How to Set Up Client Briefs with Claude (Step-by-Step)

You manage local SEO for a roofing company in Charlotte. You’ve done two audits, fixed their GBP categories, identified three citation mismatches, and noticed a competitor gaining ground in the suburbs. Next session, you want Claude to know all of that — without re-explaining it.

This is the client brief setup workflow: one setup conversation that creates persistent engagement state for the client. From that point forward, every session starts with full context.

What You’ll Need

Before setting up a brief, confirm your setup: LocalSEOSkills installed via Claude Code (briefs require file system access), LocalSEOData MCP connection configured. You’ll need the client’s business name, address, target keyword, and website URL.

The Scenario

You’re onboarding Peak Roofing at 1240 South Blvd, Charlotte NC. They want to rank for “roof repair Charlotte” and have 3 locations across North Carolina. We’ll start with the Charlotte location.

Step 1: Mention the Business

"New client — Peak Roofing, 1240 South Blvd Charlotte NC.
Target keyword: roof repair Charlotte."

Claude detects no existing brief and enters the setup flow. It will ask five questions, one at a time.

Step 2: Answer the Setup Questions

Claude asks each question sequentially:

Claude: "Setting up brief for Peak Roofing — Charlotte.
Primary keyword: roof repair Charlotte ✓ (from prompt)
What's their website URL?"

You: "peakroofingcharlotte.com"

Claude: "Service area radius?"

You: "20 miles"

Claude: "Are you managing this as a client or as the business owner?"

You: "Client"

Claude: "Want Slack notifications for alerts? If yes, which channel?"

You: "Yes, #peak-roofing-alerts"

Step 3: Claude Runs the Initial Diagnostic

After setup, Claude automatically runs the full diagnostic suite:

Running initial diagnostic...
  ↳ local_audit → comprehensive presence check
  ↳ business_profile → GBP profile data
  ↳ profile_health → completeness scoring
  ↳ geogrid_scan → 7x7 grid for "roof repair Charlotte"
  ↳ citation_audit → NAP consistency
  ↳ review_velocity → review trend analysis
  ↳ google_reviews → recent review content
  ↳ competitor_gap → top competitor benchmarks

Brief created: briefs/peak-roofing/charlotte/location.brief.md

The brief is now populated with Identity data, initial Findings (categorized as Critical, Important, and Monitor), the first Session Log entry, and a Next Action.

Step 4: Review Initial Findings

Claude presents the findings summary:

INITIAL FINDINGS — Peak Roofing Charlotte

Critical:
- GBP completeness 62% — missing 4 secondary categories
- 2 citation NAP mismatches (Yelp shows old phone number, BBB has wrong address)

Important:
- Review velocity declining — 1 review/month vs competitor avg 5
- No LocalBusiness schema on website
- ARP 7.2 — visible but not competitive (competitor avg 4.1)

Monitor:
- SoLV 38% — present in top 3 for less than half the grid
- AI visibility absent for primary keyword

Next Action: Add missing GBP categories (highest leverage, 15 minutes)

Step 5: Start Working

You can act on the Next Action immediately or choose a different priority:

"Let's fix the GBP categories first, then address the citation mismatches."

Claude executes the work, and at the end of the session updates the brief — Session Log gets a new entry, Findings categories shift as issues are resolved, and Next Action updates for next time.

Resuming a Session Later

Next time you work on this client:

"Let's check in on Peak Roofing Charlotte."

Claude reads the brief, scans recent output files, and responds:

"Peak Roofing Charlotte — last worked April 3.
GBP categories fixed, completeness now 78%. Citation corrections
submitted for Yelp and BBB — not yet reflected. ARP unchanged at 7.2.
Next action: follow up on citation corrections, then launch
review generation campaign. Start there?"

Full context in seconds. No re-explaining.

Setting Up Multi-Location Clients

For Peak Roofing’s other locations, repeat the process:

"Add the Raleigh location for Peak Roofing — 890 Capital Blvd Raleigh NC.
Target keyword: roof repair Raleigh."

Claude creates a new location brief under the same brand:

briefs/peak-roofing/
  _brand.brief.md         ← Brand rollup (auto-created)
  charlotte/
    location.brief.md
  raleigh/
    location.brief.md     ← New

The brand brief automatically tracks both locations. Run a portfolio check anytime:

"How are all Peak Roofing locations doing?"

Claude reads the brand brief and summarizes across locations — which need attention, which are stable, where patterns emerge.

Configuring the Brand Brief

For agency setups, configure approval and notification settings:

"Configure Peak Roofing's brand brief: agency reviewer on Slack
#peak-roofing-alerts, client notifications via email to
mike@peakroofing.com, summary format, 48-hour approval timeout."

Claude updates _brand.brief.md with:

approval:
  reviewer: agency
  reviewer_channel: slack
  reviewer_contact: #peak-roofing-alerts
  client_notify: true
  client_channel: email
  client_contact: mike@peakroofing.com
  client_notify_format: summary
  approval_timeout_hours: 48
  timeout_action: archive

This configuration controls how scheduled tasks, approval workflows, and alerts behave for this client.

What to Expect Over Time

After one month, the brief contains:

  • 4-6 session log entries
  • Findings that have evolved (Critical items resolved, new issues identified)
  • Tool history showing which scans have been run
  • Deliverables tracking what’s been completed

After three months, the brief is a complete engagement record — demonstrating work done, results achieved, and what comes next. Useful for client reporting, QBRs, and proving ROI.

Troubleshooting

Brief not detected: Verify the briefs/ directory exists at the root of your LocalSEOSkills installation. Claude Code needs file system access to read and write briefs.

Setup questions not appearing: Ensure you’re using Claude Code, not Claude.ai upload. Briefs require persistent file system access.

Multi-location rollup not updating: The brand brief updates after individual location work. Work on a specific location first, then check the rollup.