Build Content Direction for Your Brand: Themes, Voice and What to Create

Gary Whittaker
2026-04-10T10:50:09-04:00

Bee Righteous • Chapter 3

Content Direction, Themes & What You Should Actually Be Creating

If Chapter 1 helped you define who you are,

and Chapter 2 helped you define who this is for and what value they should get from your work,

Chapter 3 answers the next practical question:

What should you actually be creating on a consistent basis?

This is where many creators still drift. They know a little more about themselves. They know a little more about their audience. But when it is time to create, they still jump from one idea to another without enough structure to build momentum.

This chapter helps you turn identity and audience clarity into content direction you can actually build from.

What Needs to Be Clear

More content is not always better.

More formats are not always smarter.

Content only starts helping your brand when it repeats the right ideas in ways people can actually recognize and return to.

too many ideas mixed messages random formats weak direction

If your content does not connect back to your mission, audience, and value, it may still fill a feed — but it will not build much.

The goal here is not to create everything. The goal is to create the right things often enough that your brand starts feeling coherent.

What this chapter does

This chapter helps you move from brand clarity into content clarity.

It is where you start deciding what themes should repeat, what kinds of content make sense, and what you should stop creating if it weakens the bigger direction.

By the end of this chapter, you should be closer to defining your recurring themes, your content direction, your voice, and the boundaries that keep your work from drifting.

Why This Chapter Exists

Chapter 1 gave you a clearer center.

Chapter 2 helped you understand the people you want to reach and the value they should get from your work.

Chapter 3 is where that clarity turns into content direction.

At this stage, the most common problem is not lack of ideas.

The most common problem is too many ideas with no strong way to sort them.

Content direction is what helps you turn “I could post anything” into “I know what fits, what helps, and what moves the brand forward.”

This does not remove creativity. It gives creativity somewhere useful to go.

Signal vs Noise

The internet rewards constant motion.

Your brand benefits more from recognizable signal.

Signal is what repeats clearly enough that people begin to understand who you are, what you care about, and why your work matters.

Noise is what fills time, fills feeds, or fills your own sense of activity without helping the bigger direction hold together.

Signal

Repeated themes, recognizable point of view, consistent value, clear tone, content that fits your mission.

Noise

Random ideas, forced trends, mixed messaging, content that feels disconnected, formats that confuse the audience.

Content direction is how you start producing more signal and less noise.

What Content Direction Actually Means

Content direction is not a detailed calendar.

It is not a list of random post ideas.

Content direction is the answer to this question:

What kinds of things should I be creating over and over again if I want my brand to become clearer, more useful, and more recognizable?

That usually includes:

recurring themes relevant content types clear tone content boundaries reasons people return

This helps you stop treating every new idea as equally important.

Your Content Should Grow Out of Your Foundation

By now, you should already have:

Brand Intent

One-Year Direction

Audience Profile

Core Value

Content direction should grow from those files — not ignore them.

If your content does not reflect your mission, help the people you identified, or reinforce the value you want to be known for, it may still be creative, but it will not strengthen the brand very much.

Step 1 — Define the Themes That Should Keep Repeating

Themes are not the same as topics.

Topics change more often.

Themes are the deeper ideas that keep showing up underneath your work.

Your themes might include things like:

hope discipline creative freedom faith growth truth-telling healing guidance

Good themes do three things:

They fit your mission

They matter to your audience

They can show up in more than one format

If a theme only sounds good on paper but does not show up naturally in your work, it is probably not one of your real themes yet.

GPT Prompt — Content Theme Clarifier

Use GPT here to organize patterns you already see — not to invent themes that sound impressive but do not feel true.

You are my content theme assistant.
Do not invent themes that are not supported by my inputs.
My Inputs:
- Brand Intent
- Audience Profile
- Core Value
- Examples of content or work I have already created: [paste here]
Your tasks:
A) Identify 3 to 5 recurring themes that appear to fit my work
B) Explain why each theme fits my mission and audience
C) Flag any themes that sound attractive but do not seem well supported
D) Suggest which themes should be primary and which should be secondary
Rules:
- No hype
- No generic brand language
- Work only from what I provide
- If my examples are too limited, say so

Step 2 — Choose the Kinds of Content That Fit Your Brand Best

Not every creator needs the same mix of content.

