Marketing Strategy

Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: strategy/brand.md for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; about/me.md for personal voice; content/ideas.md and content/calendar.md for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md, and route durable learnings back to strategy/brand.md, about/me.md, or content/ideas.md.

Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.

Strategy and positioning layer for B2B SaaS — from product-market fit through competitive intelligence, sales enablement, and growth loops. For launch execution and channel strategy, see go-to-market-strategy.

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Product Strategy Stack

VISION      — Where are we going? (3–10 years)
STRATEGY    — How will we win? (1–3 years)
ROADMAP     — What are we building? (Quarters)
EXECUTION   — How are we building? (Sprints)

Philosophy: Start with the customer problem, not your solution. Make trade-offs explicit — strategy is choosing what NOT to do. Systems over tactics: growth loops compound; growth hacks don't.

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Product-Market Fit Spectrum

Level 0: Problem Fit    → Real problem worth solving
Level 1: Solution Fit   → Your solution addresses the problem
Level 2: PMF            → Customers pull the product from you
Level 3: Scale Fit      → Repeatable growth engine working
Level 4: Moat Fit       → Defensible competitive advantage established

PMF validation signals: 5+ ICP customers, below-median sales cycle, above-median LTV, <5% churn, NPS 9–10.

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Market Opportunity (TAM/SAM/SOM)

Validate top-down with bottom-up: (realistic customers × conversion rate × ACV). Gap >3x → revisit assumptions.

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ICP & Segmentation

ICP Firmographics (Series A sweet spot): 50–5,000 employees, SaaS/Tech/Professional Services, $5M–$500M revenue.

Buyer Personas:

• Economic Buyer (VP/Director): Cares about ROI, cost reduction → business outcomes + case studies
• Technical Buyer (Engineer): Cares about integration, security → architecture, uptime, SOC 2
• Champion (Manager): Cares about ease of use → UX, quick wins

ICP Scoring (HubSpot): A (perfect fit) → D (poor fit). Focus acquisition on A/B, disqualify D.

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Positioning (April Dunford Method)

1. Competitive alternatives — What would customers do without you? (competitors, spreadsheets, DIY, status quo)
2. Unique attributes — What do you have that alternatives don't?
3. Value mapping — Attribute → Value → Outcome (e.g., AI automation → eliminates manual entry → save 10 hrs/week)
4. Best-fit customers — Who values this most? Use win/loss data.
5. Market category — Head-to-head, niche ("CRM for agencies"), or new category
6. Trend layer — What macro trend makes now the right time to buy?

Value proposition: [Product] helps [Target] [Achieve Goal] by [Unique Approach]

Positioning template:

For [target customer]
Who [need/problem]
[Product] is a [category]
That [key benefit]
Unlike [competitors]
Our product [unique differentiator]

Messaging hierarchy: One-liner → 3–5 key benefits → feature/outcome pairs → proof points (logos, stats, case studies)

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Working Backwards (PR/FAQ)

Write an internal press release BEFORE building. If you can't write a compelling press release, you don't have a compelling product.

Press Release structure (~1 page):

1. Headline — product name + one-sentence customer benefit
2. Opening — who is the customer and what problem is solved
3. Problem paragraph — the current pain in detail
4. Solution paragraph — what the product does
5. Customer quote (fictional) — how it changes their life
6. Getting started + CTA

FAQ (External + Internal): External = questions real customers would ask. Internal = questions your skeptical colleagues would ask (the hard ones).

Anti-patterns: Writing the PR after building, solution-first thinking, vague customer definition ("everyone could use this"), skipping the hard internal FAQ, marketing hyperbole instead of specific measurable claims.

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Competitive Intelligence

Tiers: Direct competitors | Indirect/adjacent | Status quo (spreadsheets, DIY, do nothing)

Intel sources: Product trials, website monitoring, customer interviews, Gong/Chorus recordings, G2 reviews, competitor job postings, industry reports.

Battlecard template (one per competitor):

Competitor | Strengths | Weaknesses | Our advantages
When we win | When we lose
Talk tracks for top 3 objections
Proof points (case studies, review comparisons, win rate)

Update monthly. Distribute via Notion/Confluence to Sales, CS, Product.

Win/Loss process: Interview within 2 weeks of close. Track in HubSpot: reason, competitor, price factor, product gap. Share monthly insights report with product and sales.

Competitive moat types:

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Growth Loops & PLG

Growth Loop Types

PLG Motion Types

North Star Metric

A good North Star measures value delivered, is a leading indicator of revenue, reflects product strategy, and is actionable by the product team. Examples: Slack → DAU sending messages; Airbnb → Nights booked

AARRR Funnel: Acquisition → Activation → Retention → Revenue → Referral. Fix activation before optimizing acquisition — don't fill a leaky bucket.

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Business Model Design

Unit economics:

LTV = (Monthly Revenue × Gross Margin %) ÷ Monthly Churn Rate
Target: LTV > 3x CAC, CAC payback < 18 months

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Sales Enablement

Core assets: Sales deck (15 slides, visual-first) · One-pagers (product, competitive, case study, pricing) · Battlecards · Demo script (discover → show → Q&A → next step) · Email sequences · ROI calculator

Enablement cadence:

• Monthly: Competitive update call — product updates, battlecards, win/loss, best practices
• Quarterly: Half-day workshop — positioning refresh, role-play, customer panel
• New hire: 4-week ramp — company → ICP/messaging → competitive intel → demo certification

PMM handoffs: Demand Gen (2-week lead time) | Sales (48-hr SLA on competitive questions) | Product (weekly sync) | CS (1-week for launch enablement)

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Product Marketing Context Document

Create strategy/brand.md capturing:

1. Product Overview — one-liner, what it does, category, business model
2. Target Audience — company type, decision-makers, use case, jobs to be done
3. Buyer Personas — user, champion, economic buyer, technical influencer (pain + value promise each)
4. Problems & Pain Points — core challenge, why alternatives fail, cost of the problem
5. Competitive Landscape — direct, secondary, indirect competitors + how each falls short
6. Differentiation — key differentiators, why customers choose you
7. Objections & Anti-Personas — top 3 objections + who is NOT a good fit
8. Customer Language — verbatim phrases customers use for the problem and your solution
9. Brand Voice — tone, style, personality (3–5 adjectives)
10. Proof Points — metrics, notable customers, testimonial snippets

Auto-draft approach: Study the repo (README, landing pages, marketing copy), draft V1, then ask: "What needs correcting? What's missing?"

All other marketing skills reference this file automatically.

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PMM KPIs

QBR slide structure: Executive summary → KPI dashboard (target vs. actual) → what worked / what didn't → next quarter priorities + budget ask

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Key Strategic Questions

1. Horizontal vs Vertical? — Serve many industries or dominate one deeply?
2. High-Touch vs Self-Service? — Drives CAC, LTV, and scaling ability
3. Niche vs Broad? — Start narrow, expand over time
4. Premium vs Budget? — Rarely can do both
5. First Mover vs Fast Follower? — Category size determines which matters

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Anti-Patterns

• Vision without strategy — inspiring destination, no map
• Strategy without trade-offs — if everything is a priority, nothing is
• TAM theater — unrealistic market sizes to impress investors
• Feature parity obsession — chasing competitors instead of customers
• Premature scaling — scaling before PMF
• Optimizing acquisition before activation — filling a leaky bucket
• Vanity metrics — MAU without engagement is meaningless