The short answer: You don't need to know how to code. Claude Code runs from a terminal, but the only technical step is typing one command:
claude. Everything after that is plain English. This guide walks you through the full setup — from zero to your first live marketing workflow — in under an hour.
The word "Code" in Claude Code puts off more marketers than anything else about the tool. Which is unfortunate, because once you're past the installation, the experience is entirely conversational.
I've onboarded marketers with zero technical background to Claude Code. Brand managers, content leads, performance specialists — none of them write code, and all of them are now running marketing workflows in it daily. The setup takes less than an hour. The only hard part is not overthinking it.
This is the exact setup process I walk people through. Start here, follow each step, and you'll have a live workflow running by the end.
What You're Actually Setting Up
Before the steps, a quick orientation. Claude Code has three components you'll configure once and then barely think about again:
- Claude Code itself — the application you install, which runs from your terminal
- CLAUDE.md — a text file you write once that tells Claude who you are, what your brand is, and how you want it to work. It's read automatically every session.
- Skills — pre-built workflow files you download and install once. Each skill becomes a slash command —
/blog write,/market audit,/ads google— that triggers a full workflow.
That's the full system. Install the app, write your context file, add the skills. Everything else is conversation.
For a full explanation of what Claude Code is and why it works differently from chat AI, see the complete guide for marketers. This post focuses purely on setup.
Step 1: Install Claude Code
Go to claude.ai/code. This is Anthropic's official page for Claude Code — the same company that makes Claude.
You'll need a Claude account. If you don't have one, create one at claude.ai — the free tier works for initial setup and exploration. For regular marketing use, the Pro plan (USD $20/month) gives you substantially more usage. The Max plan (USD $100/month) makes sense if you're running high-volume content production or multiple daily workflow sessions.
On Mac: The installation page will direct you to run a command in Terminal. Terminal is just a text-based window on your computer — not intimidating once you've opened it once. To open Terminal: press ⌘ + Space, type "Terminal," press Enter. You'll see a white or black window with a cursor. Paste the install command from claude.ai/code and press Enter. Done.
On Windows: The installation page will direct you to use Command Prompt or PowerShell. To open Command Prompt: press the Windows key, type "cmd," press Enter. Same process — paste the install command, press Enter.
The installer handles everything: downloading the application, setting up the necessary components, making the claude command available. You don't need to understand what it's doing. When it finishes, you'll see a success message.
Verify it worked by typing claude --version and pressing Enter. If it shows a version number, you're installed.
Step 2: Create Your Marketing Project Folder
Claude Code is designed to work inside a folder. Everything in that folder — your briefs, copy drafts, research notes, strategy docs — becomes available as context. Claude reads it all when you start a session.
Create a folder for your marketing work. Something like:
~/marketing/on Mac (the~means your home folder)C:Usersyournamemarketingon Windows
You can name it whatever you want. The name doesn't matter. The location doesn't matter. What matters is that it exists and you know where it is.
Put any existing marketing documents in here — briefs you've written, brand guidelines, audience notes, campaign reports. The more relevant context you give Claude Code access to, the better its outputs will be from day one.
Now navigate to that folder in your terminal. On Mac: type cd ~/marketing and press Enter. The terminal prompt will update to show you're inside the folder. On Windows: type cd C:Usersyournamemarketing.
Now type claude and press Enter.
Claude Code will start. You'll see the interface load — it looks like a chat window but inside your terminal. Say hello. It responds immediately. That's Claude Code running. You're in.
Important: Always launch Claude Code from inside your project folder. That's how it knows which files to read. If you open it from the wrong place, it won't have access to your brand context.
Step 3: Write Your CLAUDE.md
This is the most important setup step, and it's just writing. No technical knowledge required — CLAUDE.md is a plain text file you write once and never have to think about again.
Create a new file called CLAUDE.md in your project folder (note: capital letters, exactly as written). You can create it in any text editor — TextEdit on Mac, Notepad on Windows, or any writing app. Save it as plain text with the filename CLAUDE.md.
This file is Claude's permanent brief about your brand. Write it like you're briefing a new senior marketing contractor who will work on your account forever. Cover:
What to include in your CLAUDE.md
Who you are and what you do: Your name, your role, what your company/brand does, who your customers are. Two or three sentences is enough to start.
Your brand voice: How you communicate. Professional but conversational? Direct and data-driven? Friendly and accessible? Give Claude two or three adjectives and one example sentence in your voice.
Your audience: Who reads your content? What's their role, their pain point, their level of sophistication? Describe one person — your ideal reader — in two sentences.
Your current focus: What are you working on right now? A campaign, a launch, a content pillar? This helps Claude orient its output to your actual context rather than generic marketing.
