How to write a CLAUDE.md for your GTM team

CLAUDE.md examples for marketing and GTM teams. How to structure project instructions so Claude Code produces consistent, on-brand output for content, sales enablement, and competitive intel.

· Page Sands

If you’ve used Claude Code for more than a few sessions, you’ve noticed the pattern: the first response is generic. You spend the next several prompts correcting tone, explaining context, and steering it toward what you actually need.

CLAUDE.md fixes that. It’s a project instruction file that Claude Code reads at the start of every session. Write it well and Claude Code starts each conversation already knowing your project, your voice, and your workflows.

Most CLAUDE.md examples online are written for engineering teams. Repository structure, coding conventions, test frameworks. That’s useful if you’re building software. If you’re running GTM operations, you need different instructions.

Here’s how I structure mine for a content and GTM workflow, with examples from the file running this site.

What CLAUDE.md does

When you open Claude Code in a directory that contains a CLAUDE.md file, it reads that file before you type anything. Every instruction in the file applies to the entire session. No need to repeat context. No need to re-explain your brand voice or content structure.

For GTM work, this means Claude Code can start a session already knowing:

  • What your site is and who it’s for
  • Your ICP: the roles you’re writing for, where they are with AI, and what they need from your content
  • Where content files live and how they’re formatted
  • Your brand voice, positioning, and writing rules
  • Which workflows exist and how to run them

Without a CLAUDE.md, you’re briefing a new contractor every time you open a session. With one, you’re picking up where you left off.

Structure that works for GTM teams

I’ve iterated on this file across dozens of sessions. The structure that works has five sections.

Project overview

State what the project is in two or three lines. Include the audience and the purpose. Claude Code uses this to frame every response.

## Project Overview
A content site for sharing learnings on Claude Code
as it relates to AI go-to-market strategy for B2B SaaS.

Short and specific. Claude Code doesn’t need a mission statement. It needs enough context to make good decisions about tone and content.

Site and tooling details

List the technical facts Claude Code needs to produce correct output. Framework, hosting, repo, branch conventions. This prevents it from guessing wrong about file paths or build commands.

## Site
- **Framework:** Astro
- **Hosting:** Vercel
- **Default branch:** main

For a GTM team that doesn’t manage a website, this section might cover your CRM, email platform, or the folder structure where sales materials live.

Brand and voice references

This is the section that makes the biggest difference for GTM output. Point Claude Code to your brand docs and tell it to read them before writing anything.

## Brand & Voice Reference
- Location: `brand/`
- These docs define how we write and position content.
  Read them before authoring.
- Key files:
  - `brand/voice-profile.md` — tone, style, personality
  - `brand/positioning.md` — messaging, angles, differentiation
  - `brand/audience.md` — who we're writing for
  - `brand/writing-guide.md` — structural patterns, dos/don'ts
  - `brand/keyword-plan.md` — SEO keyword strategy
  - `brand/seo-guardrails.md` — rules for keyword-aware authoring

The brand docs do the heavy lifting. CLAUDE.md just tells Claude Code where to find them and when to use them. I covered the brand doc structure in the content workflow teardown.

Content authoring rules

Spell out the format, file locations, naming conventions, and frontmatter schema. These are the details that prevent Claude Code from creating files in the wrong place or with the wrong metadata.

## Content Authoring

### Blog posts
- Location: `src/content/blog/`
- Format: Markdown (`.md`) or MDX (`.mdx`)
- Frontmatter schema:
  title: 'Post Title'
  description: 'Short description for SEO and previews'
  pubDate: 'Feb 23 2026'
- File naming: kebab-case slugs. The filename becomes the URL.

For sales enablement teams, this section might define where battle cards go, what template to follow, and which fields are required. The format changes. The principle is the same: tell Claude Code exactly what correct output looks like.

Workflow instructions

Document the repeatable workflows so Claude Code can execute them without step-by-step prompting. On this site, the signal sync workflow has its own section with the command name, source scripts, output files, and dependencies.

## Signal Sync Workflow
- **Command:** `/project:sync-signals`
- **Sources:**
  - X: `scripts/pull-x-signals.sh` → `drafts/x-signals.md`
  - Reddit: `scripts/pull-reddit-signals.sh` → `drafts/reddit-signals.md`
- **Content plan:** `drafts/content-plan.md` updated based on analysis

A GTM team might document workflows for building sales enablement materials, running competitive analysis, or generating campaign briefs.

What to include and what to skip

Include anything that you find yourself repeating across sessions. If you’ve corrected Claude Code’s tone three times, add a rule. If it keeps putting files in the wrong directory, add the path. CLAUDE.md is a living document that gets better every time you notice a recurring correction.

Skip anything Claude Code can figure out from context. You don’t need to explain what markdown is or how git works. Focus on the decisions specific to your project.

A few rules that made a noticeable difference in my output:

  • “Never use em dashes” stopped a pattern that showed up in every draft
  • “Write from real experience” shifted the default from generic advice to first-person narrative
  • “Do not push without explicit approval” prevented an overeager commit

Each rule exists because something went wrong without it.

CLAUDE.md for different GTM functions

The file I’ve shown is for a content operation. The same structure adapts to other GTM functions.

Product marketing. Add sections for messaging frameworks, persona docs, competitive positioning files, and launch playbook templates. Point Claude Code to your positioning docs the same way I point it to brand docs.

Sales ops. Define where CRM export files live, what format call notes follow, and templates for battle cards or deal summaries. Include the objection-handling framework your team uses.

Demand gen. Document your campaign naming conventions, UTM parameter structure, ad copy guidelines, and landing page templates. These are exactly the kind of rules that prevent Claude Code from generating output you have to reformat.

Start with what you correct most

If you don’t have a CLAUDE.md yet, don’t try to write the complete version on day one. Start a file with your project overview and one or two rules. Use Claude Code for a week. Every time you correct something, add a rule. Every time you re-explain context, add a section.

After a dozen sessions, you’ll have a CLAUDE.md that captures how your team actually works. That file becomes one of the most useful documents in your GTM operation, not because it’s comprehensive, but because every line in it solves a real problem you ran into.