80/20 Traffic Strategy

Use this skill to choose and sequence traffic sources by leverage, buyer fit, and economic potential. It is based on 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall.

Source Traceability

Primary source: 80/20 Sales and Marketing, chapters 4, 6, 10, and 11.

• Chapter 4 emphasizes positioning and media mastery over low-leverage

prospecting.

• Chapter 6 introduces the traffic, conversion, economics triangle and list

quality.

• Chapter 10 covers media expansion after a funnel starts working.
• Chapter 11 covers scaling and diversification after conversion proves out.

Workflow

1. State The Economic Constraint

Before recommending traffic, capture:

• Offer price and margin.
• Target customer value.
• Allowable acquisition cost.
• Sales cycle.
• Conversion path.
• Existing traffic source performance.

Think backwards from economics before adding traffic.

2. Inventory Traffic Sources

List owned, rented, paid, earned, and partner sources. For each, estimate:

• Buyer intent.
• Reach.
• Cost or effort.
• Speed to signal.
• Targeting precision.
• Control.
• Fit with the offer and conversion path.

3. Identify The Mastery Candidate

Recommend mastering one source before expanding when:

• The audience has the urgent problem.
• The source can produce measurable conversions.
• The economics can plausibly work.
• The team can learn it deeply enough to outperform average buyers.

Avoid shallow testing of many sources when one source deserves real mastery.

4. Sequence Expansion

Expand only after a source and funnel show signal. Prefer adjacent sources where the same offer, message, or economics can transfer.

Expansion options:

• Paid search or high-intent traffic.
• Email and affiliate partners.
• Social or community traffic.
• Offline or niche media.
• Owned list development.

Output Format

# 80/20 Traffic Strategy

## Economics First
- Offer:
- Customer value:
- Allowable CAC:
- Current conversion path:

## Traffic Inventory
| Source | Intent | Reach | Cost/Effort | Speed | Fit |
|--------|--------|-------|-------------|-------|-----|

## Mastery Recommendation
- Source to master:
- Why this source:
- First test:
- Required tracking:

## Expansion Sequence
1. [Source] - [condition to expand]
2. [Source] - [condition to expand]
3. [Source] - [condition to expand]

Quality Bar

• Do not recommend traffic before checking economics.
• Do not equate reach with quality.
• Prefer one mastered source over many shallow experiments.
• Separate list quality from list size.
• Define the condition for expansion before recommending expansion.