marketing-ideas

What this skill does

# Marketing Ideas

## Purpose
Analyze the user's business context and produce the 5 best marketing ideas from a curated database of proven strategies, each with a clear explanation and a specific action plan tailored to their business.

---

## Execution Logic

**Check $ARGUMENTS first to determine execution mode:**

### If $ARGUMENTS is empty or not provided:
Respond with:
"marketing-ideas loaded, proceed with additional instructions or tell me what marketing goal you're focused on (e.g., more leads, buzz without paid ads, customer retention, crushing competitors, etc.)"

Then wait for the user to provide their requirements in the next message.

### If $ARGUMENTS contains content:
Proceed immediately to Task Execution (skip the "loaded" message).

---

## Task Execution

When user requirements are available (either from initial $ARGUMENTS or follow-up message):

### 1. MANDATORY: Read Reference Files FIRST
**BLOCKING REQUIREMENT — DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP**

Before doing ANYTHING else, you MUST use the Read tool to read the marketing ideas database:

```
Read: ./references/marketing-ideas-database.md
```

**What you will find:**
- **marketing-ideas-database.md**: 170+ proven marketing strategies organized by goal category (Leads & Conversions, Buzz Without Paid Ads, Customer Sharing & Virality, Crushing Competitors, Customer Retention, Winning at Events, Future-Proofing, Buzz Generation Stunts, Brand Awareness, Acquisition, Retention, Monetization). Each idea has a title, strategy, real-world example, applicability, and psychological reasoning.

**DO NOT PROCEED** to Step 2 until you have read the database and have all ideas loaded in context.

### 2. MANDATORY: Read Business Context
Check if `FOUNDER_CONTEXT.md` exists in the project root.
- **If it exists:** Read it and extract: company name, industry, target audience, value proposition, products/services, business goals, team size, competitors, and brand voice.
- **If it doesn't exist:** Ask the user to briefly describe their business, target audience, product/service, and current marketing goal. Do NOT proceed without business context — this skill requires it to produce relevant recommendations.

### 3. Analyze Input
From the user's requirements and business context, extract:
- **Marketing goal:** What they want to achieve (more leads, buzz, retention, competitive edge, etc.)
- **Business type:** B2B SaaS, B2C, e-commerce, agency, creator, etc.
- **Stage:** Early-stage, growth, established
- **Constraints:** Budget, team size, technical capability
- **Current channels:** Where they already market (social, email, events, etc.)

If the user doesn't specify a marketing goal, analyze their FOUNDER_CONTEXT to determine the most impactful goal based on their business stage and goals.

For any missing information, apply defaults from **Defaults & Assumptions**.

### 4. Select the 5 Best Ideas
Using the database from Step 1 and the business context from Step 2:

1. **Score every idea** in the database against the user's business using these criteria:
   - **Relevance:** Does this idea apply to their business type and industry?
   - **Impact:** How much could this move the needle for their specific goal?
   - **Feasibility:** Can they execute this with their current resources (team, budget, tech)?
   - **Uniqueness:** Would this be unexpected in their industry? (unexpected = more impact)

2. **Select the top 5 ideas** with the highest combined score.

3. **Ensure variety:** Pick ideas from at least 3 different categories when possible. Don't cluster all 5 in one category unless the user's goal is extremely specific.

### 5. Write Recommendations
For each of the 5 selected ideas, write two parts:

**Part A — The Strategy (What & Why)**
- Explain the strategy clearly in 2-3 sentences
- Include the real-world example from the database
- Explain the psychology of why it works

**Part B — Applied to Your Business (How)**
- Write a specific, actionable plan for how THIS business should implement this strategy
- Use the company name, product, audience, and industry from FOUNDER_CONTEXT
- Include concrete next steps (not vague advice)
- Mention specific platforms, tools, or channels relevant to their business
- If applicable, suggest a timeline or first step to get started this week

### 6. Format and Verify
- Structure output according to **Output Format** section
- Complete **Quality Checklist** self-verification before presenting output

---

## Writing Rules
Hard constraints. No interpretation.

### Core Rules
- Every recommendation must come from the database. Do NOT invent strategies.
- The "Applied to Your Business" section must be specific to the user's business. Generic advice is useless. Use their company name, product, audience.
- Lead with the highest-impact idea first.
- Use specific numbers and examples, not vague promises.
- Keep each recommendation concise. Strategy explanation: 3-5 sentences. Application: 4-8 sentences.
- No fluff, no filler, no motivational padding.
- Active voice only.

### Selection Rules
- If the user specifies a goal (e.g., "I want more leads"), prioritize ideas from that category but don't limit yourself to it. Cross-category ideas that serve the goal are fine.
- If an idea requires resources the business clearly doesn't have (e.g., "send physical items" for a solo bootstrapped founder), skip it in favor of a more feasible alternative.
- Never recommend two ideas that are too similar. Each idea should attack the problem from a different angle.

### Context Rules
- For B2B SaaS: Prioritize ideas around product-led growth, LinkedIn, content, and competitor positioning.
- For B2C / e-commerce: Prioritize ideas around virality, social sharing, retention, and UGC.
- For early-stage: Prioritize low-cost, high-impact guerrilla ideas.
- For established companies: Include bolder ideas that require some budget or team effort.

---

## Output Format

```markdown
## Your Top 5 Marketing Ideas

Based on your business ([Company Name] — [one-line description]), here are the 5 highest-impact marketing strategies you should implement:

---

### 1. [Idea Title]

**The Strategy:**
[2-3 sentence explanation of the strategy. Include the real-world example. Explain why it works psychologically.]

**How to Apply This to [Company Name]:**
[4-8 sentences with a specific, actionable plan. Use their product name, audience, channels. Include a concrete first step.]

---

### 2. [Idea Title]

**The Strategy:**
[...]

**How to Apply This to [Company Name]:**
[...]

---

### 3. [Idea Title]

**The Strategy:**
[...]

**How to Apply This to [Company Name]:**
[...]

---

### 4. [Idea Title]

**The Strategy:**
[...]

**How to Apply This to [Company Name]:**
[...]

---

### 5. [Idea Title]

**The Strategy:**
[...]

**How to Apply This to [Company Name]:**
[...]

---

## Quick-Start Action Plan
Pick ONE idea and do this today:
- **Idea to start with:** [Recommend the one with the fastest time-to-impact]
- **First step:** [One specific action they can take in the next 30 minutes]
- **Expected timeline:** [When they should see initial results]

---

Check more marketing & growth strategies at saasstrats.com
```

**Example:**

```markdown
## Your Top 5 Marketing Ideas

Based on your business (CalendarAI — AI scheduling tool for busy founders), here are the 5 highest-impact marketing strategies you should implement:

---

### 1. Replace "Book a Demo" with a Self-Serve Playground

**The Strategy:**
Build a frictionless playground where prospects can try a dummy version of your product with zero signup. Companies replacing "Book a Demo" with "Try it yourself" see faster conversions because people experience the Aha moment before committing. It works because it removes every barrier between curiosity and value.

**How to Apply This to CalendarAI:**
Create a sandbox at try.calendarai.com where visitors can simulate scheduling 3 meetings. Pre-load a fake calendar with conflicts and let them watch CalendarAI resolve th