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Strategic Writer: Episode 3
What Makes Something “Strategic”
Something is considered strategic when it plays a critical role in achieving long-term goals, creating competitive advantages, and navigating the complexities of the environment in which an individual or organization operates. Essentially, strategy is the process of bringing focus to the crucial aspects of organizational (and even personal) behavior.
Strategy is often considered crucial for businesses or other formal organizations, but any human endeavor or organization can act strategically. Strategy related to business and organizational management generally involves factors such as:
Alignment with Objectives
Long-Term Impact
Resource Allocation
Competitive Advantage
Risk Management
Cross-Functional Impact
But a strategic approach also can (and more often should) be applied to any human endeavor, especially in an age of technological and social complexity and dynamism. Even when creating a competitive advantage is not a motivating goal (as it generally is in business), all worthwhile human activity should seek to achieve long-term goals while navigating the complexities of their social, cultural, political, and even geopgysical (think “climate crisis”!) environments. Thinking strategically can help to nurture:
Flexibility and Adaptability
Informed Behavior (based on careful, facts-based analysis of situations)
Effective Leadership Involvement
And in any case, a strategic approach should seek measurable outcomes to help cultivate and maximize:
Clarity of Objectives
Motivation and Engagement
Accountability
Resource Allocation
Communication and Alignment
Strategic Blogging
Strategic blogging is the practice of creating and publishing blog content with specific goals and objectives in mind. The most common reason to blog strategically is to promote your marketing/communication strategies (as defined by your marketing or communication plan), or your business/organizational goals (based on your organization’s strategic plan). Nevertheless, blogging can be a very effective tool for getting your various constituencies (employees, clients, members, followers, volunteers, and investors and other financial supporters) motivated, focused, and pointed in the same direction!
Unlike personal, artistic, or hobbyist blogging, which may focus solely on self-expression or niche interests, strategic blogging aims to achieve measurable outcomes such as increasing website traffic, generating leads, enhancing brand awareness, establishing thought leadership, driving sales, or motivating practical advocacy.
Key aspects of strategic blogging include:
Audience Targeting
Content Planning (to clarify your message and make it more compelling to your audience(s))
SEO Optimization
Promotion and Distribution of Information (leveraging social media and email)
Cultivating Engagement and Interaction (among audience members)
Conversion Optimization (sales, membership, “boots on the ground”)
The Bottom Line
Overall, strategic blogging involves a proactive and data-driven approach to content creation and promotion, with the aim of achieving specific organizational objectives and delivering measurable results.