# Content strategy & planning Human Guide

## What This Is For
Unified skill for content strategy and marketing content strategy: content pillars, editorial calendars, keyword research by buyer stage, positioning, messaging hierarchy, trust-building. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for content production: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Content strategy & planning agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for content strategy & planning.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Content strategy & planning guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Planning what content to create and why
- Developing content pillars and topic clusters
- Building editorial calendars
- Creating messaging hierarchy and positioning
- Trust-building content strategy
- GEO (AI search) optimization planning
- Target specific keywords/questions
- Use clear titles matching queries
- Optimize for AI/LLM discovery
- Lead with novel insights or data
- Challenge conventional wisdom
- **Product-led**: What problems does your product solve?

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Workspace Context, Operating Contract, When to Use, Part 1: Strategic Planning, Step 1: Define Business Context, Step 2: Searchable vs Shareable Framework, Step 3: Content Pillars, Step 4: Keyword Research by Buyer Stage, Part 2: Positioning & Messaging, Positioning Canvas.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Every piece of content must be **searchable**, **shareable**, or **both**. Prioritize in that order.
- **Outline Creation** — H1 with primary keyword; plan H2s for required topics; map keywords to specific sections
- **Placement**: H1/title (required), first 100 words (required), at least one H2, conclusion
- **Warning**: >3% = stuffing risk; <0.5% = under-optimized
- Use specific details (names, dates, numbers) — avoid vague claims
- Avoid AI-typical phrases: "In today's world", "It's worth noting", "Let's dive in", "Game-changer"
- Common [Topic] Mistakes to Avoid
- Unnamed concepts don't get cited. Named frameworks do.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Content strategy & planning human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the manojbajaj95/claude-gtm-plugin skill entry for `content-strategy-and-planning`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Content Strategy & Planning

## Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: `strategy/brand.md` for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; `about/me.md` for personal voice; `content/ideas.md` and `content/calendar.md` for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to `content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md`, and route durable learnings back to `strategy/brand.md`, `about/me.md`, or `content/ideas.md`.

## Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.


Unified skill combining strategic content planning, positioning, and operational execution frameworks.

## When to Use

- Planning what content to create and why
- Developing content pillars and topic clusters
- Building editorial calendars
- Creating messaging hierarchy and positioning
- Trust-building content strategy
- Measuring content ROI
- GEO (AI search) optimization planning

---

## Part 1: Strategic Planning

### Step 1: Define Business Context

Before planning, gather:

| Input | Why It Matters |
|-------|----------------|
| Product/service description | Maps content to value proposition |
| Ideal customer profile (ICP) | Determines language, channels, pain points |
| Primary goal | Traffic, leads, brand awareness, thought leadership |
| Current content inventory | What's working vs. gaps |
| Resources available | Writers, budget, time constraints |

### Step 2: Searchable vs Shareable Framework

Every piece of content must be **searchable**, **shareable**, or **both**. Prioritize in that order.

**Searchable content** captures existing demand:
- Target specific keywords/questions
- Match search intent exactly
- Use clear titles matching queries
- Optimize for AI/LLM discovery

**Shareable content** creates demand:
- Lead with novel insights or data
- Challenge conventional wisdom
- Tell stories that resonate
- Connect to current trends

### Step 3: Content Pillars

3-5 core topics your brand owns. Each pillar spawns related content.

```
Pillar Topic (Hub)
├── Subtopic Cluster 1
│   ├── Article A
│   ├── Article B
│   └── Article C
├── Subtopic Cluster 2
│   ├── Article D
│   └── Article E
└── Subtopic Cluster 3
    ├── Article F
    └── Article G
```

**How to Identify Pillars:**
1. **Product-led**: What problems does your product solve?
2. **Audience-led**: What does your ICP need to learn?
3. **Search-led**: What topics have volume in your space?
4. **Competitor-led**: What are competitors ranking for?

### Step 4: Keyword Research by Buyer Stage