20-client-intake-brief-global

Client Intake Brief (Global, Generic)

Role of this skill: This is the input gate for every marketing engagement.

Other "brief" skills are produced by the agency for internal teams or vendors:

• 02-campaign-brief-global — agency drafts for execution team
• 06-ugc-egc-brief-global — agency drafts for creators
• 12-landing-page-brief-global — agency drafts for designers/devs

This skill is different — it is the document the client fills in for the agency so the agency has structured input to plan from.

Note on industry variants: v2.5 ships a single generic English template. Industry-specific variants (SaaS, DTC, healthcare, real estate, etc.) may be added in v2.6+ based on demand. The generic template is designed to work across categories — agencies should add 1–2 industry-specific questions in Section B and Section I as needed.

For Newbies

A bad intake produces a bad plan. Most agency-client relationships fail in the first 30 days because the agency built a strategy on assumptions instead of facts.

This brief is your insurance policy. It forces the client to write down what they often only carry in their head — their actual customer, their real budget, what success means to them, what they've already tried, what's off-limits.

Two failure modes to avoid:

1. Brief is too short — agency starts work with 5 lines of context, makes wrong assumptions, three rounds of revisions follow.
2. Brief is too long — client abandons it halfway, fills the rest with "TBD," agency starts work blind anyway.

The 11-section template below is the minimum viable intake — designed to be completable in 30–45 minutes by a non-marketer founder.

When to Use This Skill

Step 0 — Read Context

Read .agents/product-marketing-context-global.md if it exists. The agency may already have brand-voice or template preferences captured.

Step 1 — Information Gathering

Ask the agency lead up to 4 questions:

1. What is the client's industry? (SaaS, DTC ecommerce, healthcare, education, real estate, professional services, etc.) — used to tailor Section B and I
2. Client size? (Solo founder / SMB / Mid-market / Enterprise / Agency-of-record relationship)
3. Project type? (Launch / Re-launch / Scale / Long-term retainer / Single campaign)
4. Delivery format? (Fillable .md sent by email / Notion doc / Google Form / Typeform / printed in-person)

The 11-Section Intake Template

Designed to flow from easy (basics) to hard (strategic decisions), so the client builds momentum.

A. Business Overview

The "who are you" section. Quick to fill, builds confidence.

• A1. Legal company name (and trading name if different)
• A2. Year founded
• A3. Founder(s) and key leadership — name, role, LinkedIn
• A4. One-sentence description of what you do
• A5. Annual revenue range — checkbox: pre-revenue / <$100K / $100K–$500K / $500K–$2M / $2M–$10M / $10M+ / prefer not to say
• A6. Geographic markets served (current)
• A7. Geographic markets you want to reach (future)
• A8. Mission / brand philosophy (2–3 lines)
• A9. Tagline or brand promise (if you have one)

B. Products & Services

The "what you sell" section. The most industry-specific section — adapt sub-questions to the client's category.

• B1. Core products/services/packages — table: name | description | price (or range)
• B2. Best-selling product/service and approximate % of revenue
• B3. New products/services launching in next 6 months
• B4. What problem does your offering solve?
• B5. Top 3 USPs — what makes you different from competitors
• B6. Premium / mid-market / value pricing tier — and why
• B7. Bundle / upsell / cross-sell opportunities

C. Target Audience

The "who buys" section. Critical for downstream insight work.

• C1. Ideal customer in 2–3 sentences
• C2. Demographics — age range, gender split, income / company size, location, occupation / industry, education (if relevant)
• C3. Psychographics — what they care about, fear, aspire to
• C4. Buying behavior — discovery channels, decision cycle length, who else is involved, where they research
• C5. Existing personas: detailed (please attach) / rough idea (described) / none yet (agency to build)
• C6. Customer reviews / testimonials we should see — links or attachments

D. Competitive Landscape & Positioning

• D1. Top 3 direct competitors — table: name | website | what they do well | what they do poorly
• D2. Top 2 indirect competitors (different offering, same audience)
• D3. Substitutes — what customers use instead of buying anything
• D4. Current market position — checkbox: premium leader / premium challenger / mid-market mainstream / value/low-cost / niche specialist / not sure (agency to recommend)
• D5. Where you want to sit in 12 months
• D6. Brands you admire (in or out of your industry) and why

E. Campaign / Project Goals

The "what does success look like" section. Forces measurable thinking.

• E1. Primary objective — checkbox: brand awareness / lead generation / sales-revenue / product launch / repositioning / retention-loyalty / international expansion / other
• E2. Specific KPIs — for each: metric, target number, deadline (provide 3 KPI rows)
• E3. Long-term goal (12–24 months out)
• E4. What does failure look like? What outcomes would make this engagement a waste?
• E5. How will you measure ROI on this engagement?

