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A Blacksheep Mind web book · Content that grows

You post a little everywhere. You couldn’t say what any of it is for.

A strategy is just a plan for what you post and why. Yours is eight decisions that fit on one page and in the hours you really have. For shops, salons, studios, trades and makers who do their own posting.

A Practical Guide to Building a Brand’s Content Strategy. A one-page plan for what you post, where, and why.

The cover of A Practical Guide to Building a Brand’s Content Strategy.
Read it online, or download the PDF to keep or print. Nothing is posted to you.
Chapters
8
Tools
3
Reading
51 min
Price
$12
Get the book, $12

Read it tonight on your phone or laptop. One price, no upsells. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.

The moment

Sunday night, phone in hand

  • Nine days since your last Instagram post.
  • Three on Facebook this week, and a TikTok account with four videos from March.
  • A tip from a class still in your head: post three times a day.
  • And no idea whether any of it brought anyone in.

You tell yourself you just need to be more consistent, or on one more app. It isn’t effort you’re missing. There’s no plan above the posts, so every new tip feels like an order and every quiet week feels like failing. One evening and one page give you that plan.

What’s inside

Eight decisions, in the order you make them

  1. 01

    Decide What Your Posts Are For

    Posts can help you be found, be trusted, be chosen or be remembered. Pick one main job and a second.

  2. 02

    Decide Who They’re For

    The customer you want more of, what they ask before they buy, and where they already look. You ask three of them.

  3. 03

    Pick Three to Five Things to Talk About

    A few themes you can come back to every week, each with a job, so the blank screen stops.

  4. 04

    Choose One or Two Places

    One main app, a second only if it has one clear job, and the rest parked with a note saying where to find you.

  5. 05

    Choose the Kinds of Post You’ll Make

    Two kinds for each place, picked by what shows your work best and what you can make again and again.

  6. 06

    Set a Pace You Can Keep

    Worked out from your own minutes, not a rule, with a floor for your busiest weeks.

  7. 07

    Decide How You’ll Know It’s Working

    Two or three things you count yourself, by the register or the phone. Likes only tell you someone saw it.

  8. 08

    Put It on One Page and Say No to the Rest

    Everything on one page, including what you’re not doing, so new tips, apps and sales calls get a quick answer.

Plus a short introduction, and a closing chapter to start this week with a 20-minute check once a month. 8 chapters, about 51 minutes to read.

A page from the book

What are your posts for? Start there.

Decision 1 · from the book, word for word

Decide What Your Posts Are For

A case

So people know we’re here

Tomás runs a bike repair shop with one mechanic and a workbench in the window. He posted a bit of everything on three apps: shiny bikes customers brought in, a meme about Mondays, a spring sale, a staff birthday. When his partner asked what it was all for, he said “so people know we’re here,” and couldn’t get any further.

His first reflex was to post more often. Instead, he scrolled back through his last 20 posts and wrote a job next to each. He couldn’t name one for 11 of them.

Then he listened to what people asked at the counter. Most of it came down to two worries: was an old bike worth fixing, and would he overcharge them? So he made “be trusted” his main job, with posts on what common fixes cost, what’s worth fixing and what isn’t. “Be remembered” became his second, for the spring tune-up, when bikes come out of garages.

Over the next month he posted less often than before, but every post had a job. Four customers at the counter mentioned his “is it worth fixing?” posts.

What to do
  1. Scroll back through your last 20 posts, across every app you use.
  2. Next to each one, write the job it was trying to do: found, trusted, chosen, remembered, or none. Go by what it was trying to do, not how it did. If you posted it because you felt you should, write none.
  3. Count each pile. Notice which is biggest, and how many are none.
  4. Pick one main job for the next three months, and a second.
  5. Write one sentence you’d say if a customer asked what your posts are for.
What to say
Instead of

“We post to get our name out there.”

Try

“Our posts are mostly there so people trust us with their bikes, and remember us in spring.”

Instead of

“We’re just trying to be more consistent.”

Try

“For the next three months, our posts have one main job: fill the quiet Tuesday and Wednesday tables.”

The where-to-post worksheet in the web book, on a phone, with a made-up example filled in.
Where to post, and where to stop, with a made-up example
The 20-minute monthly check in the web book, on a phone, with three items ticked.
The monthly check, ticked off on your phone

The tools

One page, and two tools to keep it working

  • WorksheetWhere to post, and where to stopPlain questions that pick your main place, a second place if you need one, and the apps you park, with the note you leave on each.
  • WorksheetYour one-page content strategyThe job, the person, the themes, the places, the pace, the numbers and what you’re not doing. About an evening the first time.
  • ChecklistThe 20-minute monthly checkSame day each month: count, compare with last month, then keep one thing, change one and stop one.
The one-page content strategy worksheet in the web book, part filled in with a made-up bike repair shop.
The one-page plan, with a made-up example filled in

Who it’s for

For owners who do their own posting, between everything else

For you if

  • You run a shop, salon, cafe, gym, studio or trade, or you make things and sell them online.
  • You post a little on three or four apps, when you remember.
  • You’ve collected a pile of tips and can’t tell which ones matter for your business.
  • You share the posting with one or two helpers and want everyone working from the same page.

Not for you if

  • You want help with first lines, finding ideas, filming or filling a month’s calendar. Other books on this shelf do those, and they fit inside this page.
  • You want to learn paid ads or boosting posts. This book doesn’t cover them.
  • You want a promise of more followers or sales. Nobody can honestly make one.
Get the book, $12

8 decisions · 3 tools · one page

Your questions

Before you buy

Isn’t a strategy for big companies?

No. Here it just means a plan for what you post and why. Yours fits on one page and in the hours you really have.

How long does it take?

About 51 minutes to read. Filling in the page takes about an evening the first time, then 20 minutes once a month to check it.

Will it tell me which app to use?

It helps you choose, starting with where your customers already look (you ask three of them) and what you can keep making. There’s no one answer for every business, and the book won’t pretend there is.

I’m on five apps already. Do I have to quit them?

No. You pick one or two to do properly and park the rest with a note saying where to find you. Parked isn’t deleted.

Will this get me more followers or customers?

Nobody can promise that. It makes sure every post has a job, and shows you how to count whether the job is getting done, in numbers you check yourself.

Does it tell me what to post each day?

No. It decides the themes, the places, the kinds of post and the pace. Turning that into a month of posts, finding ideas and writing them are other books on this shelf, and they fit inside this page.

Is it a PDF?

You get both. Read it online on your phone or laptop, where the worksheets save as you type, or download the PDF to keep or print. In the PDF, the worksheets have lines to fill in by pen.

A Practical Guide to Building a Brand’s Content Strategy

Read it tonight. Fill in your page this week.

$12one price, no upsells
Get the book, $12

Read it online, or download the PDF to keep or print. Nothing is posted to you. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.