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package/bundled-skills/marketing-plan/references/plan-template.md

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+# Plan Template — The 13-Section Structure
+
+The canonical template for every marketing plan generated by this skill. Each section has a purpose, a structure, and inline prompts for what to draft.
+
+The Quietude plan (see `references/example-quietude.md`) is the canonical reference implementation.
+
+---
+
+## Title block
+
+```markdown
+# {Client} — Marketing Plan v1
+
+**Prepared by:** {Author / fCMO name}
+**For:** {Founders / leadership team}
+**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
+**Status:** Draft v1 — for team review
+```
+
+---
+
+## Section 1 — Executive summary
+
+**Purpose:** Lift-and-share. A founder should be able to paste this into a board update or investor email without editing.
+
+**Length:** 400–700 words. Tight.
+
+**Structure:**
+1. **One-sentence frame.** What does this plan optimize for? Not "more revenue" — something specific to this client at this stage.
+2. **Three big bets, ranked by leverage.** Each is a paragraph. Bet = a high-conviction thesis about where the team should focus capital and attention.
+3. **What twelve months looks like, plausibly.** Bullet list. The plausible outcome state at end of plan horizon. Investor-readable.
+4. **90-day priorities.** Numbered list. The six (give or take) moves that ship in the first quarter.
+
+**Voice notes:**
+- Match the client's voice
+- Direct, founder-readable, no marketing-speak
+- Use names and numbers (specific channels, specific metrics) — not abstractions
+- Tradeoffs named explicitly when they matter
+
+---
+
+## Section 2 — Strategic frame
+
+**Purpose:** Distill positioning, ICP, business-model logic, and brand voice into a single page that any team member or new hire can read to orient.
+
+**Length:** 800–1500 words.
+
+**Structure:**
+
+### What {Company} is, in one sentence
+Pulled from positioning doc / seed deck / founder language.
+
+### The category we're claiming
+Is the company creating a new category, redefining an existing one, or competing in a defined category? Name it. State the category-defining frame in 2–3 sentences. Reference the source (founder's words, ICP doc, etc.).
+
+### Who we're for (ICP, distilled)
+Demographics / firmographics + stated problem vs. real problem + what they're actually buying. Tight, 4–6 bullets.
+
+### The business model logic
+How does the company make money? What's the customer-acquisition unit economics theory? What's the compounding channel thesis (if any)? Pulled from seed deck / financial model / founder narrative.
+
+### Brand voice (the non-negotiable)
+If the client has documented voice rules, list them. YES / NO vocabulary. CTA rules. Tone. Core method (initiatory, explanatory, narrative, etc.). Every other section of the plan must respect these.
+
+**Voice notes:**
+- This section is the most "lift from existing materials" — don't invent positioning. Surface what's there.
+- If positioning is unclear or contradicted across materials, flag it in Section 13's open decisions.
+
+---
+
+## Section 3 — Current state
+
+**Purpose:** Anchor the plan in reality. What's the team, budget, in-flight work, and stuck work *today*?
+
+**Length:** 1000–2000 words.
+
+**Structure:**
+
+### Team composition (marketing surface area)
+Table of every person with marketing surface area:
+
+| Person | Role | Marketing surface area |
+|---|---|---|
+
+Be honest about gaps. If there's no dedicated marketing hire yet, name when one becomes necessary and what role (see `references/team-and-agency-model.md` — first hire should be π-shaped strategist titled Manager or Lead, not VP/CMO).
+
+### Marketing budget (current)
+- Paid acquisition: $X/mo
+- Tooling stack: list with estimated cost
+- Retainers / fCMO: list
+- Headcount: list
+- Blended CAC: $X (must include salaries, content costs, tools, retainers — not just paid spend; see `references/budget-planning.md` for the calculation)
+- Current spend as % of ARR: X% (compare against 5–40% range)
+
+State the funding-stage tier this maps to (see `references/funding-stage-unlocks.md`). Implication: what 90-day plan must produce *without* lever pulls that require future budget.
