How to Build a Content Creation Strategy in 2025

Content marketing is the ancient king of digital marketing.

But is the crown finally slipping off? Are we heading into an era where content marketing will become ineffective?

After all, 2024 was the year AI went mainstream. It was also the year that organizations experienced a dip in their Internet traffic.

So, if you’re wondering whether content marketing is worth the investment, you’re not alone.

As a veteran growth marketer, I’ve struggled with the same question myself. But I think I’ve finally come up with an answer: it’s not all bad news!

In fact, I think that with a good content creation strategy that:

• Takes a data-drive approach
• Optimizes for AI search
• Focuses on quality
• Prioritizes omnichannel content distribution

We can not only reach pre-AI traffic levels, but even surpass it altogether!

So, how can you build a content development strategy that converts content into gold and visitors into customers?

Let’s find out:

How to Build a Content Creation Strategy: Table of Contents

• What is a Content Creation Strategy?
• What are the biggest challenges to Content Creation in 2025?
• How to build a content creation strategy in 2025?
• Best practices for building a content creation framework
• You’re Ready to Convert with Your Content
• Content Creation Framework: FAQs

What is a Content Creation Strategy?

A content creation strategy is a structured plan that helps you create and curate content for marketing purposes. If you’re looking to leverage the power of content marketing in 2025, I highly recommend that you develop a robust, data-driven content strategy.

In my experience, a successful content creation strategy asks four questions:

1. What needs to be done?

First and foremost, you need to establish actionable goals. What exactly are you planning to achieve with your content strategy in the next 12 months? 

Are you looking for more traffic on your website? Or do you want to focus on converting users by funneling them towards a different stage of the buying journey?

For instance, if you’re already getting a lot of traffic through your content, you might want to prioritize on creating more Bottom-of-the-Funnel content.

Is it brand awareness that you want to promote or do you prefer targeting customers who are using alternatives to your brand?

Similarly, you also need to ask yourself what kind of content you want to push. For example, with the rise of TikTok and other short video apps, now might be the right time to experiment with innovative video content.

What’s clear is that you need to establish actionable goals for your content creation strategy.

2. Who will do it?

Once you’ve identified the purpose of your content creation strategy, it’s time to specify who will be taking up the tasks. In the 10+ years that I’ve spent working in the growth marketing industry, I’ve found that this question is critical to the success of your content strategy.

For instance, if you want to experiment with video content, you have a lot of options. You can:

• Hire a full-time video creator and editor
• Try cutting-edge AI tools for creating videos
• Promote user-generated video content
• Work with a marketing agency to promote video content

You can also combine all four to create a hybrid video content strategy. However, you need to be clear about the roles and responsibilities you want to assign. 

This question is also very important whenever you’re approving a marketing budget.

3. When does it need to be done?

I’ve noticed that one of the major reasons that a content marketing strategy doesn’t succeed is that there are no clear timelines for when content needs to be created, reviewed, edited and published.

While there are several ways to solve this problem (I discuss them below,) one thing is clear: you should have a solid content calendar in place to guide the different stakeholders involved in content creation.

Okay, so now that we’ve discussed the what, who and why of content creation, let’s explore some of the biggest challenges of content creation in 2025.

What are the Biggest Challenges to Content Creation in 2025?

Is content strategy development even worth it in 2025? After all, 2024 was one of the worst years for content marketing: many websites saw historic dips in their traffic due to several factors.

In my opinion, content marketing isn’t going anywhere. That’s because the secret to content marketing isn’t content, it’s intent. The idea is to understand and address the user’s requirements. Content is just the best medium through which we can accomplish this task.

It’s also true that while content marketing is not going away, it has definitely changed. And massively, too. Here’s what I think are the biggest challenges that content marketing is facing in 2025:

1. The Rise of AI

Before we go any further, let’s address the elephant in the room. It’s called AI and all of can see it from wherever we are.

Looking for a product? AI’s got an overview of the best reviews! Planning a trip? AI can build you an itinerary that suits your preferences! Looking for business leads? AI is here to help you build a prospect list!

Need to make some new content? You guessed it: AI’s got some ideas. 

So, can you rely on AI to build you a content development strategy in 2025?

Even though I myself am a growth marketer by profession, let me tell you: you can!

But it’s not so simple. As we’ve discussed above, if content marketing was only about content, you would’ve been fine with just employing an AI tool.

But, at the end of the day, businesses exist to solve people’s needs. And while AI is a great intermediary that can present information, it can’t create information out of thin air!

