Get BIG ◦ I

👋 Welcome to our first installment of the Get BIG series, where we give you the blueprints for effective growth strategies. 

Enjoy!

95% of your target audience is not looking to buy right now.

Investing everything in direct conversion is therefore suboptimal.

Instead, you want to be the first brand they think of when they turn into buyers.

Which leaves you with the following choice: either (1) you invest in brand awareness ads, which basic measurement tools can’t measure the impact of, or (2)... You launch a content strategy. Which can often feel pretty useless too (who else has ever felt stuck on the “content treadmill”? ✋)

On the other hand, we consume hours of content per day, so you know someone is doing it right. In fact, only about 40% of businesses have a real content strategy, even though it influences every stage of the customer journey. 

Why shouldn’t you? 

Assuming you run a good content strategy, here’s what you can expect:

Trust

• People’s buying journey is not linear. 

• They’ll bounce around between social, ads, video and text as they evaluate you.

• If these channels don’t build trust, they won’t choose you.  

Visibility & Authority

• A consistent stream of content will generate the right kind of traffic

• You’ll be visible 24/7

• You’ll be seen as an expert

Increased conversion rates

• Cold outreach: they might check on you after getting your message, and your content will do the talking. 

• Warm leads: you’ll be top of mind when go from window shoppers to buyers. 

Network

• You’ll get noticed by other brands enabling collaboration, media mentions and events. 

• This will strengthen your brand presence

The benefits are immense. But do you feel like you’re up for it? 

It’s a tall task. 

❌ Typical objections include: 

• We can’t invest in something so risky, we need revenue

• It’s more expensive than it sounds, I need a writer, a designer, a videographer… That’s a lot!

All valid concerns. 

But first, know that you're not trying to go viral – you’re building trust with visitors. Quality over quantity.

Second, understand that good content is not magic nor luck. There is a science to it. So today, we’d like to share with you a guide based on Pierre Herubel’s technique, known as one of the top content marketing voices on LinkedIn for his solopreneur content marketing leadership. 

✅ This strategy will help you figure out: 

• What to write about

• How to accelerate and cheapen content production

• How to convert it into revenue

1. IDENTIFY THE REAL PROBLEM

You probably know what pain point you’re solving for your audience, but most brands don’t go deep enough. 

We like the way Seth Godin said it (paraphrased): “People don’t want the drill bit, nor the hole in the wall. Nor even the shelf that’ll go up on it, or the books that’ll be on that. No, people want the satisfaction of knowing they put it all up themselves, or the increase in status they’ll get when their spouse admires the work.”

The pain point is usually far deeper and emotional than at first glance. Don’t be scared to dig. 

If you want to be more practical, use Herubel’s strategy: 

1. Ask your customers what the problem is (there’s no better place to go)

2. When they tell you, ask: “why?” and get one layer deeper. 

3. Repeat step 2 and get to the real problem. 

You can automatically get your audience’s pain points and more using the Semrush One2Target tool. Click here to try it out.

2. BUILD A TOPIC LIST

The pain points you found in the previous step will help you:

1. Hook people in by showing them you understand their pain

2. Position your offering as the painkiller

They’re the intro and outro. 

But what should you write about in between? 

Build a list of topics, and you’ll always have ideas. Here are two ways to build yours:

✍️The Sam Browne Technique

Think of this as creating a “For Dummies” book for your niche. Here’s how:

1. Write down 5–10 high-level subjects in your niche.

   • Example for cooking: Getting Started, Tools, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.

2. Break each into sub-chapters.

   • Example: Getting Started → Prepping the Kitchen, Grocery Shopping.

3. For each sub-chapter, brainstorm 5 headline ideas using different content types:

   • List: "8 Tools Every Beginner Chef Needs"

   • Pain Point: "Why Your Eggs Always Stick to the Pan"

   • How-To: "Step-by-Step: Perfect Omelets Every Time"

   • Story: "How I Mastered Cooking with Just 3 Tools"

   • Comparison: "Nonstick vs. Cast Iron: Which Pan Wins?"

