I’ve worked in marketing for 17 years, and these four skills are the framework I’ve built over that time. I stood on the shoulders of giants, learned what I could, and worked out the parts of a strategy that every business needs. It’s now the starting point for every project and every client I take on.
Each skill walks you through its part properly, the way an agency would, by asking you questions and doing the research. They’re built as a stack: each one hands its answers on to the next.
Where to start
- Starting from scratch? Work through all four, in order.
- Just need some marketing done? If it’s the basics, the posts and emails and ads that keep the lights on, jump straight to the Marketing Plan.
- Want marketing that’s more than shooting from the hip? If you’re looking for the thing that sets you apart and something to build on, start with the Marketing Strategy.
Working through all four together gives you a north star for everything in your business.
Claude installs skills one at a time, so there are four files to download, listed at the bottom of this page. Install them all, then start with the Brand Strategy.
1. Brand Strategy
Works out what your business actually stands for. It interviews you about your past, where you are now and where you want to go, researches your competitors, maps where you sit against them, and finds the one word that sums you up. You end with a short brand book: positioning, principles and a brand statement.
2. Marketing Strategy
Decides where you’ll play and how you’ll win. It sets a business goal and a customer goal, names the problem in each, finds your edge, and works out whether your customers find you by searching or through relationships. The result is a one-paragraph strategy you can test every idea against.
3. Communications Strategy
Decides what to say, to whom and when. It maps your customer’s journey, finds what stops people buying at each step, and lays out the message and the job of each piece of communication. It’s built on Julian Cole’s Campaign Architecture framework, with my own funnel-based version as an option.
4. Marketing Plan
Turns it all into a list of projects. It works out what to do first, picks the channels, and sets out each project with its goal, cost and how you’ll measure it.
How to install it
You need a paid Claude plan (Pro or above). It takes about a minute.
- Download the four files below. Leave them as .zip files, don’t open them.
- Open Claude, either at claude.ai or in the Claude app, and go to Settings, then Capabilities.
- Make sure Code execution and file creation is switched on. Skills need it.
- Under Skills, click Upload skill and choose one of the files. Repeat for the other three.
- Start a new chat and ask for it in plain English, for example: “Help me build a brand strategy for my business.”
That’s it. Claude now knows the whole process and follows it every time you ask.