Recipe: Generate a content brief

TL;DR: From a topic and audience, this playbook researches the web, synthesizes the competitive landscape, and produces a structured, ready-to-write content brief — target keywords, key messages, a suggested outline, tone, and word count — then delivers it by email or saves it to Notion. Trigger is manual or a new-brief webhook; output is a content brief.

Who this is for

Content and SEO teams who want a consistent, research-backed brief before anyone starts writing.

What you'll need

• Connectors: Web research (built-in), email (built-in) or Notion for delivery.
• Secrets: Notion token if saving to Notion (stored in Secrets — never hardcoded).
• Trigger: Manual run, or a webhook when a new brief request is created.

How to build it with Ask Ballet

1. Open the Console on Home.
2. Paste the prompt below; set your audience, goal, and delivery target.
3. Review the proposed plan and confirm.
4. Connect Notion if you want briefs saved there (email works out of the box).

Build a playbook that takes a topic, audience, and content goal as input. Search the
web and synthesize a short competitive summary of how others cover the topic. Then
produce a content brief that includes: target keywords, the angle and key messages,
a suggested H2 outline, recommended word count, and tone guidance for our audience.
Email the finished brief to the requester with the subject "Content brief: <topic>".

What the playbook does

1. Manual/webhook trigger — accepts the topic, audience, and goal.
2. Code step (research) — runs web search plus a synthesized answer to map the competitive landscape.
3. Code step (draft brief) — an agent turns the research into a structured brief.
4. Code/HTTP step (deliver) — emails the brief or creates a Notion page.

Variations and tips

• Pair this with Content and marketing operations: this recipe produces the brief, that one drafts, reviews, and publishes from it.
• Add a keyword-volume or SERP source if you have an SEO API connector.
• Keep a human review gate before the brief is used for high-stakes pieces.

Related articles

• Content and marketing operations
• Competitor monitoring digest
• What is a connector?
• How do I build a playbook with the Console?