---
name: youtube-video-planner
description: >
  Plan a YouTube video from a topic: research what the viewer actually searches and
  what the top videos miss, then write title options, thumbnail concepts, a scripted
  hook, a scene-by-scene outline with retention beats, a description with chapters,
  and a call to action. Use when a video is about to be scripted or filmed and the
  plan so far is a topic and a hope.
license: MIT
source: https://vibemarketers.ai/starter-pack/youtube-video-planner/SKILL.md
---

# youtube-video-planner

Turn a topic into a video plan built on what viewers search for and what existing
videos leave out.

## When this applies

Someone has a topic and a camera. The title will be written after filming and the
opening will ramble. This skill does the research and the structure first, so the
video answers a real question and the packaging promises what the video delivers.

## Inputs

- **Topic** and the channel's audience in one sentence.
- **The marketing brain** if one exists, for voice and positioning.
- **Channel constraints:** target length, on-camera or voiceover, what the creator
  can actually show (screen, product, whiteboard).

## Research

Record everything with its URL and collection date.

1. **Search suggestions.** Type the core terms into YouTube search and list the
   suggestions. These are the phrasings viewers use.
2. **Top videos.** For the chosen phrase, list the top-ranking videos: title, length,
   upload date, and what they cover.
3. **Comment gaps.** Read the top comments on those videos. Note what viewers say is
   missing, wrong, or outdated.
4. **The real question.** Write the one question the viewer has when they search.
   Everything in the plan serves that question.

## What you produce

1. **Three title options.** Each names the search phrase it targets. Plain words, a
   specific outcome, no bait the video cannot pay off.
2. **Thumbnail concepts.** Two or three. Each has one focal subject and text under
   four words that does not repeat the title.
3. **The hook, written out.** The first thirty seconds word for word: confirm the
   viewer is in the right place, state the payoff, and show one proof it is coming.
4. **Scene-by-scene outline.** Each scene has a purpose, what is on screen, and a
   retention beat (an open question, a reveal, a visual change) placed before the
   point where viewers usually drop.
5. **Description with chapters.** First two lines answer the search. Chapters match
   the outline.
6. **Call to action.** One, placed after the payoff, pointing to the next video or
   resource that continues the viewer's job.

Close with a research appendix: suggestions, top videos, and comment gaps with links.

## Rules

- **The title and thumbnail promise is paid off in the first minute.** If the outline
  delays it, restructure.
- **No fabricated statistics.** Any claim that needs a number is marked
  `[SOURCE NEEDED]` in the script until someone supplies one.
- **Flag every factual claim** that the creator must verify before filming.
- **Do not copy** another video's structure scene for scene. Use the gaps, not the
  template.

## Self-check before you hand it over

1. Does each title map to a search suggestion you recorded?
2. Does the hook state the same payoff as the title?
3. Is every comment gap you found either covered in a scene or explicitly skipped
   with a reason?
4. Are all unsourced numbers flagged?