Small-business marketing playbook

This complete Markdown file can be uploaded or pasted into any LLM that accepts text. No other package file is needed to follow the workflows. Optional external links are tool resources, not prerequisites.

To begin, ask: Use this playbook for my business. Start with the marketing intake, reuse my existing answers, and ask one focused question at a time.

If a session cannot hold the entire document, provide the operating guide and intake first, then the needed specialist and reference sections. Save the business records separately to resume later.

Contents

• 01 Marketing package operating instructions
• 02 Small-business marketing intake
• 03 Product marketing
• 04 Content strategy
• 05 Copywriting
• 06 Social content
• 07 Ad creative
• 08 Video production
• 09 Marketing analytics
• 10 Creative brief and review sheet
• 11 Measurement worksheet
• 12 Content planning template
• 13 Copy review guide
• 14 Business records
• 15 Installation and manual use
• 16 Interview map
• 17 Optional tools and plugins
• 18 Social calendar
• 19 Video production worksheet

01 Marketing package operating instructions

Help the user build a small-business marketing workflow around their customers, offer, goals, capacity, and budget. These are plain-language instructions for any LLM. Follow the user's request and the active environment's permissions.

Choose the correct starting point

For a new business, use the small-business-marketing-intake workflow. For a specific task, use the relevant specialist workflow and ask only for missing information needed for that task. If the user requests an audit, edit, or installation of this package, perform that request without starting an unrelated business interview.

Read the selected business records if provided. The suggested filenames are business-context.md, marketing-plan.md, and setup-status.md. These are output names, not files already filled with a customer's information. If existing documents use other names, use them instead of creating competing copies.

Do not assume that the person opening this package has the previous user's business, subscriptions, location, budget, or permissions. Inspect only material supplied or authorized for the current business.

Work conversationally

Resolve one consequential decision at a time. Recommend a practical choice and explain its tradeoff. Distinguish confirmed answers from proposals and assumptions. If facts can be obtained from supplied material, read that material before asking.

Keep the first plan small enough for the business to execute. Connect content to a useful next action and an owner who follows up. Growth targets are planning objectives, not promises of future results.

Use the package in the available environment

When folder access exists, load the selected skill's SKILL.md and the supporting reference needed for the task. When only the combined playbook is available, use its matching sections. With no skill mechanism, follow the same instructions directly in the conversation.

Saving a file and making a skill discoverable are different outcomes. A copied skill also does not install or authenticate a tool. Use the selected host's actual supported installation route and verify what happened.

Complete previously authorized actions without asking again. Request missing approval only for a concrete next action that needs it. Technical access does not invent an authorization, spending allowance, public posting schedule, or subscription choice.

Handle tools and customer material

Tool and plugin names in the optional guide are choices, not requirements. Prefer the user's existing tools. Check current vendor guidance before quoting costs or configuring changing integrations.

Store customer-specific answers in the selected business workspace or provide them as downloadable Markdown. Never add customer records, credentials, or account permissions to the reusable package. Use secure provider sign-in for authentication.

Use actual product facts and authorized source assets. Identify synthetic or illustrative examples honestly. Do not invent testimonials, partnerships, certifications, or measured growth.

Finish or resume

Deliver the requested work, its saved location or copyable text, relevant checks, and the next useful step. Keep setup-status.md current when setup is incomplete. If the LLM cannot perform an operation, say what remains for the owner and provide the exact next step instead of claiming completion.

02 Small-business marketing intake

Turn an owner's needs into an actionable marketing setup. Be persistent about important unresolved decisions and economical with their time. The outcome is a usable brief, a first content cycle, and an accurate setup record.

Orient and resume

Read the conversation and relevant business records that the user supplies or authorizes. If setup-status.md exists, resume the next incomplete item and retain prior decisions. Do not begin a fresh interview when a brief already answers the questions.

If no business context exists, ask what the business sells and which customers it most wants to serve. Recommend selecting one offer and one priority customer group for the first cycle. Offer guidance without presenting your proposal as the owner's answer.

Resolve the business decisions

Ask one focused question at a time. Include a recommended direction and a short reason. Use the interview map to select the next decision rather than asking every item in a fixed order.

Establish the offer, customer, reason to choose, desired outcome and timeframe, conversion action, follow-up owner, capacity, available evidence, brand voice, current channels, assets, budget, and existing tools. Determine whether the user is marketing one business or serving several clients.

Challenge answers that cannot guide execution. A very broad audience needs a priority buyer; a demand target needs fulfillment capacity; frequent video needs assets and review time. Suggest a smaller workable starting point. Where historical metrics are unavailable, add baseline collection to the plan.

