sharkitect-solutions/marketing-strategy-pmm

Marketing Strategy & PMM Expert Layer

Claude already knows marketing frameworks from training data. This skill adds what training data lacks: practitioner judgment about WHEN each framework applies, WHERE they break down, and the non-obvious failure modes that separate competent PMM work from expert PMM work.

Decision Tree: Route the Request

Ask ONE question: What is the user trying to accomplish?

User request
  |
  +-- "Help me position my product" or "How are we different?"
  |     --> POSITIONING PATH
  |     Use April Dunford's 5-step method (references/positioning-frameworks.md)
  |     CRITICAL: Start from competitive alternatives, NOT from features
  |     If user starts with features --> redirect to alternatives first
  |
  +-- "Plan a launch" or "We're releasing X"
  |     --> LAUNCH PATH
  |     Determine tier: Major (new product) | Standard (feature) | Minor (update)
  |     Tier determines timeline: 8 weeks | 4 weeks | 1 week
  |     See references/gtm-playbooks.md for phase checklists
  |
  +-- "Analyze competitors" or "Build a battlecard"
  |     --> COMPETITIVE INTEL PATH
  |     Battlecard = living doc, not one-time artifact
  |     Start with win/loss data, NOT feature comparison
  |     See references/competitive-intelligence.md
  |
  +-- "Define our ICP" or "Who should we sell to?"
  |     --> SEGMENTATION PATH
  |     ICP = observable behavior patterns, not demographic wishlists
  |     Validate against actual closed-won data, not assumptions
  |     See references/icp-segmentation.md
  |
  +-- "Enter a new market" or "Expand to [country]"
  |     --> INTERNATIONAL ENTRY PATH
  |     Sequence matters: validate demand signal before localizing
  |     See references/gtm-playbooks.md (international section)
  |
  +-- "Help sales close" or "Sales enablement"
  |     --> ENABLEMENT PATH
  |     Assets must map to buyer journey stage, not product features
  |     Battlecard + talk tracks > slide decks
  |
  +-- "What GTM motion should we use?"
        --> GTM MOTION SELECTION
        PLG vs Sales-Led vs Hybrid is determined by ACV + buyer persona
        ACV <$5k = PLG mandatory | ACV >$50k = Sales-Led mandatory
        $5k-$50k = Hybrid zone, default to product-assisted sales

Positioning Methodology: The Expert Rules

April Dunford's method is widely known. What's NOT widely known:

The Competitive Alternatives Trap

• 80% of teams list only direct competitors. This produces generic positioning.
• ALWAYS include: status quo (spreadsheets, email), DIY (build in-house), do nothing.
• The "do nothing" alternative is the #1 competitor for most early-stage products. If you don't position against inertia, your positioning is incomplete.

The Attribute-Value Gap

• Teams list features as "unique attributes." Features are not attributes.
• Attribute = capability cluster that creates differentiated value no alternative provides.
• Test: If a competitor added this feature in 6 months, would your positioning collapse? If yes, it's a feature, not an attribute. Find the deeper structural advantage.

Category Strategy Decision Rules

| Your situation | Category play | Why | |---|---|---| | Market leader exists, you're 10x better on one dimension | Subcategory ("CRM for agencies") | Win the niche, expand later | | No clear leader, market <$1B | Head-to-head in existing category | Cheaper to compete than create | | Genuinely new approach, $50M+ to spend on education | Create new category | Only viable with massive budget | | Market leader exists, you're incrementally better | DO NOT compete on positioning | Compete on distribution/price instead |

Positioning Expiration Rules

• Positioning is NOT permanent. Re-evaluate when: (1) win rate drops >10% quarter-over-quarter, (2) competitive landscape shifts (new entrant, acquisition), (3) product capabilities fundamentally change, (4) you move upmarket or downmarket.
• Cadence: Full positioning review every 6 months. Messaging refresh every quarter.

Messaging Hierarchy Rules

Positioning feeds messaging. Messaging operates at four levels -- each must be internally consistent:

| Level | Contains | Owner | Update cadence | |---|---|---|---| | Company narrative | Why you exist, what future you're building toward | CEO + CMO | Annually | | Product positioning | Who it's for, why it's different, what category | PMM | Every 6 months | | Feature messaging | Attribute -> value -> proof for each feature | PMM + Product | Each release | | Sales talk tracks | Objection responses, competitive pivots, discovery Qs | PMM + Sales | Monthly |

The Consistency Test: If your sales talk tracks contradict your product positioning, you have a messaging debt problem. Fix top-down, never bottom-up.

Persona Mapping Rule: Each buyer persona sees messaging at a DIFFERENT level. Economic buyers care about Level 1-2. Technical evaluators care about Level 3. End users care about Level 3-4. Writing one message for all personas is the most common PMM failure.

GTM Motion Selection: The ACV Rule

This decision is more mechanical than most PMMs realize:

| ACV | Motion | Why | |---|---|---| | <$2k | Pure PLG, self-serve | Sales cost exceeds deal value | | $2k-$10k | PLG with sales assist | User discovers, sales closes | | $10k-$50k | Hybrid (product-assisted sales) | Demo + trial + AE | | $50k-$100k | Sales-led with product proof | AE drives, product supports | | >$100k | Enterprise sales-led | Field sales, multi-threaded deals |

The Hybrid Trap: "Hybrid" is not "do both equally." It means one motion leads and the other supports. Decide which leads FIRST. Most Series A companies should lead with PLG and layer sales on top for enterprise segments.