Rules you always want followed: Things like "always use Australian English spelling," "never use emojis," "always include data citations," or "every piece of content should link to the skills page." These are guardrails that run every session automatically.
Here's a simplified example of what a CLAUDE.md might look like:
I am [Name], Head of Marketing at [Company], a B2B SaaS platform that helps
mid-market finance teams automate reporting. Our customers are CFOs and Finance
Directors at companies with 50-500 employees.
**Brand voice:** Clear, confident, practical. We write for smart people who are
busy. No jargon, no fluff. Every paragraph earns its place.
**Target audience:** Senior finance leaders who are evaluating automation tools.
They're skeptical of vendor content. They respond to data, specifics, and
real-world operational insight — not promises.
**Current focus:** Q2 launch of our new forecasting module. Content should
tie back to forecasting automation where relevant.
**Always:**
- Use Australian English spelling
- Include at least one data point per major claim
- Link to the product page when discussing core features
- Never use exclamation marks in copy
Write your version of this now. Don't overthink it. A rough CLAUDE.md that exists is worth more than a perfect one that's still in draft. You can update it any time — and as you work with Claude Code, you'll naturally improve it as you notice when outputs miss the mark.
Save the file. Close it. The next time you start Claude Code from that folder, it reads CLAUDE.md automatically. Your brand context is permanently loaded.
Step 4: Install the AI Marketing Suite
Skills are what turn Claude Code from a smart chat interface into a system that runs repeatable workflows. Instead of prompting from scratch every time you want a campaign brief or competitive audit, you type /market brief and it executes a complete, structured workflow grounded in your CLAUDE.md context.
Go to matheusvizotto.com/skills and download the AI Marketing Suite. It's free.
The installation is a folder copy — you're adding the skill files to your project. The skills page has exact instructions, but the process is:
- Download the AI Marketing Suite zip file
- Unzip it — you'll see a
.claudefolder containing askillsfolder - Copy that
.claudefolder into your marketing project folder (the same folder your CLAUDE.md is in)
That's the full installation. No configuration required. The skills are now available as slash commands.
The AI Marketing Suite includes 13 skills covering the most common marketing workflows:
- /market audit — full marketing audit for any business or competitor
- /market brief — campaign brief from a single-line prompt
- /market competitors — competitive analysis from a URL or description
- /ads google — Google Ads strategy, ad copy, and keyword planning
- /ads meta — Meta/Facebook ad strategy and creative briefs
- /email sequence — email nurture sequences for any funnel stage
- /content calendar — monthly content calendar aligned to your strategy
- /social linkedin — LinkedIn post series from a brief or URL
And more. Each one executes a structured, multi-step workflow and writes outputs directly to your project folder as markdown files.
Step 5: Run Your First Workflow
Open your terminal, navigate to your project folder (cd ~/marketing), and type claude to start.
Wait for it to load. You'll see it confirm it's read your CLAUDE.md. Then type:
/market auditClaude will ask you a single question: what business or URL do you want to audit? Give it your own website URL or a competitor's. Press Enter.
Watch what happens next. Claude Code runs a full marketing audit: pulling context from your CLAUDE.md, analysing the business, identifying positioning, assessing channel strategy, and producing a structured report. It writes the output to a file in your project folder. It takes three to five minutes. What it produces would have taken you hours manually.
That's your first agentic marketing workflow. Not a chat response — a completed deliverable, saved to disk, grounded in your brand context.
What I noticed the first time: The audit wasn't generic. It referenced our target audience, our current competitive context, and even made suggestions that connected to things I'd mentioned in my CLAUDE.md. That's the CLAUDE.md doing its job. The system is already working from your context, not from scratch.
The Three Mistakes to Avoid in Your First Week
These are the most common setup errors I see when onboarding marketers to Claude Code. Knowing them in advance saves you the frustration.
Mistake 1: Starting Claude Code from the wrong folder
If you launch claude from your home folder or the wrong directory, it won't find your CLAUDE.md and won't have access to your project files. Before typing claude, always make sure your terminal shows the right folder path — it should end with your marketing project folder name. If you're not sure, type pwd on Mac or cd on Windows to see where you are.
Mistake 2: Writing CLAUDE.md too generally
The vaguer your CLAUDE.md, the more generic Claude Code's outputs. "We are a marketing company" tells it almost nothing. "We're a B2B SaaS company targeting mid-market HR teams in Australia, with a direct and data-driven voice, currently focused on a LinkedIn content push to build thought leadership in the HR tech space" — that's a brief it can work from. Spend 20 minutes on your CLAUDE.md. It pays off in every session afterwards.