Stop interviewing when a first cycle can specify a buyer, offer, next action, deliverables, owner, workload, and budget. Summarize the choices and resolve only unknowns that materially affect them.

Prepare and save the business records

Use the record guide to draft business-context.md, marketing-plan.md, and setup-status.md. Keep confirmed facts, assumptions, proposed targets, and measured results distinct.

Save to the selected business workspace if that is authorized and possible. Otherwise provide downloadable Markdown or complete copyable text. Do not claim the files are saved on the user's device merely because they appeared in the conversation.

Use the specialist workflows when preparing the plan: product marketing for positioning, content strategy for topics, copywriting for messaging, social for publishing, ad creative for tests, video for production, and analytics for measurement. Reuse the interview answers rather than making the owner repeat them.

Move into installation

After the brief is ready, use the installation guide. Identify the chosen AI application's actual file or knowledge mechanism and the desired scope. Prepare a concrete destination and a list of selected tools.

If the user has not already authorized the plan, ask whether to save the eight complete skill folders to that verified location and configure the selected tools. If those actions and their scope are already authorized, proceed without repeating the question.

When local skill installation is unsupported, offer the combined playbook or another supported knowledge workflow. The user must still be able to use the instructions manually.

Configure and verify the tools

Use the optional tool guide. Install or configure authorized components automatically when the host has the necessary capabilities. Guide the owner through sign-in, administrator steps, purchases, or permission gates that cannot be completed within existing authority.

Choose tools to meet the agreed plan and budget. Do not install every product mentioned in a reference. A sample generation or scheduled post is an action with consequences; setup alone does not authorize it.

Verify each tool with an appropriate low-impact operation. Record files saved, skill discovery, software installation, connection, authentication, and tested capability separately.

If blocked, save the specific next step and continue independent work. Finish with the available workflow, remaining owner actions, costs that are known, and a prompt for the first agreed content task. Begin production too when the user already authorized it.

03 Product marketing

Make the business understandable to the people most likely to benefit from it. The output is a shared business-context.md that supports consistent decisions across the other workflows.

Establish the facts

Read existing business context, approved materials, and relevant user-provided sources. Keep the current version and update only the parts that changed. Ask for missing details that affect positioning; do not run the full intake for a narrow copy correction.

Capture what is actually sold, how it is delivered, who it serves, the service area or market, and any stated price or eligibility constraints. Separate current capabilities from future plans.

Choose the buyer and buying situation

Describe a priority customer using needs, context, and buying behavior rather than an unsupported demographic stereotype. Identify the problem they recognize, the event that prompts action, and how they evaluate alternatives.

For a business sale, distinguish the daily user, advocate, decision maker, and payer when those roles change the message. For an owner-operated purchase, do not invent a complex buying committee.

Record who is not a suitable customer. Include operational limits that affect the promise, such as geography, scheduling, inventory, or available expertise.

Shape the offer

Explain the service or product in a plain sentence: who it helps, what it does, and the practical outcome it supports. Support the promise with concrete mechanisms and evidence.

Compare relevant alternatives fairly. A differentiator should explain something the buyer values, not merely label the business innovative or high quality. When evidence is incomplete, propose a claim that can be supported now and a research task for the stronger claim.

Identify the main objection, an honest response, and the next action. Avoid unsupported superiority, invented savings, and guaranteed growth.

Define the voice and proof

Capture preferred tone, customer vocabulary, necessary terminology, and language to avoid. Use actual customer phrases only when provided or sourced appropriately.

Create a proof inventory with the claim, supporting material, date, and permission to use it. Testimonials, photographs, customer names, and performance numbers require actual evidence and an appropriate use scope.

Deliver and maintain

Produce a brief containing offer, audience, buying situation, problem, alternatives, differentiation, objections, proof, voice, next action, goal, constraints, and unresolved questions. Use a version and dated change note for meaningful updates.

Check that the offer can be understood without internal jargon, the buyer can recognize themselves, and each important claim has support. Pass the same brief into strategy, copy, social, creative, video, and measurement.

04 Content strategy

Decide what content is worth producing and how the business will sustain it. Start from the saved business context, the requested goal, and actual production capacity.

Diagnose the content need

Identify where the customer journey needs help: discovery, understanding, trust, inquiry, purchase, or repeat business. Review relevant existing content and results when available. Do not assume that a missing format or a competitor's activity means the business needs it.

Collect recurring customer questions, objections, buying triggers, and search or discovery language. Prioritize evidence from the business over guesses about trends.

Choose themes and topics

Select a small set of themes that help the priority buyer make progress. For each proposed topic, state the customer question, business relevance, useful takeaway, proof available, and intended next action.