That should net you at least 125 content ideas. 

🔎The Keyword Research Technique

This method ensures your topics match what people are actually searching.

1. Use SEO tools like Semrush to find keywords your audience is Googling.

2. Look at search intent:

   • Informational → Write educational content/guides

   • Commercial → Write product comparisons/reviews

   • Transactional → Write product pages/offers

3. Research competitors

   • Check their top-performing pages

   • Note content types that work best

To facilitate the process, Semrush built the Topic Research tool - simply enter your website and immediately get 100s of relevant topics. Click here to try.

3. FIND THE ANGLE

People who buy from you usually go through about five stages of awareness. 

1. Problem unaware

2. Problem aware

3. Solution aware

4. Product aware

5. Ready to buy

They respond to different angles so you actually need to build five separate content strategies.

It’s a lot of work but trust us, it’s worth it.

…

Just kidding. That would be crazy. 

💡You only need two types of content, says Herubel:

1. For the 95% that don’t want to buy: Educational, expert solution-presenting content. 

2. For the 5% that want to buy: Address objections, cite benefits & features and lead them toward longer form content. 

“What should the split be?”, you ask. “80% - 20%, or 50% - 50%?”

Actually, it’s more about where you put each type of content. Short-form, higher level insights on social media and video channels, long-form in blogs and… video channels.

4. AUTHORITY AND PERSONAL BRANDS

Beyond the topics and angles, you need to position yourself and your brand as an authority. A trustworthy, industry leading entity. 

The question is, who will do the talking? You, or your brand? 

The personal brand has become trendy and for good reason. People connect better with a new face than with a new brand, even if both are making a lot of sense. 

🧠Herubel breaks it down like this:

• When your brand is small: use the personal brand. It will grow quicker. 

• Once you have multiple customer stories, switch the focus from you to them and start speaking through your brand

🏠The best places to do build your personal brand are:

• On social media (LinkedIn & Twitter for text, IG and TikTok for video)

• Via email (e.g. growing a substack newsletter)

⚠️ Herubel’s dos and don’ts when growing your personal brand:

• Do share your expertise

• Do share relevant stories with insights and lessons you learned

• Don’t publish content for attention

• Don’t copy trends and others

1. BASIC WRITING TIPS

These apply whether you are writing a blog or making a short form video. 

🗣️ How to get headlines right

According to Shaan Puri from the “My First Million” podcast, readers spend 80% of their time on the headlines, 20% on the body. Which means you should spend more time on the headline. Shaan recommends writing no less than 25 to 50 headlines, for every piece of content. You’ll surprise yourself many times, trust us. 

Learn how to write powerful headlines with this guide.

Here are 68 headline formulas by Shaan Puri.

⚡ Quick tips for the rest of the copy

• Don’t say “I” or “We”, say “You”

• Use power words

• Make it shorter

• Make it skimmable (the headlines and subtitles should tell the story)

• Break it up with bullet points and bold text

• Follow a framework, e.g. the hero’s journey: problem - solution - happy ending

• Support claims and arguments with data and sources

• Make it shorter (we can’t overemphasize this)

Bonus tip: use AI. It shouldn’t do the work for you, but it can definitely accelerate your process. Maybe try taking Semrush’s ContentShakeAI for a spin and let us know what you think!

2. FORMATTING

Good formatting makes content easy to consume. Here's how to nail it:

🚏 How to decide what content type to go for

• Match format to purpose (blogs for deep dives, social for quick tips)

• Short form is for people not looking to buy, long form for those in consideration

• Turn one insight from your topic list into many pieces of content (blog → video → social posts)

• Test ideas with short content before investing in long-form

🎨 Important tips for design

• Use consistent branding

• Take your time in the beginning – create elements from scratch that you can then re-use

• It won’t be perfect on day one, be patient and tweak as you go

• Hire design help if it is too time consuming for you

We recommend getting familiar with Canva or Figma for design purposes.

