A few weeks ago I walked into Hobby Lobby to browse the aisles for some July 4th decor and I was stunned when I saw that their seasonal section had already been transformed from summer to the ultimate place to find any size pumpkin you might need.
Now, as a fall girlie to my core this did make me a little giddy – it was a subtle reminder that the best season ever is jussssttttt around the corner. 🍂
But another side of me was like SHEESH, can’t we celebrate my – erm, America’s – birthday first?! 🇺🇸 (Yes, my birthday is on July 4th and YES, I’ve been making it my entire personality since 1996.)
Then I remembered… Hobby Lobby does this on purpose. This is no accident. They are ALWAYS 10 steps ahead of the rest of the retailers.
In Hobby Lobby world, June = Halloween and October = Christmas.
And honestly, it makes a lot of sense! This forward-thinking approach ensures that customers who like to plan ahead can get their hands on seasonal items wellllll before the actual holiday.
Not to mention, by the time fall is actually here, few people are out shopping for decor for the season. By that point it often feels too late.
Why spend your money on fake pumpkins in October when you’re just going to turn around and trade them for a Christmas tree a month later?
(Tell me you put up your Christmas tree on November 1st without telling me. 🎄)
Honestly, the Hobby Lobby Approach is pretty genius… which is why I actually encourage people to do the SAME THING when it comes to their blog content.
There is a way for you to apply this same strategy for blogs in your business so that you too can stay 10 steps ahead!
How To Apply The Hobby Lobby Approach To Your Blog Content
Just like Hobby Lobby plans its inventory well in advance, I encourage business owners to plan their blog content ahead of time too.
And no, I’m not just talking a few days or weeks in advance.
Nope, I prefer a quarterly approach!
In my experience as a blog writer, I’ve found that planning blog content one quarter ahead – for myself and for my clients – is the best way to stay ahead of the game and ensure that you’re being STRATEGIC with your content.
And before you come for me, I know the word “strategy” gets thrown around all the time these days and it’s hard to know what it even means.
So to make sure we’re on the same page, I Googled it for us both.
Strategy = plan of action.
So when I say “strategy” throughout this blog post, I’m talking about an intentional and purposeful plan.
Here’s the thing: anyone can blog in their business. But it takes real intention to create blog content that strategically aligns with your business goals at the time.
So, here’s how to make sure your blog isn’t just something that takes up space on your website and INSTEAD is something that works FOR YOU. ⬇️
1️⃣ Step 1 – Create a blog content calendar (or just grab a copy of mine!)
A calendar for your content? Groundbreaking, I know. (It’s giving Miranda Priestly.)
But really, you’ve gotta keep your blog content ideas organized and that’s not going to happen in your notes app!
I prefer a spreadsheet, but if you want to use Notion, Asana, or something similar, go for it.
The only real rule for this is that you have dedicated sections for each QUARTER – because remember, we’re planning ahead here.
2️⃣ Step 2 – Decide how many blogs you’d ideally like to post per month.
This step is for the person who hasn’t started their blog yet OR for the person who has a blog, but isn’t posting consistently.
And if you think that this step sounds stupid simple, it’s because IT IS. And that’s on purpose, so don’t skip it!
The reason deciding this ahead of time matters so much is so that you can ACCURATELY plan ahead for the quarter because you’ll know exactly how many blog topics you need.
Posting bi-weekly? That’s only 6 topics for the whole quarter! Posting weekly? That’s 12!
And remember, your consistency should be unique to YOU.
As a blog writer, I always recommend at LEAST bi-weekly, but if you can’t commit to that right now, don’t sweat it. Choose what works and know that you can adjust later.
Not only does pre-deciding a consistent posting schedule make it easier on you, but it also allows you to train your audience and ensures a regular flow of content for them.
They learn to know when to expect new blog content from you, which is key to building an engaged audience and maintaining their interest.
3️⃣ Step 3 – Zoom into the quarter that you’re planning for and ask yourself 4 strategic questions.
Ideally, you would plan for the next quarter about 1 month or so out from when it begins.
Meaning in December you’d start planning for Q1, in March you’d start planning for Q2, in June you’d start planning for Q3, and in September you’d start planning for Q4.
In order to make sure your content stays STRATEGIC, ask yourself the following 4 questions:
1. What’s happening in your business this quarter?
Are you launching something new? Wanting to promote something specific? Is it a nurture season for you?
