How to Create Effective Content Pillars for Your Pet Business

Everything you need to know about creating content pillars

Establishing content pillars for your pet brand can save you time and a lot of head-scratching. These pillars act as the foundation for your content strategy, guiding all future topics and themes. By using content pillars, you can ensure your content stays consistent, strategic, and relevant to your target audience.

But what exactly are content pillars, and why are they so important for your pet business?

In this blog, we’ll break it all down. We’ll discuss what content pillars are, why they matter, and how to create ones that work for your brand. 

What are content pillars?

Content pillars are the core themes or topics that guide your content creation. Think of them as the key categories. You always return to these when writing a social post. Or, you go back to them when creating a video. Each pillar serves as a roadmap, helping you stay focused and ensuring your content stays on-brand. For a pet brand, these might include health and nutrition, training tips, or product showcases but more on that later.

Why are content pillars important for your pet business?

There are lots of benefits to content pillars and I find them essential for any content writing. If nothing, it saves a lot of writer’s block and chaotic posts. But, there are lots more benefits including:

• Consistency: by sticking to specific themes, your messaging remains consistent across all platforms.
• Efficiency: content pillars streamline your brainstorming process, saving time and energy.
• Relevance: they help ensure your content addresses topics your audience truly cares about.
• Strategic Alignment: everything you create supports your brand’s goals, whether that’s building trust or driving sales.

How do I figure out my content pillars?

To identify the right content pillars for your brand, you’ll just need to do a little market research first. To break it down, here’s a simple four-step process:

1. Know Your Audience: what are their main concerns, questions, and interests?
2. Define Your Goals: are you aiming to educate, entertain, or sell?
3. Assess Your Expertise: what topics can you confidently cover that add value to your audience?
4. Analyse Competitors: what content are similar brands creating, and where can you stand out?

SEO for content pillars

Don’t forget this is where your SEO research comes into play. Ideally, you’ll carry out keyword research at the beginning of your content marketing strategy. This approach helps you when creating pillars. You can determine what type of keywords and topics will appear on search engines. In addition, keyword research can provide valuable information. It reveals search volume and difficulty. This helps you choose the right keywords to target and rank faster. [1. https://mailchimp.com/resources/content-pillars/] 

Examples of content pillars for pet food company

Usually, content pillars are a variety of:

• Promotional content 
• Educational content 
• Inspirational content 
• Entertaining content

I usually recommend choosing four pillars that cover the above types of content. For example, a dog food company might consider the following four pillars:

1. Health & Nutrition: Share expertise on ingredients, what dogs can (and can’t) eat, grooming tips, and general pet wellness.
2. Training & Behaviour: Offer insights from experts on topics like potty training, resource guarding, and building a strong bond with your pet.
3. Products: Don’t shy away from showcasing what you sell! Highlight your food, its benefits, new products, or special offers.
4. Engagement: Run polls, competitions, or call-outs to get your audience involved and build stronger connections with your customers

This mix of educational, promotional, and entertaining content keeps your strategy balanced and your audience engaged. 

Using your pillars for a content calendar 

Now that you have your pillars confirmed, it’s time to start implementing them! Take out your calendar and spend some time each month or week planning. You might want to choose a topic for each week and write a blog, newsletter, and three social posts all about the benefits of raw dog food. Or, you can mix them up and use a different pillar each day – it’s up to you and your audience.

It is recommended to use a mix of formats, such as blogs, videos, infographics, and social media to keep your audience engaged. Also, track and monitor which posts or topics are popular and adapt your strategy accordingly. Finally, stay consistent! Create a regular schedule and stick to it, you won’t see results after a few days, it takes time to reach success.

Content pillars ensure that you cover all relevant and important topics that your audience wants to read about. They aim to educate, inform, entertain, and inspire your customers leaving them wanting more. Having set topics that you have strategically planned avoids repetitive content, random posting, and saves a lot of time.