F. Budget & Timeline

• F1. Total budget — checkbox: <$5K / $5K–$25K / $25K–$100K / $100K–$500K / $500K+ / need agency recommendation
• F2. Budget split (best estimate) — strategy & creative / paid media / production (video, design, copy) / tools & tech / agency fees, as percentages
• F3. Project start date
• F4. Critical milestones — launches, events, seasons
• F5. Hard deadlines that can't move
• F6. Engagement type — checkbox: one-off / 3-month / 6-month / ongoing retainer

G. Current Resources

• G1. In-house team relevant to this engagement — table: role | name | hours/week available
• G2. Existing agency or freelancer relationships
• G3. In-house production capability — checkbox: photo/video / copy / design / web dev / email / paid media / influencer relationships / none
• G4. Tools you already pay for and want to keep using
• G5. Founder availability for content (interviews, founder-led video) — yes / limited / no

H. Existing Digital Assets

• H1. Active channels — for each: handle/URL, follower count: website / Instagram / TikTok / LinkedIn / YouTube / Facebook / Twitter-X / Pinterest / other
• H2. Email list — platform, list size, average open rate, average click rate
• H3. CRM / customer database — platform, customer count, data quality (clean & segmented / partial / messy)
• H4. Analytics setup — checkbox: GA4 installed and tagged / Meta Pixel / TikTok Pixel / server-side tracking / none-or-unsure
• H5. Ad accounts and historical spend — Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn, other (lifetime + current monthly per platform)
• H6. Best-performing past campaigns — share if available

I. Creative Requirements & Constraints

• I1. Brand voice — checkbox (multi-select): professional/corporate / friendly/conversational / witty/playful / authoritative/expert / inspirational/aspirational / edgy/provocative / warm/nurturing / minimal/understated
• I2. Brands whose tone of voice you admire
• I3. Visual / aesthetic direction — reference brands or moodboards, color palette (if defined), typography (if defined)
• I4. Do's — things to lean into
• I5. Don'ts — things to avoid
• I6. Legal, regulatory, compliance constraints — industry regulations (healthcare claims, financial advice, alcohol marketing), trademark restrictions, required disclaimers, accessibility (WCAG, ADA)
• I7. Languages and markets — primary language(s), localization required for which markets
• I8. Approval process — who signs off on creative, typical turnaround

J. Desired Deliverables

• J1. Strategy deliverables — checkbox: marketing plan / audience research / competitive audit / positioning / channel strategy / content strategy / measurement framework
• J2. Creative deliverables — checkbox: brand identity refresh / website-landing pages / ad creative (static, video, UGC) / email templates / social content / photo-video production
• J3. Operations deliverables — checkbox: paid media management / email automation / analytics & dashboard / influencer-creator outreach / PR & earned media
• J4. Reporting cadence — checkbox: weekly / bi-weekly / monthly / quarterly

K. Additional Information

• K1. Attachments to share — checkbox: brand guidelines / past campaign results / customer survey data / sales-CRM data / competitor screenshots / other
• K2. What's something about your business or audience an outsider would never guess?
• K3. What past marketing experiments worked unexpectedly well?
• K4. What past marketing experiments failed and why?
• K5. Questions you want the agency to answer in our next call
• K6. Anything else we should know

Discovery Call Script (use this brief as the agenda)

If you fill this in collaboratively on a discovery call rather than sending it ahead:

1. Welcome (3 min) — agency intro, confirm goals of the call
2. Section A walk-through (5 min) — quick business overview
3. Sections B–C (15 min) — products and target audience deep dive
4. Section D (10 min) — competitive landscape, positioning aspiration
5. Section E (10 min) — pin down specific KPIs with numbers
6. Section F (10 min) — budget reality-check and timeline
7. Sections G–H (10 min) — what's already in place
8. Section I (10 min) — brand voice, references, constraints
9. Sections J–K (5 min) — confirm deliverables, capture extras
10. Wrap-up (2 min) — confirm next steps and proposal timeline

Total: ~80 minutes. Schedule 90 to leave buffer.

How the Skill Runs

Step 1 — Detect industry

From the agency lead's input, identify the client's industry. The generic v2.5 template adapts via the agency adding 1–2 industry-specific questions to Sections B and I.

