For many Christian entrepreneurs with at-home businesses, you say the phrase “content marketing” and their eyes glaze over.

After all, let’s be honest, marketing yourself is probably NOT the most exciting task you have as a business owner.

In fact, I know a lot of entrepreneurs (including my own mother!) who absolutely hate the sales and marketing parts of their businesses.

In my mom’s words, “It just feels … weird.”

I get it. I really do.

(This is why I was hired as an editor at my 9-5 job and not a sales rep…)

But if you’ve been in business for any amount of time, you know that sales and marketing are absolutely vital to the health of your business!

So what do you do?

Well, the good news is that content marketing is not the creepy-car-salesman kind of marketing you’re used to seeing on TV.

In fact, once you actually understand what content marketing is and how to apply it to your business, it easily becomes the most exciting part of your job—and the most profitable!

What Is Content Marketing?

But first … what is content marketing?

Well, according to the Content Marketing Institute: “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

If I lost you there for a second, it’s totally OK.

Basically, it’s when you provide free and value-packed content to your ideal audience so that they trust you and eventually buy from you.

The free content you consistently give them signals that you actually care about them. As your audience feels cared for, they begin to trust you. As they trust you, they begin to trust your solution to the specific problem your product or service solves.

I’ve heard content marketing defined as “pull-down” marketing, where potential clients come searching for your content. This is way different than “push” marketing, which advertises to the masses, whether or not they even want what you’re offering.

As Neil Patel points out, there are hundreds of different ways to do content marketing—from cartoons to movies to infographics to e-books to giveaways.

But for the sake of your business’ needs, I’m going to narrow down my definition of content marketing.

After all, you’re not a huge company that’s marketing to the masses. Your business might still be on the small side right now, and you’re probably running it out of your own home. Your strategy will be much more personal and nuanced.

So from now on, whenever I talk about content marketing in this article, I’m talking about using your blog or podcast to deliver free, value-packed content on a weekly basis so you can build a loyal following of people who need exactly what you’re offering and trust you enough to buy it from you.

Now, there is more to it than this. For you, content marketing will also likely include social media, your emails to subscribers and so forth.

But it all hangs on your weekly content, whether that’s a blog or podcast.

Do you have a set method of delivering free weekly content? 

If not, check out my blog on “Blog vs. Podcast: Which One Is Better for Your Business?”

Already decided? Great! Then the next question is …

How Do I Create a Content-Marketing Strategy?

Your strategy begins with figuring out a three-step plan that will lead bystanders who consume your content on a journey to becoming loyal followers.

This does not have to be as scary as it sounds. 

Creating the first part of your content-marketing strategy simply means:

1. Deliver free weekly content that solves your audience’s problem, answers their burning questions, or satisfies a deep interest.

2. Promote your content online where your audience spends time.

3. Create a freebie (also known as lead magnet or opt-in) specifically designed for your ideal audience. You will use this freebie as an incentive for people to sign up for your email list.

This three-step process doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a journey of building trust with your audience, which leads me to my next point.

You Need to Be Trustworthy

In my opinion, it’s crucial that you approach your content-marketing strategy with the mindset of “How can I serve?” instead of “What can I get out of this?”

Believe me, if you approach your audience with the latter attitude, they will sense it and they will distrust you.

I mean, come on. Give human beings at least a little credit. We can typically tell when someone is trying to take advantage of us, right? (OK, maybe not always. Unfortunately. Thanks, Eve.)

This attitude of giving is one of the reasons I get so excited about content marketing.

It’s all about giving before you take. 

It’s about serving before being served.

It’s about honoring others before yourself.

The apostle Paul credits Jesus as saying it’s better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

And in Matthew 20:28, Jesus says that He “did not come to be served, but to serve and to give [His] life as a ransom for many.”

Now, I know I’m not Jesus. And neither are you. But we are called to abide in Him, walk as He did, and clothe ourselves in Him and not in the flesh (see Romans 13:14).

I think content marketing is a great opportunity for you to exercise that command.

Now that you have the right mindset about content marketing, let’s flesh out your strategy.

