The invisible work behind effective content

Content strategists are not underpants gnomes.

There. I’ve said it.

When people talk about content, they usually mean the deliverable: the blog post, the video, the white paper, the caption. I hate to say it, but it sometimes feels like content strategists are seen as underpants gnomes— South Park‘s mythical little capitalists whose business plan was:

Except that, for us content nerds, it’s:

Rest assured, your trusted copywriters, editors, and content strategists have a plan. And I’m going to share it with you.

Phase 1: Strategy

Define your organization’s goals

Before anyone types a headline or hits record, strategists have already done hours (sometimes weeks) of foundational work. We’ve clarified business goals, mapped audience journeys, defined tone, prioritized platforms, evaluated past performance, and selected the topics most likely to resonate. That work is often invisible—and that makes it easy to undervalue.

Every content campaign should begin with the same question: what are we trying to accomplish?

The answer shouldn’t be just “get more clients,” “raise awareness,” or “get clicks.” What business outcome are we aiming for? Are we trying to:

• Educate decision-makers so they can self-select into our pipeline?
• Increase consumer trust with consumers making financially or emotionally significant decisions?
• Differentiate from competitors in a crowded, commoditized space?
• Increase lifetime value by deepening trust with existing clients or customers?
• Support recruitment efforts with better employer brand storytelling?

These aren’t small questions. And they don’t have universal answers. That’s why strategy doesn’t begin with a content calendar and keywords. Before anyone chooses a topic or assigns a writer, someone has to make the call: What business outcome do we need this content to support?

RELATED: What is a client journey?

Know your audience, and where they are in their journey

Once your goals are clear, the next step is understanding who you’re trying to reach, and what they need from you.

If your brand already has lists of personas or targeted demographics, that’s just the beginning. (And if you haven’t identified your archetypes, that’s okay. But it’s a good place to start.). You’ll also need to map out the questions, concerns, and emotional contexts your audience is carrying with them. What motivates them? What’s at stake for them? What are they already overwhelmed by?

And where are they in their decision-making process? Someone at the beginning of their journey might need education and reassurance. Someone closer to conversion might need specificity, clarity, and proof.

Content strategists tailor deliverables based on this journey. A campaign might include:

• A blog post to introduce a concept
• A downloadable guide for deeper research
• An email nurture series to offer support
• A case study that builds trust
• A landing page with social proof and a conversion CTA

The message evolves as the audience moves. That’s not an AI setting—it’s a human judgment call.

Topic selection isn’t a brainstorm, it’s a map

From here, the strategist’s role is to translate that objective into a functional plan. What does this goal mean for our messaging? What questions is our targeted audience asking, and how can we become their go-to source for answers?

We build a framework that connects every asset, every blog post, landing page, or video, to a larger narrative. We know what the audience should do next, how success will be measured, and whether content should be refreshed or retired. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s what keeps content aligned with the business. Without it, even well-written content can feel disconnected, redundant, or out of sync with what matters.

Sure, AI can give you 50 blog post ideas in seconds. But which ones should you pursue? And which should you ignore? Content strategists make those calls based on:

• Search intent and keyword research
• Internal insights from sales or customer service
• Competitive analysis
• Audience gaps and unmet needs
• Past performance data

This is the difference between publishing more content and publishing the right content.

There’s also a difference between what people search for and what they’ll trust from you. If your firm wants to position itself as a thought leader in complex litigation, chasing high-volume, low-intent keywords won’t help. Your content needs to match not just the query, but the leads’ expectations, and that’s a strategy question.

Channel strategy is more than distribution

Even the best content can flop if it’s shared in the wrong place. Each channel: your website, email, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, has its own norms, algorithms, audiences, and constraints. A caption that performs well on Instagram might feel flippant on LinkedIn. A newsletter article might flop on a blog without search engine optimization.

