content-strategy

SKILL.md

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.

Before Planning

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?

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

Content Types

Searchable Content Types

Use-Case Content
Formula: [persona] + [use-case]. Targets long-tail keywords.

"Project management for designers"

"Task tracking for developers"

"Client collaboration for freelancers"

Hub and Spoke
Hub = comprehensive overview. Spokes = related subtopics.

/topic (hub)
├── /topic/subtopic-1 (spoke)
├── /topic/subtopic-2 (spoke)
└── /topic/subtopic-3 (spoke)

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.

Template Libraries
High-intent keywords + product adoption.

Target searches like "marketing plan template"

Provide immediate standalone value

Show how product enhances the template

Shareable Content Types

Thought Leadership

Articulate concepts everyone feels but hasn't named

Challenge conventional wisdom with evidence

Share vulnerable, honest experiences

Data-Driven Content

Product data analysis (anonymized insights)

Public data analysis (uncover patterns)

Original research (run experiments, share results)

Expert Roundups
15-30 experts answering one specific question. Built-in distribution.

Case Studies
Structure: Challenge → Solution → Results → Key learnings

Meta Content
Behind-the-scenes transparency. "How We Got Our First $5k MRR," "Why We Chose Debt Over VC."

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:

Awareness Stage

Modifiers: "what is," "how to," "guide to," "introduction to"

Example: If customers ask about project management basics:

"What is Agile Project Management"

"Guide to Sprint Planning"

"How to Run a Standup Meeting"

Consideration Stage

Modifiers: "best," "top," "vs," "alternatives," "comparison"

Example: If customers evaluate multiple tools:

"Best Project Management Tools for Remote Teams"

"Asana vs Trello vs Monday"

"Basecamp Alternatives"

Decision Stage

Modifiers: "pricing," "reviews," "demo," "trial," "buy"

Example: If pricing comes up in sales calls:

"Project Management Tool Pricing Comparison"

"How to Choose the Right Plan"

"[Product] Reviews"

Implementation Stage

Modifiers: "templates," "examples," "tutorial," "how to use," "setup"

Example: If support tickets show implementation struggles:

"Project Template Library"

"Step-by-Step Setup Tutorial"

"How to Use [Feature]"

Content Ideation Sources

1. Keyword Data

If user provides keyword exports (Ahrefs, SEMrush, GSC), analyze for:

Topic clusters (group related keywords)

Buyer stage (awareness/consideration/decision/implementation)

Search intent (informational, commercial, transactional)

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

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

Headless CMS Guide: CMS selection, content modeling for marketing, editorial workflows, platform comparison (Sanity, Contentful, Strapi)

Related Skills

copywriting: For writing individual content pieces

seo-audit: For technical SEO and on-page optimization

ai-seo: For optimizing content for AI search engines and getting cited by LLMs

programmatic-seo: For scaled content generation

site-architecture: For page hierarchy, navigation design, and URL structure

emails: For email-based content

social: For social media content