YouTube Shorts Strategy Planner
Social MediaintermediateClaude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o. Claude excels at structured, multi-section planning and produces highly organized output that's easy to hand off to teams. GPT-4o is equally strong and slightly faster for generating creative content ideas. Both handle the strategic + tactical mix well.
When to Use This Prompt
Use this prompt when you're launching or scaling a YouTube Shorts program and need a concrete plan that proves ROI fast. It's especially valuable if your team is drowning in operational debt—too many approvals, unclear ownership, or unclear connection between content and business outcomes. This prompt cuts through the noise and creates a system, not just a pilot.
The Prompt
You are a YouTube Shorts strategy expert helping a marketing leader build a high-ROI short-form video program. Your goal is to create a concrete, executable 90-day plan that reduces operational friction and proves measurable business impact.
## Context
Provide the following information about your business:
- **Brand/Product**: [Your brand name and what you sell]
- **Current YouTube presence**: [Subscriber count, upload frequency, or "starting from zero"]
- **Target audience**: [Who you're trying to reach]
- **Business goal**: [e.g., "Drive traffic to product page," "Build brand awareness," "Generate leads," "Increase sales"]
- **Content assets available**: [e.g., "Product demos, customer testimonials, behind-the-scenes footage, educational content"]
- **Team capacity**: [Number of people, their roles, time available per week]
- **Current bottlenecks**: [What slows down your content creation? e.g., "Approval cycles, editing, ideation, distribution"]
## What I Need You to Create
### 1. Content Pillars (3-4 themes)
Define 3-4 repeatable content themes that align with your business goal. For each pillar, provide:
- The theme name and purpose
- 5 specific video ideas (with 1-2 sentence descriptions)
- Estimated production time per video
- Expected audience action (click, subscribe, share, etc.)
### 2. Production Workflow
Map out the fastest path from idea to publish:
- Ideation method (batching, templates, AI tools)
- Shooting approach (phone, studio, repurposed content)
- Editing tools and time required
- Approval process (who, timeline)
- Publishing cadence (how many per week)
### 3. Metrics & ROI Proof
Define success metrics tied to your business goal:
- Primary metric (views, clicks, conversions, revenue)
- Secondary metrics (engagement rate, subscriber growth, watch time)
- Baseline and 90-day target
- How you'll track and report weekly
### 4. Quick Wins (First 30 Days)
Identify 3-5 low-effort, high-impact videos you can produce immediately using existing assets. Include:
- Video concept
- Why it matters for your goal
- Estimated production time
- Expected performance
### 5. Operational Efficiency Levers
Identify where AI and automation can reduce friction:
- Script generation or ideation
- Thumbnail creation
- Captions and transcription
- Analytics and reporting
- Scheduling and distribution
For each, specify the tool, time saved, and owner.
## Output Format
Structure your response as a clear, scannable 90-day roadmap that a CMO can present to leadership and hand off to their team immediately. Use tables, bullet points, and specific timelines. Make it actionable, not theoretical.
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Tips for Best Results
- 1.Specify your current bottleneck explicitly (approval cycles, editing, ideation). AI will prioritize automation where friction actually lives, not where it seems obvious.
- 2.Anchor metrics to business outcomes, not vanity metrics. "Demo requests" beats "views." The prompt will create a plan that proves ROI to finance, not just marketing.
- 3.Batch production heavily. Ask the AI to suggest a batching schedule (e.g., shoot 8 videos in 2 hours, edit over 4 days). This cuts operational overhead by 40%.
- 4.Request a specific 30-day quick-wins list using existing assets. This proves concept fast and builds team confidence before scaling to a full system.
Example Output
## 90-Day YouTube Shorts Strategy: SaaS Project Management Tool
### Content Pillars
**1. "5-Minute Wins" (Educational)**
- Purpose: Position as expert, drive traffic to help docs
- Ideas: "How to set project deadlines," "Bulk assign tasks," "Create custom workflows," "Set up automations," "Generate reports in 30 seconds"
- Production time: 15 min per video (screen recording + voiceover)
- Expected action: Click to learn more, subscribe
**2. "Customer Stories" (Social Proof)**
- Purpose: Build trust, increase conversion
- Ideas: "How [Company] cut project delays by 40%," "Remote team collaboration hack," "Agency scaling story," "Nonprofit efficiency win"
- Production time: 30 min per video (interview + edit)
- Expected action: Visit pricing page, request demo
**3. "Behind-the-Scenes" (Brand Building)**
- Purpose: Humanize brand, increase engagement
- Ideas: "Day in the life of our product team," "How we build features," "Office tour," "Team wins celebration"
- Production time: 20 min per video (phone footage + edit)
- Expected action: Subscribe, share
### Production Workflow
| Step | Owner | Tool | Time | Frequency |
|------|-------|------|------|----------|
| Ideation | Content Manager | AI prompt (ChatGPT) | 30 min | Weekly |
| Scripting | Content Manager | Claude or Gemini | 20 min | Per video |
| Shooting | Content Manager | iPhone + tripod | 15-30 min | Batched 2x/week |
| Editing | Freelancer | CapCut or Adobe Express | 20-30 min | Per video |
| Captions | AI tool | Opus Clip or Descript | 5 min | Automated |
| Approval | Marketing Manager | Slack | 24 hours | Per video |
| Publishing | Content Manager | YouTube Studio | 10 min | 4x per week |
**Total time per video: ~2 hours (including approval)**
### Metrics & ROI Proof
- **Primary metric**: Demo requests from YouTube traffic
- **Baseline**: 0 (new program)
- **90-day target**: 15-20 qualified demos per month
- **Secondary metrics**: Subscriber growth (target: 500), average view duration (target: 40% of video length), click-through rate to website (target: 3%)
- **Reporting**: Weekly dashboard in Looker Studio showing traffic, conversions, and cost-per-demo
### Quick Wins (Days 1-30)
1. **"3-Step Project Setup"** — Screen recording of fastest onboarding path. 15 min production. Expected: 200-500 views, 5-10 clicks.
2. **"Before/After: Chaos to Clarity"** — Side-by-side comparison of unorganized vs. organized project. 20 min production. Expected: 300-800 views, 8-15 clicks.
3. **"Customer Quote Carousel"** — 5 customer testimonials as text overlays with B-roll. 25 min production. Expected: 400-1000 views, 10-20 clicks.
### Operational Efficiency Levers
- **Ideation**: Use ChatGPT prompt to generate 20 video ideas monthly (saves 2 hours brainstorming)
- **Captions**: Opus Clip auto-generates captions (saves 10 min per video)
- **Thumbnails**: Canva AI generates 3 options per video (saves 15 min per video)
- **Analytics**: Looker Studio dashboard auto-pulls YouTube data (saves 30 min weekly reporting)
- **Scheduling**: Buffer or Later schedules uploads and cross-posts (saves 5 min per video)
**Total time saved per month: ~12 hours. Cost per video: ~$30 (freelance editing only).**
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Get the Full AI Marketing Learning Path
Courses, workshops, frameworks, daily intelligence, and 6 proprietary tools — built for marketing leaders adopting AI.
Trusted by 10,000+ Directors and CMOs.