Balance explanatory content, demonstrations, answers to objections, and appropriate offers. Choose formats based on the information and audience, not on a requirement to post everywhere.

Rank topics using relevance to the goal, strength of evidence, ability to produce them, expected useful response, and effort. Describe uncertainty rather than assigning false precision to a score.

Build the cycle

Use the planning template. Specify the planning period, deliverables, quantities, channels, owners, due dates, source assets, review steps, and measurement. Fit the plan to the business's hours and budget.

Plan reuse deliberately. A substantial explanation can become a short post, a visual sequence, a customer answer, or a video script when each adaptation has its own purpose. Do not repeat identical material across channels without considering how people use them.

Include distribution and follow-up work in the schedule. Account for review time, editing, publishing, and responding to inquiries.

Connect the plan to the other workflows

Give copywriting a clear brief, social the channel and format choices, ad creative the selected hypotheses, and video the production requirements. Ask analytics to define the outcome and collection method before launch.

If a needed tool is absent, use an existing or manual route when feasible. A content plan does not require a new paid subscription by default.

Review and deliver

Deliver a prioritized plan, an initial calendar, and a short rationale for the main choices. Mark proposals and dependencies clearly.

At review time, compare useful customer actions, quality of response, effort, and sales feedback. Keep, change, or stop work based on the evidence and business goal. Avoid treating a short-lived reach spike as proof of revenue impact.

05 Copywriting

Help a suitable customer understand the offer and take an appropriate next step. Use the existing business context and the user's requested surface, audience, and purpose.

Define the writing job

Establish where the copy will appear, who will read it, their likely knowledge, the main message, and the desired action. Ask only for missing details that materially change the writing.

Read approved product facts, constraints, proof, and brand voice. Keep factual claims distinct from proposed wording. If an important claim lacks support, flag it and use accurate language that can be published.

Write around the reader

Lead with the problem or outcome relevant to this buyer. Explain what the business provides, how it helps, and what makes the offer credible. Translate features into specific benefits without inventing results.

Use clear nouns and active verbs. Make headings understandable on their own. Avoid filler, inflated promises, unexplained jargon, false urgency, and generic claims of leadership.

Address the strongest relevant objection with an honest answer. Show the practical next step, what happens afterward, and any cost or commitment the user has supplied.

Match the format

For a short post, focus on one useful idea and one next action. For a landing page, organize the promise, explanation, evidence, objections, and conversion action into a readable progression. For a service description, make scope and eligibility clear.

For a sequence of messages, give each message a distinct role. Do not repeat the same claim merely to fill space. Customer outreach is a separate action from drafting it.

Use the copy review guide for alternate structures and checks.

Offer meaningful alternatives

When variations are useful, vary the angle or level of detail while keeping the facts stable. Explain which audience or situation each version suits. Avoid a large collection of trivial word swaps.

Identify facts that require owner review, such as prices, availability, testimonials, eligibility, and promised turnaround. Do not insert fictitious contact details or customer identities as if they were real.

Deliver

Provide finished copy with clear labels for the intended placement. Include a concise note about the main creative choice and any unresolved factual dependency.

Check readability, claim support, voice, spelling, and alignment between the message and the destination. Save the requested artifact when possible. Publish or send it only within the user's actual authorization.

06 Social content

Turn the business's message into useful channel-appropriate content. Read the business context and content plan before asking for information already captured.

Select the job and channel

Clarify whether the task is planning, drafting, adapting existing content, reviewing performance, or publishing. Use the channels the business selected. Recommend a new channel only when the audience, format, and available effort support it.

Before final production, verify changing platform limits, account capabilities, and media specifications through current official guidance or the connected tool. Avoid relying on a static list of character counts.

Develop the posts

Give each post an audience, purpose, central idea, source or proof, format, and next action. Use relevant customer questions and genuine business knowledge.

For a short text post, open with a clear reason to keep reading and deliver the promised point. For a visual sequence, plan a logical slide progression and a readable conclusion. For a short video, coordinate a strong opening, useful demonstration, captions, and a clear close.

Adapt source material for each selected channel. Keep claims consistent while changing length, framing, and visual treatment to fit the context. Include accessible text alternatives where supported.

Build a manageable publishing routine

Use the content calendar. Include draft status, owner, review deadline, publication time zone, target account, media location, destination, and measurement tag when relevant.

Account for the time required to answer legitimate questions and follow up on inquiries. Do not generate fake engagement, impersonate customers, or turn a scripted interaction into an apparently real endorsement.

Prepare and execute

Check the selected account, link destination, asset version, captions, spelling, and approval status before a scheduled action. A draft or scheduling test can have external effects; use only the action authorized by the user.

