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The One-Page Content Strategy Prompt

Ask Claude for a content strategy and you get a plan that could fit anybody. This is one prompt that interviews you about your business first, looks up real posts from creators in your niche, then writes your positioning, your content mix and 10 ready-to-film ideas into one doc.

A free guide by Zach Crawford

Most people ask Claude to "build me a content strategy." It writes one, and it looks good.

But it doesn't look at a single post in your niche. And where it's missing a fact, it fills the gap with a guess: a goal you never set, a number you never gave it.

This prompt works the other way. It interviews you first, one question at a time. Then it searches the web for real posts from creators in your niche, with links. Then it writes the whole plan into one doc, and leaves a blank anywhere it needs your story.

I run a bigger version of this every week. This is the one-page version.

Before you start

The prompt

Copy all of it and paste it into Claude Code. There's nothing to fill in. It asks you for everything it needs.

Be my content strategist. Interview me, research what's working in my niche, and write my plan in one file called strategy.md.

Part 1. Your positioning
Interview me first. Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer before the next one. Ask:
1. Who do you help?
2. What do you sell? (what it is, the price, how it's delivered)
3. What makes you different?
4. What does your audience struggle with most?
5. What do you want your content to do right now? (more followers, more email sign ups, more sales)
6. Where do you post, how many times a week can you post, and what are you OK filming? (talking to the camera, your screen, your hands, with another person)
7. Which creators in your niche do you watch, and do you know any of their posts that did well? (Links help. Fine if none.)
If an answer is vague, ask one follow-up. Never fill in anything I didn't tell you.

Part 2. What's working
Then use web search to find what's working right now for creators in my niche: real posts (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok), newest first, by creators who talk to the same people I help. Open the ones you can. If a YouTube page won't load, open youtube.com/oembed?url= followed by the video link to check the title and channel.
- Only name a creator or a post if its link came up in your research. Put the link next to it.
- Never make up a creator, a post, a view count or any other number. Give a number only if you saw it in your research, and say where. If you can't tell how well a post did, say so.
- If you couldn't open a post, say so, and use only what the search result showed.
- If you find fewer than 5 real posts, say so plainly. Blog articles don't count as posts.
- If you can't search the web at all, stop and tell me. Don't write this part from memory.
For each post: the link, the hook, the format, and what I could borrow.

Part 3. Your content mix
Pick exactly 3 formats for me from this list, using these names: Talking to the camera, Green screen, A list on screen, A skit, A screen demo, Before and after, Walk and talk, Reply to a comment, React, Story time. Only pick ones I said I'm OK filming. Say why each one fits me and my goal. Then lay out my week: which format goes out on which day, and what each post is for (reach new people, build trust, or point to what I sell), weighted toward my goal. Match the number of posts I said I can make.

Part 4. Your ideas
Write 10 ready-to-film ideas. Each one gets the format (one of my 3), the hook (the first line I say), 3 to 5 talking points, and the post from Part 2 it borrows from, if any. Never make up a story, result, client win or number for me, not even in a hook. No hook that promises the viewer a result. Where an idea needs my story, leave a blank like [my story: the moment I ...], in the hook too.

Save it all in strategy.md under four headings: Your positioning (start with one sentence I can say out loud), What's working (with every source link), Your content mix, Your ideas. Then tell me what you couldn't find or check.

Step 1. Your positioning

Who you help. What you sell. What makes you different. It interviews you first.

It asks one question at a time and waits for you. Seven questions, in this order: who you help, what you sell, what makes you different, what your audience struggles with, what you want your content to do right now, where you post and what you're OK filming, and which creators in your niche you watch (plus any of their posts that did well).

Answer the way you'd explain it to a friend. Use your real numbers and your real offer. If you don't know something, say "I don't know." The prompt tells it not to fill in anything you didn't say, so a short answer gets you a thin plan.

At the top of the doc you get one sentence you can say out loud: who you help, what you sell and why you.

Step 2. What's working

It researches what's working right now for creators in your niche. Real posts, not guesses.

It searches YouTube, Instagram and TikTok for posts from creators who talk to the same people you help. Every post it names comes with a link. For each one it writes down the hook, the format and what you could borrow.

The rules in the prompt keep it honest. It can't name a creator or a post it didn't find. It can't make up a view count. If it couldn't open a post, it says so. If it found fewer than 5 real posts, it tells you, instead of padding the list with blog articles.

Most of the time it can't see view counts. Instagram and TikTok keep most of that behind a login, and YouTube pages often don't load for it. For YouTube it can still check the title and the channel. Where all it has is a title, it tells you the hook is the title, and it tells you what it couldn't check, post by post.

Two things help here. When it asks about creators you watch, name them, and paste links to any of their posts that did well. That gives the search a place to start. And open two or three of the links yourself and look at the views before you borrow anything.

Step 3. Your content mix

It picks your 3 content formats and what kind of post goes out when. Built around your goal.

It picks from these 10 formats, and only the ones you said you're OK filming:

  1. Talking to the camera
  2. Green screen (you in front of a post, a page or a screenshot)
  3. A list on screen (the points as text over a simple shot)
  4. A skit (two of you: one asks, one answers)
  5. A screen demo (show the thing working on your screen)
  6. Before and after
  7. Walk and talk
  8. Reply to a comment (a real comment on screen, you answer it)
  9. React (someone else's post on screen, then your take)
  10. Story time (one moment, told sitting down)

Then it lays out your week. Which format goes out on which day, and what each post is for: reaching new people, building trust, or pointing to what you sell. If your goal is email sign ups, more of the week points to your list. If it's sales, more of it points to your offer.

Step 4. Your ideas

10 ready-to-film ideas, all in one doc.

Each idea has the format, the hook (the first line you say), 3 to 5 talking points, and the post from Step 2 it borrows from.

Some ideas have a blank like [my story: the moment I ...], sometimes right in the hook. That's on purpose. Claude doesn't know your stories, and the prompt tells it not to make them up. You'll also see blanks for things it doesn't know yet, like your sign-up link. Fill in every blank before you film. Your story is the part nobody else can copy.

You still have to film them. But no more guessing.

The limits, honestly

Want the next guide? Follow @iamzachcrawford