Blog Article

@./format-guidelines.md Read when: starting this skill @../_shared/storytelling-frameworks.md Read when: selecting a narrative framework in Step 5 @../_shared/persuasion-principles.md Read when: selecting persuasion principles in Step 6

Blog Article Skill

You are helping the owner produce a complete, publishable blog article. The article must comply with the format guidelines in this skill folder, reflect the company's brand voice, address the right audience for the right goal at the right funnel stage, and — if a campaign briefing is present — serve the briefing's goals.

This skill is language-, industry-, and audience-neutral. It works for any output language and any combination of B2B / B2C, goal, funnel stage, and expertise level. Calibration happens explicitly in Step 3 by inferring values from the loaded context and confirming them with the owner.

Step 0: Recall learnings

If .claude/learnings.md exists, read it silently. Apply all entries relevant to this run — both [cc-content:*]-tagged entries and entries from other plugins that inform content quality or project constraints. Do not announce this step. If the file is absent, continue normally.

Step 1: Load context

Read the context table from all loaded CLAUDE.md files:

grep -A 200 '## Context files' CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null || echo "(no context table)"

CLAUDE.md files may exist at multiple hierarchy levels (workspace root, project root, sub-directory). The harness already loads all applicable ones into your context window. If multiple ## Context files tables exist, rows from more specific CLAUDE.md files take precedence over less specific ones.

If no context table is found in any loaded CLAUDE.md, ask once:

"I don't see any context files registered. Would you like to: (a) Pause and run /content-onboarding to set up context (b) Continue without project context (output will be generic)"

Stop if (a); note "generating without project context" and continue if (b).

If a context table exists, read every file listed in the File column.

After loading, assess what each file covers by reading its Summary entry. Map the loaded files to these content needs:

When multiple files plausibly cover the same need, pick the one whose Summary best fits this specific task. For example: if one file's Summary says "casual, inclusive — job ads and employer branding" and another says "formal — corporate and thought leadership", and this article is a whitepaper, load the formal one and note the choice.

Coverage gaps — flag these two:

If no loaded file plausibly covers brand voice, ask once:

"I don't see any writing style or brand voice context. Is this intentional, or should I pause while you run /content-onboarding?"

• Intentional: note the gap; label the final output ⚠ DEGRADED OUTPUT — no brand voice context
• Pause: direct the owner to onboarding and stop.

Apply the same ask for organization background if no loaded file covers it.

For absent audience, language, or blog-specific rules: note silently and continue.

After loading and assessing, note which files were loaded and which need each covers. Proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Check for campaign briefing

Determine the briefing path:

1. If the owner passed a file path as an argument ($ARGUMENTS), use that path.
2. Otherwise, check for brief.md in the current working directory:

ls brief.md 2>/dev/null && echo "found" || echo "missing"

• Found (either via argument or brief.md): read the file and note its key messages, goals, constraints, target keyword (if any), and required CTAs. Confirm: "✓ Campaign briefing loaded from <path>."
• Missing: note "No campaign briefing found — generating from company context only." and continue.

Step 3: Infer and confirm audience, goal, funnel stage, and expertise

This is the calibration step. The blog-article format covers an unusually wide range of valid configurations, and the most common cause of underperforming content is mixing incompatible values (e.g., TOFU awareness post with a BOFU "Book a demo" CTA). Calibrate explicitly before drafting.

1. Read the loaded target-audience context and the campaign brief (if any).

2. Infer four values:

   • Audience type: B2B or B2C. If B2B, identify the sub-variant (SMB vs. enterprise; technical buyer vs. executive sponsor) when the context supports it.
   • Content goal: thought leadership · awareness · lead generation · nurturing · conversion · retention.
   • Funnel stage: TOFU · MOFU · BOFU.
   • Audience expertise: novice · familiar · expert.

3. Present a one-line inference summary, for example:

   "Audience: B2B (mid-market) · Goal: lead generation · Stage: MOFU · Expertise: familiar"

4. Ask the owner to confirm or correct each value before drafting. Do not silently apply assumptions. If the owner overrides a value, accept the override and proceed with the confirmed configuration.

5. Once confirmed, state explicitly which Layer 2 and Layer 3 variations from format-guidelines.md you will apply and why — for example:

   "Applying the MOFU column (PAS / BAB framework, medium CTA directness, methodology proof), the lead-gen goal row (1,500–2,500 words, gated-asset unlock), and the B2B authority + reciprocity persuasion mix."

If the inference is ambiguous (the context genuinely does not support a confident guess), ask the owner the missing question directly rather than guessing.

Step 4: Determine the article topic and format-specific requirements

If the owner has not specified a topic, ask:

"What should this blog article be about? You can describe the topic, share a key message, name a target keyword, or paste raw notes and I'll turn them into a draft."

Then determine — by asking if not already clear — three additional inputs that materially shape the draft:

• Content type (drives length range from the format-guidelines length table): definitional · how-to · listicle · comparison · pillar / ultimate guide · POV / thought leadership · news / trend · newsletter version.
• SEO target keyword and search intent, if SEO is a goal. Without these, do not invent a target keyword — flag SEO as "not applied" in the final output instead.
• Required mandatory elements specific to this project — for example:
  • A specific word count constraint that overrides the working range
  • Mandatory section headers (e.g., "TL;DR", "Key Takeaways", "FAQ")
  • An author-bio block, disclosure footer, or compliance notice
  • Image / diagram requirements beyond the universal one-per-300–400-words
  • Internal-link minimums (some projects mandate N internal links per post)
  • Meta-description constraints

Some of these may already be in the loaded brand-specific blog-rules document from Step 1 — if so, do not re-ask, just confirm them in working notes.

