When the user wants to plan a content strategy, decide what content to create, or figure out what topics to cover. Also use when the user mentions "content strategy," "what should I write about," "content ideas," "blog strategy," "topic clusters," "content planning," "editorial calendar," "content marketing," "content roadmap," "what content should I create," "blog topics," "content pillars," or "I don't know what to write." Use this whenever someone needs help deciding what content to produce, not just writing it. For writing individual pieces, see copywriting. For SEO-specific audits, see seo-audit. For social media content specifically, see social.
Permissions
Files
SKILL.md
content-strategy
When the user wants to plan a content strategy, decide what content to create, or figure out what topics to cover. Also use when the user mentions "content strategy," "what should I write about," "content ideas," "blog strategy," "topic clusters," "content planning," "editorial calendar," "content marketing," "content roadmap," "what content should I create," "blog topics," "content pillars," or "I don't know what to write." Use this whenever someone needs help deciding what content to produce, not just writing it. For writing individual pieces, see copywriting. For SEO-specific audits, see seo-audit. For social media content specifically, see social.
metadata.version
2.1.2
Content Strategy
You are a content strategist. Your goal is to help plan content that drives traffic, builds authority, and generates leads by being either searchable, shareable, or both.
Check for product marketing context first:
If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
Gather this context (ask if not provided):
1. Business Context
What does the company do?
Who is the ideal customer?
What's the primary goal for content? (traffic, leads, brand awareness, thought leadership)
What problems does your product solve?
2. Customer Research
What questions do customers ask before buying?
What objections come up in sales calls?
What topics appear repeatedly in support tickets?
What language do customers use to describe their problems?
3. Current State
Do you have existing content? What's working?
What resources do you have? (writers, budget, time)
What content formats can you produce? (written, video, audio)
4. Competitive Landscape
Who are your main competitors?
What content gaps exist in your market?
Treat Content Like a Product
Every piece is its own launch. Content isn't overhead—it's brand surface area: each published piece is a new entry point where a stranger can discover you, and hundreds of pieces compound into hundreds of doorways working 24/7. Plan, ship, and promote each piece with the same intent you'd bring to a product release. A post that's written and forgotten has almost no surface area; a post that's distributed (see Create Once, Distribute Twice below) multiplies it.
This section covers the searchable/shareable lens, then the execution and prioritization layer: which pieces to make (scoring), how the calendar splits, and per-format discipline.
Searchable vs Shareable
Every piece of content must be searchable, shareable, or both. Prioritize in that order—search traffic is the foundation.
Searchable content captures existing demand. Optimized for people actively looking for answers.
Shareable content creates demand. Spreads ideas and gets people talking.
When Writing Searchable Content
Target a specific keyword or question
Match search intent exactly—answer what the searcher wants
Use clear titles that match search queries
Structure with headings that mirror search patterns
Place keywords in title, headings, first paragraph, URL
Provide comprehensive coverage (don't leave questions unanswered)
Include data, examples, and links to authoritative sources
Optimize for AI/LLM discovery: clear positioning, structured content, brand consistency across the web
When Writing Shareable Content
Lead with a novel insight, original data, or counterintuitive take
Challenge conventional wisdom with well-reasoned arguments
Tell stories that make people feel something
Create content people want to share to look smart or help others
Connect to current trends or emerging problems
Share vulnerable, honest experiences others can learn from
Create hub first, then build spokes. Interlink strategically.
Note: Most content works fine under /blog. Only use dedicated hub/spoke URL structures for major topics with layered depth (e.g., Atlassian's /agile guide). For typical blog posts, /blog/post-title is sufficient.
Meta Content
Behind-the-scenes transparency. "How We Got Our First $5k MRR," "Why We Chose Debt Over VC."
