Map How Ring Methods

Task Library

Define the middle ring of the Topic Wheel – the named methods, frameworks, and approaches that deliver the WHY – creating the spokes every content topic will hang from.

Category: Strategy & Measurement

Use this when the WHY ring is set and you need the middle layer – the repeatable ways this brand delivers on its purpose – before brainstorming any content topics.

Inputs

  • The completed WHY ring (center of the wheel)
  • A list of how the work actually gets done: processes, frameworks, signature techniques, service steps
  • Customer language: how clients describe what you did for them (reviews, testimonials, call notes)

Steps

  1. Define the ring: the HOW is the middle ring of the Topic Wheel – the methods, frameworks, and approaches that turn the WHY into results. These become the brand's content pillars.
  2. List every distinct method the brand uses; name each one in customer language (e.g., a fence company's "one-day clean install process," BlitzMetrics' Dollar a Day or Content Factory) rather than internal jargon.
  3. Consolidate to roughly 3-9 spokes: too few and the content repeats; too many and the brand stands for nothing. Merge overlapping methods, cut incidental ones.
  4. Test each spoke against the center: "we use [HOW] because [WHY]" must read as an honest sentence. A method that doesn't serve the WHY doesn't belong on the wheel.
  5. Write one plain sentence per spoke describing the method and the result it produces – this sentence seeds future definitive articles and video topics.
  6. Arrange the spokes around the WHY in the Topic Wheel document, ready for the WHAT ring to populate each one.
  7. Measure it: each HOW spoke should accumulate published content (WHAT items shipped per spoke); empty spokes after a quarter signal a method that's claimed but not real.

Definition of done (QA checklist)

  • 3-9 named HOW spokes, each in customer language
  • Every spoke passes the "we use [HOW] because [WHY]" test
  • One-sentence description per spoke (method + result)
  • Spokes documented on the wheel between the WHY center and the WHAT ring
  • Linked back to the definitive article and relevant siblings
  • Complies with Blog Posting Guidelines (if it publishes content)

Example(s)

  • Example needed – run the Meta-Article Prompt after first real run. (The hub at /topic-wheel links live examples; pull the closest match into this slot.)

File in the zip: skills/strategy-measurement/map-how-ring-methods.md. Download the Task Library zip.

Index: Task Library. Article guidelines.

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