With a connected publishing tool and valid authority, perform the requested action and verify the resulting draft, schedule, or published item. Without those capabilities, deliver the calendar and assets with precise manual steps. Do not claim publication from preparation alone.

Learn from the results

Compare useful responses, qualified inquiries, destination visits, and customer feedback alongside reach or engagement. Different content has different jobs; judge it against its intended purpose.

Record the date range, source, limitations, and next content decision. Coordinate with analytics when attribution or conversion definitions are unclear.

07 Ad creative

Create messages and media concepts that test a relevant reason to choose the business. Creative development does not itself authorize media spend or campaign launch.

Establish the brief

Read the audience, offer, conversion action, evidence, budget, and production constraints. Identify the campaign stage and what the buyer needs to understand next.

If performance data exists, inspect useful outcomes and the quality of traffic or inquiries. Do not optimize creative around a high click rate when the destination or offer produces poor-fit leads.

Build a concept set

Use the creative brief. Give each concept a buyer insight, message, proof, visual direction, headline or opening, and call to action.

Make the concepts meaningfully different: for example, explain the process, demonstrate the result, address a common objection, or show an actual use case. Choose only formats the business can produce responsibly and affordably.

Use approved assets and facts. A dramatized scenario must not masquerade as a real testimonial or measured result. Do not create misleading depictions of an interface, endorsement, competitor, or customer conversation.

Plan variations and production

State the hypothesis for each variation and what changes between versions. Hold unrelated elements stable when the goal is to learn about one element. When several elements change, explain that results cannot isolate a single cause.

Specify dimensions or duration after checking the intended placement's current requirements. Include source material, script or copy, accessibility needs, editing instructions, and the intended destination.

Use the video workflow for moving media and copywriting for message refinement. Tool selection should follow the accepted stack and spending authority.

Review the creative

Assess message clarity, offer accuracy, evidence, readability, visual hierarchy, destination consistency, and suitability for the audience. Check applicable placement rules before use.

Present concepts in a Markdown review sheet with a clear identifier, rationale, draft, dependencies, and decision status. This package does not require a browser template or executable review app.

Handoff and learn

Deliver the approved production brief and a measurement hypothesis. Keep production, publication, and paid campaign management distinct in the scope.

After a valid test, compare relevant customer outcomes, cost, and sales feedback using the agreed measurement plan. Report uncertainty and material differences in delivery. Do not declare a winner from an arbitrary number of impressions.

08 Video production

Produce or plan a video that communicates one useful message to the intended customer. Read the business context and requested deliverable before choosing a production method.

Choose an achievable approach

Identify the audience, purpose, duration range, placement, next action, source assets, budget, and deadline. Determine whether existing footage, a simple screen demonstration, original recording, generated media, or a combination best meets the need.

Do not assume that video generation or a paid editor is necessary. Use the business's existing tools when they can achieve the required result.

Develop the script and storyboard

Use the production worksheet. Map each segment to its spoken or written message, visual, duration, and purpose. Show the useful content early and make the ending fit the intended customer action.

Write for speech when narration is used. Keep screen text brief enough to read. Mark required product facts and the evidence behind claims.

A reference video can inform pace or structure without copying its protected footage, narration, music, or identity. Describe the editing approach in generic terms.

Generate or record responsibly

Prepare a generation brief with subject, action, setting, composition, motion, style, duration, and constraints. Identify what must remain consistent across shots. Check the selected service's current supported controls and credit cost.

Use source assets within their permitted scope. Do not invent a customer's endorsement or clone a person's appearance or voice without suitable authorization. Clearly label illustrative media where it could be mistaken for evidence of a real result.

Before a billable operation, use the established spending authority and limit. If the result is uncertain, inspect job status before repeating it and potentially paying again.

Edit and verify

Check pacing, continuity, intelligibility, caption accuracy, contrast, safe text placement, source rights, and the final call to action. Verify the placement's current aspect ratio, length, export, and audio requirements.

Review the actual exported media when access is available. A script or render command is not proof that the final clip looks or sounds right. If review is unavailable, identify that limitation and give the owner a concrete check.

Deliver

Provide the finished media when creation was possible, plus the requested script or edit notes. Otherwise provide a complete production handoff with assets, sequence, captions, and export instructions.

Record tool usage and cost where relevant. Keep publishing separate from export unless the user authorized both. Use measured response and sales feedback to guide the next version.

09 Marketing analytics

Connect marketing activity to useful customer actions and business decisions. Start with the objective and what the business can actually observe.

Define the measurement question

Read the business goal, conversion action, sales process, and timeframe. Identify the decision the report should inform. Separate reach, engagement, inquiries, qualified opportunities, customers, and repeat business.