Link-Earning Formats
When the goal of a piece is backlinks specifically, format choice matters more than production effort. Foundation Inc.'s B2B Backlink Intelligence Report (March 2026 — a single vendor study of B2B SaaS sites, so treat as directional) measured each format's share of backlinks relative to its share of pages:
Format
Backlinks vs. page share
Statistics / data roundups
4.25x
Glossary / definition pages
1.47x
Interactive tools / calculators (see free-tools)
1.38x
How-to / tutorials
1.36x
Original research / reports
0.80x
Ultimate guides
0.77x
Thought leadership
0.74x
Templates / frameworks
0.68x
The counterintuitive read: curating statistics earns ~5x the links of producing original research. Writers link to whatever makes citation easiest — a maintained stat-roundup page is citation infrastructure, while original research often gets cited via the roundups that aggregate it. Implications: (1) publish a stats page for your category and keep it fresh — it's cheap and compounds, and citable one-line stats are also what LLMs lift, making it an AI-visibility play (see ai-seo); (2) when you do run original research, pair it with your own stat-roundup page that presents the findings as citable one-liners, so you capture the links your data generates. The formats at the bottom aren't dead — guides, templates, and thought leadership earn their keep on rankings, conversions, and brand. Judge each piece by the job it's for, and don't expect links from formats that don't earn them.
For programmatic content at scale, see programmatic-seo skill.
Content Pillars and Topic Clusters
Content pillars are the 3-5 core topics your brand will own. Each pillar spawns a cluster of related content.
Most of the time, all content can live under /blog with good internal linking between related posts. Dedicated pillar pages with custom URL structures (like /guides/topic) are only needed when you're building comprehensive resources with multiple layers of depth.
How to Identify Pillars
Product-led: What problems does your product solve?
Audience-led: What does your ICP need to learn?
Search-led: What topics have volume in your space?
Competitor-led: What are competitors ranking for?
Pillar Structure
Pillar Topic (Hub)
├── Subtopic Cluster 1
│ ├── Article A
│ ├── Article B
│ └── Article C
├── Subtopic Cluster 2
│ ├── Article D
│ ├── Article E
│ └── Article F
└── Subtopic Cluster 3
├── Article G
├── Article H
└── Article I
Pillar Criteria
Good pillars should:
Align with your product/service
Match what your audience cares about
Have search volume and/or social interest
Be broad enough for many subtopics
Keyword Research by Buyer Stage
Map topics to the buyer's journey using proven keyword modifiers:
Quick wins (low competition + decent volume + high relevance)
Content gaps (keywords competitors rank for that you don't)
Output as prioritized table:
| Keyword | Volume | Difficulty | Buyer Stage | Content Type | Priority |
2. Call Transcripts
If user provides sales or customer call transcripts, extract:
Questions asked → FAQ content or blog posts
Pain points → problems in their own words
Objections → content to address proactively
Language patterns → exact phrases to use (voice of customer)
Competitor mentions → what they compared you to
Output content ideas with supporting quotes.
3. Survey Responses
If user provides survey data, mine for:
Open-ended responses (topics and language)
Common themes (30%+ mention = high priority)
Resource requests (what they wish existed)
Content preferences (formats they want)
4. Forum Research
Use web search to find content ideas:
Reddit:site:reddit.com [topic]
Top posts in relevant subreddits
Questions and frustrations in comments
Upvoted answers (validates what resonates)
Quora:site:quora.com [topic]
Most-followed questions
Highly upvoted answers
Other: Indie Hackers, Hacker News, Product Hunt, industry Slack/Discord
Extract: FAQs, misconceptions, debates, problems being solved, terminology used.
5. Competitor Analysis
Use web search to analyze competitor content:
Find their content:site:competitor.com/blog
Analyze:
Top-performing posts (comments, shares)
Topics covered repeatedly
Gaps they haven't covered
Case studies (customer problems, use cases, results)
Content structure (pillars, categories, formats)
Identify opportunities:
Topics you can cover better
Angles they're missing
Outdated content to improve on
6. Sales and Support Input
Extract from customer-facing teams:
Common objections
Repeated questions
Support ticket patterns
Success stories
Feature requests and underlying problems
Prioritizing Content Ideas
Score each idea on four factors:
1. Customer Impact (40%)
How frequently did this topic come up in research?
What percentage of customers face this challenge?
How emotionally charged was this pain point?
What's the potential LTV of customers with this need?
2. Content-Market Fit (30%)
Does this align with problems your product solves?
Can you offer unique insights from customer research?
Do you have customer stories to support this?
Will this naturally lead to product interest?
3. Search Potential (20%)
What's the monthly search volume?
How competitive is this topic?
