Retention & Lifecycle

Community & Dark Social

Use when the user wants to market in the places analytics cannot see - Slack and WhatsApp groups, private communities, podcasts, forwarded emails, AI assistants - or asks whether to start a community of their own. Also use when the user mentions dark social, word of mouth, "direct" traffic that makes no sense, community-led growth, community marketing, or how to measure something that has no referrer. Maps where buyers already talk from what they say, checks whether a community should open at all, and reads the dark side of the funnel by trend rather than attribution.

Creator Partnerships

Use when the user wants to work with creators or influencers - choosing who to pay, agreeing terms, or judging whether a sponsorship worked - on YouTube, LinkedIn, podcasts, newsletters, TikTok or Instagram. Also use when the user mentions influencer marketing, creator marketing, sponsorships, paid posts, B2B creators, podcast ads, newsletter sponsorships, or "is this creator worth it". Compares creators on the buyers they actually reach rather than follower counts, writes the terms both sides sign - including disclosure - and reads the result on what it sold, tracked and self-reported.

Developer Marketing

Use when the user sells to software developers - an API, SDK, developer tool, infrastructure or AI model product - and wants developers to find it, try it and keep using it. Also use when the user mentions developer marketing, DevRel, developer relations, developer experience, docs as marketing, quickstart, time to first API call, "developers hate marketing", developer community, or "how do we market a developer product". Produces a plan from first visit to first working call, with docs, channels and one activation metric.

Email Lifecycle Sequence

Use when the user wants to build or fix lifecycle email — welcome sequences, onboarding emails, nurture, win-back, expansion, or re-engagement. Also use when the user mentions email sequences, drip campaigns, automated emails, lifecycle marketing, email flows, or "what emails should we be sending". Maps which sequences exist, checks the combined send load for fatigue, and writes the sequences that are missing.

First Marketing Hire

Use when the user is hiring their first marketer or first head of marketing and wants to define the role, run a fair interview process and choose on evidence. Also use when the user mentions a marketing hire scorecard, interview questions for a marketer, a take-home or work-sample task, an interview debrief, comparing candidates, a marketer's first 90 days, or "who should our first marketing hire be". Produces a weighted role scorecard, a paid take-home brief and rubric, interview questions tied to competencies, a 90-day plan, and a hire, no-hire or more-evidence call.

Lifecycle & Retention

Use when the user wants to reduce churn, improve retention, or grow net revenue retention (NRR) through onboarding, lifecycle communication, and account expansion. Also use when the user mentions churn, retention, NRR/GRR, net dollar retention, activation, onboarding, customer lifecycle, upsell/expansion, or "why are customers leaving / how do we keep them." Produces churn, NRR, GRR, quick-ratio and lifetime math plus a diagnosis and a prioritized retention plan across onboarding, churn drivers, and expansion.

Marketing Leadership Model

Use when the user is deciding how to staff marketing leadership - hire a head of marketing or CMO, bring in a fractional CMO, or retain an agency - and wants the comparison on their own numbers rather than a vendor's. Also use when the user mentions fractional CMO, in-house vs agency, first marketing hire, marketing team structure, cost of a marketing hire, ramp time, or "should we hire or outsource marketing". Prices all three options over a horizon including ramp, search time, recruiting and the founder's own hours, finds the month the lines cross, prices the exit, and checks which shape of help fits the work that actually exists.

Marketing Loops

Use when the user wants to build or diagnose a compounding growth loop — referral, viral, content, or paid-recycling — rather than optimize a linear funnel. Also use when the user mentions growth loops, viral loop, viral coefficient, k-factor, referral loop, content loop, network effects, compounding growth, flywheel, "how do we grow without spending more", or "why doesn't our growth compound". Computes the loop factor, shows what it buys in amplification and effective CAC, finds the throttling stage, and projects users over time.

Onboarding & Activation

Use when the user wants to improve product onboarding, activation rate, or time-to-first-value — getting new signups to the moment the product actually works for them. Also use when the user mentions activation, aha moment, time-to-value, first-run experience, product onboarding, user adoption, or "people sign up and never come back". Defines the activation moment from data, finds where new users stall, and specifies the fix.

Partnerships & Co-Marketing

Use when the user is choosing a co-marketing partner, has been asked to "do some co-marketing", or is planning a joint webinar, guide, integration launch or customer introduction. Also use when the user mentions partnerships, co-marketing, partner marketing, joint webinar, integration launch, channel partners, lead sharing, or "a company wants to partner with us". Scores partners on overlap rather than fame, writes the terms both sides sign before work starts, and reads the result out on pipeline rather than sign-ups.

Product Launch

Use when the user is planning a launch - a new product, a new market, a major feature, a pricing change - or is unsure how big a launch something deserves. Also use when the user mentions a launch plan, launch date, go-to-market for a release, launch tiers, go/no-go, launch checklist, "should we announce this", or a launch that is slipping. Tiers the launch first, scores readiness on the same twelve-item gate as the AAJ Launch Readiness Planner, and builds the dated work-back plan and launch-day go/no-go.

Referral Program Design

Use when the user wants to design, launch, or fix a customer referral or advocacy program: who to ask, when to ask, what reward to offer (one-sided or two-sided), and whether the economics beat other channels. Also use when the user mentions referral program, refer-a-friend, referral rewards, advocacy program, customer introductions, double-sided incentive, viral coefficient from referrals, or "how do we get customers to refer us". Produces a referral program design with referral CAC, break-even reward, payback, k-factor, and pointers to the disclosure and healthcare rules to check.

Webinar & Event Programs

Use when the user is planning a webinar, virtual event, roundtable, workshop or conference presence and wants it to create pipeline, or is looking back at one and asking whether it was worth it. Also use when the user mentions webinar ROI, cost per attendee, show rate, event follow-up, run of show, field events, or "how many registrations do we need". Plans the event backwards from a pipeline target using the user's own conversion rates, checks the run-of-show before invitations go out, and reads the result on meetings and pipeline against cost, never on registrations.