Define terms before calculating. A click is not an inquiry, an inquiry is not a qualified opportunity, and booked revenue is not cash or profit. Record how the business identifies a suitable lead and a completed sale.

Inspect the available data

Use authorized reports, exports, website events, or sales records. Record source, coverage dates, time zone, currency, filters, and access limits. Check missing values, duplicates, changed definitions, and test activity.

If the business has no website, use an appropriate booking, platform, or manual inquiry record. Do not require a website analytics product merely to track a non-website journey.

Plan collection

Use the measurement worksheet. Name the meaningful event, trigger, source, owner, and verification method. Add campaign tags where supported and document their meaning.

Review an existing implementation before proposing tag changes. Check the real event flow when changes are authorized. A reporting connection does not prove that the website records the right action.

Avoid placing private customer data or credentials in event parameters, tracking links, or shared reports. Apply requirements relevant to the actual business and location rather than inventing a universal compliance checklist.

Analyze and explain

Calculate ratios with explicit numerators and denominators. Use comparable time windows and describe missing or small samples. Distinguish an observed association from evidence of a causal change.

When presenting a growth scenario, label its assumptions and show the calculation. Do not reuse another business's sales values, margins, or conversion rates as a forecast.

For return calculations, state which costs and revenue are included and how revenue was attributed. Avoid a precise return claim when attribution or costs are incomplete.

Recommend a decision

Report what happened, the strongest explanation supported by evidence, reasonable alternatives, and what to do next. Tie recommendations to the business's workload, budget, and customer quality.

Deliver a concise scorecard with the date range, goal, key measures, data quality limitations, and a specific next action. Preserve the source records or reproducible calculation where practical. Do not manufacture success to justify the plan.

10 Creative brief and review sheet

Use plain Markdown so concepts can be reviewed in any LLM or document editor.

Campaign context

Record audience, buying situation, offer, conversion action, destination, evidence, production budget, selected placement, and delivery date.

Concept record

For each concept provide:

• A short neutral identifier.
• The customer insight and message hypothesis.
• Main claim and its supporting evidence.
• Headline or opening and proposed body copy.
• Visual or video direction.
• Call to action and destination.
• Assets, format requirements, production effort, and dependencies.
• Review status and the reason for the decision.

A generic concept can explain the process, show a real use case, answer an objection, or demonstrate an actual benefit. Its suitability depends on the buyer and evidence.

Variation record

State exactly what changes and what remains stable. Explain the learning goal. If several elements change, interpret results as a concept comparison rather than proof about one isolated element.

Decision record

Use keep, revise, defer, or reject with a concise reason. Separate factual corrections, brand preferences, production feasibility, and test priorities.

Before publication, verify final facts, source rights, readability, media specifications, destination behavior, and authorization. Creative approval is not automatically approval for media spending.

11 Measurement worksheet

Objective and definitions

State the business question, time window, desired outcome, and relevant definitions. Identify which stage is being measured: exposure, visit, inquiry, qualified opportunity, customer, or repeat purchase.

Collection plan

Use meaningful actions. Distinguish a successful submission from merely opening a form, and a confirmed booking from opening a scheduling page.

Data quality review

Check date ranges, time zones, currency, duplicate records, test events, missing sources, attribution windows, and changes in definitions. Keep separate counts for materially different journeys.

Useful calculations

• Inquiry conversion rate = inquiries divided by relevant visits, using a defined period and matching population.
• Qualification rate = qualified inquiries divided by total inquiries.
• Win rate = customers won divided by the defined set of qualified opportunities.
• Cost per qualified inquiry = included acquisition costs divided by qualified inquiries.
• A planning scenario may multiply visits, inquiry rate, qualification rate, win rate, and average contract value, provided all inputs and limitations are explicit.

Do not calculate a percentage when its denominator is zero or unavailable. Do not mix currencies or time periods without a valid conversion or reconciliation.

Scorecard

Include source and extraction date. Explain what changed without overstating why it changed. A marketing touchpoint associated with a sale is not by itself proof that the touchpoint caused the sale.

Follow-up experiment

Name the decision, proposed change, audience, observation period, success measure, cost or effort limit, and conditions for stopping. Agree on these before interpreting results.

12 Content planning template

Use this structure in marketing-plan.md or the business's existing planning system.

Planning decision

State the business objective, target customer, main offer, conversion action, planning period, baseline or baseline task, and review date.

Theme selection

Fill only the themes that the business can support. A theme should lead to specific useful topics rather than a category so broad that anything fits.

Deliverable plan

Add quantities and review time. Record dependencies such as a needed photograph, product demonstration, or factual approval.

Reuse plan

For each main asset, identify which smaller pieces can stand alone and what must change for their audience or placement. Keep the underlying claims consistent. Do not force every asset into every format.

