Introduction

Random blogs and videos without a plan waste time and gain no customers. Use six steps to make content that helps customers.

What’s the problem it solves?

Many teams post content at random and hope for the best. Without a clear plan, their work does not reach or guide the right people, so it fails to bring in leads or sales.

Quick Summary

Companies often create blog posts, videos, and social updates without first learning what their audience really wants. This guesswork wastes hours and money because it does not match customer needs or drive results.

Backlinko’s writers share a six-step path to fix this. First, they match each piece to where customers stand-from never knowing there’s a problem to being ready to buy. Next, they find the best ideas by studying real questions, past wins, and what rivals are missing. Then they outline how to write clear briefs that guide writers and make sure every post has a strong hook, real examples, useful visuals, expert quotes, and facts.

They also cover smart promotion: sending emails, getting into content roundups, and sharing on social channels. Finally, they explain how to track true success-like sales, leads, average reading time, and return visits-so you can see what works and adjust your plan over time.

Key Takeaways

• Tie each piece of content to a customer’s awareness stage.
• Pick topics based on real questions, data, and gaps in competitor content.
• Use detailed content briefs to align writers on goals, audience, and unique value.
• Open with a hook, then add examples, visuals, expert views, and stats to hold interest.
• Promote through email lists, curated roundups, and social sharing.
• Measure impact by real metrics: conversions, lead quality, and engaged traffic.

What to do

• Map your existing content to the five awareness levels and spot any gaps.
• Gather customer questions from support tickets, surveys, and forums for topic ideas.
• Review your top pages to find common formats and angles that perform best.
• Build a content brief template that covers audience stage, goals, keywords, and competitor links.
• Train your team to use the Hook & Hold method: grab attention, then deliver examples, visuals, and data.
• Schedule regular email sends and pitch your best posts to roundup curators.
• Pick three core metrics-like leads, sales, and time on page-and check them each month to guide your strategy.

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