# Newsletter creation curation Human Guide

## What This Is For
Use this skill to create B2B newsletters that match business context, not generic content templates. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for email marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Newsletter creation curation agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for newsletter creation curation.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Newsletter creation curation guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- [ ] **Company context:** What product/service? Who is the ICP?
- [ ] **Newsletter goal:** Lead gen / thought leadership / personal brand / category ownership
- [ ] **Industry vertical:** Sales Tech / HR Tech / Fintech / Operations Tech
- [ ] **Company stage:** Series A / Series B / Series C+
- [ ] **Role:** Founder / VP-Director / PMM-Content / Enterprise employee
- [ ] **Geography:** US-first / India-first
- [ ] **Prior issues:** Any existing issues to maintain consistency and voice?
- [ ] **Approval constraints:** Does this need legal/brand/manager review?
- **Template match:** Which industry template best fits? (Sales Tech = data-heavy; HR Tech = research-led; Fintech = compliance-aware; Ops Tech = practical)
- **Cadence match:** Series A = weekly/bi-weekly for simplicity; Series B = weekly with process; Series C+ = media-grade weekly with pillars
- **Role constraints:** Founder = direct POV allowed; Employee = approval checkpoint required before final draft
- **Geography adjustments:** India-first = IST timing + local examples; US-first = EST/PST + US benchmarks

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Mode, Context Loading Gates, Phase 1: Context Analysis, Phase 2: Issue Blueprint, Issue Blueprint, Phase 3: Full Issue Draft, Subject Line Options (3 required), Hook, Core Insight, Actionable Playbook.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Role constraints:** Founder = direct POV allowed; Employee = approval checkpoint required before final draft
- **Approval required:** [yes/no — who]
- Generate complete publish-ready draft. Required structure — every issue:
- Subject Line Options (3 required)
- First 2 sentences must earn the read
- Each step must be implementable, not just conceptual
- Never use vague CTAs ("Learn more")
- Phase 5: Self-Critique Pass (REQUIRED)

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Newsletter creation curation human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the brianrwagner/ai-marketing-claude-code-skills skill entry for `newsletter-creation-curation`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Newsletter Creation & Curation Skill

Use this skill to create B2B newsletters that match business context, not generic content templates.

Deep strategic guidance is in `PLAYBOOK.md`.
Use this file as the executable operating manual.

---

## Mode

Detect from context or ask: *"Outline only, full edition, or full edition + calendar?"*

| Mode | What you get | Best for |
|------|-------------|----------|
| `quick` | Edition outline + 3 lead story angles, no writing | Planning, editorial direction |
| `standard` | Full newsletter edition, all sections written | Publishing this week |
| `deep` | Full edition + 4-week content calendar + audience segmentation recommendations | Launching or systematizing a newsletter |

**Default: `standard`** — use `quick` if they're still deciding what to write. Use `deep` if they're building a newsletter from scratch or scaling.

---

## Context Loading Gates

**Before generating any newsletter content, collect:**

- [ ] **Company context:** What product/service? Who is the ICP?
- [ ] **Newsletter goal:** Lead gen / thought leadership / personal brand / category ownership
- [ ] **Industry vertical:** Sales Tech / HR Tech / Fintech / Operations Tech
- [ ] **Company stage:** Series A / Series B / Series C+
- [ ] **Role:** Founder / VP-Director / PMM-Content / Enterprise employee
- [ ] **Geography:** US-first / India-first
- [ ] **Prior issues:** Any existing issues to maintain consistency and voice?
- [ ] **Approval constraints:** Does this need legal/brand/manager review?

**Structured intake — answer all 5 dimensions before proceeding:**

```
Goal: [lead_gen | thought_leadership | personal_brand | category_ownership]
Industry: [sales_tech | hr_tech | fintech | ops_tech]
Stage: [series_a | series_b | series_c_plus]
Role: [founder | vp_director | pmm_content | enterprise_employee]
Geography: [us_first | india_first]
```

---

## Phase 1: Context Analysis

Before drafting, reason through:

1. **Template match:** Which industry template best fits? (Sales Tech = data-heavy; HR Tech = research-led; Fintech = compliance-aware; Ops Tech = practical)
2. **Cadence match:** Series A = weekly/bi-weekly for simplicity; Series B = weekly with process; Series C+ = media-grade weekly with pillars
3. **Role constraints:** Founder = direct POV allowed; Employee = approval checkpoint required before final draft
4. **Geography adjustments:** India-first = IST timing + local examples; US-first = EST/PST + US benchmarks
5. **Goal-content alignment:** Lead gen needs a clear conversion CTA; thought leadership needs original insight, not general content

Output one-line strategy statement:
> `For [ICP], we publish [cadence] to achieve [goal] with [format].`

---

## Phase 2: Issue Blueprint

Before writing full draft, produce an issue blueprint:

```markdown
## Issue Blueprint

**Strategy:** For [ICP], [cadence] to achieve [goal].
**Industry tone:** [tactical/research-led/compliance-aware/practical]
**Approval required:** [yes/no — who]

**Sections:**
1. Subject lines (3 options) — [~words each]
2. Hook — [target ~75 words]
3. Core insight — [target ~200 words]
4. Actionable playbook — [target ~150 words, 3-5 steps]
5. CTA — [1 sentence, singular action]