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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," "con
The skill file stays in the publisher's repository.
Paste the copied command in a terminal. It installs this SKILL.md into that agent.
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill content-strategy -a cursor -y
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.
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.
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):
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.
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.
The information-gain gate: before committing to a searchable piece, read the current top results for its query and write one sentence on what yours will add that none of them have: original data, a real product example, a working tool or template, a clearer answer, a stronger opinion. If you can't write that sentence, don't write the piece. It will be the eleventh copy of the same article, and neither Google nor AI assistants have a reason to prefer it.
Use-Case Content Formula: [persona] + [use-case]. Targets long-tail keywords.
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.
Thought Leadership
Data-Driven Content
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."
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 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.
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
Good pillars should:
Map topics to the buyer's journey using proven keyword modifiers:
Modifiers: "what is," "how to," "guide to," "introduction to"
Example: If customers ask about project management basics:
Modifiers: "best," "top," "vs," "alternatives," "comparison"
Example: If customers evaluate multiple tools:
Modifiers: "pricing," "reviews," "demo," "trial," "buy"
Example: If pricing comes up in sales calls:
Modifiers: "templates," "examples," "tutorial," "how to use," "setup"
Example: If support tickets show implementation struggles:
If user provides keyword exports (Ahrefs, SEMrush, GSC), analyze for:
Output as prioritized table: | Keyword | Volume | Difficulty | Buyer Stage | Content Type | Priority |
If user provides sales or customer call transcripts, extract:
Output content ideas with supporting quotes.
If user provides survey data, mine for:
Use web search to find content ideas:
Reddit: site:reddit.com [topic]
Quora: site:quora.com [topic]
Other: Indie Hackers, Hacker News, Product Hunt, industry Slack/Discord
Extract: FAQs, misconceptions, debates, problems being solved, terminology used.
Use web search to analyze competitor content:
Find their content: site:competitor.com/blog
Analyze:
Identify opportunities:
Extract from customer-facing teams:
Score each idea on four factors:
| 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.
Balance the editorial calendar so search compounds while shareable pieces keep you visible:
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.
Treating content like a product means each format has a production standard, not just a topic:
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:
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:
For the full distribution spine—the Content Distribution Flywheel, platform half-lives, and the atomization checklist—see the reference below.
When creating a content strategy, provide:
For each recommended piece:
Visual or structured representation of how content interconnects.