In other words, AI is a great information compiler and story teller. But it’s up to us to create the narratives and the stories that AI can then present to the readers!

And if you can tell great stories, your content marketing efforts will be worth the investment.

2. Lack of Data Driven Strategy

While almost everyone (including me) is worried about the rise of AI, we’re forgetting that 21st century content marketing is more about data than AI.

Consider it this way: while we’re focused on AI, which is like Giambi from Moneyball, the smart content creator is focused on data-driven content creation, which is like the Billy Beane + Peter Brand of content creation.

In 2025, we have to forget about ranking on the SERP. That’s like trying to recruit a hall of famer that’s already retired. Our task is to recreate the hall of famer using different media.

The idea is to understand where our users hang out apart from on the Google SERP, and target them there. That’s the way to recreate and exceed traffic in 2025.

3. Emphasis on Quantity Over Quality

The third challenge to content creation in 2025 is the focus on quantity over quality.

Let me ask you this: which is better, a video with a million views or 10 videos with a thousand views each?

I know what you’re thinking: don’t we have to create 10 videos so that one of them goes viral? 

You’re absolutely right. 

But, I believe that too many content creators are focused on creating 10 videos rather than 5 that they genuinely believe will go viral.

Our task is to balance quality with quantity to give our content a good chance to actually go viral like we want it to.

Okay, so we’ve discussed the three challenges of content creation in 2025: AI, data and quality. So, how can we build a content creation strategy that incorporates all three of them?

Let’s find out.

How to Build a Content Creation Strategy in 2025?

After thinking about the various challenges we have on our hands, I’ve come up with the six points that I think every content creation strategy should consider:

1. Develop Content Clusters or Pillars

A content cluster covers a bunch of keywords that are related to your product or service.

Take shipping and moving services. Now, you might be providing LTL, FTL, expedited, open, enclosed and other types of shipping service.

Historically, I’ve had great success in creating a cluster of keywords around these services. For instance, we can focus on car shipping. Within car shipping, we can focus on car shipping for Florida, New York, California and Washington.

A content cluster or pillar is key to strengthening your brand position and awareness in specific markets. I also recommend that you focus two things while creating content pillars:

• Local or regional variations in keywords: For instance, Californians might be searching for car shipping but New Yorkers use the phrase auto shipping.
• Long-tail Keywords: For example, “Best piano shipping services,” or “How to ship a car from California to New York.”

Both will help you rank in specific markets and improve your online visibility.

2. Create a Content Calendar

A content calendar is a detailed timeline that informs creators, editors and curators when their tasks are due.

In my experience, a content calendar is key to seamless content management. I personally use a Google Sheet document to create content calendars for different clients and even internal purposes.

I also suggest that you build a content calendar at least one month in advance. It’ll help your creators understand their workflow and keep the content flowing.

3. Establish a Content Creation Workflow

Speaking of content creation workflow, I’ve found that coordination is as important as a timeline.

Without proper coordination, even the most detailed content calendar will not help you improve or increase your content output.

I recommend using an enterprise project management tool like Hive or Basecamp to create, assign, monitor and complete content-related tasks.

Plus, in my opinion, you should not replace the Google Sheet calendar with the project management tool. Rather, you should use both together for maximum productivity.

4. Write, Create and Edit Content

The next step is to write, create and edit content. While this might seem like the easiest step we’ve discussed thus far, there are a few options and challenges that you might face.

For one, there’s the question of whether to use AI tools or not. I suggest you hire a full-time content coordinator that can work with text as well as media. I also suggest equipping them with AI tools, both for research and supervision purposes.

In my experience, AI is a great tool for:

• Keyword research
• Grammar checks + proofreading
• Creating content outlines
• Generating images and short videos

I also recommend that you establish a thorough review process for every piece of content. From the grammar to the quality to AI detection, you should have a checklist to help you create consistently excellent content.

5. Promote and Distribute Content

Okay, so now you have a content calendar, workflow and the content itself, it’s time to start publishing it.

If you’re planning to consistently publish blogs, you might want to explore a content management system. I’ve personally had a good experience with publishing, editing and revamping content using different CMS platforms. They’re also fairly secure and will protect your content from any security threats.

But the more challenging aspect of content distribution is where to deploy content.

I’m a big advocate of omnichannel content distribution. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to publish your content on every website and blog and social platform there is. Often, it’s neither practical nor possible.

But I do recommend that you conduct a thorough audit of where your prospects hang out, and target those websites with periodic, quality and engaging content.