Wait for the answers, then proceed.

Step 5: Select a storytelling framework

Read ../_shared/storytelling-frameworks.md and follow the selection process described there. Apply the chosen framework as the structural spine of the body. The format-guidelines describe which frameworks fit which goal / stage combinations (AIDA for TOFU / awareness, PAS / BAB for MOFU / lead gen, FAB / 4Ps for BOFU / conversion, StoryBrand for case studies and nurture, JTBD as a topic-selection lens).

Note the choice in working notes — for example: "Using PAS as the body spine; FAB for the proof zone."

Step 6: Select persuasion principles

Read ../_shared/persuasion-principles.md and follow its selection process. Pick 1–3 principles that fit the confirmed audience / goal / stage combination, plus a pre-suasive opener strategy. The format-guidelines Layer 2 table specifies the highest-leverage principles by context:

• B2B default: authority > social proof > reciprocity
• B2C default: social proof > liking / unity > scarcity
• BOFU (both): add loss aversion + status quo bias

Note the choice in working notes — for example: "Using Authority + Social Proof + Reciprocity; opener primes credibility with an original-research stat."

Step 7: Generate the blog article

Produce a complete blog article that:

• Opens with a strong headline that promises specific value and (if SEO is a goal) includes the target keyword
• Includes a meta description (~150–160 chars) drafted alongside the post
• Opens the body with a hook that uses one of the four mechanisms (curiosity gap, problem-agitation, surprise, specificity) and earns the scroll past the fold within 10–20 seconds
• Performs all six functional jobs (headline → hook → context → body → proof inserts → conclusion + CTA)
• Uses descriptive H2 subheads every 250–350 words that telegraph their section's content (layer-cake scanning test)
• Uses 1–3-sentence paragraphs, bolded key claims (1–3 per section), and bulleted lists where genuinely parallel
• Applies the structural framework from Step 5 as the body spine
• Layers the 1–3 persuasion principles from Step 6 naturally — not as labeled callouts
• Includes a singular primary CTA, repeated at three scroll depths (~20%, ~60–70%, conclusion), with directness matching the confirmed funnel stage
• Falls within the working length range for the confirmed content type — or deviates intentionally with a documented rationale
• Includes image-placement markers (with brief alt-text descriptions) at the cadence required by format-guidelines and any brand-specific rule
• Suggests internal-link targets at the points where the funnel stage implies a next-step page
• Reflects tone and vocabulary from loaded brand voice context
• Addresses the audience from loaded audience context
• Is written in the output language from loaded context (default: English if none specified)
• Satisfies every mandatory rule from any blog-specific rules file loaded in Step 1

Internally verify against the quality checklist in format-guidelines.md before presenting the output. If any gate fails and cannot be fixed before delivery, surface the failure in the output rather than hiding it.

If the briefing is present, the article must serve its stated goals and key messages.

Present the output in a clearly delimited block:

─────────────────────────────────────────────
Blog article draft
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Title: <H1>
Meta description: <150–160 chars>

<article body, with H2/H3 hierarchy, image placeholders,
internal-link suggestions, and the three CTA insertions>
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Word count: <N> (target: <range from content type>)
Reading time: ~<N> min
Configuration applied: <audience> · <goal> · <stage> · <expertise>
Framework: <framework name>
Persuasion principles: <list>
─────────────────────────────────────────────

If the output is degraded (brand voice or organization context missing), prepend:

⚠ DEGRADED OUTPUT — generated without: <list of missing context>

Step 8: Feedback

Auto-store phase. Before asking for feedback, review this run. For each qualifying observation, append one tagged line to .claude/learnings.md (create with standard header if missing):

[cc-content:blog-article] <concise observation> — <YYYY-MM-DD>

Qualifies: content preferences or constraints not already in any loaded context file or CLAUDE.md; corrections the owner made to the output; project-specific facts that would change future output (e.g., "this project prefers POV over comprehensive coverage even on pillar pages"); accepted / rejected suggestions deviating from best practices.

Does not qualify: standard behavior applied without deviation; facts already in context files or CLAUDE.md; anything derivable by re-reading context files; facts semantically equivalent to an existing .claude/learnings.md entry under any plugin tag — when in doubt, skip; redundancy is worse than a missed entry.

Check for the file before appending:

ls .claude/learnings.md 2>/dev/null && echo "exists" || echo "missing"

Standard header when creating the file:

# Learnings

Corrections and feedback collected during content sessions.
Entries are tagged by skill and dated.

---

Explicit feedback. After the auto-store phase, ask:

"Did this article meet expectations? If you have any corrections or notes for future articles, share them here — or press Enter to finish."

• If the owner provides a correction: append it as a tagged entry using the same format and qualification criteria above. Confirm total entries written across both phases: "✓ N learning(s) saved to .claude/learnings.md."
• If the owner confirms quality or skips: if any entries were auto-stored, confirm "✓ N learning(s) auto-saved to .claude/learnings.md." Then say "The article is ready. Paste it into your CMS — remember to source the images flagged in the placeholders and wire up the suggested internal links before publishing." and exit. If nothing was stored, skip the confirmation and exit directly.