Why your content strategy isn’t working (and what to do instead)

Most content “strategies” fail before they even start. Not because the people creating them aren’t smart, or because the business doesn’t care about content, but because what they’re calling a strategy… isn’t one.

Teams plan formats, topics and posting cadence and then wonder why the content doesn’t move anything forward. The spreadsheet looks full. The calendar looks organised. But the results feel disconnected and inconsistent.

This is the gap between a content plan and a content strategy.
A content plan tells you what you’re publishing.
A content strategy tells you why any of it matters.

If your content behaviour feels busy but not effective, you’re not alone. And if you want a deeper look into how to build that clarity from the start, How to build a content strategy that aligns with business goals is a good companion read.

The real reason most content strategies fail

Most teams start from the wrong place.
They start with content.

“What are we posting?”
“How many blogs do we need?”
“Should we do a podcast?”
“What should we say on LinkedIn?”

These are execution questions, not strategy questions.
And when teams plan content before they make strategic decisions, the entire system becomes reactive instead of intentional.

A strategy is not a list of formats.
A strategy is a set of decisions.

If you skip the decisions, everything that follows becomes guesswork.

Symptom 1: You’re planning posts, not making decisions

A healthy content strategy answers:

• Who is the content for?
• What do they need to understand or believe?
• What problems do they have right now?
• What makes your perspective worth listening to?
• What does the business need from content?
• Which messages matter most?

But most teams skip to:
“Okay, so let’s aim for three blogs a month.”

Planning without decisions leads to inconsistency, diluted messaging and content that doesn’t move anyone forward.

Symptom 2: You’re building around formats, not messages

If your strategy starts with “We need blogs, LinkedIn posts and a newsletter,” you’ve built an output plan, not a message architecture.

Strong content systems start with:

• the ideas that matter
• the POV you want to be known for
• the misconceptions you need to correct
• the decisions your customer is trying to make
• the topics that support your GTM model

Formats come last.
Distribution comes after that.
Execution is at the very end.

If you want to see how powerful messages get reused across channels, How to repurpose content walks through the process.

Symptom 3: You’re creating content for yourself, not your customer

This is one of the biggest (and most expensive) mistakes.

You are not your ideal customer.
Your CEO is not your ideal customer.
Your product team is not your ideal customer.

Most content fails because it’s built on internal assumptions — not customer context. Teams overestimate what buyers know, underestimate what they’re confused by, or explain things in a way that only makes sense to people inside the business.

Great content isn’t self-referential.
It’s externally aligned.

If your content tends to sound generic or unclear, Why your tone of voice sounds vague explains what’s happening underneath.

Symptom 4: You’re focusing on volume instead of direction

Teams get stuck in cycles of “more content” when the real issue is unclear direction.

More blogs won’t fix unclear messaging.
More LinkedIn posts won’t fix a vague point of view.
More social content won’t fix a strategy that isn’t tied to business goals.

Volume disguises the real problem: the content isn’t anchored to anything.

If your current library feels overwhelming or unfocused, If I were starting with too much content explores how to turn volume back into usefulness.

Symptom 5: Your content sounds vague, because your strategy is vague

Vague content is a symptom, not a cause.

When a strategy has no clear themes, no defined stance and no consistent message hierarchy, the writing will naturally:

• waffle
• hedge
• generalise
• say what everyone else is saying
• feel like “content for content’s sake”

This is often why content feels like it’s “not landing”.
It’s not that the writing is bad, it’s that the strategy gives it nothing real to say.

Symptom 6: Your approvals take forever

Slow approvals aren’t a content issue.
They’re a clarity issue.

Approvals drag when:

• stakeholders don’t agree on the message
• the content doesn’t map clearly to a strategic decision
• the writer is guessing at what “good” means
• the draft feels directionless
• the content contradicts something else the business is saying

Approvals are fast when the strategy is crisp.

Symptom 7: You’re thinking about distribution last

A modern content strategy doesn’t end at “publish blog”.
It works backwards from where the content will be consumed.

Distribution isn’t an afterthought. It’s a design constraint.

If the content won’t survive in an AI summary, a LinkedIn feed, an industry Slack group, or a sales conversation, it’s not strategic — it’s decorative.

For a deeper look into how distribution and discovery have changed, How AI rewrote the content funnel is a helpful explainer.

What a real content strategy actually includes

A functional, customer-led content strategy contains:

• a clear definition of the audience
• a set of messages and POVs you want to own
• the decisions your customer is trying to make
• the misconceptions you need to address
• the themes your content will support
• the depth and formats needed
• the cadence you can realistically maintain
• the distribution plan
• the process for execution and approvals
• the constraints your team works within

It’s not a pretty document.
It’s a system for making decisions.

If you want to understand how long-form content fits into this, The ultimate guide to eBooks and whitepapers breaks down a high-value format that sits within strategy.

The five strategic decisions every content strategy needs

A strong strategy answers these five things clearly:

1. Who are we talking to?

Not broad personas — real people with real needs.

2. What do they need to understand?

What beliefs, misconceptions or gaps stop them from moving forward?

3. What do we want to be known for?

Your POV, your stance, your angle.

4. How will content move them forward?

Where content fits in the buyer’s decisions — not just the funnel stages.

5. How will this system compound?

Content should build on itself, not reset every month.

This is the foundation of a healthy content engine. If you're building from scratch, How I’d build a content engine from the ground up walks through the structure.

How to fix a broken content strategy

Here’s the simplest, most practical way to rebuild from the ground up:

1. Clarify your customer
Strip out internal assumptions and anchor everything to their needs.

2. Choose three core themes
Not 12. Not 20. Three.

3. Define your POV for each theme
What you believe. What you disagree with. Why your approach works.

4. Map content to decisions, not formats
“What does the customer need to decide?”
Not “What do we need to publish?”

5. Work backwards from distribution
Design content that survives the feed, the summary, the Slack group, the sales call.

6. Build a simple, repeatable cadence
That your team can actually sustain.

7. Remove any content that doesn’t support the system
This is where audits come in.
If you need help with that, the Blog Audit is designed exactly for this.

When you need a content leader, not just a content producer

If you see any of these symptoms:

• content meetings that go nowhere
• a calendar full but a strategy empty
• misalignment between product, marketing and sales
• content that doesn’t support pipeline
• approvals that constantly stall
• no consistency in message or POV
• too many priorities and no decision-making criteria

Then you don’t need more content.
You need direction.

That’s the difference between hiring a writer and bringing in strategic leadership.

If you want content that’s aligned, consistent, strategic and actually supports business growth, these are the most effective starting points:

• Fractional Content Lead
• Visibility Package
• Blog Audit

Good content comes from good decisions.
And good decisions come from strategy, not a calendar.