Because marketing isn’t a static thing. It’s ever-changing, ever-growing, and ever-updating. 

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There’s always a new platform that people migrate to, and there’s always a new update that makes certain types of content more attractive (*cough*video*cough*). 

Is it infuriating? Yes, most of the time, it is.

Does it mean that all of your past efforts are lost? No, not at all. They just need a lil’ tweaking.

Let’s take a closer look at three potential reasons why your digital content strategy might not be working like it used to – and what you can do to fix it.

1. You’re not being consistent

When it comes to a strong marketing strategy, consistency is key. 

Whether this means posting on social media, sending out weekly newsletters (pssst… have you subscribed to ours? 👀), or hosting events, it’s important to remain consistent, so people know what to expect and when to expect it.

At the end of the day, consistency is one of the main elements that will help establish a sense of trust and reliability with your audience and community. If you’re not being consistent with your content, it can be difficult for them to know when they can expect new content from you, and they may start to lose interest or forget your brand altogether.

PRO TIP: What do we mean by consistency? This doesn’t mean that you need to post 10x a week or daily stories, videos, or other content pieces. Consistency means finding and sticking to a posting cadence that is sustainable to you AND is able to make the most impact. Remember, a really great, long-form blog post that shares lots of information 1x a month can be just as impactful (if not more) than 5 Reels trying to follow a social media trend.

Additionally, inconsistent content can also make it difficult to track and analyze results. This means that you’ll never be sure when or even why your content is performing the way it is: Is the algorithm messing with you? Is the piece of content “bad” or unrelatable? There’s no way to really know!

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Without a consistent posting schedule, it’s hard to determine what is and isn’t working, and you maaaaaay find yourself spinning your wheels without making much progress.

How to move forward: If you think consistency (or lack thereof) might be messing with your strategy, put together a content calendar and stick to it! Mark down important dates, launches, content that you want to share and when you want to share it, and all other moments you can think of that will add value to your digital content strategy. Once you’re able to visaluze these, it’ll be a lot easier to stick to them than if they’re just floating around.

2. You’re not being clear

Another potential issue that could be interfering with your content strategy is a lack of clarity. 

Clarity is essential when it comes to creating and sharing content because it helps ensure that your message is being understood by your audience – new and old. If your content isn’t clear, it can be difficult for people to understand what you’re trying to say; or worse, they might misunderstand it completely.

A lack of clarity can ultimately lead to confusion and mistrust, making it harder for you and your brand to connect with your audience. Additionally, it might also push them further away toward a brand they understand and connect with.

Whether your branding is confusing, your voice changes too often, your language is hard to understand, or your ideas are too complicated to follow, clarity can make the difference between content that converts and content that’s destined to sink into obscurity.

How to move forward: Put together a brand guide that you can turn to before you create or share content with your audience. This will serve as your roadmap for the way your brand sounds, the way your brand looks, and the pillars you focus on. 

3. You’re not providing value

Let’s narrow things down even further. Sometimes, your digital content strategy isn’t working anymore because… you’re just not adding value to the conversation anymore.

Yes, this can be tough to hear, but it’s also important to remember. After all, content shouldn’t just be about creating something with the hopes that it’ll stick: it should be about wanting to share something you’re passionate about and proud of with your audience, knowing that they will feel the same way.

PRO TIP: Valuable content can be a mixture of a lot of things. Think of your content as entertaining, educational, inspirational, branded, selling, and motivational. If your content doesn’t have one of these pillars to stand on and is merely repeating everything else on the Internet… it might be deemed as not valuable.

If your content does not provide value, it can be difficult for your audience to see the relevance of what you’re sharing and may not see the point of engaging with it or coming back at all.

How to move forward: When creating content, ask yourself if it’s meant to entertain, educate, or solve a problem. From there, ensure you stay relevant to your audience’s likes and needs before getting to work. Don’t just write a blog or create an infographic for the sake of it – think about why you’re creating it and even about what it will mean for your audience’s day. This will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run!

TL;DR: Your digital content strategy might need a lil’ TLC

At the end of the day, a digital content strategy is essential for connecting with your audience and achieving your business goals.

However, there are a few things that might interfere with your progress:
1. A lack of consistency
2. Misunderstandings due to lack of clarity
3. Failure to add value to your audience’s day

By working to remain consistent with your content, putting content out there that’s clear and specific, and providing value to your target audience, you can improve the performance of your digital content strategy and boost your brand awareness and growth!

However, don’t forget this: a good strategy is not set in stone and should be regularly evaluated and tweaked to ensure it’s still aligned with your business goals and audience needs. 

But with the right approach and a willingness to adapt, we know you’ll be able to create a digital content strategy that drives results for your business. 

Now go get ‘em!