Content Pillars That Make Sense for YOUR Business

Your business already knows what your content pillars should be.

Now, I know that you’ve probably heard them called content pillars. Some people call them content buckets or content themes. 

I call them core content. 

But whatever you call them, the idea is the same: a small set of topics you come back to again and again that give your content direction and your audience something to count on.

The challenge isn’t understanding the concept, it’s figuring out what yours should be.

Most of the advice out there tells you to pick three to five broad topics that make sense for your niche. 

Educate your audience. Inspire them. Promote your offers. 

It’s not bad advice. It might just not be specific enough to be useful for YOUR business.

Why Generic Content Pillars Strategy Stops Working

I worked with a client a while back who was posting constantly…several times a week, every platform, always showing up. 

But when we looked at her content together, something was off. She was posting about literally everything. 

Motivation. Industry news. Behind-the-scenes. Random tips. Personal life updates. Productivity hacks.

It wasn’t bad content, but just had nothing to do with what she did.

She’d built her content pillars by looking at what other people in her space were posting and borrowed their topics because they seemed to work for them. 

What she ended up with was content that could have belonged to anyone. And her audience, as a result, had no clear picture of what she did or why they should care.

When we narrowed her core content down to three themes built directly from her work, everything changed. 

Her content got easier to create, her audience started to get it and the right people started showing up.

Those three themes didn’t come from someone else’s strategy. 

They came from three questions she answered about her own business.

The Content Pillars Strategy Small Business Owners Need

Before you plan a content calendar, before you batch a month of posts, before you touch a single template, grab your coffee and give these questions a few minutes of honest thought.

What do you do?

Not your industry and not your niche. 

• What is the specific thing you do for people? 
• What do they come to you for? 
• What do you deliver?

This sounds obvious until you try to write it down. 

Most people default to the broad category (marketing, coaching, bookkeeping) instead of the specific work. 

The more clearly you can name what you do, the more clearly your content can reflect it.

If you’re stuck, try this: think about the last three clients or customers you helped. 

What did they need when they came to you and what did they walk away with? 

That’s the work. That’s what your content should be talking about.

How do you do it?

This is where your approach lives. 

Your method. 

The way you work that’s different from someone else who does something similar.

Maybe you start every client relationship with an audit. Or you teach one thing at a time instead of overwhelming people with a system all at once. And maybe your whole approach is built around sustainability instead of speed. 

Whatever it is, that’s part of your core content. 

Your audience needs to see how you think, not just what you know.

This question is often the one that surprises people, because they’ve never stopped to name their approach because it just feels like the way they work. 

But that’s exactly what makes it yours. Start there. 

That’s a core content theme hiding in plain sight.

Who do you do it for?

Not a demographic. A person. 

• What does their day look like? 
• What are they frustrated about? 
• What are they trying to figure out? 
• What do they already believe that you either agree with or gently push back on?

Your best content speaks directly to that person. 

When you know who you’re talking to, you stop trying to appeal to everyone and start connecting with someone.

The clearer you are on this, the easier it gets to know what to say. 

Content written for a specific person gets more attention than content written for a general audience. 

The right person reads it and thinks “YES! That’s exactly me.” 

And THAT’S what you’re going for.

The result?

When you answer those three questions honestly, you’ll notice that certain topics keep coming up. 

Those repeating topics are your core content.

They’re not borrowed from someone else’s strategy, and they’re not a guess at what might perform well. 

They come directly from the work you do, the way you do it, and the person you do it for. 

That’s what makes them sustainable. 

You’ll never run out of things to say inside them because they’re built from your actual business.

Most small business owners find they land on three to five core content themes this way. 

Some overlap, and some surprise them. 

All of them feel right in a way that borrowed pillars never quite do.

Once you have them, everything else gets easier. 

• Your content calendar has a framework to work inside. 
• Your batching sessions have direction. 
• Your audience starts to recognize what you’re about because you’re showing up consistently around the same meaningful ideas.

One more thing worth saying: your core content isn’t set in stone. 

Your business evolves, your audience changes. 

The themes that fit you today might look a little different in a year, and that’s more than okay. 

The point isn’t to pick the perfect three topics forever. 

It’s to start from your real business instead of a borrowed template, and revisit when something stops feeling right.

Next week we’ll talk about where to find ideas that fit inside your core content. 

But that part only works once you know what your core content is.

Grab your coffee…you’ve got this!