Anti-Pattern Decision Table

| Anti-Pattern | Why It Fails | What To Do Instead | |---|---|---| | Positioning from features outward | Produces "we do X, Y, Z" messaging that sounds like every competitor | Start from competitive alternatives inward (Dunford Step 1) | | Building battlecards from competitor websites | Captures marketing claims, not actual competitive reality | Build from win/loss interviews and sales call recordings | | Defining ICP from demographics alone | "50-500 employees in SaaS" describes 40,000 companies, helps no one | Define ICP from behavioral signals: fastest close, lowest churn, highest NPS | | Launching without tiering | Treats a minor feature update like a major launch, wastes resources | Tier every launch (Major/Standard/Minor) before planning begins | | One message for all personas | Economic buyer and technical evaluator have different value frameworks | Map each persona to appropriate messaging hierarchy level | | Positioning as a one-time exercise | Market shifts, competitors move, product evolves | Schedule positioning reviews every 6 months, messaging every quarter | | Entering international markets by translating website | Translation without market validation burns budget on unvalidated assumptions | Validate demand signal (inbound interest, partner referrals) before any localization | | Battlecard update cadence >90 days | Competitive landscape changes faster than quarterly | Monthly battlecard review, triggered updates on competitor launches | | Ignoring "do nothing" as a competitor | Biggest deal killer at early stage is buyer inertia, not a named competitor | Always position against status quo and quantify cost of inaction | | Sales enablement as asset library | Dumping PDFs into a folder produces 0 adoption by sales | Each asset must map to a specific deal stage + objection + persona |

Rationalization Table

| Rationalization | When It Appears | Why It's Wrong | |---|---|---| | "Our product speaks for itself" | Founder-led sales transitioning to team selling | If product spoke for itself, you wouldn't need sales. Positioning IS the translation layer. | | "We compete with everyone" | Positioning workshop, competitor analysis phase | Competing with everyone = positioned against no one. Pick 2-3 competitive alternatives max. | | "Our ICP is any company that has this problem" | Early stage, trying to maximize TAM | Broad ICP = unfocused sales motion = long cycles + low win rates. Narrow to expand. | | "We just need better content" | Pipeline stalled, marketing under pressure | Content without positioning is noise. Fix positioning first, then content follows. | | "Localization is just translation" | International expansion planning | Translation is 20% of localization. Pricing, payment methods, cultural norms, legal compliance are the other 80%. | | "We can skip the battlecard, sales knows the competitors" | Resource-constrained PMM team | Tribal knowledge leaves with people. Battlecards create institutional competitive memory. | | "Our positioning is fine, we just need more leads" | Win rate declining while pipeline grows | Declining win rate with growing pipeline = positioning problem, not volume problem. | | "We should create a new category" | Product is somewhat differentiated | Category creation requires $50M+ and 3-5 years. 95% of startups should find an existing category to win. |

NEVER List

1. NEVER start positioning from your own features -- always start from the customer's competitive alternatives
2. NEVER define ICP without validating against actual closed-won customer data
3. NEVER launch without a tier classification (Major/Standard/Minor) agreed with stakeholders
4. NEVER build a battlecard without win/loss interview data -- website scraping is not competitive intelligence
5. NEVER write persona messaging without confirming which messaging hierarchy level that persona operates at
6. NEVER recommend category creation for companies with <$50M in available budget for market education
7. NEVER enter a new market without a demand signal (inbound volume, partner interest, customer requests)
8. NEVER treat positioning as permanent -- enforce the 6-month review cadence
9. NEVER create sales enablement content without mapping it to a specific deal stage and buyer objection
10. NEVER allow "we compete with everyone" to survive a positioning session -- force prioritized alternatives

Quality Signals: Expert vs Generic PMM Work

| Dimension | Generic Output | Expert Output | |---|---|---| | Positioning | Lists features and benefits in a template | Identifies 2-3 competitive alternatives, derives unique attributes through Dunford method, stress-tests with "6-month feature copy" rule | | ICP | Demographic profile (industry, size, revenue) | Behavioral profile validated by win rate, sales velocity, churn, NPS data from actual customers | | Battlecard | Feature comparison matrix scraped from websites | Win/loss-derived competitive insights with specific talk tracks mapped to common objections | | GTM motion | "We'll do PLG and sales-led" | ACV-driven motion selection with clear primary/secondary hierarchy | | Launch plan | Generic checklist of marketing activities | Tiered plan where effort scales with impact, with named metrics and kill criteria | | International entry | "Translate the website and run ads" | Demand-signal-first approach with market-specific localization beyond translation | | Messaging | Single message for all audiences | Persona-mapped messaging at appropriate hierarchy levels with consistency test applied | | Sales enablement | PDF library organized by asset type | Stage-mapped, objection-specific assets with adoption tracking |

References

• references/positioning-frameworks.md -- April Dunford 5-step canvas, positioning statement templates, category strategy decision framework, value proposition hierarchy
• references/gtm-playbooks.md -- Launch tier playbooks, GTM motion selection detail, international market entry checklists, launch metrics
• references/competitive-intelligence.md -- Battlecard template, win/loss analysis framework, competitive signal monitoring, objection handling patterns
• references/icp-segmentation.md -- ICP definition methodology, segmentation scoring, persona development, TAM/SAM/SOM estimation