This Blog-First Content Funnel Will Make Your Marketing 10x Easier
When you became a business owner or stepped into the world of entrepreneurship, you probably knew that content creation came with the gig.
After all, content is really the cornerstone of your marketing that grows your brand awareness and drives sales.
It’s a non-negotiable!
When it comes to creating content, there’s a lot of different ways that you can do it – we aren’t running short of different platforms and channels these days.
What I often see is that when business owners need to check “content creation” off of their to-do list for the day, they typically turn to those platforms that allow you to create short-form content fairly quickly.
These are all of our most treasured platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Threads, etc.
And while I’m all for short-form content on these platforms – heck, I even post that type of content myself – what I often see missing in a lot of business owners' content marketing strategy is long form content.
Similar to short form content, you have options for the WAY that you create long form content. It often comes in the form of blog posts, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, etc.
(My personal choice is blogs, of course!)
But what’s important to know and understand is that your business really needs BOTH!
And I get it – hearing that might feel overwhelming. You already have so many things you’re responsible for in business, how the heck are you supposed to keep up with all of this content creation?!
The KEY is that you find a way to marry the two so that they work together cohesively versus viewing them as separate entities.
When you do this, you can:
✅ save time and work smarter, not harder with your content marketing
✅ deliver ultimate value to your audience WITHOUT reinventing the wheel
✅ AND guide your audience to place that you OWN so you can strategically influence their buyer journey and move them into their next best action
And that’s exactly what I’m here to help you do. ⬇️
Why Your Content Creation Feels Overwhelming
If you're currently using a ton of different platforms or channels for marketing in your business, there’s a chance that you’re currently viewing your content like this:
They’re all separate entities.
I see people doing this ALL the time in their business and if you're doing this, creating content likely feels extremely overwhelming for you.
If we were to break this down even further, it may look like this:
Now, it is true that every platform that you create content for is its own channel.
But that does NOT mean that you have to reinvent the wheel and create new content topics for every single channel.
And here’s why:
Regardless of the topics you’re creating content around, you have ONE main message in your business and every single content piece – regardless of where it’s posted – should come back to that.
For me, that message is that blogs aren’t dead and they belong in your business.
Every piece of content I create – whether it’s a blog post, email, or a post for Instagram – all comes back to that main message.
Now, will you have different topics for each of your platforms? Probably!
But that doesn't mean that you have to treat each channel as its own separate thing.
When you treat everything as separate, not only does your content creation feel overwhelming, but it also starts to feel like a chore that you don't want to do – and that doesn't serve you or your audience.
So that’s the first mistake I see people making – viewing all of their channels as separate.
But the second mistake that I see and where this really starts to affect your business is starting with social media content FIRST.
Because if we were to look back at that image above of alllll the possible channels you can create for and you decide you only have time for one, you’re probably going to choose the one that feels the most important.
And for many business owners, that is social media.
And I totally get this! Social media is fun and it feels like that’s the only place your ideal client is, so it’s natural to feel like you need to show up there first.
I’ve definitely been guilty of this, too. The only problem with this?
You don’t OWN your social media platforms – meaning you have zero control over what happens to it, which means that at any given time your account could disappear and your content and your followers could go with it.
Not only that, but starting with your social content first could potentially be making your content creation as a whole SO much harder.
Which is why I challenge you to change the way you look at your content funnel and adopt a new approach!
The Content Marketing Funnel That Makes Your Content Creation 10 Times Easier
At the top of this content marketing funnel, you have your long form content, which could come in the form of blogs, podcast episodes, or YouTube videos.
(Of course, I recommend that you choose blogs for a few reasons, but to each their own!)
And I know what you might be thinking… “You want me to START with the longest piece of content first?? That’s going to take soooo much more time.”
I hear you – but let me explain! There’s 2 main reasons you want to start here:
You have much greater ownership over this content and there’s less risk of losing it. (we can’t say the same for social media.)