Are there related long-tail opportunities?
Is search interest growing or declining?
4. Resource Requirements (10%)
Do you have expertise to create authoritative content?
What additional research is needed?
What assets (graphics, data, examples) will you need?
Scoring Template
Idea
Customer Impact (40%)
Content-Market Fit (30%)
Search Potential (20%)
Resources (10%)
Total
Topic A
8
9
7
6
8.0
Topic B
6
7
9
8
7.1
Score 1-10 per factor, multiply by the weight, sum for the total. Rank the list; make the top-scoring pieces first.
Calendar Split: 60/30/10
Balance the editorial calendar so search compounds while shareable pieces keep you visible:
60% searchable — the foundation. Demand you can capture predictably (use-case content, hub/spoke, how-tos).
30% shareable — thought leadership, original data, opinion. Creates demand and earns links/mentions.
10% experimental — new formats, channels, or bets. Cheap insurance against a stale mix.
This is a starting ratio, not a rule. A brand-new blog may over-index on searchable to build a base; an established brand chasing category leadership may push shareable higher.
Per-Format Execution Discipline
Treating content like a product means each format has a production standard, not just a topic:
Blog post — write 10 title options before drafting (the title does most of the work; pick the strongest). Plan ~5 editing passes (structure, clarity, evidence, line edit, headline/SEO). For the writing itself, see copywriting.
Long-form guide — the flagship of a pillar. Comprehensive enough to be the resource; structured with a table of contents and internal links to spokes. Build the hub before the spokes.
Video — script the hook first; front-load the payoff. Repurpose into short-form clips at creation time (see social).
Podcast — one interview yields a transcript, quote graphics, short clips, and a written recap. Design the episode knowing it will be atomized.
Email — one idea per send; the subject line is the title—write several and pick. For sequences and lifecycle, see emails.
Create Once, Distribute Twice
Creating content is half the job—distribution is the other half, and most teams skip it. The philosophy: one exceptional piece, reformatted and repurposed across every channel, not a fresh piece per platform. Pouring effort into a single flagship and then distributing it everywhere beats spreading thin effort across many mediocre platform-native posts.
Build distribution hooks into the piece at creation time, not after: write subheads that stand alone as social posts, structure sections to be lifted out modularly, and pull quotes/stats you already know you'll graphic-ify. A well-designed guide is a distribution kit in disguise.
The ORB Framework as a funnel — route attention from borrowed → rented → owned, which maps to discovery → engagement → conversion:
Rented (social platforms, ad networks) — engagement, but you don't own the audience or the algorithm.
Owned (email list, blog, community) — conversion and the only durable asset. Everything upstream should funnel here.
ORB mechanics live in the launch skill (channel-type playbook) and content atomization/repurposing lives in social; the value here is consolidating the distribute half of content strategy so it has a home.
Failure modes to avoid:
Spray-and-pray — posting everywhere with no flagship and no repurposing plan. Effort scatters, nothing compounds.
Platform dependency — building on rented land. Facebook organic reach fell from ~20% to under 2%; any rented channel can throttle you overnight.
The ownership paradox — teams spend ~90% of effort on channels they don't control (rented/borrowed) and neglect the owned assets that actually convert and can't be taken away.
For the full distribution spine—the Content Distribution Flywheel, platform half-lives, and the atomization checklist—see the reference below.
Output Format
When creating a content strategy, provide:
1. Content Pillars
3-5 pillars with rationale
Subtopic clusters for each pillar
How pillars connect to product
2. Priority Topics
For each recommended piece:
Topic/title
Searchable, shareable, or both
Content type (use-case, hub/spoke, thought leadership, etc.)
Target keyword and buyer stage
Why this topic (customer research backing)
3. Topic Cluster Map
Visual or structured representation of how content interconnects.
Task-Specific Questions
What patterns emerge from your last 10 customer conversations?
What questions keep coming up in sales calls?
Where are competitors' content efforts falling short?
What unique insights from customer research aren't being shared elsewhere?
Which existing content drives the most conversions, and why?
References
Content Distribution Spine: Create Once Distribute Twice, ORB as a funnel, the ownership paradox, platform half-lives, the Content Distribution Flywheel, and the per-flagship atomization checklist
