Content strategy template

What this content strategy template includes

• ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
• Audience and needsWho the content is for and the questions they are trying to answer.
• Content pillarsThe few themes all content ladders up to.
• Formats and channelsWhat gets made, where it is published and how often.
• Workflow and governanceHow content moves from idea to publication and who signs off.
• Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

Content strategy example

A complete content strategy for a fictional organization: scheduling software company serving independent dental and medical clinics.

Worked exampleContent strategy

Organization	Scheduling software company serving independent dental and medical clinics (180 staff)
Ambition	Become the first place clinic managers look for practical advice on running a practice, and turn that attention into a third of new sales pipeline.
Horizon	1 year

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

The blog has 310 posts and draws 38,000 organic visits a month, but two thirds of that traffic goes to general health articles read by patients, not by the clinic managers who buy the software. Content is published when someone has time, usually to support a product release. Sales reps write their own follow-up material because they cannot find anything suitable. Only 12% of new pipeline can be traced to content.

Challenges

• Most traffic comes from readers who will never buy, so visits have grown while demo requests have not.
• There is no shared plan, so product, sales and marketing each ask for content and nothing is finished on time.
• Old posts contradict current pricing and features, and nobody is responsible for keeping them accurate.

We will focus on

• Clinic managers and practice owners at clinics with 3 to 20 practitioners.
• Four pillars tied to problems the product solves.
• Depth over volume: fewer pieces, each one the best answer available.

We will not

• Patient-facing health content, even where it brings traffic.
• Daily social posting or a podcast this year.
• Gated white papers; guides stay open and templates are the only gated assets.

Audience and needs

Audience	What they need	Where they look
Clinic manager	Fewer no-shows, a full calendar, less time on the phone	Search, practice management forums, peer groups
Practice owner	Proof that new software pays back within a year	Industry newsletters, referrals from other owners
Front-desk lead	Step-by-step help with daily scheduling tasks	Search, help center, YouTube

Content pillars

Pillar	What it covers	Example topics
Reducing no-shows	Reminders, deposits, waitlists and cancellation policies	No-show rate benchmarks; reminder message templates
Filling the calendar	Recall, online booking and managing demand across practitioners	Recall scripts; how to set appointment lengths
Front-desk efficiency	Phone handling, check-in and staffing the desk	Front-desk staffing calculator; phone triage checklist
Practice finances	Revenue per chair, collections and reporting for owners	Monthly practice scorecard; pricing a new service

Formats and channels

Format	Channel	Cadence	Purpose
In-depth guide	Website	3 per month	Rank for the questions buyers search and earn links
Template or calculator	Website, gated by email	1 per month	Capture leads and give sales something to send
Customer story	Website and sales deck	1 per month	Show results from clinics like the reader's
Newsletter	Email	Every two weeks	Bring subscribers back and move them toward a demo
Short how-to video	YouTube and help center	2 per month	Answer front-desk questions and reduce support tickets

Workflow and governance

Planning	A quarterly editorial plan agreed with sales and product, reviewed on the first Monday of each month.
Production	Every piece starts from a one-page brief naming the reader, the search query and the next step we want them to take. Writers interview one customer or internal expert per guide.
Review and approval	The managing editor edits for accuracy and voice. A product marketer checks product claims. Claims about clinic operations are reviewed by the customer success lead before publication.
Maintenance	Each published piece has an owner and a review date. Anything not updated in 18 months is refreshed, merged or removed.

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: Head of Content

Own the questions clinic managers ask before they buy

Buyers research scheduling problems long before they look for software. Ranking for those questions puts the brand in front of the right reader at the right time.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Monthly organic visits to pillar content	12.5K visits	30K visits	Q4 2027
Target queries ranking in the top five	14 queries	60 queries	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Publish 36 in-depth guides across the four pillars
• Rewrite the 25 existing posts that already attract clinic managers
• Build a front-desk staffing calculator and a no-show cost calculator

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: Demand Generation Manager

Turn readers into sales pipeline

Traffic has no value until a reader asks for a demo. Today most guides end without a next step, and sales cannot see which accounts are reading.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
New pipeline sourced from content	12%	33%	Q4 2027
Demo requests from content pages per month	45 requests	120 requests	Q4 2027
Newsletter subscribers who manage a clinic	2,100 subscribers	6,000 subscribers	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Add a relevant template or demo offer to every guide
• Write a five-email sequence for people who download a template
• Send sales a weekly list of accounts reading pricing and comparison pages

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Managing Editor

Make production predictable

Pieces slip because briefs are vague and reviews are informal. A dependable process is what makes the other two priorities possible.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Pieces published on the planned date	55%	90%	Q2 2027
Average time from brief to publication	34 days	18 days	Q2 2027

Initiatives

• Introduce the quarterly editorial plan and a single brief template
• Set a two-day turnaround for product and clinical reviews
• Audit all 310 posts and merge or remove those that are outdated

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Copy example as text

Blank content strategy template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planContent strategy

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

• [A problem the strategy has to solve]
• [A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

• [Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
• [Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

• [Something you are deliberately leaving out]
• [Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Audience and needs

Audience	What they need	Where they look
[Audience]	[What they need]	[Where they look]
[Audience]	[What they need]	[Where they look]
[Audience]	[What they need]	[Where they look]

Content pillars

Pillar	What it covers	Example topics
[Pillar]	[What it covers]	[Example topics]
[Pillar]	[What it covers]	[Example topics]
[Pillar]	[What it covers]	[Example topics]

Formats and channels

Format	Channel	Cadence	Purpose
[Format]	[Channel]	[Cadence]	[Purpose]
[Format]	[Channel]	[Cadence]	[Purpose]
[Format]	[Channel]	[Cadence]	[Purpose]

Workflow and governance

Planning	[Your planning]
Production	[Your production]
Review and approval	[Your review and approval]
Maintenance	[Your maintenance]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 2Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 3Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

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How to adapt it

1. 01

   Name one primary audience. If you list more than three, decide which one the business most needs to reach and build the pillars for them.

2. 02

   Choose three to five pillars where a customer problem and your expertise overlap. Drop any topic you cannot say something useful about.

3. 03

   List only the formats your team can produce at a steady pace. A guide every week that slips to every month does more harm than a monthly guide that always arrives.

4. 04

   Write down who approves what, and how long they have. Unclear sign-off is the most common reason content is late.

5. 05

   Replace the outcomes with numbers from your own analytics, and record today's baseline before you set a target.

How to run it

A plan only works if it is reviewed on a rhythm. This is the cadence the example assumes.

Check-in	Outcome owners update progress and confidence weekly.
Review	Priority owners review outcomes and unblock initiatives monthly.
Reset	Leadership revisits priorities and targets quarterly.

Tability keeps this cadence for you. Each priority becomes an objective, each outcome a key result with its baseline and target, and each initiative a tracked task. Owners get a check-in reminder and the plan shows what is on track.

Track this plan in Tability

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Common mistakes

• Measuring traffic alone. Visits from people who will never buy make the chart look healthy while pipeline stays flat.
• Planning topics before deciding who the content is for, which produces a calendar without a strategy.
• Publishing new pieces while hundreds of old ones go out of date.
• Listing every channel and format, then spreading a small team across all of them.