marketing-strategy

Strategic marketing planning, growth frameworks (AARRR, ICE, RICE), positioning, OKRs, campaign planning, content pillars, and market analysis

Marketing Strategy Skill

Trigger Conditions

Use this skill when the user asks to:

Brand Voice Integration

MANDATORY: Before generating ANY strategy content, load the brand voice configuration.

from brand_voice.config import load_brand_voice
brand = load_brand_voice()

All strategy outputs must align with brand.tone, respect brand.avoid terms, and pass anti_slop validation. Strategy documents that ignore brand voice are invalid.

Growth Frameworks

AARRR — Pirate Metrics Framework

The AARRR framework (Dave McClure, 500 Startups) maps the full customer lifecycle into 5 measurable stages. Use this as the primary diagnostic framework when a user needs to understand where their growth is leaking.

| Stage | Question | Example Metrics | |-------|----------|-----------------| | Acquisition | How do users find us? | Visits, signups, CAC, channel attribution | | Activation | Do they have a great first experience? | Onboarding completion, time-to-value, aha-moment rate | | Retention | Do they come back? | DAU/MAU, churn rate, cohort retention curves | | Revenue | Do they pay? | ARPU, LTV, conversion rate, MRR/ARR | | Referral | Do they tell others? | NPS, viral coefficient (k-factor), referral rate |

How to apply AARRR:

  1. Diagnose first — Ask: "Which stage is the biggest bottleneck?" Use data if available, or hypothesize based on product maturity.
  2. One stage at a time — Focus resources on the weakest stage. Improving Retention before scaling Acquisition prevents burning budget on users who churn.
  3. Set stage-specific OKRs — Each stage gets its own Objective and 2-3 Key Results.
  4. Measure cohorts, not aggregates — Weekly or monthly cohorts reveal trends that aggregate numbers hide.

Stage-specific playbooks:

ICE Scoring — Quick Prioritization

ICE (Sean Ellis) is a lightweight scoring model for rapid prioritization of growth experiments.

| Dimension | Score 1-10 | Question | |-----------|-----------|----------| | Impact | How much will this move the target metric? | 1 = negligible, 10 = 2x improvement | | Confidence | How sure are we this will work? | 1 = wild guess, 10 = proven playbook | | Ease | How easy is it to implement? | 1 = months of eng work, 10 = deploy today |

ICE Score = (Impact + Confidence + Ease) / 3

When to use ICE: For backlogs of 10-30 ideas that need quick ranking. Not suitable for strategic decisions requiring deeper analysis.

Pitfalls to avoid:

RICE Prioritization — Data-Driven Ranking

RICE (Intercom) adds Reach to create a more rigorous prioritization model.

| Dimension | Definition | Unit | |-----------|-----------|------| | Reach | How many people will this affect per time period? | Users/quarter | | Impact | How much will each person be affected? | 0.25 (minimal) to 3 (massive) | | Confidence | How confident are we in estimates? | 50%-100% | | Effort | How much work is required? | Person-months |

RICE Score = (Reach × Impact × Confidence) / Effort

When to use RICE: For roadmap prioritization with 5+ competing initiatives. Best when you have data on Reach.

Confidence calibration:

Positioning Frameworks

Category Design

Category design (Play Bigger methodology) means defining and owning a new market category rather than competing in an existing one.

Steps:

  1. Identify the problem the market doesn't know it has — Frame a "before" and "after" that shifts perception.
  2. Name the category — The name should be intuitive, memorable, and googlable. Test with 5 people outside your industry.
  3. Lightning strike — Coordinate a launch event that educates the market on the category and your position as the leader.
  4. Category POV document — Write a 2-3 page manifesto explaining why the old way is broken and what the new category enables.

When NOT to use: If you're entering an established category with a better/cheaper product, compete on positioning within that category instead.

Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD)

JTBD (Clayton Christensen, Tony Ulwick) reframes positioning around the job the customer is hiring your product to do.

Job statement formula:

When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].

Example:

When I'm planning next quarter's content, I want to quickly generate
platform-specific posts, so I can maintain consistent presence without
spending 20 hours per week on content.