1. How to Be Strategic With Your Weekly Content

Your weekly content should always, always, always revolve around your audience’s needs.

Your content should answer their questions, entertain them, solve their problems, or shed light on something they’re confused about or doing wrong.

And it should also always revolve around your solutions to those needs.

If you’re a legal contractor and your audience has questions about how to interpret LLC laws, how to word a client contract, and how to help their kid sleep at night, which topic do you think you should NOT write about?

(Hint: It’s the third one.)

My example was overly simplistic, but the point is still valid.

I’ve seen entrepreneurs stray out of their niche with their weekly content, and the results often damage their brand. People get confused and wonder, Wait, what do you actually do again?

Stay laser-focused on what needs you meet and your audience’s concerns and questions within those needs.

The reason for this is that by focusing on your niche, you position yourself as an “expert” in that area.

Don’t let yourself freak out at the word “expert”!

Positioning yourself as an expert in your niche to your audience doesn’t mean that you have to know everything about that topic. It means you know enough to guide your followers to their next step.

I am certainly not the world’s foremost expert on all things marketing. For example, even though I’m doing a lot of research on social-media advertising, I don’t have a ton of first-hand experience with it.

But that’s OK because I’m not teaching you about Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram ads! 

What I DO have is several years of experience creating and posting content that captivates an audience and using it to drive organic traffic to an intended site.

That is the key element to your content-marketing strategy, and that’s what I’m teaching you how to do.

For your weekly content strategy, I want you to answer the following questions:

WHO exactly is my audience?

What are their fears and concerns? What do they want to learn from me? What is their main pain point?

WHAT is my solution?

What answers can my products offer to their questions? How can my services assuage their pain point?

HOW can I write about those solutions in a way that adds value to my readers’/listeners’ lives?

What topics can I write about that will position me as an expert in my niche to my specific audience? How can I add solutions, ideas or strategies that will make them feel seen, heard, and satisfied?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you need to make a promise to yourself to follow this one rule:

Post. Every. Week.

The point of valuable, consistent content is that it’s … consistent.

Consistency is important because it tells your audience that you’re here for them long-term. (After all, content marketing is a long-term strategy, not a short-term one.)

No one wants to follow a flash-in-the-pan. (No offense to the followers of Korah and Absalom.) 

The once-a-week rule isn’t necessarily a gold standard. But you should avoid the temptation of posting five or six blogs in one week and then nothing for a month or so.

You may find that you want to post twice or three times a week. Just choose a consistency and stick with it.

If once a week is too much for you, start with twice a month. (I would be careful of only posting once a month because it can be very hard to build organic traction with fewer fresh posts.)

So proud of you, friend! You’ve completed step one of your content-marketing strategy!

Ready for step two?

2. How to Promote Your Weekly Content Online

Promoting your content online can be really easy—provided you know where your audience is hanging out online.

So before you create your detailed plan for how many times you’re going to post on social media, ask yourself this question:

Where does my audience spend time online?

Is it Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest? Twitter? LinkedIn? A combination?

Do a little digging and find out which social media are their favorites and what they do on there.

For instance, my mom (who also happens to be my ideal customer—I just really like her a lot) spends time on Instagram for entertainment, Facebook for her work and personal connections, and Pinterest for work and learning.

This is valuable information for me to know. If the rest of my ideal audience is like my mom, then this impacts what kind of content I post on these media.

I may hammer my blog posts on Pinterest with “how-to” language, post engaging and inspiring content on Instagram, and work on networking within Facebook groups.

Researching your audience may take a little time, so give yourself some breathing room here!

I would recommend starting with just two or three social media and being really strategic about it. As you finesse your strategies with these and you feel you can start experimenting with other social media, try it out. But first, just start with a couple.

As you learn more about your audience’s habits, take notes and adjust your posting strategy as necessary.

You can also work on playing around with how often you post.

For right now, since this blog is still new, I’m experimenting with the following social-media schedule:

Pinterest: 5 to 10 pins a day, the first 5 being my own content. (Everyone seems to be saying 30-50 pins, which just seems crazy at the moment.)

