Can I Break Into Content Strategy From Freelance Writing?

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As a freelance writer, you bring your unique super powers to each piece you create. That’s why clients hire you — they need your research chops, your adaptable writing style, and your creativity to bring their ideas to life. 

Here’s the conundrum: There’s little-to-no control over what you’re creating, and why. 

It’s only natural to want a say in which ideas the client moves forward with. You want to help them create a content game plan that makes sense for their business.

Think of it this way. If you’re bringing a dish to a dinner party, you’d want to connect with the host on what they envision the menu looks like. No one wants to bring fajitas to sushi night. 

This is strategic thinking. This is content strategy. 

CAN I OFFER CONTENT STRATEGY AS A SERVICE?

When writing a piece, do you ever ask yourself: 

  • What points does the client need to get across?

  • How should I structure this piece? 

  • What is the purpose of the piece? Is it educational or thought leadership? 

If you’ve asked yourself these questions, you’re already thinking strategically. 

When pitching a client, do you ever mention these skill sets as part of the project:

  • Research to inform the topic

  • Optimization of the piece for marketing purposes, such as SEO

  • Repurposing pieces for different content types like blog posts into emails

If you have these skill sets, you’re already working strategically. 

I promise, it’s a straightforward next step to offering content strategy as a service to clients. 

WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY AS A SERVICE?

Providing content strategy as a service means you’re lending a client your brain to do two things. First, you’re setting their overall approach to content, which includes: 

  • What success looks like

  • Who their content serves

  • What content looks like

  • How that content is used

Second, you’re helping them create content in a way that best reflects that approach. You may do the writing yourself. Or, you may focus on ideation, managing the content calendar, editing pieces, and working with the marketing team to market that content. 

Your content strategy for a client should include goals, target audience, topic, format, and how that content is used in marketing channels.

WHAT DELIVERABLES DO I OFFER?

I am often asked if a big deck is the only deliverable to include in a content strategy project. 

The short of it: Not even close. 

The strategy deck is important. But Your work goes so far beyond that. Other steps of the process include:

  • Conducting research

  • Pulling learnings from that research

  • Building a content calendar and tools

Here’s more on all the deliverables to include in a content strategy project.

WHAT'S MY NEXT STEP TO BREAK INTO CONTENT STRATEGY?

Not sure where to start? My recommendation is to think about what an ideal content strategy project would look like coming from you. 

I have two resources that can help. 

  1. My free email course walks through my content strategy framework for my clients. 

  2. My toolkits ($50-$299) have downloadable templates for every deliverable I use in my projects. Take them, use them, make them your own.