+
+### Phase of SaaS growth
+Name the current phase: $0–10K ARR / $10K–100K / $100K–1M / $1M–$10M / $10M+. Each phase has its own binding constraint and dominant growth pattern (see `references/growth-patterns.md`). Section 10 sequences the move into the next phase.
+
+### What's already done (acknowledge, then build on)
+Table:
+
+| Asset | Status | Marketing leverage |
+|---|---|---|
+
+This is where past launches, PR moments, content pillars, certifications, notable users get acknowledged. **Critical**: don't write a plan that ignores work the team is proud of.
+
+### What's in-flight (drafted but not shipped)
+Table:
+
+| Item | Status | Blocker |
+|---|---|---|
+
+Be honest about blockers. Where the blocker is "no time" or "no decision," that goes to Section 13's open decisions.
+
+### What's stuck (and needs to unstick this quarter)
+Table:
+
+| Issue | Cost of inaction | Action |
+|---|---|---|
+
+Stuck things are the most leverage-positive places to focus the first weeks of the 90-day plan.
+
+### Audit rubric snapshot
+17-section scored snapshot using the embedded current-state rubric. See `references/current-state-rubric.md` for the full rubric and scoring guides.
+
+If a prior scored audit exists, paste those scores in. Otherwise score from available materials and note "scored from materials" under the heading.
+
+| # | Section | Score | Note |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | Positioning | 0–5 | |
+| 2 | Customer research | 0–5 | |
+| ... | ... | ... | ... |
+| 17 | Internationalization | 0–5 | |
+
+**Total: X / 85 (Y%).** Note the *shape* of strength and weakness — that shape is the gap the rest of the plan closes.
+
+**Voice notes:**
+- Honest > polished. If the client's metrics are bad, name them. Founders read past sugar-coating.
+
+---
+
+## Section 4 — Acquisition
+
+**Purpose:** Answer "how do strangers become aware of us?" Map every channel: current state, planned moves, skipped (with reason).
+
+**Length:** 1000–1800 words.
+
+**Structure:**
+
+### Current state
+Brief. What's working today, what's not, what the data shows about channel mix.
+
+### The plan
+Numbered "Moves." Each move is a paragraph (3–6 sentences) describing the channel, the thesis, and the specific work. Common moves:
+
+- **Move 1 — SEO (and content)** — Reference the SEO plan if one exists (`seo/plan.md`). Otherwise: keyword research, pillar/spoke structure, content cadence.
+- **Move 2 — App Store / Play Store optimization** (for consumer apps) — Listing rewrite, screenshot tests, ASO keyword targeting.
+- **Move 3 — Founder-led channels** — LinkedIn for B2B/SaaS, Twitter/X for tech, Instagram for consumer. Cadence, topics, owners.
+- **Move 4 — PR amplification** — What's the credibility anchor? How to amplify it.
+- **Move 5 — Events (if applicable)** — Live events, conferences, webinars. Acquisition vs. activation role.
+- **Move 6 — Hardware / commerce surface (if applicable)** — Shopify storefront, Amazon, retail.
+- **Move 7 — B2B sales support** — Case studies, partner pages, vertical-specific content.
+- **Move 8 — Paid layer (when budget unlocks)** — Apple Search Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, Google. Held until specified funding stage.
+
+### 90-day acquisition moves
+Week-by-week breakdown of the ships in the first quarter.
+
+### 12-month acquisition outlook
+Quarter-by-quarter outcome state (Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4).
+
+### Skills + tools
+- **Skills:** list relevant marketing-skills repo skills (`seo-audit`, `ai-seo`, `ads`, `social`, `competitors`, etc.)
+- **MCPs / APIs:** list connections (Ahrefs API, GA4 MCP, Typefully MCP, Stripe MCP for LTV math, etc.)
+
+---
+
+## Section 5 — Activation
+
+**Purpose:** Answer "once someone tries us, do they have an experience that converts?"