The right mix depends on your mission, your audience, your value, and what you can create consistently.

A useful question is: What kinds of content best help me deliver my value in ways my audience can actually absorb?

Some common content categories include:

Teaching

How-to content, breakdowns, explanations, lessons, examples, training.

Perspective

Commentary, interpretation, opinion, lived experience, insight, reflection.

Demonstration

Showing the work, showing the process, showing results, showing development.

Storytelling

Narrative, case studies, examples from real life, behind-the-scenes context.

Encouragement

Motivation, reassurance, mindset framing, support for people still finding their footing.

Entertainment

Creative enjoyment, energy, fun, humor, emotional connection, art for experience.

You do not need all of these. You need the ones that best support the role your brand actually plays.

Step 3 — Clarify How Your Content Should Sound and Feel

Voice is not just about wording.

It is also about how people experience you when they encounter your work.

A useful voice usually feels consistent enough that people can recognize the difference between your work and everyone else’s.

Ask yourself:

Should my content feel calm, direct, bold, thoughtful, playful, grounded, encouraging, sharp, reflective, or something else?

What tone would help my audience trust me more?

What tone would weaken my message even if it performs well for a moment?

Voice becomes especially important once you start using AI tools, because if you do not define it, generic language tends to take over.

Step 4 — Define What Does Not Fit

One of the fastest ways to improve content direction is to stop creating things that weaken it.

Boundaries are not there to shrink your creativity. They are there to protect your signal.

Things that may not fit include:

topics that have little to do with your mission

trends that distort your tone

formats you cannot sustain

content that confuses the audience about your role

ideas that feel exciting but do not strengthen your direction

You do not need to reject every side interest forever. You do need to know when something belongs outside the main brand.

GPT Prompt — Content Direction Builder

This prompt is useful once you have enough clarity from the earlier chapters. It should help you organize what fits, not replace your judgment.

You are my content direction assistant.
Do not invent a brand strategy from scratch. Work only from what I provide.
My Inputs:
- Brand Intent
- One-Year Direction
- Audience Profile
- Core Value
- Current content examples or ideas: [paste here]
Your tasks:
A) Identify the content themes that best fit my foundation
B) Suggest the content categories that make the most sense for my brand
C) Describe the tone and voice my content should consistently carry
D) Identify what types of content may weaken my direction or confuse my audience
E) Summarize the clearest content direction in plain language
Rules:
- No hype
- No generic marketing advice
- No trend chasing unless it clearly fits
- Flag weak or disconnected ideas instead of forcing them into the plan

What a Clear Content Direction Usually Includes

3 to 5 themes

The deeper ideas that keep repeating throughout the work.

2 to 4 content categories

The main ways you deliver value, such as teaching, story, commentary, or demonstration.

A consistent voice

A recognizable feeling, tone, and way of speaking that matches the brand.

Clear boundaries

A simple sense of what does not fit, what distracts, and what weakens the message.

You do not need dozens of pillars. You need enough structure to keep the work recognizable and useful.

Reality Check

Your themes may sharpen over time.

Your content mix may evolve.

Your tone may get stronger as you create more consistently.

What matters most

your content keeps connecting back to your foundation

your audience can begin to recognize patterns

your work becomes easier to continue without constant reinvention

What You Should Have Saved by Now

By the end of this chapter, you should now have working notes or files for:

1. [Project Name] — Content Themes

2. [Project Name] — Content Direction

3. [Project Name] — Voice & Tone Notes

4. [Project Name] — Content Boundaries

These do not need to be perfect. They do need to be clear enough that your future content has a stronger direction than it had before.

You are now moving from “I have ideas” toward “I know what kinds of ideas fit.”

Final Thought Before Moving On

Good content is not only about quality.

It is also about coherence.

When the right themes repeat often enough, in the right tone, for the right people, your brand starts becoming easier to recognize, easier to trust, and easier to grow.

What Comes Next

Now that your mission, audience, value, and content direction are clearer, the next step is to start building the place where all of this can live with more control.

Chapter 4 is where we move into your owned domain — the home base that gives your brand a place to grow beyond rented platforms.

direction

ownership

foundation

If you have worked through this chapter carefully, you are now in a stronger position to create with more consistency and build from a clearer center.

Keep your working files open. They are becoming your operating notes for the whole system.

Same mission. Clearer content.