This is Part 1 of a three-part series on building Claude skills.
The skill we're building today—extracting blog outlines from whitepapers—is just the example. What you're actually learning is how to turn any repeatable task into a reusable AI capability. Once you understand how skills work, you can apply the same approach to research workflows, email drafting, data analysis, client deliverables, whatever your work requires.
Here's where we're headed:
- Part 1 (this week): One skill. One task. Consistent every time.
- Part 2: A second skill for a different job.
- Part 3: Chain them into a workflow.
The examples are mine. The skills you build will be yours. Let's get started.
This week's playground: Building your first Claude skill
You've probably asked AI to summarize a whitepaper before. Maybe you even got it to pull out key insights and provide blog outlines. It worked.
But here's the thing—the next time you upload a different whitepaper, you start over. You re-explain the task. You remind your AI about the format you want. You tweak the output structure again. Every. Single. Time.
This week, we're fixing that. You're going to teach Claude a skill—a reusable capability you can call on whenever you need it. So, the next time you want blog outlines from a whitepaper, you just ask. Claude knows what to do, how to format it, and what audience you're writing for. No re-explaining.
Why this matters
Most people use AI like a really smart intern who has amnesia. Every conversation starts fresh. That's fine for one-off questions, but it's a terrible way to build repeatable workflows (yes, I know we have talked about this before).
Claude Skills change the equation. Instead of prompting from scratch each time, you define the task once—what to look for, how to structure the output, what tone to use—and Claude applies it consistently whenever you call on it. Think of it as the difference between giving someone instructions every morning versus training them to do the job.
For content creators, this is a big deal. You probably have a backlog of whitepapers, research reports, and industry articles you could turn into content—but the manual work of extracting insights and structuring outlines feels like a grind. A skill automates the grind.
What exactly is an AI skill?
Quick primer if you haven't used skills before: A skill is a set of instructions you give Claude that it remembers and can apply when you ask for it. Unlike a saved prompt you copy-paste, a skill becomes part of how Claude works for you. You install it once, and it's available in every conversation.
The good news is that you don't have to write code or understand technical syntax. You describe what you want the skill to do in plain language, ask Claude to build it, and install it with one click.
That's what we're doing today.
How is this different from a GPT or Gem?
If you've built a custom GPT or Google Gem, you might be wondering why skills are worth learning.
The mental model is different. A GPT or Gem is a separate assistant you make a cognitive decision to speak to—you choose to talk to "Pitch Deck Writer" or "Copyeditor" and that persona runs the conversation. A skill is more like an upgrade to your existing Claude. You don't change who you are talking to. You just talk to Claude, ask for what you need, and it draws on the relevant skill to get it done.
Multiple skills can be active at once, combining in the background. You're not picking a tool—you're making your default assistant smarter.
A note on tools: Claude and ChatGPT both support this
This tutorial uses Claude, but the same approach works with ChatGPT. OpenAI recently rolled out a similar feature—you can ask ChatGPT to create reusable skills and install them the same way.
The prompts in this series work for both. I'll use Claude throughout for simplicity, but if you're a ChatGPT user, just swap the tool. The concept is identical: describe the skill, let the AI build it, install it, use it forever.
Your AI experiment: Build the "Whitepaper to Blog Outlines" skill
👉 Time to tinker: Grab a whitepaper, make sure you're on a paid Claude or ChatGPT plan, and set aside five minutes.
Here's the process:
- Give Claude the prompt below to create your skill. Make sure to fill in the audience information based on your needs.
- Claude will generate the skill file
- Click to install it
- Test it by uploading a whitepaper and asking Claude to create blog outlines
The prompt:
Create a Skill that extracts insights from whitepapers and creates blog outlines.
Here's what the skill should do:
Target audience for the insights: [DESCRIBE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE — e.g., "Marketing leaders responsible for team efficiency and AI adoption" or "B2B SaaS founders evaluating new tools" or "CISOs at mid-market companies"]
The task: When I upload a whitepaper, report, or article and ask for blog outlines, the skill should:
- Read the document and extract the three most interesting insights or concepts that would be valuable for my target audience. Prioritize insights that are: Actionable, Non-obvious, and Specific — backed by data, examples, or concrete frameworks.
- For each insight, provide: Why it matters (2-3 sentences), and A structured blog outline including: Title (compelling and specific, not generic), Introduction (2-3 sentences that hook the reader), Key sections (3-5 bullet points covering the main ideas), Conclusion with key takeaways and recommended next steps.
Output format: Start with a 1-2 sentence summary of the whitepaper's overall theme. List the three insights in numbered format. For each insight, include the "Why it matters" section followed by the full blog outline.
Tone: Educational, professional, and actionable — no fluff, no buzzwords, no hype.
Please create this as a skill I can install and reuse.
After you submit this prompt, Claude will generate the skill. You'll see an option to install it or copy it to your skills—click that, and you're done.
Now test it: upload a whitepaper and ask Claude to extract insights and create blog outlines. Watch the skill kick in.
💡 Pro tips: Get more from your skill
- Name your skill the way you'd ask for it. Claude uses the skill name to decide when to apply it. If you name it "Whitepaper Blog Extractor" but you say "give me blog outlines," there's a mismatch. Name it how you actually talk.
- Refine the audience over time. "Marketing leaders" is okay. "Marketing directors at B2B tech companies under pressure to prove ROI on AI investments" is better. Edit your skill anytime to sharpen this.
- Add examples if outputs feel off. Tell Claude: "Update my whitepaper skill to include this example of a strong blog outline: [paste example]." It'll adjust.
What did you discover?
There's usually a moment, somewhere around the second or third whitepaper, where it clicks. You didn't re-explain anything. Claude just... did it right.
That's the shift from prompting to delegating.
Until next time — keep tinkering, keep prompting, keep innovating.
📩 Not subscribed yet? Hit the button at the top. Next week, we're teaching Claude to sound like you.
ICYMI: From Idea to Live App: Vibe Coding for Marketers
Ever wished you could turn a campaign idea into a real app without waiting on engineering or paying for an agency? My 30-minute session vibe coding session is now on-demand! I'll show how non-technical marketers can go from a plain-English brief to a working web app in real time. You'll see a live build, learn how to write mini-PRDs that guide AI clearly, and walk away with a practical way to ship ideas faster—no coding background required.
Watch this FREE Lightning Lesson here.
