Matrixx0070 Content Strategy
When to use
Use this when you need a data-backed plan for what to promote next month — not finished posts. It reads your sales history and turns it into a prioritized brief that a creator (or smb-canva-creator) can execute later.
Not for: producing designs, captions, or a posting calendar (hand the brief to smb-canva-creator), or spending on ads. This plans; it does not create or publish.
Method
- Pull sales data for the trailing 3-12 months: revenue, units, and margin by product or service.
- Identify top performers worth amplifying and slow movers that may need a push, a bundle, or retirement. Decision point: weight by margin, not just volume — a high-revenue, low-margin item may not deserve promotion.
- Detect seasonality — recurring peaks and troughs — and flag what typically sells in the coming 30 days.
- Map findings to content themes and a rough cadence, prioritizing high-margin winners and timely seasonal plays.
- Present the brief for owner approval. This skill plans only; it does not create designs, schedule posts, or spend on ads.
Example
Trailing 6 months: "Deep clean" package is 34% of revenue at 55% margin — top performer to amplify. "Gift cards" spiked every year in the two weeks before Mother's Day (3 weeks out) — seasonal play. "One-room touch-up" is high volume, 12% margin — candidate for a bundle, not a solo promo. Brief prioritizes: (1) Deep clean testimonials, (2) Mother's Day gift-card push, (3) touch-up + deep-clean bundle.
Pitfalls
- Chasing revenue over margin. Promoting your lowest-margin bestseller can grow sales and shrink profit.
- Missing the seasonal window. A brief that lands after the peak is worthless — check lead time to the event.
- Vague themes. "Post more about quality" isn't actionable; tie every theme to a specific product and number.
- Drifting into production. Stop at the brief; designs and scheduling are a separate, approved step.
Output format
Findings (numbers cited):
Top performers: <item> — rev $__, margin __%
Slow movers: <item> — <push/bundle/retire>
Seasonal notes: <what sells in next 30 days, when>
30-day content brief (prioritized):
1. Theme — rationale (data) — target product — formats — cadence
[...]
"Approve this brief to move into production."
Reference
Margin-weighted promotion score
Rank what to promote with a simple score instead of gut feel. For each product/service compute a profit-contribution index = margin % × trailing units. This surfaces the items that actually move the profit line, not just the top-line:
| Product | Rev share | Margin | Units (trail 90d) | Profit index (margin×units) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep clean | 34% | 55% | 120 | 66.0 | Amplify |
| Move-out clean | 18% | 48% | 60 | 28.8 | Support |
| One-room touch-up | 22% | 12% | 300 | 36.0 | Bundle (don't solo-promote) |
| Gift cards | 6% | 90% | 20 | 18.0 | Seasonal spike |
Rule of thumb: promote high-margin winners solo; attach low-margin high-volume items to a winner as a bundle or upsell; consider retiring or re-pricing anything low on both axes.
Seasonal window planning (lead time is everything)
A campaign has to be live before the buying window opens. Work backwards from the event date:
| Event / season | Buying window opens | Start promoting |
|---|---|---|
| Mother's/Father's Day | ~2 weeks before | 3-4 weeks before |
| Back-to-school | Mid-July → early Sept | Early July |
| Black Friday / Cyber Monday | Week of + 2 weeks prior | Early November (tease Oct) |
| Christmas / holiday gifting | Late Nov → mid-Dec | Early November |
| Valentine's Day | ~1 week before | 2-3 weeks before |
| New Year (resets, fresh-start offers) | Dec 26 → mid-Jan | Mid-December |
Cross-reference your own sales history for the peaks unique to your business (e.g., HVAC in the first heat wave, tax prep in Feb-Apr). A brief that ships after the peak is wasted.
Content mix (the balanced diet)
A promo-only feed burns the audience out. Aim roughly for a 3-2-1 mix per week: 3 value/educational or entertaining posts (build trust, teach, show behind-the-scenes), 2 social-proof posts (testimonials, reviews, results, UGC), 1 direct-offer/promo post. Every theme in the brief should map to one of these buckets and to a specific product plus a number from the findings.
Cadence and channel defaults
Sustainable beats sporadic. Reasonable SMB baselines to specify in the brief: Instagram/Facebook 3-5×/week, LinkedIn 2-3×/week, TikTok/Reels 3-5×/week, email 1-4×/month. Pick a cadence the owner can actually sustain — consistency compounds; a burst-then-silence pattern kills reach.
Brief-quality bar (each theme must have)
- A specific product/service it promotes (not "our services").
- A data rationale citing a number ("55% margin, 34% of revenue").
- A content bucket (value / social-proof / offer).
- Format(s) suited to the channel (carousel, reel, testimonial graphic, email).
- A cadence / rough date, especially for seasonal plays with a deadline.
- One KPI to watch (saves, DMs, link clicks, bookings) so results can be judged next cycle.
Hand-off and owner-approval gate
This skill produces a plan, nothing else. It does not create designs, write captions, schedule posts, or spend a dollar on ads. Present the prioritized brief for owner approval; once approved, hand it to smb-canva-creator for production. Any paid promotion is a separate owner decision.