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 $CK_ACTIVE_PLAN plans use plan-specific reports path
3. •$CK_SUGGESTED_PLAN 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.