Step 2 — Generate the brief file

• File name: client-intake-brief-[client-name]-[YYYYMMDD].md
• Example: client-intake-brief-acme-saas-20260508.md

Step 3 — Render the full template

Render all 11 sections (A–K) as a fillable document. Use checkboxes where the question is multi-choice, text fields where it's open. Add example answers below questions where the client may not know how to respond.

Step 4 — Add agency cover note

Cover note at the top:

• Agency name and contact for questions
• Estimated time to complete (30–45 minutes)
• Submission deadline (default: 5–7 business days)
• What happens after they submit (review meeting + plan v1 timeline)
• Confidentiality statement

Step 5 — Auto-trigger downstream skills

Once the client returns the completed brief, automatically suggest:

20-client-intake-brief-global (input received)
   |
   |-- [Next 1] 09-customer-insight-global    → Deep persona work from Section C
   |-- [Next 2] 08-competitor-research-global → Detailed audit of Section D
   |-- [Next 3] 10-reverse-kpi-calc-global    → Reverse-engineer Section E targets
   |-- [Next 4] 00-marketing-plan-global      → Synthesize into full plan
   |-- [Next 5] 02-campaign-brief-global      → Specific campaign brief(s)

Universal Brief Design Principles

1. Friendly to non-marketers

• Avoid jargon (TOFU, ROAS, CPA, MQL, SQL) without explanation
• Provide example answers below each question
• Add a "Don't know — please advise" option to questions that require expertise

2. Structured > open-ended

• Prefer checkboxes and radio buttons for structured data
• Use 2–3 column tables for comparable items (competitors, products, team)
• Reserve long-form text only for persona, story, and constraints

3. Easy → hard ordering

• Start with simple business basics (Section A)
• Build up to strategic and budget decisions (Sections E–F)
• End with reflective questions (Section K)
• Client builds momentum, doesn't quit on question 3

4. Time-respectful

• 30–45 minutes total to complete
• Add a progress indicator ("Section A of 11")
• Optional sections marked clearly so client can return later

5. Closing commitment

• Client signs off that information is accurate
• Agency commits to confidentiality and use limitation
• Clear timeline (24-hour confirmation, 5–7 business day plan v1)

Red Flags Checklist (review the returned brief)

When the client sends the brief back, scan for these warning signs before quoting:

• "TBD" in too many fields — they haven't done the homework. Schedule a working session.
• Budget mismatched to goals — "$5K to launch internationally" requires re-scoping or re-targeting.
• No measurable KPIs — Section E filled with adjectives ("more leads"). Force numbers before quoting.
• Timeline impossible — wants results "in 2 weeks" with no audience, no list, no creative. Re-set expectations.
• Decision-maker not engaged — brief filled by junior staff, principal hasn't seen it. Pause until you have leadership alignment.
• Conflicting stakeholders — Section I "do's" contradict each other (e.g., "premium luxury feel" + "aggressive discount campaigns").
• No data, no tracking — Section H mostly blank. Plan needs to budget for measurement setup before optimization work.
• Recently fired previous agency — Section G mentions a prior agency relationship that ended. Get the why before signing.
• Compliance landmines — Section I mentions a regulated category (health, finance, alcohol, gambling) without legal contact. Add legal review to scope.

Quality Checklist (before sending to client)

Content

• All 11 sections (A–K) present
• Each question has an example answer or industry-relevant prompt
• All terminology accessible to a non-marketer
• "Don't know — advise" option present on expertise-heavy questions
• Tone matches agency brand (formal / casual / boutique)

Structure

• Header includes agency contact, send date, return-by date
• All tables have clear column headers
• Checkboxes use consistent Markdown format
• Next Steps section at the bottom
• Confidentiality statement included

Industry adaptation (if applied)

• Section B has 1–2 industry-specific product/service questions
• Section I includes industry-specific compliance constraints
• Persona examples in Section C reflect the client's category
• Competitive examples in Section D are realistic for the industry

Linked Skills

• 00-marketing-plan-global — once the brief returns, build the full marketing plan
• 02-campaign-brief-global — turn the plan into specific campaign briefs
• 08-competitor-research-global — expand Section D into detailed competitive intelligence
• 09-customer-insight-global — expand Section C into deep persona research
• 10-reverse-kpi-calc-global — turn Section E targets into reverse-engineered funnel math

Notes for v2.6+

Industry variants planned (if demand justifies):

• SaaS / B2B software
• DTC ecommerce (apparel, beauty, F&B)
• Healthcare & wellness
• Real estate
• Online education & coaching
• Professional services (legal, accounting, consulting)
• Restaurants & hospitality

Each variant would override Sections B and I with industry-tuned questions while preserving the 11-section A–K structure.