Suede Content Strategy

Use this Suede content-strategy playbook to plan evidence-backed content that earns search, sharing, trust, or qualified demand.

Before Planning

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):

1. Business Context

• What does the company do?
• Who is the ideal customer?
• What's the primary goal for content? (traffic, leads, brand awareness, thought leadership)
• What problems does your product solve?

2. Customer Research

• What questions do customers ask before buying?
• What objections come up in sales calls?
• What topics appear repeatedly in support tickets?
• What language do customers use to describe their problems?

3. Current State

• Do you have existing content? What's working?
• What resources do you have? (writers, budget, time)
• What content formats can you produce? (written, video, audio)

4. Competitive Landscape

• Who are your main competitors?
• What content gaps exist in your market?

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Searchable vs Shareable

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.

When Writing Searchable Content

• Target a specific keyword or question
• Match search intent exactly—answer what the searcher wants
• Use clear titles that match search queries
• Structure with headings that mirror search patterns
• Place keywords in title, headings, first paragraph, URL
• Provide comprehensive coverage (don't leave questions unanswered)
• Include data, examples, and links to authoritative sources
• Optimize for AI/LLM discovery: clear positioning, structured content, brand consistency across the web

When Writing Shareable Content

• Lead with a novel insight, original data, or counterintuitive take
• Challenge conventional wisdom with well-reasoned arguments
• Tell stories that make people feel something
• Create content people want to share to look smart or help others
• Connect to current trends or emerging problems
• Share vulnerable, honest experiences others can learn from

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Content Types

Searchable Content Types

Use-Case Content Formula: [persona] + [use-case]. Targets long-tail keywords.

• "Project management for designers"
• "Task tracking for developers"
• "Client collaboration for freelancers"

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.

• Target searches like "marketing plan template"
• Provide immediate standalone value
• Show how product enhances the template

Shareable Content Types

Thought Leadership

• Articulate concepts everyone feels but hasn't named
• Challenge conventional wisdom with evidence
• Share vulnerable, honest experiences

Data-Driven Content

• Product data analysis (anonymized insights)
• Public data analysis (uncover patterns)
• Original research (run experiments, share results)

Expert Roundups A selected set of relevant, verified experts answering one specific question. Distribution depends on contributor permission and actual promotion.

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."

For programmatic content at scale, route the data and template system to suede-programmatic-seo.

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Content Pillars and Topic Clusters

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.

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?

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

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

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Keyword Research by Buyer Stage

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

Awareness Stage

Modifiers: "what is," "how to," "guide to," "introduction to"

Example: If customers ask about project management basics:

• "What is Agile Project Management"
• "Guide to Sprint Planning"
• "How to Run a Standup Meeting"

Consideration Stage

Modifiers: "best," "top," "vs," "alternatives," "comparison"

Example: If customers evaluate multiple tools:

• "Best Project Management Tools for Remote Teams"
• "Asana vs Trello vs Monday"
• "Basecamp Alternatives"

Decision Stage

Modifiers: "pricing," "reviews," "demo," "trial," "buy"

Example: If pricing comes up in sales calls:

• "Project Management Tool Pricing Comparison"
• "How to Choose the Right Plan"
• "[Product] Reviews"

Implementation Stage

Modifiers: "templates," "examples," "tutorial," "how to use," "setup"

Example: If support tickets show implementation struggles:

• "Project Template Library"
• "Step-by-Step Setup Tutorial"
• "How to Use [Feature]"

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Content Ideation Sources

Research Surface Check

Before external research, inspect the tools and connected sources that are currently callable and authorized in this session. Use product analytics, Search Console or keyword exports, customer material, support data, approved Drive sources, or a callable browser/search surface only when access actually exists. Record each source URL or file, owner, retrieval date, and relevant scope.

If no external research surface is available, continue with user-supplied URLs, exports, transcripts, and known first-party evidence. Otherwise return a compact manual-research list with exact queries and fields to capture. Label hypotheses and unverified competitor observations; never imply that a search was run.

1. Keyword Data

If user provides keyword exports (Ahrefs, SEMrush, GSC), analyze for:

• Topic clusters (group related keywords)
• Buyer stage (awareness/consideration/decision/implementation)
• Search intent (informational, commercial, transactional)
• Quick wins (low competition + decent volume + high relevance)
• Content gaps (keywords competitors rank for that you don't)

Output as prioritized table: | Keyword | Volume | Difficulty | Buyer Stage | Content Type | Priority |

2. Call Transcripts

If user provides sales or customer call transcripts, extract:

• Questions asked → FAQ content or blog posts
• Pain points → problems in their own words
• Objections → content to address proactively
• Language patterns → exact phrases to use (voice of customer)
• Competitor mentions → what they compared you to

Output content ideas with supporting quotes.