This content has the longest shelf life, meaning it can serve you for YEARS to come – especially blogs.
From there, you let that content guide you into the second tier:
And no, the 3 channels you see listed here weren’t picked by random.
Email
Just like you don’t own the content you post on social, you also don’t own your social media followers.
If you have 10,000 followers, I love that for you and you should be proud, but let me ask you: if your account disappeared today would you still have a place to connect with those 10K followers?
If not, it’s time you focus on growing an email list!
You have greater ownership over your email subscribers and I would advise obsessing over this number MORE than your follower count.
Pinterest
I’m no Pinterest expert (although I do know one!), but what I do know is that Pinterest actively drives people back to your website and goes hand-in-hand with blog posts.
What other social platform out there actually encourages its users to go OFF the app?! I can’t think of one!
LinkedIn
Again, I’m no LinkedIn expert, but the reason this platform falls here is because your posts on LinkedIn actually have the potential to show up in Google search results.
Additionally, LinkedIn is one of the only social platforms that naturally supports long form content, so you’re able to repurpose super easily.
Finally, at the bottom of this content is our beloved social media content.
The reason this content comes last is because:
As I’ve mentioned many times already, you don't own this content, so you want to make sure you're putting more effort into leveraging the platforms that you have more control over FIRST.
Most social media platforms have the shortest shelf life, which means you could put all of your time and energy into creating an amazing social media post just for it to die off a few hours later and no one may ever see it again. Pretty depressing, right?
How To Implement This Content Marketing Strategy In Your Business
Overall, not only will using this content funnel in your business save you time, but it will also help you step into the working smarter, not harder approach with your content marketing because you aren't creating from scratch for every single channel.
Instead, you’re doing the hard work up front (aka the work that will LAST) and letting that guide everything else that you do.
When my clients step into this new world of creating content as a whole, it feels like true magic and they can ENJOY their business again.
In fact, just a few weeks ago I received this email from a blog client:
So, how can you start experiencing this too? Glad you asked! There’s a few ways I can help:
⭐️ The Manuscript | Custom Blog Strategy — a good piece of writing is only as strong as its manuscript. This custom blog strategy service is designed for business owners who want to start blogging - or finally make it a consistent, strategic part of their marketing strategy.
Includes:
Kickoff call to discuss your blog goals, ideal audience, & desired publishing schedule for the long term
Custom blog strategy creation WITH defined blog content pillars, a quarter’s worth (up to 12) blog topics tialored to your goals and audience, PLUS ideas for how to repurpose your blogs on other platforms
Strategy delivered via Loom
30 days of Slack support so you feel confident putting your strategy into action WITH the option to submit one piece of writing for review per week
⭐️ Press Week | Blogging Sprint – every good author knows that a good press week is the secret to getting your audience’s attention. This Press Week is your fast-track to a ready-to-launch blog, giving your website readers irresistible content to binge on day one.
In just five days, you'll get six strategy-driven blog posts so you can hit the ground running and finally start putting blogs first, socials second.
The Schedule:
Monday – We’ll kick things off with a strategy call to talk strategy and map out topics.
Tuesday & Wednesday – I’ll dive into writing while you focus on running your business.
Thursday – Your six blog posts arrive in a Google Doc, ready for your review.
Friday – I’ll make any final edits and tweaks based on your feedback, so you can press publish as soon as you’re ready!
⭐️ Hot Off The Press | A-la-carte Blogs – Hot Off the Press is perfect for business owners who need high-quality blog content on a flexible, as-needed basis.
Whether you want a Natty Writes trial run before committing to ongoing blogging, need a few extra posts to support a launch, or just want some fresh content without a long-term commitment, this service delivers polished, strategic blog posts right when you need them.
You bring the topics and ideas, and I'll bring them to life with content that’s hot off the press and ready to publish!
New to my world? Nice to virtually meet ya. 👋 I’m Natalie, but everyone calls me Natty (you can too) – blog and email writer for creative business owners and service providers.
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