Applying JTBD to positioning:

  1. Interview 10-15 customers about their last purchase decision
  2. Extract the functional, emotional, and social jobs
  3. Identify over-served jobs (competitors do this well) and under-served jobs (gap)
  4. Position your product around the under-served jobs
  5. Write messaging that directly addresses the job, not your features

Positioning Canvas

Use this structured canvas to define positioning:

positioning:
  target_customer: "[Specific persona with problem]"
  category: "[Market category you compete in or create]"
  key_differentiator: "[The one thing you do uniquely well]"
  proof_points:
    - "[Data point or case study 1]"
    - "[Data point or case study 2]"
    - "[Data point or case study 3]"
  competitive_alternative: "[What customers use today instead]"
  unique_value: "[The transformation you enable]"

Content Pillar Methodology

Content pillars are 3-5 core themes that all content maps back to. They ensure consistency, reduce content planning overhead, and build topical authority.

Building Content Pillars

Step 1: Audit your expertise zones List everything your team/product knows deeply. Group into 5-8 clusters.

Step 2: Map to audience jobs For each cluster, answer: "Does my audience actively seek information about this?" Eliminate clusters with no audience demand.

Step 3: Narrow to 3-5 pillars Criteria for a strong pillar:

Step 4: Define sub-topics per pillar Each pillar should have 10-20 sub-topics. These become individual content pieces.

Step 5: Map pillars to funnel stages

Pillar A → TOFU (awareness) + MOFU (consideration)
Pillar B → MOFU (consideration) + BOFU (decision)
Pillar C → TOFU (awareness)

Content Pillar Template

pillar:
  name: "[Pillar Name]"
  description: "[1-2 sentence description]"
  target_persona: "[Primary persona]"
  funnel_stages: [awareness, consideration, decision]
  sub_topics:
    - name: "[Sub-topic]"
      format: [blog, video, social, newsletter]
      priority: [high, medium, low]
      search_intent: [informational, navigational, transactional]
  kpis:
    - metric: "[e.g., organic traffic to pillar pages]"
      target: "[e.g., 5,000 visits/month within 6 months]"

Campaign Planning Structure

Campaign Brief Template

Every campaign should start with a brief that answers these questions:

campaign:
  name: "[Campaign Name]"
  objective: "[Single clear objective — use SMART format]"
  target_audience:
    primary: "[Persona with demographics and psychographics]"
    secondary: "[If applicable]"
  key_message: "[One sentence — what should the audience think/feel/do?]"
  channels:
    - channel: "[e.g., LinkedIn]"
      role: "[e.g., thought leadership, lead gen]"
      budget: "[If applicable]"
      content_types: ["posts", "articles", "ads"]
  timeline:
    start: "YYYY-MM-DD"
    end: "YYYY-MM-DD"
    milestones:
      - date: "YYYY-MM-DD"
        deliverable: "[What ships]"
  success_metrics:
    primary: "[The ONE metric that defines success]"
    secondary:
      - "[Supporting metric 1]"
      - "[Supporting metric 2]"
  budget:
    total: "[Amount]"
    breakdown:
      - category: "[e.g., paid ads, tools, freelancers]"
        amount: "[Amount]"
  risks:
    - risk: "[What could go wrong]"
      mitigation: "[How to prevent or respond]"

Campaign Types and Playbooks

| Type | Duration | Focus | Example | |------|----------|-------|---------| | Launch | 2-4 weeks | Awareness + Activation | Product launch, feature release | | Evergreen | Ongoing | SEO + Content authority | Blog series, resource hub | | Seasonal | 1-2 weeks | Relevance + Urgency | Black Friday, industry events | | Nurture | 4-8 weeks | Education + Conversion | Email sequence, webinar series | | Referral | Ongoing | Viral + Retention | Referral program, community |

Competitive Positioning Matrix

Building a Competitive Matrix

Step 1: Identify competitors

Step 2: Define comparison dimensions Choose 5-8 dimensions that matter to your target buyer. Examples:

Step 3: Score honestly Rate each competitor 1-5 on each dimension. Be honest — inflating your score undermines the exercise.