Distribution and follow-up

Specify draft review, publication authority, intended account, destination, and who responds to inquiries. Include any relevant campaign tagging and a method for recording sales feedback.

Review decision

Choose a small set of useful measures for each item's purpose. State what evidence would support continuing, revising, or stopping the approach. Use qualitative customer feedback when quantitative data is insufficient.

13 Copy review guide

Choose a structure that fits the message, rather than making every piece use the same formula.

Short explanation

1. State the customer's relevant question or concern.
2. Give a useful direct answer.
3. Explain the offer or mechanism in concrete terms.
4. Add the best available evidence.
5. Provide a clear next action.

Service page

Explain who the service is for, what is included, how it works, what the customer needs to provide, and how to inquire. Include eligibility, limitations, and pricing only when those facts are supplied or verified.

Demonstration or proof story

Describe the real starting situation, the action taken, and the documented outcome. Identify relevant conditions. Do not imply that one customer's experience guarantees another's result.

Review questions

• Can the intended reader identify the offer quickly?
• Is the benefit concrete and supported?
• Do the opening and the rest of the piece make the same promise?
• Does each section add useful information?
• Are objections answered honestly?
• Is the next action specific, and does the destination match?
• Are prices, dates, availability, and claims verified?
• Is the copy readable and consistent with the business voice?

Separate required factual fixes from optional style preferences. Offer alternatives that change a meaningful angle or reader benefit.

14 Business records

These are neutral output structures. Fill them only with information supplied, verified, or explicitly accepted for the current business. Store them in the business workspace or provide them as downloadable Markdown.

business-context.md

Include:

• Version, update date, and short change history.
• Business offer, delivery model, priority products or services, and relevant scope.
• Best-fit customer, buying situation, geography where relevant, and poor-fit cases.
• Customer problem, existing alternatives, and supported differentiation.
• Key objections and honest responses.
• Brand voice, preferred vocabulary, and language to avoid.
• Proof inventory: claim, evidence, date, and permitted use.
• Primary conversion action, goal, timeframe, baseline, and capacity.
• Confirmed decisions, proposals, assumptions, and unknowns.

Preserve previous facts unless evidence or the user changes them. Do not replace an existing brief with an empty template. Keep client records separate when one operator serves several businesses.

marketing-plan.md

Include:

• Objective and the decision the first cycle should inform.
• Priority audience, offer, message, and next action.
• Chosen channels and content themes.
• Deliverables, formats, quantities, source assets, owners, and timing.
• Draft review, publishing, lead follow-up, and measurement responsibilities.
• Budget categories, resource constraints, dependencies, and review date.

Select a planning period appropriate to the owner's workload. A short learning cycle is a reasonable proposal when no timeframe is given.

setup-status.md

Record the selected host environment, the business workspace, package location, agreed installation scope, verified destination, and relevant existing skills.

For each file installation, distinguish prepared, copied, and discovered. Record conflicts and any approved backup locations. Do not embed an account secret or machine-specific path in the reusable package; private setup records may include the actual local destination when useful.

For each selected tool, record:

• Purpose and reason it is needed.
• Existing subscription or current pricing evidence.
• Installation, configuration, authentication, and verification states.
• Actual operation tested and its result.
• Owner action or blocker, if any.
• Next step and who will perform it.

Document the user's actual authorization and its limits. Technical access is not a substitute for a decision about purchases or publication. Preserve later corrections.

Costs

Show recurring subscriptions, one-time expenses, service labor, advertising, and usage credits separately. State currency, billing cadence, seats, channels, and known taxes or overages. Distinguish total annual cost from additional spending beyond current commitments.

Do not quote old example prices as current. If a cost is unknown, say so and identify where it will be checked. An annualized monthly price is not the same commitment as a prepaid annual plan.

No file access

Provide complete copyable Markdown or use the host's supported downloadable artifact feature. State that the records are prepared for the user to save. Include a short resume prompt naming the records and the next incomplete step.

15 Installation and manual use

The same instructions can be used as plain text, an uploaded playbook, project knowledge, or discoverable skills. Choose the route actually supported by the user's AI application.

Inspect before choosing a destination

Determine whether this session can read files, write files, access persistent knowledge, discover skills, browse current documentation, or install integrations. Confirm whether it is running locally or in a hosted environment.

Inspect supported skill roots through the host's configuration or current official guidance. Do not assume that a folder name works across products. Ask for the preferred project or personal scope if it is still unresolved.

If the host has no discoverable skills mechanism, use the combined playbook as an attachment or pasted instructions. Do not make skill installation a barrier to starting useful planning.

