How to create reusable workflow templates for recurring marketing processes, share them across clients, and build a library of proven approaches over time.
What Playbooks Are
A playbook is a structured, reusable workflow for a marketing process you run repeatedly. Think of it as a checklist with phases - the steps you follow every time you onboard a client, launch a campaign, or run a quarterly review.
Playbooks are different from Armbrain's Business OS core processes (which document what a client's team does internally). Playbooks capture what you do as the CMO - your repeatable methods that work across clients.
Creating a Playbook
"Create a playbook called 'Client Onboarding' with these steps:
- Prep: Review any existing brand materials
- Prep: Set up the client mind and brand voice
- During: Run the brand DNA interview
- During: Ingest the first 3 meeting transcripts
- Followup: Send the onboarding summary email
- Review: Check knowledge health after 2 weeks"Each step has a phase that tells you when in the process it happens:
| Phase | When |
|---|---|
prep | Before the main activity starts |
during | While the process is actively running |
followup | After the main activity wraps up |
review | Looking back to verify results |
Listing Your Playbooks
"Show me my playbooks"Returns all active playbooks with their step counts and creation dates. Playbooks can be client-specific or cross-client (available to use with any client).
Using a Playbook
When you're about to start a process:
"Pull up my Client Onboarding playbook"This returns the full playbook with all steps in order, grouped by phase. Walk through it as a guided checklist.
Cross-Client Playbooks
Playbooks created without a specific client mind are available across all your clients. This is where the real leverage is - a proven campaign launch process that works for any client.
"Create a cross-client playbook called 'Campaign Launch'"Getting Suggestions
Armbrain can suggest playbooks from one client that might work for another:
"Suggest playbooks that might work for Acme"Suggestions are based on industry similarity, company size, and playbook quality. If a suggestion is not relevant, dismiss it and it will not resurface:
"Dismiss that playbook suggestion"Updating and Archiving
Playbooks evolve as you refine your process:
"Update my Client Onboarding playbook - add a step: Prep - check competitor landscape"When a playbook is no longer relevant:
"Archive the old campaign launch playbook"Archived playbooks are hidden from the default list but not deleted. You can view them by asking to include archived playbooks.
Real-World Examples
Client Onboarding Playbook
Prep:
- Review any brand materials the client has shared
- Create the client mind and configure brand voice
- Set up Business OS cadence if the client uses it
During:
- Run the brand DNA interview (tone, values, audience, anti-patterns)
- Ingest the first 3-4 meeting transcripts
- Set up competitive intelligence tracking
Followup:
- Send the "here's what I learned" summary to the client stakeholder
- Verify knowledge health shows at least "fair" across all dimensions
Review:
- After 2 weeks, check knowledge health again
- Run a meeting prep to verify the quality is useful
Quarterly Business Review Playbook
Prep:
- Pull client health scorecard
- Review sentiment trend
- Compile rock progress and scorecard metrics
- Check open commitments and aging issues
During:
- Present quarterly results
- Discuss what worked and what did not
- Align on next quarter's rocks and priorities
Followup:
- Store decisions and commitments from the review
- Update rocks for the new quarter
- Send the quarterly summary email
Review:
- Confirm all action items are captured
- Verify the new quarter is configured in Business OS
Building Your Playbook Library
Start with 2-3 playbooks for your most common activities. As you refine them over time, they become a documentation of your methodology - which is especially valuable during client handoff. When a client engagement ends, your playbooks show exactly how you operated, not just what you delivered.