# A researched YouTube plan before you record

> A researched YouTube plan before you record. Approved by a person first.

Loop: `youtube-video-plan`
Category: Video
Autonomy: auto+gate
License: MIT
Source: https://vibemarketers.ai/templates/youtube-video-plan

## Not yet run by the lab that published it

This loop is written and ready to run. VibeMarketers has not run it.

This lab has no YouTube channel of its own with enough videos to judge a plan against. A plan it cannot record or measure would be a guess with a receipt attached.

It carries no receipt. Every loop at https://vibemarketers.ai/loops has run on that
site and published what it found, including the unflattering parts. This has not, so
judge it on the prompts below rather than on anyone's word.

## What you need

A topic, your channel's context (audience, what you sell, past videos that worked), and a way to read YouTube search results and video pages.

Most weak videos are decided before the camera turns on: a topic nobody searches, a title
that promises the wrong thing, an opening that makes people leave. This loop does the
research first and writes the plan down, so the recording starts from a decision.

**Use it when** you are about to record and want the title, thumbnail, and opening argued
over before they are fixed.

**You need** a topic, your channel context, and access to YouTube search results.

**You get** a plan: the videos that already rank for the topic and what they miss, three
title options, a thumbnail brief, a written hook, a section outline, and a description
with chapters left as placeholders.

**The gate** is a person approving the plan. Nothing is recorded, uploaded, or scheduled
by the loop.

## The title and thumbnail are one promise

The title and the thumbnail are read together in about a glance, so they should do
different jobs. The title says what the viewer gets. The thumbnail shows why it matters,
usually one image and at most a few words that do not repeat the title.

The hook is where the promise gets kept. If the first lines of the video are an intro,
a logo, or a request to subscribe, the viewer who clicked for the promise leaves.

## Goal prompt

```
Read <topic> and <channel-context-file>. Search YouTube for the topic and its
closest phrasings. For the top results, record title, channel, publish date,
URL, and what the video covers and misses, from its description, chapters,
and top comments.

Then write a plan:
- the gap: what viewers ask in comments that the ranking videos do not answer
- three title options, each stating what the viewer gets, none clickbait the
  video cannot pay off
- a thumbnail brief: one image idea and at most a few words, not repeating
  the title
- the hook: the first lines of the script, word for word, paying off the
  title immediately
- an outline: sections in order, each with the question it answers and the
  reason a viewer keeps watching to the next one
- a description with placeholder chapters and the link to <offer-url>

Write to <output-file>. Every claim about a competing video carries its URL.
Never invent view counts, subscriber counts, or search volumes.
```

## Verifier prompt

```
Open the plan in a fresh session and load every URL.

FAIL if any competing video listed has no URL, or the URL does not load.
FAIL if the gap names a viewer question with no linked comment or page.
FAIL if any title promises something the outline never delivers.
FAIL if the hook does not address the title's promise in its opening lines.
FAIL if the thumbnail brief repeats the title word for word.
FAIL if any view count, subscriber count, or volume figure appears without a
named source and date.

Otherwise PASS. On FAIL, print the section and the reason.
```

## Stopping condition

> The plan contains researched competitors with URLs, a linked gap, three titles, a
> thumbnail brief, a word-for-word hook, an outline, and a description, the verifier
> printed PASS, and a person approved it before recording.

## What it may and may not do

**May:** read YouTube search results, video pages, and public comments; write the plan.

**May not:** record, upload, schedule, change a live video's title or thumbnail, or invent
performance numbers for any video.

## What this will not tell you

A plan is a hypothesis. Whether the title earns the click and the hook keeps the viewer is
only known after the video is live, from your own analytics. Write the plan's bet down,
then compare it to what the video actually did.

When the video is live, the [youtube-repurpose](/templates/youtube-repurpose) template
turns the recording into clips, chapters, and an article.

---

MIT licensed. Copy it, change it, run it. No attribution required.
Retrieved from https://vibemarketers.ai/templates/youtube-video-plan.md