# Gated Long Form Content

> Use this skill when the owner wants to write, draft, or generate gated long-form lead-generation content such as a whitepaper, guide, ebook, or research report. Invoke when the user says "write a whitepaper", "draft a lead-gen guide", "create an ebook", "draft a gated whitepaper", "generate a research report for lead gen".

- Skill: `clever-cc-plugins/gated-long-form-content` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add clever-cc-plugins/gated-long-form-content`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/clever-cc-plugins/gated-long-form-content/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Docs & Writing
- Author: clever-cc-plugins (https://skillmd.com/u/clever-cc-plugins)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/clever-cc-plugins/gated-long-form-content

---


@./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

# Gated Long-Form Content Skill

You are helping the owner produce a complete, publishable gated long-form asset
(whitepaper, guide, ebook, or research report). The asset must comply with the
format guidelines in this skill folder, reflect the company's brand voice, serve the
confirmed audience/goal/funnel combination, 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 B2B or B2C context. Calibration happens through the loaded context
files, the confirmed inferences in Step 3, and the owner's topic input.

## 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

Check for a `## Context files` table in CLAUDE.md via:

```bash
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) and the harness loads all applicable ones. Where multiple tables exist,
rows from more specific CLAUDE.md files take precedence.

**Do not enumerate required categories by name.** Context rows carry free-form,
user-chosen labels — there is no schema of category names to match against. Instead,
Read every file listed in the **File** column, then assess each row's **Summary** to
work out what it covers, and map the loaded files to this skill's content needs:

| Need                    | What to look for in the Summary                                  |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Brand voice             | Writing style, tone, vocabulary, phrasing rules, things to avoid |
| Organization background | Who the company/author is, products, positioning, mission        |
| Target audience         | Reader personas, goals, challenges, job titles                   |
| Output language         | Default language, locale, or region                              |
| Format-specific rules   | Rules governing whitepapers, guides, or ebooks specifically      |

Where multiple files plausibly cover the same need, pick the one whose Summary best
fits the task at hand and note the choice.

Warn on **semantic absence, not label absence** — "No brand voice context found",
never "no `writing-style` row". Gate on two needs only: if no loaded file plausibly
covers **brand voice**, or none covers **organization background**, ask once whether
this is intentional or whether the user should pause and run `/content-onboarding`.
Same pause / DEGRADED OUTPUT pattern as all output-format skills. For absent audience,
language, or format-specific rules: note silently and continue — never ask.

See `../_shared/context-categories.md` for the full guide to common context patterns
and the authoring rules this step follows.

## 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:

```bash
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, and constraints. 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 and goal

This is the most consequential step for this skill, since `format-guidelines.md`
varies substantially by audience, goal, funnel stage, and expertise level.

1. Use the loaded audience context and campaign brief (if any) to infer: B2B or
   B2C, content goal (thought leadership / awareness / lead generation / nurturing /
   conversion / retention), funnel stage (TOFU / MOFU / BOFU), and audience
   expertise level (novice / familiar / expert). If the loaded context genuinely
   does not support a confident inference on any of these, ask the owner the
   missing question directly rather than guessing.
2. Present a one-line inference summary to the user, for example:
   "Audience: B2B (enterprise) · Goal: lead generation · Stage: MOFU · Expertise:
   familiar"
3. Ask the user to confirm or correct before generating. Do not silently apply
   assumptions.
4. Based on confirmed values, explicitly state which Layer 2 and Layer 3 variations
   from `format-guidelines.md` are being applied and why — e.g., "Applying the B2B
   committee-structure guidance (executive summary + technical appendix) and the
   MOFU proof-type guidance (original research, comparative data)."

## Step 4: Ask for the content topic (if not provided)

Ask: "What should this whitepaper/guide/ebook be about?" and wait.

## Step 5: Select storytelling framework

Read `../_shared/storytelling-frameworks.md` and follow its selection process. Apply
the chosen framework as the structural spine — typically a problem → insight →
solution arc for this format, per `format-guidelines.md`.

## Step 6: Select persuasion principles

Read `../_shared/persuasion-principles.md` and follow its selection process. Pick 1–3
principles plus a pre-suasive opener strategy, favoring the mechanisms called out as
strongest for this format in `format-guidelines.md` (central-route argument quality,
narrative transportation via case studies, source credibility, reciprocity). Note the
choices in working notes.

## Step 7: Generate the asset

Produce a complete whitepaper/guide/ebook that:

- Follows the required structure from `format-guidelines.md` Layer 1 (executive
  summary, problem definition, body/evidence, recommendations, conclusion, CTA)
- Applies the confirmed B2B/B2C variant from Layer 2, including the confirmed
  sub-variation (e.g., SMB vs. enterprise) where relevant
- Applies the confirmed content-goal and funnel-stage variant from Layer 3
- Pairs major claims with both data and an illustrative case where the input
  material supports it
- Uses the storytelling framework and persuasion principles selected in Steps 5–6
- Reflects tone and vocabulary from loaded brand-voice context
- Matches length to the format label and audience per the Layer 1 length table —
  no padding to hit a word count
- States an explicit, justified gating recommendation per the "Gating Decision"
  section of `format-guidelines.md`, including a recommended form-field count

Include a `[TODO: ...]` placeholder for any format-specific mandatory elements — for
example, a required word count, mandatory legal/compliance sections, or a specific
design template — that the user must specify for their use case.

Internally verify against the quality checklist in `format-guidelines.md` before
presenting.

Present the output in a clearly delimited block showing the content and its word
count:

```
─────────────────────────────────────────────
<FORMAT LABEL> draft
─────────────────────────────────────────────
<content>
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Word count: <N>
```

If output is degraded (a required context need is uncovered), prepend:
`⚠ DEGRADED OUTPUT — generated without: <list of missing needs>`

## Step 8: Feedback

This step has two phases:

**Auto-store phase.** Before asking the user for feedback, review the run for
qualifying observations. For each, append one tagged line to `.claude/learnings.md`
(create with standard header if missing), tagged `[cc-content:gated-long-form-content]`.
Qualifies: content preferences or constraints not already in any loaded context file
or `CLAUDE.md`; corrections the user made; project-specific facts that would change
future output; 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 any 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:

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

Standard header when creating the file:

```markdown
# Learnings

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

---
```

**Explicit feedback.** Ask whether the output met expectations. If the user provides
a correction, append it as a tagged entry using the same criteria. Confirm total
entries written across both phases: "✓ N learning(s) saved to `.claude/learnings.md`."
If the user confirms quality or skips: if any entries were auto-stored, confirm
"✓ N learning(s) auto-saved to `.claude/learnings.md`." Then deliver a closing line:
"✓ Draft ready. Move it into your design template for layout, then route it through
legal/compliance review (if applicable) before publishing behind the gate." and exit.