6. Track and Analyze Performance

In the beginning, we discussed that the number one problem with content creation strategies is the lack of actionable goals. To remedy this, I recommend you set up a content related document that measures, tracks and monitors Key Performance Indicators.

Personally, I try to record the number of blogs, social media posts and short videos published each week and month. 

I also recommend making a traffic-tracking sheet for different keyword clusters.

It’ll help you understand the keywords and services you’re dominating, and where you need to improve your content to outperform your competitors.

Best Practices for Building a Content Creation Framework

Before we conclude our discussion, I wanted to recount some of the best practices that I’ve developed and followed for sustained content marketing success. Here’s how they stack up:

1. Welcome AI To Your Content Team

AI is not your enemy. It’s also not your best friend.

But, if you use it wisely, it can be a valuable member of your content creation team. 

I suggest that you use it for non-creative and repeatable tasks. You can also explore using it for image and video creation. 

Personally, I suggest that you help your team get used to AI tools. It’ll free them up to perform strategic tasks. 

2. Omnichannel Content is Key to Good Content Conversion

As we’ve discussed, Google search will probably be monopolised by AI.

So, it’s a good idea to diversify the source of your online traffic. 

And the best way to do so is to look at other platforms where your users hang out. 

I especially recommend forums like Reddit, social media platforms like LinkedIn or Instragram, and review websites like Yelp and G2.

3. User Generated Content is on the Rise

User-Generated Content (UGC) is like a free source for quality content. 

For instance, if you’re a moving and shipping company, a simple Vlog recorded by a happy client who documents their experience with your enterprise can help you educate and convince future customers.

It’s an audio visual experience, a tutorial, and a short video: all rolled into one!

I highly urge you to consider implementing strategies to boost UGC. Another way to do this is to use viral hashtags. It’ll help you increase your digital footprint and brand awareness at the same time.

4. Quality Content is Still Gold

We’ve discussed that content marketing is more about marketing than content. I do believe it’s true. However, quality content is still gold when it comes to serving the users’ purpose.

Without quality content, we don’t stand a chance to expand our reach and gain organic traffic. Even AI has to cite a source: our job is to ensure that we’re that source! 

5. Optimize Content for AI

Speaking of AI and content that’s gold, one way to develop a Midas touch in content marketing is by optimizing content for AI crawlers. I recommend:

• Creating a sitemap for faster indexing by AI crawlers
• Using structured data that Language Learning Models can easily visualize
• Writing in short, simple sentences
• Establishing clear meta tags with video and image content
• Including FAQs and author bios with every blog
• Using bullet points to increase readability
• Focusing on long-tail keywords to directly address user queries

The idea is to strike a balance between the reader that will consume the information and the AI that will interpret and present the information.

You’re Ready to Convert with Your Content

Content creation has completely changed from what it used to be.

No longer will average content with an average keyword frequency stand a chance of ranking on top of the SERP. Even if it does, Google’s AI overview will present your information by mixing it with content from other sources.

One way to beat this is by diversifying your source of traffic. Another is to optimize for AI.

At Lean Summits, we’re here to help you do both!

We specialize in leveraging our experience in the field of growth marketing to come up with innovative solutions and help you conquer the summit of your industry.

So, if you’re wondering how you can build a content creation strategy in 2025, why not get in touch with us for a commitment free consultation?

Connect with us, or explore our solutions to see which one suits you best…

Good luck!

Content Creation Framework: FAQs

1. Is content marketing still relevant in 2025?

Yes, content marketing is still relevant in 2025. However, the focus on content marketing has shifted to striking a balance between the final consumer of information (the readers) and the interpreter of the content (AI). The reason behind this is simple: while AI is good at presenting information, it’ll still need to cite a source.

2. What is content creation and strategy?

Content creation is a way of promoting your products and services by creating blogs, videos, infographics, social media posts and other content related to your solutions. A content creation strategy is a detailed plan that helps you plan, create, edit, publish and monitor your content.

3. What are the 3 Cs of content creation?

The 3 C’s of content creation are:

• Creation: Making content that is relevant to your target audience
• Curation: Publishing or distributing the content where your target audience hangs out
• Conversation: Engaging with the reviews, reactions and comments on your content posts 

4. How is AI impacting content creation?

AI is impacting content creation in three key ways:

• Content Creation: Creators can use AI to conduct keyword research, create outlines and generate copies or media for their products and services.
• Content Editing: Editors can use AI to check the grammar, tone and readability of the content.
• Content Presentation: Search Engines like Google can use AI to generate Overviews and summaries in response to user queries.