3. Survey Responses

If user provides survey data, mine for:

• Open-ended responses (topics and language)
• Common themes, with sample count and observed proportion recorded
• Resource requests (what they wish existed)
• Content preferences (formats they want)

4. Forum Research

If an authorized browser or search surface is currently callable, use it to find recent first-party community evidence. Otherwise ask for relevant URLs or provide the queries below for manual collection.

Reddit: site:reddit.com [topic]

• Top posts in relevant subreddits
• Questions and frustrations in comments
• Upvoted answers (validates what resonates)

Quora: site:quora.com [topic]

• Most-followed questions
• Highly upvoted answers

Other: Indie Hackers, Hacker News, Product Hunt, industry Slack/Discord

For each item, capture the source URL, publication date, retrieval date, community context, and a short evidence excerpt. Distinguish engagement signals from proof of customer demand.

5. Competitor Analysis

Use a currently callable, authorized browser/search surface or user-supplied competitor URLs. If neither is available, produce a manual research checklist and do not invent page inventories, rankings, engagement, or gaps.

Find their content: site:competitor.com/blog

Analyze:

• Observable posts and dated engagement signals
• Topics covered repeatedly
• Gaps they haven't covered
• Case studies (customer problems, use cases, results)
• Content structure (pillars, categories, formats)

Identify hypotheses to validate:

• Topics you can cover better
• Angles they're missing
• Outdated content to improve on, based on a visible date or stale claim

6. Sales and Support Input

Extract from customer-facing teams:

• Common objections
• Repeated questions
• Support ticket patterns
• Success stories
• Feature requests and underlying problems

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Prioritizing Content Ideas

Score each idea on four factors. The weights below are an illustrative starting point, not a universal truth; change them to match the user's business goal and record the chosen decision rule.

1. Customer Impact (40%)

• How frequently did this topic come up in research?
• What percentage of customers face this challenge?
• How emotionally charged was this pain point?
• What's the potential LTV of customers with this need?

2. Content-Market Fit (30%)

• Does this align with problems your product solves?
• Can you offer unique insights from customer research?
• Do you have customer stories to support this?
• Will this naturally lead to product interest?

3. Search Potential (20%)

• What's the monthly search volume?
• How competitive is this topic?
• Are there related long-tail opportunities?
• Is search interest growing or declining?

4. Resource Requirements (10%)

• Do you have expertise to create authoritative content?
• What additional research is needed?
• What assets (graphics, data, examples) will you need?

Scoring Template

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

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Output Format

When creating a content strategy, provide:

1. Content Pillars

• 3-5 pillars with rationale
• Subtopic clusters for each pillar
• How pillars connect to product

2. Priority Topics

For each recommended piece:

• Topic/title
• Searchable, shareable, or both
• Content type (use-case, hub/spoke, thought leadership, etc.)
• Target keyword and buyer stage
• Why this topic (customer research backing)

3. Topic Cluster Map

Visual or structured representation of how content interconnects.

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Task-Specific Questions

1. What patterns emerge from your last 10 customer conversations?
2. What questions keep coming up in sales calls?
3. Where are competitors' content efforts falling short?
4. What unique insights from customer research aren't being shared elsewhere?
5. Which existing content drives the most conversions, and why?

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References

• Headless CMS Guide: CMS selection, content modeling for marketing, editorial workflows, platform comparison (Sanity, Contentful, Strapi)

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Boundaries

• Do not claim demand, authority, rank potential, or audience fit without naming the current evidence and decision criterion.
• Do not publish, delete, redirect, deindex, or change an editorial calendar or CMS without explicit authorization.
• Do not invent expertise, customer proof, keyword data, or citations to fill a content gap.
• Do not decide legal, rights, or brand-claim questions; flag them for the accountable owner before publication.

Routing

• Need an individual asset written -> use suede-copy.
• Need technical or on-page organic diagnosis -> use suede-seo-audit.
• Need scaled page systems -> use suede-programmatic-seo.
• Need email or social production -> use suede-emails or suede-social.
• From those skills, route portfolio priorities, pillars, clusters, and cadence back to suede-content-strategy.