Mistake 3: Treating it like a chatbot
The power of Claude Code is in its Skills — the slash commands that trigger structured workflows. If you just open it and start typing questions, you're using a USD $20/month chatbot. The moment you type /market brief and give it a one-line description, you're using an agentic marketing system. Get into the Skills quickly. That's where the difference lives.
What Your Setup Should Look Like After One Hour
Here's the target state after following this guide:
| Component | Status | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code installed | Done | The application that powers everything |
| Project folder created | Done | Where your marketing work and context live |
| CLAUDE.md written | Done | Your permanent brand brief — loaded every session |
| AI Marketing Suite installed | Done | 13 slash-command workflows ready to run |
| First workflow completed | Done | You've seen what agentic AI actually does |
If you've hit all five, you're set up. Not just installed — actually operational.
The next step from here is building your workflow rhythm. Most marketers I've onboarded settle into a pattern within the first two weeks: they run /market brief at the start of any new campaign, /content calendar at the start of each month, and /market competitors any time a competitor does something worth analysing. That pattern, running consistently, is what compounds over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a Claude subscription to use Claude Code?
Yes. Claude Code requires a Claude account. The free tier allows limited usage — enough to test the setup and run a few workflows. For regular marketing use, the Pro plan (USD $20/month) is the practical minimum. If you're running multiple daily sessions or high-volume content workflows, the Max plan (USD $100/month) removes most usage constraints. The Skills — including the AI Marketing Suite and Blog Content Engine — are free to download regardless of your plan.
Can I use Claude Code on Windows, or is it Mac only?
Claude Code runs on both Mac and Windows. The installation process is slightly different (Terminal on Mac, Command Prompt or PowerShell on Windows) but the application itself works identically on both platforms. The skills, CLAUDE.md, and all workflows are the same regardless of your operating system.
How long does the initial setup take?
Installation takes about five minutes. Writing your CLAUDE.md takes 20–30 minutes if you give it proper attention (worth it). Installing the AI Marketing Suite takes under five minutes — it's a folder copy. Your first workflow run takes three to five minutes. Total: under an hour from zero to a completed marketing deliverable. Most of that time is writing your CLAUDE.md — the rest is mechanical.
What if I make a mistake in my CLAUDE.md?
Nothing breaks. CLAUDE.md is just a text file — open it, edit it, save it. The changes take effect the next time you start a Claude Code session. Most marketers refine their CLAUDE.md iteratively: they run a few sessions, notice where outputs don't quite match their brand or context, and update the file. That iteration loop is normal and healthy. Start rough, improve as you go.
Can I have multiple project folders with different CLAUDE.md files?
Yes, and this is one of Claude Code's most useful features for agencies or marketers working across multiple brands. Each folder is a separate context. Create a folder per client or brand, write a unique CLAUDE.md for each, and when you launch Claude Code from that folder, it reads that client's context automatically. You're switching brand voices by switching folders. No re-prompting, no copy-pasting context into a chat window — just cd client-name and claude.
What's the difference between the AI Marketing Suite and the Blog Content Engine?
The AI Marketing Suite covers broad marketing operations: campaign briefs, competitive audits, ad copy, email sequences, social posts, content calendars. It's the starting point for most marketers. The Blog Content Engine is specialised for SEO content production: it runs full keyword research, drafts long-form posts structured for Google and AI search, handles internal linking, and applies AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) formatting for AI citation. If you publish blog content regularly, install both. If you're new to Claude Code, start with the AI Marketing Suite and add the Blog Content Engine once you're comfortable.
Your First Week Checklist
Follow these steps in order to get from installation to a working system in your first week:
- Day 1: Install Claude Code. Create your project folder. Write your CLAUDE.md. Run
/market auditon your own brand or a competitor. - Day 2: Run
/market briefon an actual upcoming campaign or project. Review the output. Update your CLAUDE.md with anything it missed. - Day 3: Run
/content calendarand ask it to produce a content plan for the next month. Compare it to what you would have built manually. - Day 4–5: Pick the skill most relevant to your current workload. Run it. Refine it. Start building your rhythm.
- End of week 1: Update your CLAUDE.md based on everything you've learned. The context file that exists after a week of use is significantly more valuable than the one you wrote on day one.
The marketers who get the most out of Claude Code are the ones who commit to the setup properly — especially the CLAUDE.md — and run it consistently for the first two weeks. The compound effect kicks in around week three, when the system starts feeling less like a tool you're using and more like a system that runs your marketing operations.
Get the AI Marketing Suite on the Skills page. If you run into anything during setup, email me — I reply to all of them. And if you want the full context on what Claude Code is and why it matters for marketers, the complete guide has the detail.