1. HIRING A TEAM 

According to research by Semrush, most content teams have 1 - 3 specialists. You can get away with staying lean! 

The core roles are:

• Manager

• Writer

• Graphic designer

• Social media manager

Working content as a one-man team? Semrush’s ContentShakeAI can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you! Try it here. 

2. SETTING GOALS AND KPIs

🧠 Create SMART goals that align with business objectives:

• Specific: "Increase newsletter signups 20% in Q1" vs "get more subscribers"

• Measurable: Track with analytics tools (Google Analytics, Semrush)

• Achievable: Based on current performance and resources

• Relevant: Tied to business outcomes (visitors → conversions)

• Time-bound: Set clear deadlines and review periods

📈Monitor Progress

• Review performance monthly/quarterly

• Expand on what works, drop what doesn’t

• Repeat

Pro tip: Use UTMs to track leads generated by your social media strategy and monitor how they act once on your website. If they’re not converting, they need more warming up – present them with long form content. 

3. MAKE A CONTENT CALENDAR

You need a content calendar. 

It’ll help you plan, track deadlines and important events. More importantly, it can help you plan across channels instead of planning each one individually. This avoids redundancy and inconsistent messaging. 

You can learn more and grab a free content calendar template here. 

4. START AND FINISH

🟢 Start

Make a number of posts before you launch. 

About 15 blog posts or 40 social media posts. This should give you time to both monitor performance and continue creating at an easy pace.

🔴 Finish

Aim for Sam Browne’s Forever 50 - a set of 50 high-performing posts that you can cyclically repurpose and repost. Forever. 

Simply:

• Assess your best content every x amount of time (monthly or bi-monthly)

• Make new posts built off the same topics and formats

• Rinse and repeat until you have 50 posts that you can use forever

The final and most crucial step. Too many content strategies forget it. Here’s how to convert the traffic and authority you build into revenue. 

💰 Sell Inside Your Content

• What it means: Create content that naturally integrates offers without being overly sales-y.

• How to do it: Use proven frameworks like Problem-Agitate-Solution (PAS) or Before-After-Bridge (BAB) to weave your product or service into the narrative.

💬 Leverage Social Selling and Warm Outbound

• What it means: You’ll need to reach out and nudge your followers once in a while to capitalize on the demand your content creates. 

• How to do it: Create a drip campaign (DMs should be infrequent, emails a little less). Let them know about upcoming events, launches, offers. Make them feel like they’re part of something special.

• Example: A content marketer sending his followers an exclusive video look at his behind the scenes process. 

🎁 Create Content-Ready Offers

• What it means:  It’s hard to sell everything through content. You need a “front-end offer”.

• How to do it: Craft a unique and valuable offer that can serve as a gateway to your real product. 

• Example: A freelance designer promoting a limited-time "logo refresh package" in their blog post about branding trends.

👑 Use Content Upgrades (Lead Magnets)

• What it means: Upgrade your audience from social media to something better and more exclusive (e.g. your Substack newsletter with longer-form insights, more step-by-step guides, etc…)

• How to do it: Invite them through your social media profile, blog, or wherever you’re building a following. 

Building a content strategy sounds like a massive undertaking. And yeah, it kind of is.

But here's what you now know:

• The science behind what to write about (thanks, Pierre Herubel)

• How to create content faster and cheaper

• The exact steps to turn content into revenue

Most importantly? You know that 60% of businesses still don't have a real content strategy. Which means there's space for you to get in and do it right.

Start small. Pick one channel. Follow the frameworks above. And remember - everyone consuming content right now is a potential customer down the line.

Got questions about building your content strategy? Drop us a reply. We're always happy to help fellow growth freaks figure this stuff out.