Step 4: Find your wedge The wedge is the dimension where you score highest AND competitors score lowest. This becomes your primary positioning angle.

competitive_matrix:
  dimensions:
    - name: "[Dimension]"
      weight: [1-5]  # How important to buyer
  competitors:
    - name: "[Competitor]"
      scores:
        "[Dimension]": [1-5]
      positioning: "[Their main claim]"
  your_wedge: "[Dimension where you win]"
  messaging_angle: "[How to frame your advantage]"

OKR Writing for Marketing

OKR Structure

Objective: Qualitative, inspirational, time-bound. Key Results: Quantitative, measurable, challenging but achievable (70% hit rate target).

Marketing OKR Templates

Growth-stage OKR:

O: Establish [Brand] as the go-to solution for [Job-to-be-Done]
  KR1: Grow organic traffic from [X] to [Y] monthly visits
  KR2: Achieve [X]% trial-to-paid conversion rate (from [current]%)
  KR3: Reach [X] qualified leads per month via content marketing

Retention-focused OKR:

O: Build a community of engaged users who advocate for [Brand]
  KR1: Increase NPS from [X] to [Y]
  KR2: Grow referral-sourced signups from [X]% to [Y]% of total
  KR3: Achieve [X]% monthly active rate among paid users

Brand-building OKR:

O: Own the [Category] conversation in [Industry]
  KR1: Publish [X] thought leadership pieces with [Y]+ average shares
  KR2: Secure [X] media mentions or podcast appearances
  KR3: Grow LinkedIn followers from [X] to [Y] with [Z]%+ engagement rate

OKR Anti-patterns

TAM/SAM/SOM Analysis

Definitions

| Level | Definition | Method | |-------|-----------|--------| | TAM (Total Addressable Market) | Total revenue opportunity if you captured 100% of the market | Top-down: industry reports. Bottom-up: # of potential customers × annual value | | SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) | Portion of TAM you can reach with your current product and channels | TAM filtered by geography, segment, and product fit | | SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) | Realistic share you can capture in 1-3 years | SAM × realistic market share % based on competitive position |

Calculation Template

tam_sam_som:
  tam:
    method: "[top-down or bottom-up]"
    total_potential_customers: "[Number]"
    average_annual_value: "[Amount per customer]"
    total: "[TAM = customers × value]"
    source: "[Where data came from]"
  sam:
    geographic_filter: "[Markets you can serve]"
    segment_filter: "[Customer segments you target]"
    product_fit_filter: "[Who your product actually serves]"
    total: "[SAM after filters]"
  som:
    market_share_target: "[Realistic % — typically 1-5% for startups]"
    timeline: "[1-3 years]"
    total: "[SOM = SAM × share %]"
    assumptions:
      - "[Key assumption 1]"
      - "[Key assumption 2]"

Quality Checks

Strategy Document Output Format

All strategy outputs must follow this format:

---
type: strategy
subtype: "[campaign | positioning | growth-model | okr | competitive-analysis | market-sizing]"
status: draft
date: "YYYY-MM-DD"
author: marketing-strategy
brand: "[from brand-voice.yaml]"
tags:
  - "[relevant tags]"
---

Anti-Slop Validation

Before finalizing any strategy document:

  1. Scan for banned phrases from brand-voice.yaml → anti_slop.banned_phrases
  2. Replace any matches with specific, evidence-backed language
  3. Verify active voice is used throughout
  4. Ensure no superlatives appear without supporting data
  5. Check that headlines are specific, not generic clickbait

Output Contract

Strategy Document Schema

output_contract:
  format: markdown
  required_sections:
    - frontmatter:
        type: string  # "strategy"
        subtype: string  # specific strategy type
        status: string  # "draft" | "review" | "approved"
        date: string  # ISO 8601
        author: string  # "marketing-strategy"
    - executive_summary:
        max_words: 150
        must_include: [objective, approach, expected_outcome]
    - analysis:
        frameworks_used: list  # which frameworks were applied
        data_sources: list  # where data came from
    - recommendations:
        format: prioritized_list
        each_item:
          - action: string
          - rationale: string
          - priority: string  # "P0" | "P1" | "P2"
          - effort: string  # "low" | "medium" | "high"
          - expected_impact: string
    - success_metrics:
        format: table
        columns: [metric, current, target, timeline]
    - next_steps:
        format: checklist
        max_items: 7
  validation:
    anti_slop: true  # must pass anti-slop scan
    brand_voice: true  # must align with brand-voice.yaml
    min_word_count: 500
    max_word_count: 5000