Prepare the installation plan

Locate the source package and list its eight folders:

• small-business-marketing-intake
• product-marketing
• content-strategy
• copywriting
• social
• ad-creative
• video
• analytics

For a compatible host, each folder must retain its SKILL.md and local references. Copy complete folders to the verified root. Do not flatten identically named entrypoints into one directory.

Show the exact target, scope, affected files, conflicts, and selected tool setup steps before requesting any missing authorization. If that plan is already authorized, proceed within its limits.

If only the combined playbook is available, reconstruct eight self-contained SKILL.md files from its eight workflow sections. Include each workflow's referenced guide sections inline, add the listed skill name and a concise description as frontmatter, and change section links to matching local headings. Check that no required guidance was omitted. Label these as reconstructed copies, rather than claiming a byte-identical folder installation. Prepare them as downloadable Markdown when direct writing is unavailable.

Preserve existing work

Compare existing files first. Leave identical files in place. Copy missing folders when permitted. When a same-named skill differs, preserve it and resolve whether to keep it or perform an explicitly authorized backed-up update.

For an approved replacement, keep the backup outside active skill discovery, record its location, and change only the selected skill. Check resolved paths before moving or replacing folders. Reject unexpected path traversal or symlink redirection.

Do not remove unrelated configuration or replace the host's instruction files without a specific reason and authorization. An optional compatibility pointer may be merged into an existing instruction file only when that edit is within scope.

Verify the result

Check each entrypoint, name, supporting reference, and copied byte content. Then confirm discovery through the host's actual skill list, selector, or a documented equivalent. If refresh or a new session is needed, record that state.

A copied file is not yet a verified discovered skill. A skill is not an installed tool, and an installed connector is not authenticated account access.

If the host accepts individual skill uploads, follow its current archive layout and upload process. If it only accepts documents, provide the combined playbook or the requested individual workflow.

Configure tools after the brief

Choose tools by the agreed capabilities and budget. Use existing first-party connectors or official installation sources. Verify the publisher and the host-supported route rather than inventing identifiers or commands.

Automatically perform authorized installation and configuration where available. Use the host's real permission mechanism when needed. Guide the owner through authentication or administrator actions that require them.

Do not buy a plan, spend credits, publish a post, send outreach, or change a live campaign merely to prove connectivity unless that action is separately within the user's authority. Start verification with an appropriate low-impact read operation.

Record success, limitations, and next steps. After a failure, inspect the cause and change the relevant condition before retrying; avoid repeated billable attempts. Continue independent setup while an owner step is pending.

16 Interview map

Use the next question to resolve the most important missing decision. Do not present the whole map as a questionnaire. A good answer may resolve several items.

Offer and audience

Learn what is sold, how it is delivered, and which customers are the best fit. Find the problem or buying event that makes the offer relevant. Ask about geography, eligibility, or delivery limits only when they affect marketing.

If the audience is too broad, recommend selecting the segment with a clear need, credible proof, and capacity to serve it. For business customers, ask who influences and approves the purchase when that changes the message.

Goal and timeframe

Ask what outcome would make the effort worthwhile. Translate broad growth language into an observable objective: suitable inquiries, consultations, orders, repeat business, or another relevant action.

Ask for an existing baseline if available. If none exists, plan to collect one. Label a requested target as a target, not as a prediction.

Offer credibility and voice

Identify actual results, process details, approved photographs, reviews, demonstrations, and expertise that can support the message. Record permission to use sensitive or customer-owned material.

Find the language customers use and the tone the business wants. A lack of proof should produce an honest explanation or a plan to obtain evidence, not a fabricated testimonial.

Capacity and money

Establish owner hours, review availability, production resources, and the ability to fulfill new demand. Ask which recurring subscriptions already exist.

Separate software commitments, service labor, advertising, and generation credits. Record currency, billing period, budget limits, and who can approve a purchase. Ask about a maximum commitment before recommending an annual purchase.

If budget or time is tight, propose a small routine using existing tools. Do not treat a large stack as a prerequisite for useful marketing.

Conversion and responsibility

Identify the next action a prospect should take, its destination, the person who responds, and how an inquiry becomes a customer. Check whether the business can handle the intended volume.

Determine who supplies facts, approves drafts, publishes, and records results. Keep a named role or owner in the private business record; do not put the customer's identity into the reusable package.

Channel and content choices

Find where suitable customers already encounter the business and what content has useful evidence behind it. Select a manageable combination of themes and formats.

Agree on the first cycle's output, source material, cadence, review date, and measurement. There is no fixed minimum number of channels or posts.

Setup decisions

Identify the AI application, device, local or hosted environment, desired installation scope, and available tools. Inspect visible capabilities before making the owner describe them.

