# Brand intake Human Guide

## What This Is For
This does two things in sequence: 1. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for brand and messaging: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Brand intake 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 brand intake.
- 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 Brand intake 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
- **Interviews** the user to collect essential seed information about the brand
- **Researches** the brand using that information to build a comprehensive brand context document
- What's the brand website URL?
- What product(s) are you running paid ads for? If multiple, list them. If all, say "all".
- Is there a specific product or product line you want this context document to focus on, or should it cover the full brand?
- What do you know about this brand and its audience that is important to use in your workflow? (e.g. Age, gender, lifestyle, pain points, values.)
- Do you know who their main competitors are?
- Are there any brand constraints you're already aware of? (e.g., can't make health claims, family-friendly tone, sensitive topic, regulated category)
- Do you have any existing creative or messaging you've already seen from this brand that you want to keep in mind?
- How did the brand start? What problem did the founder set out to solve?
- Is there a founder story or mission that drives the brand's identity?
- How long have they been around? Are they a startup, scaling, or established?

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: PHASE 1: INTAKE INTERVIEW, Questions to Ask, After the User Answers, PHASE 2: RESEARCH, Research Checklist, Brand Story & Origin, Full Product Catalog, Product Differentiation & Unique Mechanism, Competitors, The Alternative Solution.

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
- Before researching anything, ask the user the following questions. Ask them **all at once** in a single message — do not drip them one by one. Group them clearly so the user can answer quickly.
- What do you know about this brand and its audience that is important to use in your workflow? (e.g. Age, gender, lifestyle, pain points, values.)
- What does this brand do that competitors don't (or vice versa)?
- Are there notable patterns — vocabulary they use, things they avoid, emotional register?
- 9. Must-Know Strategic Context
- [Adjectives. Patterns. Examples of actual copy that demonstrate the voice. What they avoid.]
- Must-Know Strategic Context
- [Anything else a creative strategist must know before writing creative. Bullets OK here.]

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Brand intake 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 motion-team/creative-strategy-skills skill entry for `brand-intake`.

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

# Brand Intake

This does two things in sequence:
1. **Interviews** the user to collect essential seed information about the brand
2. **Researches** the brand using that information to build a comprehensive brand context document

The output is a structured markdown file (`brand-context.md`) that all downstream modules — Creative Strategy Engine, Hook Writing, Creative Mechanics — can reference as the foundational context layer.

---

## PHASE 1: INTAKE INTERVIEW

Before researching anything, ask the user the following questions. Ask them **all at once** in a single message — do not drip them one by one. Group them clearly so the user can answer quickly.

### Questions to Ask

**Brand basics:**
1. What's the brand name?
2. What's the brand website URL?
2. What product(s) are you running paid ads for? If multiple, list them. If all, say "all".
3. Is there a specific product or product line you want this context document to focus on, or should it cover the full brand?

**What you already know:**
4. What do you know about this brand and its audience that is important to use in your workflow? (e.g. Age, gender, lifestyle, pain points, values.)
5. Do you know who their main competitors are?
6. Are there any brand constraints you're already aware of? (e.g., can't make health claims, family-friendly tone, sensitive topic, regulated category)

**Creative context:**
7. Do you have any existing creative or messaging you've already seen from this brand that you want to keep in mind?

---

### After the User Answers

Once you have their answers, confirm before proceeding:

> "Got it — I'll use this as my starting point and go research the rest. I'll come back with a full brand context doc. Give me a moment."

Then proceed to Phase 2.

---

## PHASE 2: RESEARCH

Using the brand name and URL provided, conduct web research to fill out the full brand context document. Use the `web_search` and `web_fetch` tools.

### Research Checklist

Work through each of these areas. For each one, gather what you can from the brand's website, ad library, reviews, press, and competitor sites.

#### 1. Brand Story & Origin
- How did the brand start? What problem did the founder set out to solve?
- Is there a founder story or mission that drives the brand's identity?
- How long have they been around? Are they a startup, scaling, or established?

**Research approach:** Fetch the About page. Search "[brand name] founder story" and "[brand name] how it started."

#### 2. Full Product Catalog
- What products do they sell?
- What are the key SKUs or product lines?
- How are products differentiated from each other (size, use case, formulation, audience)?
- What is the hero product or primary revenue driver (if identifiable)?
- Does the brand offer any bundles?

**Research approach:** Fetch the product/shop pages. Look at site navigation.

#### 3. Product Differentiation & Unique Mechanism
- What makes their product(s) different from alternatives?
- Is there a proprietary ingredient, format, technology, or method?
- How do they explain their point of difference on their website?
- What claims do they make and how do they support them?

**Research approach:** Fetch product detail pages and any "How it works" or FAQ pages. Look for any clinical claims, certifications, or patent language.

#### 4. Competitors
- Who are the 3–5 closest competitors?
- How do competitors position themselves vs. this brand?
- What does this brand do that competitors don't (or vice versa)?

**Research approach:** Search "[brand name] vs [competitor]", "[product category] alternatives", and "[brand name] competitors." Also check if the brand calls out competitors directly in their messaging.