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 Cluster Map

[Visual or structured representation of how content interconnects]

Content Calendar (First Month)

Content Gaps vs. Competitors

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.