marketing-strategy

---
name: marketing-strategy
description: Product marketing strategy, positioning, and competitive intelligence for B2B SaaS. Use when defining ICP, developing positioning (April Dunford method), creating messaging hierarchy, building competitive battlecards, planning sales enablement, sizing market opportunity (TAM/SAM/SOM), mapping PMF spectrum, designing growth loops, writing PR/FAQ working backwards docs, or creating a product marketing context document.
license: MIT
---

# 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`.

---

## 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.

---

## 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.

---

## Market Opportunity (TAM/SAM/SOM)

| Metric | What It Means | How to Calculate |
|--------|---------------|------------------|
| **TAM** | Everyone who could theoretically buy | Target customers × avg contract value |
| **SAM** | Those you can reach and serve | TAM × geographic/product constraints |
| **SOM** | Realistic near-term share | SAM × 1–5% penetration |

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

---

## 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.

---

## 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)

---

## 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.

---

## 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:**

| Moat | Description | Examples |
|------|-------------|----------|
| **Network Effects** | Product improves as more users join | Slack, LinkedIn |
| **Switching Costs** | Painful to leave | Salesforce, Workday |
| **Data Advantages** | Proprietary data improves product | Google, Waze |
| **Scale Economies** | Cost advantages at scale | AWS, Stripe |
| **Brand** | Trust and recognition | Apple, Notion |

---

## Growth Loops & PLG

### Growth Loop Types

| Loop | Mechanism | Key Metric |
|------|-----------|------------|
| **Viral** | Users invite users | K-factor |
| **Content** | Users create discoverable content | Indexed pages |
| **Paid** | Revenue funds acquisition | CAC payback |
| **SEO** | Content ranks, drives traffic | Organic traffic |

### PLG Motion Types

| Motion | Best For | Key Lever |
|--------|----------|-----------|
| **Freemium** | Simple products, network effects | Free → paid conversion |
| **Free Trial** | Complex products | Trial conversion rate |
| **Reverse Trial** | High-value products | Premium feature discovery |
| **Usage-Based** | API/variable consumption | Usage expansion |

### 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.

---

## Business Model Design

| Model | Pros | Cons |
|-------|------|------|
| **SaaS** | Predictable, high LTV | Long sales cycle |
| **Freemium** | Low CAC, viral | Free → paid conversion hard |
| **Usage-Based** | Scales with customer | Revenue unpredictability |
| **Marketplace** | Network effects | High volume needed |

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

---

## 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)

---

## 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.

---

## PMM KPIs

| KPI | Target |
|-----|--------|
| Feature adoption (90 days) | >40% |
| Win rate (competitive deals) | >30% |
| Sales velocity | -20% YoY |
| Deal size (ACV) | +25% YoY |
| Launch ROMI | 3:1 (pipeline : spend) |

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

---

## 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

---

## 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