If you’re a NZ business with any kind of digital presence, having a content plan is the difference between “we really sound like ourselves” and “why are we posting another random meme at 3pm?”
But the way most people talk about content planning is enough to put anyone to sleep. If you’ve ever downloaded a HubSpot template and thought “this is so freaking boring though, and how am I going to stand out doing this when everyone else is using the same stuff,” you’re not alone (hi bestie!). Welcome to how P7 do content planning 101.
We know you are going to hate us for saying it, but unfortunately it still has to be done… you DO need a plan.
Why you need a plan
Anyone can just chuck up a post. Hello algorithm panic posting. That is a long walk off a very short and miserable pier. You need the content plan so:
- You know what you’re saying before you’re staring at a blank screen
- Your brand voice stays consistent (and shines through!) while not getting lost in the sea of ‘meh’
- You won’t bore even yourself to tears. Contrary to popular belief though, repeating yourself isn’t a bad thing, and is really kinda key.
Without that pesky f*ing plan you get a feed that is random and lifeless. No one wants to be giving “it’s curtains.”
Most content plans suck but ours doesn’t
Nearly every content strategy doc or guide we have ever seen is so generic you could swap out your business name for a bakery in nowheresville Texas and nobody would notice. We aren’t here for it.
We can’t outright give you our genius content ideation strategies for free, but we can give you some solid content calendar tips to point you in the right direction. We ain’t talking about no template we found on page one of Google either. Better still, our content strategy workshop is designed to help you to map out what you want to say, why it matters, and how you’ll get it done minus the “just fill this in and good luck” energy.
The key foundation to any content strategy is to drop the BS. Everything you post needs to be built around your specific business. Even if you sell the same thing as 50 other people, there are still elements of how you approach the world that no one else does. Yes, we are going to use the word authentic here and that is going to feel like being on the latest buzzword train. Sometimes there is a good reason for something to have popped off though.
So why is this whole authenticity thing getting shouted so loud? Because there is sooooo much absolute generic trash out there polluting our digital worlds now that you need to be YOU to stand out. That isn’t just what you say, but how you do it too. Our favourite bit of advice is pretty simple, even if it feels too good to be true. STOP TRYING TO PLEASE AN ALGORITHM. That is exactly what the massive corpo machines want, for you to play on their terms, while they keep changing those goal posts every five minutes.
Time to nope out of that rat race! Your content doesn’t need 5 bloody pillars. You might have 2. You might have 3. You will know what feels right once you start grouping your ideas into themes you can keep building on and not feel like you are running out of steam on them. You won’t run out of steam because your themes are going to be built around what your audience (aka customers) care about. (Note: this is not always what You care about, and you have to learn to know the difference.)
Your audience
Your content pillars, however many they may or may not be, should be the stuff you always come back to because it matters most to your people. They also stop you from chasing every new trend. They anchor your voice and your themes align with the goals you have for your business and your customers. Initially you are going to have to dig deep to land on the core messages that truly fit you, but once you do…chef’s kiss.
Ok, enough setup right? What do we do at P7 that ensures you never run out of ideas again? So glad you asked!
Start with your pillars and business goals. What do you want your audience to do or feel? Even in b2b, it is a human on the other end and they will feel something when they see your content. Don’t let that something be ‘meh’.
Dump all ideas, no filter. The good, the bad, and the cringe. Get them out of your head and onto a doc or sticky note wall. What feels right? What feels forced? What aligns with how you want people to think about your business? Come back to those ideas in a few days and check if they still resonate or if they feel flat on second look.
Steal like a bestie, not a thief. Look at your competition, but only to spot the gaps they’re missing or the stuff they’re overdoing. There’s gold in the “why are they all ignoring this?” moments. If you look at them and thing “well I’d have done that different…then do it different!”
Plug it all into your content calendar. Map topics to dates, making sure you’re balancing types. You want to get a good rotation of your core themes going (but they don’t have to be spread out equally either! If pillar 1 is your most important one, give those posts the most air time.)
Leave room to riff. Our plans are made to flex. If something newsworthy or meme-able pops up, we jump on it…if it can be used in a way that is relevant to us. On the flipside, just like the people that run them, businesses change and grow. There will come a point when the current plan doesn’t resonate for you anymore (hey, that could be sooner than you think) and you shouldn’t be afraid to throw out what isn’t serving your vibes anymore.
Bonus: Our strategy doc isn’t a PDF graveyard btw. We have a living Notion doc (or whatever you use) that gets updated, tweaked, and referenced constantly.
Content planning doesn’t need to suck the joy out of your brand, and it sure as hell doesn’t need to be boring.
Want a plan that feels like you and gets it done? That’s our jam.