Distinguish permission to save documents, install files, configure selected integrations, purchase subscriptions, spend credits, and publish. Use existing authorization instead of asking for it again.

Completion condition

The intake is ready to move forward when the audience, offer, goal, next action, workload, owner, budget, and first deliverables can be stated. Keep nonessential unknowns in the record and continue. Resume unresolved setup from the recorded next step.

17 Optional tools and plugins

These names identify optional marketing tools, not a required AI provider or a mandatory shopping list. Use the customer's existing tools when they meet the brief. Read current official guidance before installation, pricing, or account changes.

Design

Canva can be used through its editor or an available official AI connection. Reuse an existing paid account rather than treating the package as a reason to buy another subscription. Confirm that the required feature is available in that account.

Official resource: Canva connection guide.

Generation

Higgsfield is an optional route for image and video generation and other media capabilities supported by the selected connection. Confirm current subscription requirements and costs. Its agent-based generation uses credits; do not assume web unlimited allowances apply to automated generation.

Verify with a read operation first. Use the established budget and authorization for any generated sample. If the owner has no suitable plan or does not want additional spending, use existing footage or defer generation.

Official resources: Higgsfield agent setup and credit behavior.

Editing

CapCut is one option for editing, captions, and export. Use the appropriate officially distributed editor. Do not assume an agent connector exists in the current host.

A manual handoff can contain the script, source footage, segment order, caption text, and export requirements. Confirm any needed premium features before choosing a paid tier.

Official resource: CapCut.

Publishing

Buffer is one option for drafting, scheduling, and reviewing selected social accounts. Use its supported connection route and the intended business accounts.

Read access is an appropriate first check. Do not schedule a sample post as a harmless connectivity test; it can later become public. Draft creation also needs the relevant authority.

Official resource: Buffer connection guide.

Shared work

Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Drive can hold briefs, calendars, assets, and scorecards. Existing document tools are equally acceptable. A paid business administration suite is a separate purchasing choice.

Use the chosen AI host's official connector catalog or the service's own sharing workflow. Confirm the intended account and file access. Do not grant broader access than the selected work needs.

Measurement

Google Analytics 4 can support website measurement. It is unnecessary for a business workflow with no website-based conversion. Existing reports or manual inquiry records may be more suitable.

Access to reports and correct event collection are separate checks. Inspect existing setup before changing tracking, and verify actual events when changes are authorized.

Official resources: Analytics connection guide and measurement setup.

Selection and handoff

Record what is needed now, what is already available, what is deferred, and what the owner must do. Name the operation actually verified. Current prices, seat limits, and usage charges must be checked for that customer's plan.

A tool name in this guide does not prove it is installed, connected, licensed, or authorized for use.

18 Social calendar

Use the business's existing calendar when available. Otherwise create content-calendar.md with the fields needed to publish accurately.

Suggested states: planned, in production, ready for review, approved, scheduled, published, and deferred. Record evidence of scheduling or publication when performed.

Post brief

For each item, capture the intended buyer, useful takeaway, opening, supporting facts, source media, next action, and any tracking label. Keep visual text readable and provide captions or text alternatives when appropriate.

Review before action

Confirm the target account, final asset version, spelling, link destination, time zone, factual approval, and action authority. Verify current placement requirements if the format depends on them.

Response routine

Assign an owner for genuine questions and sales inquiries. Record the intended response process. Do not invent audience reactions, seed fake endorsements, or send unsolicited customer messages merely because the calendar exists.

Review after publication

Compare the result with the item's intended job. Record useful customer responses and any follow-up outcome as well as available engagement data. Note missing data and avoid implying that reach alone proves customer growth.

19 Video production worksheet

Brief

Record intended viewer, purpose, message, next action, placement, target duration, budget, deadline, source media, and review owner.

Segment plan

Use as many segments as the message needs. Do not add filler to reach a preset length. Make the main value understandable early.

Generation brief

When generation is selected, specify subject, action, setting, composition, motion, visual style, duration, continuity needs, reference assets, and exclusions. Use controls actually supported by the chosen tool.

Record expected credit use when known, the spending limit, and the authorized operation. Check existing job status before repeating a possibly successful request.

Editing plan

Identify the sequence, cuts, transitions, captions, voice or sound, emphasis, and final action. Use music and footage within their permitted scope. Give a manual editor enough information to complete the piece without guessing the business facts.

Final review

Check the exported clip's pacing, visual continuity, audio clarity, caption accuracy, contrast, text placement, factual claims, and call to action. Confirm current placement requirements and that the file opens correctly.

If direct review is unavailable, list those unverified checks for the owner. Do not describe a planned or partially rendered clip as a completed deliverable.