How to use the Marketing Council agent skill

What is an agent skill, and what does marketing-council do?

An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file and supporting reference files. When the skill is installed, your agent loads it and follows its instructions for matching requests. The marketing-council skill gives the agent a bench of twelve advisors modeled on well-known marketers, including Seth Godin, David Ogilvy, Eugene Schwartz, April Dunford, Rory Sutherland, Alex Hormozi and Byron Sharp.

For your question, the agent gives each seated advisor's take through that person's documented frameworks, points out where they disagree, and ends with a synthesized recommendation. The skill labels this output as a persona simulation, not the real people.

• Quick take: one named advisor, for example a headline review in the style of Ogilvy.
• Council session (default): 3 to 5 advisors, chosen so their lenses conflict usefully. At least one dissenter is always seated.
• Full council: all 12 advisors, for major strategic decisions. Expect a long output.

How do you install the marketing-council skill?

Download the ZIP for the skill from the directory page and unzip it. Then place the folder in one of these locations: ~/.claude/skills/ for your user account, or .claude/skills/ inside a specific project.

Alternatively, in the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.

• Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/.
• Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder.
• App install: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload.

How do you trigger the skill with a natural request?

You do not need a special command. The skill activates when your request matches its description. Phrases the skill is written to recognize include 'marketing council', 'board of advisors', 'advisory board', 'what would Seth Godin say', 'what would Ogilvy think', 'channel Hormozi', 'get multiple perspectives', 'debate this', 'have the council review' and 'marketing mentors'.

Name the decision and the stakes. The skill asks for what is missing: the question, what happens if it goes well or badly, and what has already been tried. You can also name the advisors you want, such as 'I want Hormozi and Godin on this'.

What do example requests look like?

Use a request that describes a real decision. A vague prompt gives vague output.

• Have the council review our pricing change from $29 to annual-only plans, we have 300 paying customers and churn is rising.
• What would Ogilvy say about this headline? Give me a quick take.
• Get multiple perspectives on whether we should launch in a new channel or double down on our current one.
• Board of advisors: review this landing page positioning for a B2B invoicing tool.

What does the agent do during a session?

The agent loads the dossiers of the seated advisors, then gives each one two to four paragraphs. Each take applies the advisor's signature questions and frameworks to your specifics. The output then includes a disagreement map that names two to four real conflicts and the trade-off behind each one, followed by a chair's summary with next steps.

If your question is niche or fast-moving, the skill can run a live research pass. It uses a deep-research, video-analysis or recency skill if one is installed, or otherwise web search for each seated advisor, preferring their own books, blogs and talks.

• Each advisor's take is written in their documented voice, without fabricated quotes.
• Next steps include handoffs to other skills, such as positioning, offers, copywriting or ads, for executing the chosen direction.

What does the skill need, and what are the safety notes?

The skill lists no required dependencies. It does not run scripts and does not use the network by itself. Its reference files are local text, including one dossier per advisor and an evals/evals.json file.

The live research pass is optional and depends on other skills or web search you have made available. Treat advisor outputs as simulations: they are grounded in published work but may be out of date, and the skill does not verify quotes.

• Requires: nothing listed.
• Runs scripts: no.
• Uses network: no (the optional research pass is separate).
• Custom advisors belong in .agents/advisors/ in your project so they survive skill updates.

What tips get better results?

Give the agent your context before you ask. The skill checks for a product marketing context file at .agents/product-marketing.md, or .claude/product-marketing.md, and reads it first if present. Then test any recommendation against your own customer data before acting on it.

• Ask for a quick take when you only need one expert's view on a single asset.
• Keep council sessions to the decisions that have real trade-offs.
• Ask the council to name the evidence that would settle each disagreement.
• Use the handoffs to move the winning direction into execution skills rather than asking the council to write final copy.