Channel strategy is about understanding:

• Where your audience already is
• What kind of content they expect in that space
• How to tailor your message to each format

This is especially important in modular, omnichannel campaigns, where the same story needs to adapt across multiple touchpoints. A content strategist will make sure your social snippet, landing page, and follow-up email all feel connected, but not repetitive. That takes editorial coherence and vision (even if some of the drafts are spun up by AI).

And remember: content isn’t just words. It’s video, social, audio, interactive tools, and more. Each format demands a different structure, tone, and creative approach. A strategist helps you choose the right format for the job, and make it work within your brand’s system.

RELATED: Copyright and AI: The question of human authorship 

Phase 2: Content

Congratulations! You’ve completed Phase 1 of our content process. Now, we can start building all those blogs, emails, and ads you’ve been craving.

Content production

This what everyone imagines when you say, “content.” Someone is putting pen to paper. Or typing on a keyboard. Or leveraging their AI prompts. And while content production isn’t easy, creating drafts is a lot easier than building out the strategy that proceeds it or the editing and refinement that follows.

However, you need to stay disciplined. Make sure your content aligns with your strategy and goals.

Voice, tone, and brand consistency

Voice, tone, and consistency are often treated as surface-level concerns, but they’re foundational to meaningful communication. Your voice is the throughline of your brand: steady, recognizable, and rooted in who you are. Tone adapts that voice to the situation, allowing you to respond with empathy, authority, or warmth depending on what your audience needs. And consistency ensures that no matter who’s writing—or what they’re writing about—your audience experiences a cohesive, trustworthy presence.

Content strategists make deliberate choices. We choose language that reflects the brand’s personality, calibrating tone to fit the format and context, and reinforcing key themes in a way that feels natural, not repetitive.

But it’s not just instinct. Strategists bring structure to the process. Messaging frameworks and content briefs guide their work, and make handoffs seamless if someone else joins the project. We review our drafts with a critical eye, asking whether the tone fits the moment, whether the message aligns with broader goals, and whether it would build trust with the intended audience.

Consistency isn’t a constraint. It’s a discipline. One that allows for nuance, creativity, and connection—without losing sight of who the brand is and why it matters. These structures make it possible to express your brand’s identity with integrity, across every channel and every piece of content.

Editing is strategy in disguise

Editing isn’t just about fixing grammar or checking links. It’s where we:

• Fact check
• Shape narrative flow
• Reinforce key messages
• Eliminate redundancy
• Align tone with audience context
• Check for bias, clarity, and compliance

It’s also where we advocate for the audience. If something doesn’t make sense, doesn’t feel human, or doesn’t reflect their reality—we flag it. We fix it. Good editors don’t just polish. We protect. We ensure your content reflects your best thinking, not just your fastest output.

RELATED: AI wrote it. Now what? How to edit AI copy (and why you need a human editor)

Phase 3: KPIs

Content performance doesn’t speak for itself

Once content is live, it enters another invisible phase: measurement. But metrics don’t explain themselves. A strategist knows what to measure, how to interpret it, and when to pivot. We also distinguish between performance and value. Not everything worth saying will go viral. Some content builds brand equity, shapes perception, or supports long sales cycles. Those are long-term wins—and they require long-term strategy.

At LaFleur, all our content strategists use Clearboard, our marketing analytics platform, to evaluate their work and its performance. And we use that data to refine our strategy.

LaFleur: Content that’s built to work

When you see your content team as underpants gnomes copywriting machines, it’s easy to start asking questions like, “Can we get a tool to write this? Can we speed up production? Can we make more with less?” These are fair questions. But they skip over something essential: content doesn’t start with a draft. Or underpants. It starts with a lot of work and research.

It’s harder to quantify. It’s also harder to replace. But without that invisible infrastructure, your content might sound good, look polished, and still fail. Strategy is what makes the difference between content that exists and content that performs. The invisible work of aligning goals, understanding your audience, planning across platforms, selecting the right formats, managing voice, editing with empathy, and measuring with intention, is what turns content into business infrastructure.

It’s not flashy. It’s not fast. But it’s essential.