Build a brand brain in Claude: so everything it writes sounds like your business

Who it's for

Business owners who use Claude for marketing copy and keep rewriting the answers because they "don't sound like us". You don't need design or technical skills.

Our example all the way through: a neighbourhood bakery in Bath that sells sourdough, celebration cakes and a Saturday bake box.

What goes into the brain

Five steps to build it

Before you start, collect what you already have in one folder: logo files, any notes on colours or fonts, your website text, a few emails, newsletters and social posts. Half an hour is enough.

Step 1Create the project

In Claude, open Projects and create a new project called Brand Brain. Everything you add to a project is there in every chat you open inside it, so you only set this up once. Then paste this into the project's instructions:

This project is the brand brain for our business, [business name]: [what you sell] for [who it's for].
Before you write anything, read the files in this project: brand-kit, brand-voice, brand-dna and examples.
- Write in the voice described in brand-voice. If my request clashes with one of the rules, point it out before you write.
- Use only facts, prices and claims that appear in brand-dna or in my message. Never invent reviews, numbers or offers.
- If something you need is missing, ask me one short question instead of guessing.
- Give me one strong version first. Offer alternatives only if I ask.

Working in Claude Code instead? Make a folder called brand-brain with the same four files, plus a CLAUDE.md that tells Claude to read them before every task.

Step 2Add your brand kit

Already have a logo, colours or fonts? Upload them to the project files. No brand kit yet? Send this in a chat inside the project, then add the result to the project files as brand-kit.

Act as an experienced brand designer. Build a simple, complete brand kit for my business: [what you sell, who it's for, and three words for how it should feel].
Include:
1. Two logo directions, described in words, with a simple SVG sketch of each.
2. A palette of five colours with hex codes, and what each one is for (background, text, buttons, accents).
3. One font for headings and one for body text, both free on Google Fonts, with suggested sizes.
4. How buttons, links and headings should look.
5. Three rules for photos and images.
Put it all in one document called brand-kit, then show me a one-page preview as an artifact so I can see it all together.

Step 3Build your voice rules

Upload anything your business has written: website pages, emails, newsletters, social captions, even a good WhatsApp reply to a customer. Real writing beats a description of your writing. Then send this:

I've uploaded examples of how my business writes. Read all of them and turn them into voice rules, in a document called brand-voice, with these sections:
1. How we sound: three to five traits, each with one real line from my writing that shows it.
2. Sentences: typical length, punctuation, how we open and how we sign off.
3. Words and phrases we use often.
4. Words and phrases we never use, and what we say instead.
5. Five do's and five don'ts.
6. Two before-and-after examples: a generic marketing sentence, rewritten in our voice.
Base every rule on my writing only. If the examples don't show something clearly, ask me instead of guessing.

Read the rules, fix anything that doesn't sound like you, and add them to the project files as brand-voice. Put the pieces you're proudest of in a file called examples, and add one or two you would never publish, marked "not like this".

Step 4Write your Brand DNA

This is the page anyone joining your team would need on day one. Copy the template, fill in the brackets and add it to the project files as brand-dna. Stuck on a line? Paste the template into a chat and add: "Interview me, one question at a time, until every line is filled in."

# Brand DNA: [business name]

## Who we help
We help [type of customer] who [the situation they are in].

## Their problem
They struggle with [the problem, in their own words].

## How we solve it
We [what the business does] so they [the result they get].

## Why we're different
Unlike [the usual alternative], we [the real difference].

## What we sell
- [Offer 1]: [what it is, who it's for, and the price if you want Claude to use it]
- [Offer 2]: [...]
- [Offer 3]: [...]

## Our customer, up close
- What they say before they buy: "[a real sentence you hear]"
- What makes them hesitate: [price, time, trust...]
- How they find us: [Instagram, Google, word of mouth...]

## Proof
[Numbers, results and reviews we're allowed to quote]

## In one line
[The sentence we'd love a customer to say about us]

Step 5Start creating

Open a new chat inside Brand Brain and ask for real work. Say what format you want and what it's for; the project already knows the rest.

Using our brand files, write [an Instagram post / a landing page / a Facebook ad] about [an offer from brand-dna], for [who it's for]. Goal: [what the reader should do next]. After the draft, list the voice rules you followed and anything you weren't sure about.

For the bakery: "Using our brand files, write an Instagram post about the Saturday bake box, for families who live nearby. Goal: pre-order by Thursday."

Three common mistakes