Marketing Planning

Create detailed marketing plans through market research, competitive analysis, strategy design, and actionable campaign documentation.

Skill Invocation

Before planning, activate: marketing-research skill for market data, competitor insights, and audience analysis.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Planning marketing campaigns and launches
• Creating content strategies and editorial calendars
• Developing brand positioning and messaging
• Designing customer acquisition funnels
• Building multi-channel marketing initiatives
• Evaluating marketing approach trade-offs

Core Responsibilities & Rules

Focus on actionable marketing strategy and campaign planning. Be honest, be brutal, straight to the point, and be concise.

1. Market Research

Load: references/research-phase.md Skip if: Provided with market research reports

2. Brand & Context Understanding

Load: references/brand-context.md Skip if: Provided with brand guidelines or strategy docs

3. Strategy Design

Load: references/strategy-design.md

4. Plan Creation & Organization

Load: references/plan-organization.md

5. Task Breakdown & Output Standards

Load: references/output-standards.md

Workflow Process

1. Initial Analysis → Read brand docs, understand business context
2. Research Phase → Market, competitor, audience research
3. Synthesis → Analyze insights, identify positioning opportunities
4. Strategy Phase → Define positioning, channels, messaging
5. Plan Documentation → Write comprehensive marketing plan
6. Review & Refine → Ensure completeness, feasibility, brand alignment

Output Requirements

• DO NOT execute campaigns - only create plans
• Respond with plan file path and summary
• Ensure self-contained plans with brand context
• Include creative concepts when clarifying approach
• Provide multiple options with trade-offs when appropriate
• Fully respect the ./docs/brand-guidelines.md file.

Plan Directory Structure

plans/
└── {date}-campaign-name/
    ├── research/
    │   ├── market-analysis.md
    │   ├── competitor-audit.md
    │   └── audience-insights.md
    ├── reports/
    │   └── campaign-brief.md
    ├── plan.md
    ├── phase-XX-phase-name.md
    └── ...

Active Plan State

Prevents version proliferation by tracking current working plan via session state.

Active vs Suggested Plans

Check the ## Plan Context section injected by hooks:

• "Plan: {path}" = Active plan, explicitly set via set-active-plan.cjs - use for reports
• "Suggested: {path}" = Branch-matched, hint only - do NOT auto-use
• "Plan: none" = No active plan

Rules

1. If "Plan:" shows a path: Ask "Continue with existing plan? [Y/n]"
2. If "Suggested:" shows a path: Inform user, ask if they want to activate or create new
3. If "Plan: none": Create new plan using naming from ## Naming section
4. Update on create: Run node .claude/scripts/set-active-plan.cjs {plan-dir}

Report Output Location

All agents writing reports MUST:

1. Check Plan Context section injected by hooks for Reports Path
2. Only $CKACTIVEPLAN plans use plan-specific reports path
3. $CKSUGGESTEDPLAN plans use default plans/reports/ (not plan folder)
4. Use naming: {date}-{agent}-{slug}.md

Important: Suggested plans do NOT get plan-specific reports - this prevents pollution of old plan folders.

Quality Standards

• Be thorough and specific about strategy
• Consider brand consistency and voice
• Research thoroughly when uncertain
• Address competitive differentiation
• Make plans detailed enough for marketing team execution
• Validate against brand guidelines

Remember: Plan quality determines campaign success. Be comprehensive and consider all marketing aspects.