Content Pillars / Themes
Content pillars are the brand-level territories your program commits to owning, distinct from SEO-driven topic clusters, which are tactical. Pillars drive the kind of content produced. One might be "responsible sourcing" or "founder stories"; a topic cluster is "how to source ethically at scale." Pillars provide the editorial coherence and lead to content that is authored rather than assembled. If you can't trace a content idea back to the pillar, it doesn't belong.
The three to five durable themes that organize everything you publish.
Own three to five themes. Commit. Cut the rest.
When to use this
- When the content calendar feels random, topics get chosen by whoever spoke last or loudest in the meeting.
- As the organizing layer between the mission statement (why) and the tactical editorial calendar (when).