Which step follows understanding your target audience in a content strategy development process?

Following the understanding of your target audience in the content strategy development process, the next logical step is defining your goals. This step is crucial because it establishes a clear direction for your content. By articulating specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals, you can effectively align your content efforts to meet the needs and preferences of your audience.

Defining goals allows you to determine what you want to achieve with your content—whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or enhancing customer engagement. These objectives will inform every subsequent step in the content strategy, ensuring that the content you create is purposeful and targeted.

While the other options are important components of a content strategy, they typically occur after the goals have been established. For example, creating customer personas can help refine your understanding of the audience but is often informed by the goals you set first. Competitor analysis may explore how others are reaching similar goals but should be conducted with the knowledge of your own objectives in mind. Crafting compelling headlines, while essential for engaging content, is a tactical step that follows the foundational work of defining your broader goals. Thus, defining your goals is the most logical next step after understanding your target audience.