Instagram: 3 times a week

Facebook: 3 times a week

LinkedIn: 2-3 times a week (Posts include article links to my site as well as articles created within the LinkedIn platform.)

I will likely adjust as I analyze the response to my social media posts, and I encourage you to do the same!

The algorithms and rules for engagement are ALWAYS changing on social media, so it’s crucial that you stay flexible and keep alert regarding how people are responding to your posts.

3. How to Be Strategic With Your Free Lead Magnet

The next step in your content-marketing strategy is creating a free lead magnet that’s valuable enough that people want to subscribe to your newsletter in order to receive it.

Your free lead magnet could be practically anything! Just make sure it’s something your audience would find truly valuable, something that would make them say, “I can’t believe she’s just giving this away!”

For right now, my main lead magnet is “19 Irresistible Headlines” that you can customize and make work for your blog or podcast titles. 

In my freebie, I provide some of the top-performing headlines I’ve written or seen over the years and then provided the formulas behind why they work.

I find that sometimes freebies that give away 100 or so headlines have a lot of unnecessary overlap in their list. And they often don’t explain why the headlines work.

So then when bloggers go to use the headlines, they may choose words that don’t actually resonate with their audience and, again, no clicks for their blogs.

Will people respond to my freebie and sign up for my list? I think so!

In listening to my ideal customers talk about their frustrations with not knowing how to craft compelling headlines, I found that this list of headlines is probably something that can add a lot of value to their businesses!

But here’s the beauty of freebies.

If you don’t get a great response with your lead magnet, you can ALWAYS adjust!

If I find that I read my audience wrong and they don’t actually want a free cheat sheet to improve their headlines, then I simply analyze, ask questions, listen, and pivot.

Don’t overcomplicate this part of the process. You can always change your freebie later on if you want to.

For now, settle on something you strongly believe your audience will want and make it the best you possibly can!

How to Create a Freebie

There are probably thousands of different things you could offer as a freebie. Here are just a few basic examples:

• Checklist
• Workbook
• Journal
• Planner
• Recipes
• Unit Studies
• E-books
• Business Plan
• Quiz
• Reading List
• List of Tips
• How-To Manual
• Video
• Podcast/Audio
• Educational PowerPoint

Once you’ve chosen what type of lead magnet you will create, it’s time to design it!

Thankfully, there are free services like Canva where you can create awesome freebies that look professionally designed. The free version of Canva offers a wide variety of templates you can work with to get started.

And if you want to upgrade to the paid version, they have even more.

I personally decided to purchase a template for my lead magnet. I figured that between my full-time job, ministry responsibilities and duties as a wife and homeowner, I didn’t really have a ton of time to design my freebie from scratch. (Nor do I have the creative talent to do so.)

Maybe you don’t either! If so, no shame in your game. There are plenty of places to buy lead magnet templates. (Tip: CreativeMarket.com has several templates for lead magnets that look professional and are simple to edit in Canva.)

Using Your Lead Magnet to Gain Subscribers

Remember that the whole point of your freebie is to add to your email list.

For that reason, make sure that you create an opt-in page for your freebie with a sign-up form that’s connected to your email service provider (ESP).

You can check out my opt-in page here.

Once people sign up for your lead magnet, you can send them the link to your freebie in your welcome email.

Amy Porterfield suggests housing your freebies on Amazon S3 so that the PDFs don’t take up a lot of space on your website. There’s a lot of wisdom in that.

Since I’m focusing on only one freebie at the moment, I personally use Dropbox to house it. (You can’t beat free!)

Once I uploaded my freebie PDF, I created a sharing link where people can view the freebie but not edit it. I then embedded that link into the automatic email that people receive after signing up for my email list.

(Confused about this part? Shoot me an email and I’ll walk you through it!)

The Next Step of Content Marketing

If you think this is the end of your content-marketing strategy, you’re totally wrong!

The incredible thing about content marketing is that is that it builds up the trust between you and your ideal client so that you CAN sell to them.

If you’re struggling with writing sales copy, check out my blog on “How to Write Sales Copy That Doesn’t Sound Sleezy.” And check out my other blogs for more insights into how to strengthen your content-marketing game!