+
+**Length:** 800–1500 words.
+
+**Structure:** Same as Acquisition (Current state / The plan / 90-day / 12-month / Skills + tools).
+
+**Common moves:**
+- Bedrock fixes (broken signup, broken onboarding gates, etc.)
+- Onboarding tests / rebuild (often the most leveraged move at this stage)
+- App Store listing rewrite (cross-references to Acquisition)
+- Lifecycle Flow ship order (when to ship onboarding emails vs. hold for product stability)
+- Paywall + pricing review (often Activation × Revenue)
+
+### Skills + tools
+`onboarding`, `signup`, `paywalls`, `copywriting`, `marketing-website-design`, `ab-testing`, etc.
+
+---
+
+## Section 6 — Retention
+
+**Purpose:** Answer "once someone converts, do they stay and deepen?"
+
+**Length:** 800–1500 words.
+
+**Structure:** Same as above.
+
+**Common moves:**
+- Lifecycle email flows (post-purchase, lapsed user, win-back)
+- Subscription / preference centers
+- Churn reconciliation (often metric definitions don't match across surfaces)
+- Hardware → software activation paths (for hybrid businesses)
+- Annual plan default tests (cross-references to Revenue)
+
+### Skills + tools
+`emails`, `churn-prevention`, `copywriting`, `paywalls`, etc.
+
+---
+
+## Section 7 — Referral
+
+**Purpose:** Answer "do retained users bring more users, and at what cost?"
+
+**Length:** 500–1200 words.
+
+**Structure:** Same as above.
+
+**Common moves:**
+- Ambassador / affiliate program launch (if inbound interest exists, lead with it)
+- Share-after-value moments built into product
+- Founder amplification (founder as referrer-zero)
+- Long-game expert / Guides / certified-host network
+- Gifting flows (for consumer / hardware)
+
+### Skills + tools
+`referrals`, `social`, `emails` (for ambassador lifecycle), `copywriting`, etc.
+
+---
+
+## Section 8 — Revenue
+
+**Purpose:** Answer "what do we charge, who pays, and how does it compound?"
+
+**Length:** 500–1200 words.
+
+**Structure:** Same as above.
+
+**Common moves:**
+- Pricing audit (what's actually charged today vs. listed?)
+- Annual plan default tests
+- Hardware → software bundling formalization (for hybrid businesses)
+- Storefront / commerce page optimization
+- B2B case studies + sales material
+- Long-term value pools (data licensing, enterprise expansion) — flagged not executed in 12-month plan
+
+### Unit economics
+Required table:
+
+| Metric | Value | Note |
+|---|---|---|
+| ARPC (avg monthly revenue per customer) | $X | Pulled from Stripe / billing |
+| Blended CAC | $X | Includes all marketing costs, not just paid |
+| Annual retention rate | X% | 1 − annual churn |
+| LTV (rough) | $X | ARPC × 12 / annual churn |
+| LTV / CAC | X | Health benchmark: > 3 |
+
+These feed the budget math in Section 10. If any of these are unknown, flag in Section 13 as top open decision.
+
+### Skills + tools
+`pricing`, `paywalls`, `sales-enablement`, `revops`, `ab-testing`, etc.
+
+---
+
+## Section 9 — 90-day roadmap
+
+**Purpose:** The tactical execution layer. Every move ships within a named week, with an owner.
+
+**Length:** Tables, not prose. Should fit on one printed page if possible.
+
+**Structure:** Four 2–3-week sprints:
+
+### Weeks 1–2 — Unblock
+Highest-confidence, lowest-cost changes. Removing things that are broken.
+
+| Move | Stage | Owner |
+|---|---|---|
+
+### Weeks 3–4 — Foundation
+Pillar/foundational work. Domain consolidation. First content. First flows shipping. First tests live.
+
+### Weeks 5–8 — Velocity
+Compounding work begins. Content cadence. Repeat tests. Channel scaling.
+
+### Weeks 9–12 — Compound
+Second-order moves. Layered tactics. 90-day review prep.
