# ASO marketing Human Guide

## What This Is For
A comprehensive, iterative ASO workflow that takes a mobile app from analysis through planning, execution, verification, and reporting — covering both Apple App Store and Google Play Store. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for ASO marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the ASO marketing agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for ASO marketing.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the ASO marketing guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- The project is a mobile app (iOS/Android or both)
- You have access to the app's source code or metadata files
- You can read project configuration files (build.gradle, Info.plist, etc.)
- You can create/update metadata files in the project directory
- `agents/analyzer.md` — Phase 1 analysis report
- `agents/plan-writer.md` — Phase 2 ASO plan
- `agents/compliance-checker.md` — Phase 3 prohibited-keyword + trademark check
- `agents/executor.md` — Phase 4 metadata changes
- `agents/reviewer.md` — Phases 5-6 review + best-practices verification
- Determine which store(s) the user wants to optimize for.
- Identify whether the user has existing metadata files, a live store listing, or is launching fresh.
- Prohibited keyword lists (Apple + Google)

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Environment Check, Repo Sync Before Edits (mandatory), Subagent Architecture, Workflow Overview, Before You Start, Phase Execution, Phase 1: Analyze, Phase 2: Plan, Phase 3: Policy Compliance Check, User Approval Gate.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- The skill follows a 7-phase cycle. Never skip the policy compliance check or the planning approval gate — the user must approve a policy-compliant plan before execution begins.
- **Compliance gate is non-negotiable.** Never present a non-compliant plan to the user; never execute without explicit approval.
- **Trademark caution:** Competitor brand names from Phase 1 analysis must never appear in proposed metadata.
- Identify gaps (keywords they don't target that the user's app could)
- IMPORTANT: Competitive analysis is for STRATEGY only. Do NOT carry competitor names into the proposed metadata.
- Superlative claims: "best", "#1", "top-rated", "must-have", "top app", "number one"
- iOS keywords field must NOT duplicate words from title or subtitle:
- | Field | Proposed Value | Banned Term Found | Status | Fix Required |

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the ASO marketing human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the luongnv89/skills skill entry for `aso-marketing`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# ASO Marketing — Full-Lifecycle App Store Optimization

A comprehensive, iterative ASO workflow that takes a mobile app from analysis through planning, execution, verification, and reporting — covering both Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

## Environment Check

Before running this skill, verify:
- The project is a mobile app (iOS/Android or both)
- You have access to the app's source code or metadata files
- You can read project configuration files (build.gradle, Info.plist, etc.)
- You can create/update metadata files in the project directory

If any check fails, stop and ask for clarification.

## Repo Sync Before Edits (mandatory)

Before creating, updating, or deleting files in an existing repository, sync the current branch with remote. **Run the dry-run command first to preview, then confirm with the user before destructive sync.**

```bash
# Dry-run preview first
git fetch --dry-run origin
git status

# Then sync (after user confirms working tree is clean or backed up)
branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
git fetch origin
git pull --rebase origin "$branch"
```

If the working tree is not clean, **ask the user before stashing**. If `origin` is missing, pull is unavailable, or rebase/stash conflicts occur, stop and ask the user before continuing.

**Backup-first rule for metadata files:** Before overwriting any existing metadata file (e.g. `metadata/version/1.0/en-US.json`, `fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/title.txt`), create a `.bak` copy in the same directory or confirm the file is in version control. Never delete metadata files without explicit user confirmation.

## Subagent Architecture

This skill uses a Staged Pipeline + Review Loop architecture. Each phase maps to a subagent in `agents/`:

1. `agents/analyzer.md` — Phase 1 analysis report
2. `agents/plan-writer.md` — Phase 2 ASO plan
3. `agents/compliance-checker.md` — Phase 3 prohibited-keyword + trademark check
4. `agents/executor.md` — Phase 4 metadata changes
5. `agents/reviewer.md` — Phases 5-6 review + best-practices verification

Main agent orchestrates phase transitions and the **user approval gate after Phase 3**.

## Workflow Overview

The skill follows a 7-phase cycle. Never skip the policy compliance check or the planning approval gate — the user must approve a policy-compliant plan before execution begins.

```
Phase 1: Analyze → Phase 2: Plan → Phase 3: Policy Compliance Check
  → [User Approval Gate] → Phase 4: Execute → Phase 5: Review
  → Phase 6: Verify → Phase 7: Summarize
```

## Before You Start

1. Read `references/aso_best_practices.md` for the complete ASO knowledge base — **especially the "Store Policy Compliance" section** detailing prohibited keywords, trademark rules, and listing policy restrictions for both Apple and Google.
2. Determine which store(s) the user wants to optimize for.
3. Identify whether the user has existing metadata files, a live store listing, or is launching fresh.

## Phase Execution

Run each phase in order. Detailed instructions, templates, and checklists live in the reference files. Read each one before executing the corresponding phase.

### Phase 1: Analyze

Read `references/phases-1-2.md` (Phase 1 section). Gather codebase info, audit existing store metadata, identify competitors, baseline performance, and produce an Analysis Report.

### Phase 2: Plan

Read `references/phases-1-2.md` (Phase 2 section). Build a prioritized plan covering objectives, target keywords (primary/secondary/long-tail), metadata optimization (title, subtitle, keywords, description, what's-new), visual assets, localization, ratings strategy, and timeline.

### Phase 3: Policy Compliance Check

Read `references/phase-3-compliance.md`. Validate every proposed metadata field against:
- Prohibited keyword lists (Apple + Google)
- Trademark and competitor brand checks
- Formatting rules (no emojis, no ALL CAPS, character limits)
- Content accuracy