Content Strategy

Plan content that drives traffic, builds authority, and generates leads by being either searchable, shareable, or both.

Usage

Use when building or refreshing a content strategy from scratch, planning content pillars and topic clusters, creating an editorial calendar, or identifying high-priority content opportunities by buyer stage.

Process

Step 1: Gather Inputs

Ask the user for:

Business Context:

What does the company do?
Who is the ideal customer? (role, industry, pain points, language they use)
What's the primary goal for content? (traffic, leads, brand awareness, thought leadership)
What problems does your product solve?

Customer Research: 5. What questions do customers ask before buying? 6. What objections come up in sales calls? 7. What topics appear repeatedly in support tickets?

Current State: 8. Do you have existing content? What's working? 9. What resources do you have? (writers, budget, time) 10. What content formats can you produce? (written, video, audio)

Competitive Landscape: 11. Who are your main competitors? 12. What content gaps exist in your market?

If the user has previously run competitor-content-analysis, they can reference those outputs for richer competitive data.

Step 2: Define Content Pillars

Content pillars are the 3-5 core topics your brand will own. Each pillar spawns a cluster of related content.

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 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

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

Most content works fine under /blog with good internal linking. Only use dedicated hub/spoke URL structures for major topics with layered depth.

Step 3: Build Topic Clusters

For each pillar, generate subtopic clusters. Classify every piece of content as:

Searchable content captures existing demand. Optimized for people actively looking for answers.

Target a specific keyword or question
Match search intent exactly
Use clear titles that match search queries
Provide comprehensive coverage

Shareable content creates demand. Spreads ideas and gets people talking.

Lead with a novel insight, original data, or counterintuitive take
Tell stories that make people feel something
Create content people want to share to look smart or help others

Content Types:

Type	Category	Best for
Use-Case Content	Searchable	Long-tail keywords — "[persona] + [use-case]"
Hub and Spoke	Searchable	Comprehensive overview + related subtopics
Template Libraries	Searchable	High-intent keywords + product adoption
Thought Leadership	Shareable	Naming concepts, challenging conventional wisdom
Data-Driven Content	Shareable	Product data analysis, original research
Expert Roundups	Shareable	15-30 experts answering one question, built-in distribution
Case Studies	Both	Challenge → Solution → Results → Key learnings
Meta Content	Shareable	Behind-the-scenes transparency

Step 4: Map Keywords by Buyer Stage

Map topics to the buyer's journey using proven keyword modifiers:

Awareness Stage — "what is," "how to," "guide to," "introduction to"

Consideration Stage — "best," "top," "vs," "alternatives," "comparison"

Decision Stage — "pricing," "reviews," "demo," "trial," "buy"

Implementation Stage — "templates," "examples," "tutorial," "how to use," "setup"

Step 5: Prioritize Content Ideas

Score each idea on four factors:

Factor	Weight	What to evaluate
Customer Impact	40%	How frequently did this topic come up in research? How emotionally charged?
Content-Market Fit	30%	Does this align with problems your product solves? Can you offer unique insights?
Search Potential	20%	Monthly search volume? How competitive? Long-tail opportunities?
Resource Requirements	10%	Do you have expertise? What additional research is needed?

Step 6: Source Content Ideas

Mine these sources for ideas:

Keyword data: If provided (from Ahrefs, SEMrush, GSC), analyze for topic clusters, buyer stage, intent, quick wins, and content gaps.

Call transcripts: Extract questions, pain points, objections, language patterns, competitor mentions.

Forum research:

Reddit: site:reddit.com [topic] — top posts, questions, frustrations
Quora: site:quora.com [topic] — most-followed questions
Indie Hackers, Hacker News, Product Hunt, industry Slack/Discord

Competitor content: Use web search site:competitor.com/blog to find:

Top-performing posts, topics covered repeatedly
Gaps they haven't covered
Content structure (pillars, categories, formats)
Topics you can cover better, angles they're missing

Step 7: Build the Content Plan

Assemble the final strategy.

Output Format

# Content Strategy

**Date:** [current date]
**Company:** [company name]
**Goal:** [primary content goal]
**Audience:** [ICP description]

---

## Content Pillars

### Pillar 1: [Name]
**Rationale:** [why this pillar]
**Connection to product:** [how it ties to what you sell]

Subtopic clusters:
- [Cluster A] — [3-5 topic ideas]
- [Cluster B] — [3-5 topic ideas]
- [Cluster C] — [3-5 topic ideas]

### Pillar 2: [Name]
[Same structure]

### Pillar 3: [Name]
[Same structure]

---

## Priority Topics

| # | Topic/Title | Type | Buyer Stage | Keyword | Priority Score | Why |
|---|-------------|------|-------------|---------|---------------|-----|
| 1 | [title] | [searchable/shareable/both] | [awareness/consideration/decision/implementation] | [keyword] | [X/10] | [customer research backing] |

---

## Topic Cluster Map

[Visual or structured representation of how content interconnects]

---

## Content Calendar (First Month)

| Week | Topic | Type | Format | Buyer Stage | Notes |
|------|-------|------|--------|-------------|-------|
| 1 | | | | | |
| 2 | | | | | |
| 3 | | | | | |
| 4 | | | | | |

---

## Content Gaps vs. Competitors

| Gap | Competitor | Opportunity | Priority |
|-----|-----------|-------------|----------|
| [topic/format they have that you don't] | [who] | [what to do] | [high/med/low] |

---

## Recommended Next Steps

1. [Most important action]
2. [Second action]
3. [Third action]

Rules

Every piece of content must be searchable, shareable, or both. Prioritize search — search traffic is the foundation.
Specificity beats breadth. "Project management for designers" is better than "project management tips."
Content pillars should be broad enough for many subtopics but specific enough to match your product.
Don't plan more content than you can produce. A realistic calendar beats an ambitious one that dies in week 3.
Prioritize customer impact over search volume. Content that directly addresses known customer pain points converts better than high-volume generic topics.
If no customer research exists, recommend gathering it before committing to a full content plan. Even 5 customer interviews dramatically improve content-market fit.

content-strategy