+
+---
+
+## Section 10 — 12-month outlook
+
+**Purpose:** Quarterly milestones with explicit funding-stage capability unlocks named, anchored against a defensible growth pattern.
+
+**Length:** Four sub-sections, one per quarter. ~250–400 words each. Plus a short framing paragraph at the top naming the budget method and growth pattern.
+
+### Framing (top of Section 10)
+
+State explicitly:
+- **Budget method used.** Method 1 (Revenue-Based 5–40% of ARR) or Method 2 (Goal-Based formula). See `references/budget-planning.md`. Show the math.
+- **Annual budget total** + the experimental buffer (+10–20%).
+- **Resulting end-of-year ARR goal.** Honest forecast, not a guarantee — see the forecasting reality check in `references/measurement-framework.md`.
+- **Growth pattern expected.** Linear (predictable $X MRR added per month), step-function (plateau between deliberate jumps), or layered S-curves. For VC-backed Series A+, anchor against 3-3-2-2-2 and show whether the plan matches it or explicitly chooses a different trajectory. See `references/growth-patterns.md`.
+
+### Structure (per quarter)
+
+#### Q{N} — Months {X}–{Y}
+
+**Funding state:** {tier} per `funding-stage-unlocks.md`
+
+**Focus:** One-sentence focus theme for the quarter.
+
+**Outcomes by end of Q{N}:**
+- Bulleted outcome list (5–8 items)
+
+**KPI targets:** 3–5 specific numerical targets.
+
+**Channel/Product/Market S-curve position:** Which curves are growing, which are plateauing, which is the next one being staged for this quarter (see `growth-patterns.md` — layering principle).
+
+---
+
+## Section 11 — Marketing operations stack
+
+**Purpose:** The fCMO differentiator. Show how a small team + agentic tooling executes the plan without hiring at every channel.
+
+**Length:** Tables + brief explanation.
+
+**Structure:**
+
+### The thesis
+1–2 paragraphs explaining the principle: small team + marketing-skills library + MCP integrations = output of a larger team.
+
+### Skills mapped to AARRR stages
+
+| Stage | Primary skills | Supporting skills |
+|---|---|---|
+| Acquisition | (list) | (list) |
+| Activation | (list) | (list) |
+| Retention | (list) | (list) |
+| Referral | (list) | (list) |
+| Revenue | (list) | (list) |
+| Cross-cutting | (list) | (list) |
+
+### MCPs / APIs mapped to stages
+
+| Stage | Existing connections | fCMO tooling layer |
+|---|---|---|
+
+### A concrete example
+Pick one operational moment that proves the stack works (e.g., "Customer.io MCP let the non-technical founder draft a flow live on the kickoff call"). Anchor the abstract claim in a specific event.
+
+### Capability unlocks by funding stage
+
+| Stage | Headcount | Tooling | Channels live |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| (current) | (list) | (list) | (list) |
+| (next round) | (delta) | (delta) | (delta) |
+| ... | ... | ... | ... |
+
+### Team and agency model (RACI)
+
+Apply the principle from `references/team-and-agency-model.md`: strategy in-house, execution often outsourced.
+
+| Function | Owned by (internal strategic role) | Executed by (IC / contractor / agency) |
+|---|---|---|
+| Growth marketing (demand engine) | | |
+| Product marketing (story engine) | | |
+| Content marketing (trust engine) | | |
+
+If the team is missing a strategic owner for one of these functions, the first 90-day move (Section 9) should be the hire — Manager or Lead title, π-shaped if possible, not VP/CMO.
+
+If execution capacity is the gap, name the contractor or small niche agency in the right cell rather than the team's existing IC.
+
+Pull from `references/funding-stage-unlocks.md`.
+
+---
+
+## Section 12 — Tactical idea bank
+
+**Purpose:** Cross-reference all 139 ideas from the `marketing-ideas` skill against AARRR stages, with client-specific status.