This question is super important because if you ARE launching something new or promoting something specific, you want to make sure that your blog content accurately reflects that.
For example, let’s say you’re launching a new product or service in October.
The sales for that product or service might physically happen in the month of October, but the REAL sale happens way before then.
For your audience to really even be interested in the thing you’re launching come October, they need to be made wellllll aware of that product or service way before then.
This doesn’t mean you have to spill all the details ahead of time. It simply means that you’re planting the seed in their head of what’s to come.
Through your blog content, you can actively make them problem aware and provide mini-solutions before the big launch.
In online business, this is often referred to as pre-launch content which aims to build anticipation and educate your audience along the way.
If you’re not launching anything new or promoting anything specific that quarter, that’s cool too! Instead, you can make sure your content is aligned with what’s happening in your life or seasonally, which leads me to…
2. What’s going on in your life that quarter?
Next, we get personal. This is super important especially if you’re a personal brand and you’re the face of your business, which most of us are!
A lot of times when people think of blog content, they think that it always has to be educational, informational, and “businessy.” But the truth is that your content gets to be whatever you want it to be!
It’s time to ditch the belief that blog posts have to be formal, boring, and education only.
There is a place for your personality in ALL of your content, but you’ll likely find that there are certain seasons where your blog content leans on the more personal side – and that’s okay!
3. What’s going on in the world this quarter?
This is where things get fun!
For this question, I want you to consider any upcoming industry events, industry trends, holidays, national days, etc.
The reason we do this? Well, because your audience loves relevancy!
You hear it preached all the time that blog topics should be evergreen and while yes that’s true, I’m a big fan of making evergreen topics just a little bit more relevant to a specific holiday, event, or season, so you can capture attention a little more quickly and draw people into your content easier.
There’s almost always a way to use what’s going on in the world and tie in your specific business or industry – it just requires some extra thinking and planning, hence why you plan in advance, so you have more time to get creative with how you do it.
Not sure what this might look like in your business? Here’s an example to help you see it in action:
Last year I used National Book Lovers Day on August 9th to inspire this blog post – even though the national day was’t directly addressed in the blog post itself, it WAS aligned on social media and in my weekly newsletter!
4. What relevant content topics make the most sense for this season?
Similar to the question above, the last question to ask yourself is what blog topics make the *most* sense for the specific season at hand.
The reason I separate this question from the one above is because there won’t always be a holiday, national day, or event that makes sense to capitalize on, but there IS almost always a way you can make your blog content more relevant for a specific season.
And when I say season, you can apply that a few ways:
The season of your business
The season of your life
The literal environmental season
Here’s a few examples of how I’ve used each of those in my blog content in the past:
Season of Business
My first business birthday was in September of 2023, so I used that season of business to create reflection style blog content, like this and this, that then led into the grand reveal of my rebrand!
Season of Life
In Q2 of 2024, I used my season of life of being pregnant to inspire some of my content, like this and this, and I've also done this in the past with my birthday!
Environmental Season
At the end of every year, people naturally start setting their sights on goal setting for the new year ahead. With this in mind, last December I created blog content like this and this early on in the month to capitalize on the season at hand.
Ready to implement The Hobby Lobby Approach with your blog content?
Overall, the main idea here is just as Hobby Lobby rolls out holiday decor early, you should be publishing relevant content BEFORE your audience starts searching for it.
And the only way you can do that is if you intentionally PLAN for it!
If you’re ready to start implementing The Hobby Lobby Approach with your blog content, there’s a few ways I can help:
➡️ Download the Beginner’s Guide to Blogging For Your Business
In this guide, you’ll learn my tried and true 4 step blog content planning process and be guided along to put the process into action for your business specifically.
➡️ Make a copy of my Quarterly Blog Content Planning Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet template has been designed to help you keep all of your blog topic ideas in one place and plan your content months in advance so you know exactly what to work on next.
➡️ Watch my Quarterly Blog Content Planning Training
In this free training, you'll learn my signature 4 step blog content planning process, so you can plan ALL of your blog content for the quarter and SAVE time with your content creation in the months ahead.
New to my world? Nice to virtually meet ya. 👋 I’m Natalie, but everyone calls me Natty (you can too) – blog and email writer for creative business owners and service providers.
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