content-marketing

What this skill does

# Content Marketing

## Scope

**Covers**
- Content market fit (treat content like a product; audience anxieties + needs)
- SEO-led content (validate search demand before writing)
- Founder/executive-led thought leadership with a human voice
- Blog-as-press-release announcements (shareable, SEO-friendly)
- AI-assisted content workflows with human-in-the-loop quality controls
- Backlog, editorial calendar, content briefs, distribution, and measurement

**When to use**
- “Create a content strategy / content marketing plan.”
- “Build an SEO plan + editorial calendar.”
- “We need founder-led thought leadership; pick a channel + voice.”
- “Turn an announcement into a blog post instead of a press release.”
- “Create content briefs and a repeatable content production system.”

**When NOT to use**
- You still need to define positioning/ICP (use `positioning-messaging` or `problem-definition`).
- You need a technical SEO audit (crawl/indexing, performance, schema, internal linking) more than a content program.
- You need a paid acquisition strategy (ads, bidding, creative testing) rather than owned content.
- You cannot publish without a review process and cannot provide one (this skill requires a compliant workflow).

## Inputs

**Minimum required**
- Product: what it is + who it’s for (ICP/audience)
- Goals + timebox (e.g., pipeline, awareness, signups, recruiting) and 1 primary metric
- Primary offer(s) and CTA(s) (demo, trial, newsletter, download)
- Constraints: team capacity, SME availability, brand/compliance guardrails, regions/languages
- Spokesperson options (founder/executive/PM/other) and preferred channels (blog, LinkedIn, YouTube, podcast, newsletter)

**Missing-info strategy**
- Ask up to 5 questions from [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md), then proceed with explicit assumptions.
- If SEO demand data is unavailable, produce keyword/topic hypotheses with confidence labels and a demand-validation to-do list (no credentials required).
- Never request secrets or credentials; accept redacted exports/screenshots if offered.

## Outputs (deliverables)

Produce a **Content Marketing Plan Pack** (Markdown in-chat; or as files if requested) containing:

1) Context snapshot (ICP, goal, metric, timebox, constraints)
2) Content market fit brief (audience anxieties, jobs-to-be-done, “why now”)
3) Channel + voice strategy (human spokesperson, primary channel focus, tone rules, repurposing plan)
4) SEO demand-validated topic map (topics/keywords, intent, proof of demand, SERP angle)
5) Backlog + editorial calendar (4–8 weeks, prioritized)
6) 3 content briefs (ready for writing) + per-piece distribution plan
7) Announcement blog post template (press-release alternative) + 1 outline/draft (if relevant)
8) AI-assisted content SOP (AI roles + human review + “information gain” rules)
9) Measurement plan (leading indicators, dashboards, iteration cadence)
10) Risks / Open questions / Next steps (always included)

Templates and checklists:
- [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md)
- [references/WORKFLOW.md](references/WORKFLOW.md)
- [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md)
- [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md)

## Workflow (8 steps)

### 1) Intake + success definition
- **Inputs:** User prompt; [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).
- **Actions:** Confirm the business goal, ICP, primary CTA, and timebox. Define one primary success metric and 2–3 leading indicators. Confirm constraints (capacity, compliance, languages, distribution).
- **Outputs:** Context snapshot (v1).
- **Checks:** Goal is measurable and timebound (e.g., “Increase qualified demo requests from SEO by 25% in 8 weeks”).

### 2) Define content market fit (audience anxieties → promises)
- **Inputs:** ICP/audience, pains/goals, buying context, objections.
- **Actions:** Treat content as a product: define audience segment(s), top anxieties (career, risk, status, time), and the “promotion narrative” (how content helps them win). Identify 3–5 core “promises” your content should consistently deliver.
- **Outputs:** Content market fit brief.
- **Checks:** Each promise is specific and maps to a content type (how-to, teardown, case study, POV, template).

### 3) Validate demand + pick topic themes (SEO + non-SEO)
- **Inputs:** Product surfaces, promises, known customer questions, any keyword data.
- **Actions:** Build a topic universe, then split into:
  - **SEO topics:** only keep topics with evidence of search demand.
  - **Thought leadership topics:** publish for trust/brand even without search demand, but tie to distribution plan and spokesperson voice.
  Document “evidence of demand” (Search Console, autocomplete, competitor pages ranking, keyword tools, internal tickets).
- **Outputs:** Topic map (with demand evidence + confidence labels).
- **Checks:** No SEO topic is approved without a demand signal; every non-SEO topic has a distribution owner + channel.

### 4) Choose the human voice + primary channel
- **Inputs:** Spokesperson options, team strengths, audience media habits.
- **Actions:** Pick one primary channel that matches the spokesperson’s natural style (long-form writing, short-form posts, video, audio). Define voice rules (first-person, specific opinions, vulnerability/honesty) and what to avoid (corporate ghost tone, generic platitudes). Decide how content will be repurposed across secondary channels.
- **Outputs:** Channel + voice strategy (including “say this / not that”).
- **Checks:** There is a single primary channel for the next 4–8 weeks; repurposing does not create new work without owners.

### 5) Build the backlog + editorial calendar
- **Inputs:** Topic map, capacity, seasonality, launches/announcements.
- **Actions:** Prioritize using a simple score (Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort). Create a 4–8 week editorial calendar with owners, publish dates, review checkpoints, and CTAs.
- **Outputs:** Prioritized backlog + editorial calendar.
- **Checks:** Calendar is feasible (no hidden approvals), and every item has an owner and a distribution plan.

### 6) Create content briefs (make writing easy)
- **Inputs:** Top topics, voice rules, CTA, distribution channels.
- **Actions:** Write 3 briefs using [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md): target query/intent, angle (“information gain”), outline, proof assets needed (SME quotes/data), CTA, internal/external links, distribution checklist.
- **Outputs:** 3 content briefs (ready to draft).
- **Checks:** A writer can draft without additional meetings; each brief includes what must be uniquely true (not generic).

### 7) Draft one flagship asset (blog post or announcement)
- **Inputs:** One brief (or announcement context), [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md), [references/WORKFLOW.md](references/WORKFLOW.md).
- **Actions:** Draft an outline or first draft. If it’s an announcement, use a blog-post format with all “news” elements included. Use AI only per the SOP; add human insight, examples, and original framing.
- **Outputs:** 1 draft outline/first draft + a “fact/claim check” list.
- **Checks:** Draft has a clear POV, concrete examples, and avoids “100% AI-generated” sameness.

### 8) Measurement + quality gate + finalize
- **Inputs:** Draft pack; [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).
- **Actions:** Define measurement cadence (weekly review) and iteration loop (what you’ll change based on signals). Run checklist and score rubric. Always include **Risks / Open questions / Next steps**.
- **Outputs:** Final Content Marketing Plan Pack.
- **Checks:** Next 2 weeks of execution are unblocked; assumptions and demand validation gaps are explicit.

## Quality gate (required)
- Use [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).
- Always include: **Risks**, **Open questions**, **Next steps**.

## Examples

**Example 1 (B2B SaaS, SEO + pipeline):**  
“Use `conten