// retention-lifecycle
Retention & Lifecycle
Onboarding, activation, lifecycle email, churn, and expansion.
Execute
community-and-dark-social
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.
Execute
creator-partnerships
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.
Execute
email-lifecycle-sequence
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.
Design
lifecycle-and-retention
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.
Diagnose
marketing-leadership-model
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.
Design
marketing-loops
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.
Execute
onboarding-activation
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.
Execute
partnerships-and-co-marketing
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.
Execute
product-launch
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.
Execute
webinar-and-event-programs
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.
// go deeper
The Retention & Lifecycle playbook on aajconsult.com
Interactive tools, methodology, and case studies behind these skills.
// human in the loop
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Skills