+
+**Length:** Long — tables can easily total 150+ rows.
+
+**Structure:**
+
+### Intro paragraph
+Explain the cross-reference: Sections 4–8 prescribe what's *being done*. This section maps what's *possible*.
+
+### Status legend
+
+- **Now (Q1)** — already in 90-day plan
+- **Q2** — post-foundation layer-in
+- **Q3+** — post-seed-close or post-GA expansion
+- **Q4+** — long-game
+- **Skip / off-brand** — incompatible with brand voice or business model
+
+### 12.1 Acquisition ideas
+
+By status (Now / Q2 / Q3+ / Q4+ / Skip), tables of relevant marketing-ideas by number.
+
+| # | Idea | Client note |
+|---|---|---|
+
+### 12.2 Activation ideas
+### 12.3 Retention ideas
+### 12.4 Referral ideas
+### 12.5 Revenue ideas
+### 12.6 Cross-cutting / brand foundation ideas
+
+### Idea-bank summary
+- Counts per AARRR stage
+- Counts skipped, with rationale
+- What the plan covers as a % of the available tactical surface area
+- What this proves about the client's stage
+
+Use `references/idea-cross-reference.md` as the source-of-truth mapping. Apply client-specific filters during draft (brand voice rules out some; funding stage shifts timing of others).
+
+---
+
+## Section 13 — Measurement, RACI, open decisions, appendix
+
+**Purpose:** Operational close. Define how the plan gets measured, who owns what, what's still TBD, and where to find the deeper docs.
+
+**Structure:**
+
+### Measurement — the metrics that matter
+
+**North star (proposed):** One metric that captures the business-model thesis. For Quietude it was blended-LTV-to-blended-CAC; for a B2B SaaS it might be NRR × NPS; for a marketplace, take-rate × monthly transacting users. Make it specific to the company.
+
+**Leading indicators by AARRR stage:** Table:
+
+| Stage | Leading indicators |
+|---|---|
+| Acquisition | ... |
+| Activation | ... |
+| Retention | ... |
+| Referral | ... |
+| Revenue | ... |
+
+**Review cadence:**
+- Weekly: who syncs with whom, on what
+- Monthly: who reviews what
+- Quarterly: plan recalibration trigger
+
+### RACI
+
+| Domain | Responsible | Accountable | Consulted | Informed |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+
+Common domains: strategic plan, brand voice, app/product implementation, lifecycle, SEO content, App Store, founder-led social, events, ambassadors, B2B sales, pricing, investor narrative, future hires.
+
+### Open decisions blocking the plan
+
+Ranked by impact. Each is: name + impact + what's blocked.
+
+1. (highest impact) ...
+2. ...
+8. (lowest impact) ...
+
+### Appendix — deep-dive links
+
+**Published in this repo / shared with team:** {relative paths to docs in the shared repo}
+
+**Founder-authored strategic context** (internal knowledge base): {names of docs the team has access to outside the plan repo}
+
+**fCMO working drafts** (not yet published): {names + how to access from author}
+
+---
+
+## Closing line
+
+```markdown
+*{Client} Marketing Plan v1. Prepared by {Author}, {Date}. For team review and discussion.*
+```
+
+---
+
+## Per-section heuristics for "is this section done?"
+
+- **Section 1** — A non-Quietude reader could understand the company's growth thesis from this alone.
+- **Section 2** — Brand voice rules are explicit enough that any new copywriter could follow them.
+- **Section 3** — All "in-flight" items have an owner and a blocker named.
+- **Sections 4–8** — Each move names a skill (`some-skill`) and a tool (Customer.io MCP / Stripe MCP / Ahrefs / etc.).
+- **Section 9** — Every row has an owner.
+- **Section 10** — Each quarter names the funding stage explicitly.
+- **Section 11** — At least one concrete operational example proves the stack thesis.
+- **Section 12** — Skip list has rationale, not just absence.
+- **Section 13** — North-star is specific to this company (not generic "ARR growth").