Collect evidence before naming themes
Start with material that already exists: customer questions, sales objections, product decisions, support conversations, research notes, and repeated lessons.
- List questions people repeatedly ask you.
- Capture decisions you can explain from direct experience.
- Separate evidence you own from topics you merely find interesting.
Group material by the reader's job
Useful pillars reflect what the audience is trying to understand or accomplish, not the internal structure of your company.
- Group related questions and decisions together.
- Give each group a plain-language outcome.
- Merge groups that would produce the same advice.
Test each pillar for depth and relevance
A durable pillar needs both authority and range: you should be able to support it and approach it from several useful angles.
- Write several specific questions the pillar can answer.
- Mark the evidence available for each answer.
- Remove pillars that do not connect to the people you serve.
Turn pillars into a working idea system
Use the pillars to classify new observations as they happen, then draft from the strongest evidence rather than filling a calendar for its own sake.
- Keep an inbox for real questions and observations.
- Tag each item to one pillar and one intended reader.
- Review which pillars create useful conversations and refine them.
A final quality check
- Each pillar serves a recognisable audience need.
- You can support the topic with direct experience or credible sources.
- The pillars are distinct enough to guide a draft.
- New questions have an obvious place to land.
- The system can change when the audience or product changes.
Questions about this skill
- How many content pillars should I have?
- Use the smallest set that covers your strongest recurring themes. If two pillars lead to the same reader outcome, combine them.
- Can a content pillar be a product feature?
- It can, but reader problems and outcomes usually create a more useful pillar than a feature category on its own.
- What if I run out of ideas inside a pillar?
- Return to real questions, decisions, objections, and evidence. A pillar with no living source material may be too narrow or outside your expertise.
Put the skill to work
Bring the idea. LaunchPost helps shape the draft.
Use your own business context, voice, and source material to move from an idea to content ready for review.
Open LaunchPost