What we talk about

The topics that position us as the go-to problem solver

1. Goal

Let's identify the themes and topics that will position you as the authority in your space. This isn't about creating content for content's sake–it's about strategically choosing what you talk about to build trust, demonstrate expertise, and attract your ideal audience.

What we talk about Template

2. Themes - What we want to be known for

Themes are the big umbrellas under which all your content lives. They represent the core areas of expertise you want to be known for. Good themes are broad enough to give you creative freedom, but specific enough to maintain focus and build authority.

Continue in the same Claude conversation. We're building on the story framework we established in the previous lesson (audience, challenges, differentiation, solutions, transformation).

Identify Your Core Themes

Think about the main areas where you want to be recognized as an expert. These should align with your differentiation and the problems you solve. Most brands have 3-5 core themes.

Ensure Alignment

Your themes should connect directly to:

  • Your audience's challenges and goals
  • Your unique differentiation
  • The transformation you create
  • Your business objectives
Identify our core content themes
We're continuing our content and story strategy work. You have all our context: business, content state, and the complete story framework we built (audience, challenges, differentiation, solutions, transformation). Now let's identify what themes we want to be known for.
Before I suggest themes, I need your input. Please ask me questions to understand:
1.**What themes should we focus on?**
- What are the 3-5 broad areas where we want to be recognized as experts?
- What big ideas do we want to own in our audience's mind?
- What themes align with our audience's biggest challenges?
- What themes reflect our unique expertise and differentiation?
- What themes support the transformation we create?
2.**For each potential theme:**
- What does it encompass?
- Why does it matter to our audience?
- How does it connect to our differentiation?
- What types of content could fall under it?
Ask me these questions and wait for my answers.
Once you have my input, use it as a starting point for deeper research and thinking:
- Research content theme strategies used by successful brands in similar niches
- Analyze how themes align with audience needs and business goals
- Consider what makes themes effective for building authority
- Think about how themes create a coherent brand narrative
Then provide a comprehensive summary that includes:
- What I told you (the themes I'm considering)
- What you researched (theme strategies, industry examples, best practices)
- A numbered list of 3-5 themes with descriptions
- For each theme, a bulleted list of example topics
- Balance analysis (ensuring themes cover full range, don't overlap too much, create coherent narrative)
- A brief explanation of how themes work together
- Strategic implications for our content positioning

Outcome: You have identified your 3-5 core content themes that align with your brand and audience needs.

Identify and validate your core content themes

3. Topics - Topics our audience cares about

Once you have your themes, it's time to get specific with topics. Topics are the specific subjects, questions, and interests within each theme that your audience actually cares about. These are what you'll create individual pieces of content around.

Continue in the same Claude conversation. We're building on the themes we just identified.

Research What Matters

Don't guess what your audience cares about–research it:

  • What questions do they ask?
  • What problems do they Google?
  • What discussions are happening in communities?
  • What content gets engagement in your space?

Map Topics to Themes

For each theme, identify 10-15 specific topics that:

  • Address real audience questions or problems
  • Have search volume or demonstrated interest
  • Allow you to showcase your expertise
  • Support your audience's journey toward their goals
Research and identify specific content topics
We're continuing our content strategy work. You have our themes we just identified, plus all our previous context (story framework, audience, challenges). Now let's get specific with topics.
Before I generate topic ideas, I need your input. Please ask me questions to understand:
1.**What topics should we cover?**
- For each theme we identified, what specific topics or questions does our audience have?
- What problems are they searching for solutions to?
- What questions do they ask in communities or forums?
- What content gets engagement in our space?
- What topics would showcase our expertise?
2.**What's our priority?**
- Which topics are most relevant to our core audience?
- Which have the most search volume or demonstrated interest?
- Which support different stages of the customer journey (Awareness/Consideration/Decision)?
- Which are easier vs harder to create?
3.**What gaps exist?**
- What topics are competitors covering that we're not?
- What unique angles can we take?
Ask me these questions, focusing on the themes we've already established. Wait for my answers.
Once you have my input, use it as a starting point for deeper research and thinking:
- Research topic ideas and search trends for our themes in our industry
- Analyze what topics competitors are covering and what gaps exist
- Consider search volume, audience interest, and content difficulty
- Think about how topics support different stages of the customer journey
Then provide a comprehensive summary that includes:
- What I told you (the topics I'm thinking about)
- What you researched (search trends, competitor analysis, topic opportunities)
- For each theme, a table with columns: Topic | Relevance | Interest Level | Journey Stage | Difficulty
- Opportunity gaps we should fill
- Recommended priority topics to start with
- Strategic rationale for topic prioritization

Outcome: You have a comprehensive list of 10-15 topics per theme that your audience actively searches for and cares about.

Generate and prioritize topics for each theme

4. Content - Our best content pieces yet

Before creating new content, collect examples of great content that aligns with your themes. This gives you a reference library of what works–both your own best-performing pieces and standout examples from others in your space.

Collect Your Best Content

Start by gathering your own top-performing content pieces:

  • Blog posts, videos, or social content that performed well
  • Content that aligns with your identified themes
  • Pieces that resonated with your audience
  • Different formats that worked (long-form, short-form, video, etc.)

Find Great Examples from Others

Look for standout content from others in your space:

  • Content creators or brands that excel in your themes
  • Pieces that demonstrate what great content looks like for your topics
  • Examples that inspire you or show effective approaches
  • Content that your audience engages with or shares

Organize by Theme

Create a collection organized by your themes:

  • For each theme, gather 3-5 great examples
  • Mix your own content with examples from others
  • Include a mix of formats (blog, video, social, etc.)
  • Note what makes each piece effective

This collection serves as your reference library–when you're creating new content, you can look at these examples to understand what works for your themes and audience.

Outcome: You have a collection of great content examples for each theme that serves as a reference for creating new content.

Collect great sample content pieces for your themes

5. Summary

You've now defined what you talk about:

  1. Identified your themes - The 3-5 core areas you want to be known for
  2. Generated topics - Specific subjects within each theme that your audience cares about
  3. Collected content examples - Gathered great sample pieces for each theme as a reference
Create summary of what we talk about
We've completed all the work on defining what we talk about. You have all the context from our previous conversations:
- Our core content themes (3-5 themes we want to be known for)
- Our topics library (10-15 topics per theme that our audience cares about)
- Our content examples collection (great sample pieces for each theme)
Please create a clear, concise summary that consolidates all of this work. The summary should include:
1.**Our core content themes** - List each theme with a brief description
2.**Topics for each theme** - Show the key topics we identified for each theme
3.**Content examples** - Note what content examples we collected for each theme
4.**Key insights** - Highlight the main strategic takeaways from this work
Format the summary in a way that's easy to read and reference. I'll save this summary (take a screenshot or copy it) so I can refer back to it as I continue building my content strategy.

Outcome: You have a comprehensive summary of your themes, topics, and content examples that guides your content creation.

Create comprehensive summary of what we talk about

This positions you to create content that resonates. In the next lesson, we'll explore how to package and deliver your content across different funnel stages (ToFu, MoFu, BoFu).

Further Resources

Dig deeper into content strategy

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