Digital Content Strategy Is Misunderstood. Here’s How I Actually Fix It
If your content strategy can’t say no, it’s not a strategy
I once inherited a “fully built-out” content strategy from a client.
We’re talking a beautiful 45-page Notion doc. Goals, personas, channel maps, keyword matrices, editorial workflows, monthly themes, even a colour-coded calendar that told us exactly what to publish and when.
There was just one thing missing.
Reason.
No clear positioning. No hierarchy of priorities. No decision-making logic beyond “do all the things.” It looked strategic. It felt strategic. But really? It was a glorified to-do list.
And that’s the trap most digital content strategies fall into.
They focus on activity over clarity. Tactics over trade-offs. Output over outcome.
A real strategy isn’t just a plan. It’s a filter. A sharp, often uncomfortable lens that helps you say no to 90% of the content you could make, so the 10% you do make actually moves the needle.
In this piece, I’ll unpack what most brands get wrong about digital content strategy, why it matters more than ever in an AI-flooded landscape, and how I approach it with clients who want more than just noise.
Let’s get into it. (Minus the colour-coded spreadsheet.)
Short on time? Here are the key takeaways
Most “strategies” are just content calendars in disguise. Real strategy helps you say no, not just plan more.
Positioning comes before planning. Without a clear POV, even your best content won’t build trust or traction.
AI can scale output, but it can’t fix fuzzy thinking. It exposes weak strategy faster than you’d expect.
Traffic isn’t the goal, trust is. A good content strategy earns attention, not just clicks.
The Myth of “Strategic” Content
Just because it’s organised doesn’t mean it’s strategic.
If you’ve ever pulled together a spreadsheet full of keywords, mapped out some buyer personas, and set a goal to publish three blogs a week, congrats, you’ve done what most brands call “strategy.”
But here’s the thing: most of that isn’t strategy. It’s planning.
And don’t get me wrong, planning’s great. Until it becomes a to-do list with no clear reason behind it.
I’ve worked with small businesses, startups, and lean marketing teams that are flat-out trying to keep up. So it’s tempting to treat content like a checklist. Write the posts. Hit publish. Move on.
But if you don’t stop to ask why you’re creating each piece, or what you’re not creating, you end up busy, not better.
Real strategy makes decisions. It helps you say:
“We’re focusing on these three topics because they support our product positioning.”
“We’re skipping this trend because it’s not relevant to our audience.”
“We’re not chasing traffic. We’re building trust.”
If your content plan doesn’t help you choose what not to do, it’s not strategy. It’s just a very tidy way to stay overwhelmed.
Start With Positioning, Not Content
Most content plans jump straight to topics: “Let’s write about SEO trends. Let’s do a guide to social media. Let’s cover AI.”
But none of that matters if you haven’t nailed your positioning first.
Positioning is what makes your content yours. It’s the perspective that shapes how you talk, who you talk to, and what you talk about. Without it, your blog posts could just as easily live on any competitor’s site. Your content can’t just be helpful anymore.
I’ve seen this play out with clients who were publishing consistently, even ranking well, but still hearing “I didn’t know you offered that” from customers.
That’s a positioning problem, not a publishing one.
Your content should act like a brand ambassador, not just a search engine magnet. It should tell people what you believe, how you’re different, and why they should trust you.
And yes, that means defining your tone of voice, too. Because tone isn’t just about sounding nice, it’s about sounding recognisable.
Helpful, but not hand-holdy.
Smart, but not smug.
Clear, but never clinical.
Get that stuff right first, and suddenly your whole strategy starts making sense. You’ll know which topics to cover, which ones to skip, and how to make even “boring” posts sound like you.
Can AI Help?
If you’re already a small team juggling content, AI probably feels like a gift. And it can be, if you use it right.
But here’s the catch: AI is great at speeding things up. It’s terrible at deciding what matters.
Give it a clear brief and a strong point of view? It’ll help you structure, rephrase, and summarise. Feed it a fuzzy prompt with no strategy behind it? You’ll get the same forgettable fluff everyone else is publishing.
I’ve worked with brands who leaned heavily into AI early. Content velocity shot up. But the results didn’t follow. Why? Because they were scaling execution, not direction.
One team I worked with had well over 1000 AI-assisted blog posts live. All optimised. All technically solid. None of them performed.
In fact, those pages were actually harming their efforts! So many no-click indexed pages lead to Google deranking other content and lowering the authority of the brand.
Not to mention that Google's Helpful Content Update targets unoriginal or low-value material, and recent guidance warns sites may lose ranking authority if they harbour ‘mass-produced’ fluff”, reinforcing your point on deranking risk
So one of the first things I did was recommend we cut at least 300 of those pages completely, a tactic often overlooked, and one that often comes with some initial concerns. However, just look at the results below:
So no, AI won’t ruin your content strategy. But it will show you whether you had one to begin with.
The Real Metrics of a Good Content Strategy
Let’s be honest: pageviews are nice. But they’re not proof of a working strategy.
You can have 10,000 visitors and zero trust. Zero engagement. Zero sales.
What actually matters, especially if you're a small team, is whether your content is doing something useful. Is it attracting the right people? Starting real conversations? Getting shared in places that matter?
Here are three questions I use to pressure-test strategy:
Are people quoting it? Linking to it? Referring others to it?
Are prospects saying, “I read that post and it helped me decide”?
Are you seeing fewer confused leads and more qualified ones?
That’s the kind of traction that shows your content’s working, even if the numbers on Google Analytics aren’t spiking.
Another client I recently worked with scrapped 64% of their blog to focus on five core topics tied to what they actually sold. Leads didn’t drop. They got better. Conversations got warmer. Close rates improved.
The 45-Page Plan That Went Nowhere
Remember that client I mentioned at the start? The one with the beautiful, over-engineered strategy doc?
I scrapped it.
Not all at once, but piece by piece. I stripped it back to what actually mattered: their positioning, their priorities, and the small handful of topics where they could genuinely lead the conversation.
They stopped publishing weekly for the sake of it. They tightened their voice. They focused on content that earned shares, saved time for the sales team, and brought in better-fit leads.
The result? Fewer posts. More traction. And a marketing team that finally had clarity, not just a calendar.
That’s what a real digital content strategy should give you. Not a bigger to-do list. A sharper filter. A clearer message. And a plan that supports your brand, not just your output.
If you’re still stuck in content chaos, maybe it’s time to build a strategy that actually helps you choose. Drop me an email and let’s chat.
