Growth Strategy

Marketing without strategy is random posting. Before content, ads, or outreach, define who you're for, what problem you solve, where they hang out, and what success looks like. This skill is the planning layer for the Grow phase — it hands a campaign brief to [[content-marketing]], [[social-distribution]], [[seo-growth]], and [[community-engagement]].

Pairs with [[product-brief]] for product truth, [[launch-readiness]] when GTM aligns with a ship date, [[idea-shaping]] when positioning is still fuzzy, and [[observability]] for funnel metrics.

When to Use

• Product just launched or about to launch — need a marketing plan
• Traffic/engagement is flat — revisit positioning and channels
• Starting a new campaign (feature launch, seasonal push, rebrand)
• Onboarding a marketing team or agents — need shared brief and calendar
• Choosing between channels (social vs SEO vs community vs paid)

Skip when you already have an approved campaign brief and only need execution (load the channel skill directly).

Process

Work in order. Don't write posts until positioning and ICP are written down.

1. Clarify the product and goal

Document:

• Product name + one-liner — what it is in ≤15 words
• Problem solved — the pain before your product existed
• Primary outcome — sign-up, install, profile complete, first connection, etc.
• Campaign goal — traffic, engagement, sign-ups, retention (pick one primary metric)
• Timeline — launch window, sprint length, or 30/60/90-day horizon
• Constraints — budget, team size, brand voice, regions, languages

If any of these are unknown, ask — do not invent positioning.

2. Define ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)

For developer products, be specific:

Write 1–2 ICP personas max for the first campaign — not five vague segments.

3. Positioning and messaging

Fill the positioning canvas:

• For [ICP]
• Who [situation / pain]
• Our product is a [category]
• That [key benefit]
• Unlike [alternative]
• We [differentiator]

Draft 3 message pillars (themes every piece of content reinforces):

1. Pillar — proof point — example hook
2. Pillar — proof point — example hook
3. Pillar — proof point — example hook

Define voice: technical but friendly, no hype, show-don't-tell, developer-respectful.

4. Channel mix and priorities

Score channels for this ICP and goal (High / Medium / Low / Skip):

Pick 2 primary channels and 1–2 secondary for the first 30 days. Spreading across six channels with no depth fails.

5. Campaign calendar (30-day starter)

Build a week-by-week plan:

Each row must have owner agent, deliverable, and success metric.

6. Metrics and feedback loop

Define north-star and supporting metrics:

Schedule weekly review: what worked, what to cut, what to double down on.

7. Hand off execution briefs

Produce one brief per channel agent:

• Content brief → [[content-marketing]]: topics, keywords, format, CTA
• Social brief → [[social-distribution]]: platforms, cadence, hooks, hashtags
• SEO brief → [[seo-growth]]: target pages, keywords, technical fixes
• Community brief → [[community-engagement]]: communities, rules, engagement playbook

Common Rationalizations

• "We'll figure out positioning as we post" — Inconsistent messaging confuses users and wastes

content. Strategy first, even if it's one page.

• "We need to be on every platform" — Two channels done well beat six abandoned accounts.
• "Developers hate marketing" — They hate bad marketing. Useful content and honest demos win.
• "Virality will save us" — Plan for steady compounding (SEO, community), not one HN spike.

Red Flags

• No defined ICP — content speaks to "everyone"
• No primary metric — can't tell if marketing worked
• Calendar has posts but no CTAs or landing paths
• Messaging promises features the product doesn't have
• Same launch post copied to Reddit, LinkedIn, and X with zero adaptation

Verification

Strategy is done when:

• [ ] One-liner, ICP, and positioning canvas are written
• [ ] Three message pillars with example hooks exist
• [ ] Primary + secondary channels chosen with rationale
• [ ] 30-day campaign calendar with owners and metrics
• [ ] Channel briefs ready for content, social, SEO, and community agents
• [ ] North-star metric and weekly review cadence defined