Create a Content Strategy

Overview

A content strategy in CntX is the canonical planning object for ongoing editorial work: what you publish, for whom, toward which goals, through which channels, and at what cadence. It is not a slide deck stored elsewhere—it is a structured, workspace-native strategy that the planning engine reads when generating calendar periods and briefs.

CntX uses one strategy model everywhere. Evergreen planning uses a content / recurrent strategy (Run mode: continuous editorial rhythm). One-off initiatives use the same ContentStrategy shape in campaign / one-off mode, linked from a campaign container that holds source documents, deadlines, and generated items. Campaigns are not a simplified parallel strategy; they reuse goals, products, audiences, pillars, content types, channels, and languages so generation stays consistent.

Think of the strategy as the bridge between context (products, audiences, competitors, brand) and execution (calendar items, briefs, drafts, publishing). Until a strategy exists with enough structure, calendar generation has little to prioritize against.

When to use

Create a content strategy when you:

• Are ready to move from context setup to planned editorial output (not ad-hoc one-offs only).
• Need a recurring calendar with AI-proposed topics aligned to business goals.
• Want one place to tune cadence, horizon, funnel mix, pillars, and channel effort.
• Launch a campaign that should inherit rich strategic fields rather than a separate lightweight plan.

Pause if context is empty: add products and at least one audience, and ideally competitors and brand guidelines, before investing in strategy configuration.

Before you start

• Company context should include products, audiences (or derivable ICPs/personas), and brand basics.
• Decide strategy name and date range (ongoing strategies can leave end date empty).
• Know your workspace language(s)—strategies inherit language constraints from the workspace.
• Have a rough weekly effort budget in mind (how many content units per week across all channels).
• For campaigns: create the campaign shell first; its linked communication strategy is typed CAMPAIGN / ONE_OFF and hides recurrence-only controls such as auto-brief schedulers.

Steps

1. Open Content from the sidebar and go to Content strategy (or start from the content home hub).
2. Choose Create a content strategy. For campaigns, open the campaign detail and use its linked communication strategy editor instead—the fields overlap, but recurrence and campaign panels differ.
3. Fill General information: name, start date, optional end date, status (Active, Paused, or Archived).
4. Set Editorial cadence (weekly, biweekly, monthly) and weekly effort budget—the system treats this as units distributed across channels using effort coefficients.
5. Set Planning horizon (days)—how far ahead automatic planning and brief generation should look.
6. Add at least one goal (SMART goals recommended). Use Generate an example if you need a template grounded in your context.
7. Configure Context: select products (ICPs/personas can derive from them), audiences, competitors, optional Voice of Field / insights, and funnel distribution targets.
8. Attach communication pillars, content types, and distribution channels with per-channel frequency and roles (see dedicated guides for pillars and channels).
9. Review languages and save. Resolve validation errors (duplicate name, missing goals, missing languages) before leaving the page.
10. From the strategy detail view, trigger Generate calendar or Generate for the next period when you are satisfied with the setup—or wait for auto-brief cycles if enabled on recurrent strategies.

Expected result

You have an active ContentStrategy record wired to your workspace context. The strategy detail shows configured goals, audiences, pillars, types, and channels, plus calendar generation controls.

When you generate a period, CntX proposes calendar items with briefs aligned to your strategy: audience and pillar assignments, funnel stage, channel intent, and scheduling slots respecting channel roles (source vs derivative vs composite). Campaign-linked strategies produce items tagged to the campaign while using the same planning contract.

Tips / common issues

• “No calendar generated”: Strategy saved but generation not run. Use explicit generate actions on the strategy or calendar page.
• Duplicate strategy names: Names must be unique per workspace; pick a year or scope suffix.
• Overloaded channels: Weekly frequency across channels can exceed the effort budget—watch over-limit warnings and lower frequencies or raise the budget.
• Paused strategy: Items already planned remain; new auto-brief cycles stop until reactivated.
• Campaign vs evergreen: Do not maintain two conflicting strategies for the same initiative. Campaign mode links via `contentStrategyId`; edit the linked strategy, not an orphaned duplicate.
• Context drift: If products or audiences change materially, revisit goals and pillars, then regenerate the next period rather than letting stale briefs accumulate.
• Start narrow: One primary audience set, three to five pillars, and two or three channels beat a maximal configuration you cannot execute.

Next step

Sharpen Define Objectives and Content Pillars if goals or thematic balance need work, then Configure Channels and Destinations so briefs know where content will land. When the strategy validates and channels are wired, Build Your First Editorial Calendar by generating your opening period and reviewing proposed briefs.