Planning season is here, and 2024 content strategy requires fresh thinking. The landscape has shifted dramatically this year with AI tools, search changes, and evolving audience expectations. Here’s how to approach planning with these factors in mind.
Acknowledge the Changed Landscape
Any 2024 content strategy must account for realities that didn’t exist, or weren’t as prominent, a year ago:
AI content is ubiquitous. Your competitors are using AI. Content volume across the internet is increasing. Standing out requires more than just publishing frequently.
Search is evolving. Google’s helpful content updates and SGE experiments signal continued shifts in how content is discovered and consumed.
Audiences are skeptical. Buyers have seen too much mediocre content. Earning attention and trust is harder than ever.
Resources may be constrained. Economic uncertainty continues. Efficiency and ROI focus will likely persist.
Strategies that worked in 2022 need re-evaluation given these changes.
Start With Audience, Not Channels
Before planning content types or channels, deeply understand your audience’s current needs:
What Questions Are They Asking?
Talk to customers, sales teams, and customer success. What are the real questions and challenges your audience faces? These should drive content topics, not keyword research alone.
Where Do They Actually Spend Attention?
Media consumption habits have shifted. Don’t assume your audience consumes content the same way they did two years ago. Research actual behavior:
- Which platforms do they use?
- What content formats do they engage with?
- How do they prefer to consume information?
What Would Genuinely Help Them?
Cut through the content marketing mindset to ask: what content would actually improve your audience’s professional lives? That’s the content worth creating.
Prioritize Quality Over Quantity
The case for publishing less but better has never been stronger:
AI Raises the Floor
AI tools can produce competent content quickly and cheaply. This means competent content is commoditized. To differentiate, you need content that’s better than what AI can produce alone.
Search Rewards Depth
Google’s helpful content signals favor comprehensive, expert content over thin articles targeting keywords.
Audience Attention Is Limited
Your audience doesn’t need more content in their inbox and feeds. They need better content worth their time.
Resource Efficiency
Fewer, better pieces often outperform many mediocre ones. This aligns with efficiency pressures most teams face.
Plan for fewer pieces with more investment in each.
Double Down on Original Value
Identify content opportunities that AI cannot replicate:
Proprietary Data and Research
Commission original research. Analyze your own customer data. Conduct surveys and studies. This creates content that only you can produce.
Expert Access and Perspectives
Interview industry leaders. Capture your own team’s expertise. Share unique points of view. Human expertise and perspective are valuable when generic information is everywhere.
Customer Stories
Deep, specific customer narratives cannot be AI-generated. Invest in capturing and telling these stories well.
Practical Experience
Hands-on experience with products, processes, and challenges produces insights that research alone cannot. Share what you learn from doing the work.
Plan for AI Integration
If you haven’t already, build AI assistance into your workflow:
Define Use Cases
Where can AI add efficiency without compromising quality? Common applications:
- Research and outline generation
- First drafts for certain content types
- Content repurposing and reformatting
- Editing and refinement assistance
Establish Guidelines
Create clear policies for AI use:
- What content types can use AI assistance?
- What human review is required?
- How do you maintain quality and accuracy?
Build Skills
Invest in team capabilities for effective AI prompting and integration. This skill will only become more important.
Consider Distribution as Much as Creation
Creating content is only half the equation. Distribution planning deserves equal attention:
Own Your Audience
Build email lists and direct relationships that don’t depend on algorithm changes. Every piece of content should have a path to your owned audience.
Plan Repurposing From the Start
Design content for multiple formats and channels. A webinar should become blog posts, social content, email sequences, and more.
Invest in Amplification
Great content that nobody sees is wasted. Budget for promotion, not just creation.
Build in Flexibility
Given how quickly things are changing, build adaptability into your plan:
Quarterly Reviews
Don’t set an annual plan and forget it. Build in quarterly checkpoints to assess performance and adjust.
Reserve Capacity
Don’t allocate 100% of resources to planned content. Reserve capacity for emerging opportunities and necessary pivots.
Watch Trends Actively
Assign someone to monitor developments in AI, search, and your industry. Early awareness enables faster adaptation.
Practical Planning Steps
- Audit 2023 content performance to identify what actually worked
- Conduct audience research to validate assumptions
- Define 2024 content themes based on audience needs and business priorities
- Plan fewer, higher-quality pieces rather than volume targets
- Build AI assistance into workflows with clear guidelines
- Create distribution plans for each major content initiative
- Set quarterly review checkpoints
The teams that plan thoughtfully for this new landscape will build significant advantages. The time invested in strategic planning will pay dividends throughout 2024.