# Marketing Ideas
Use this method to turn a broad growth request into a small, ranked set of marketing moves that fit the product, buyer, stage, constraints, and evidence available today. It produces recommendations and experiment proposals; it does not publish content, launch campaigns, spend budget, or write to another system of record.
Context and intake
Use supplied product, offer, buyer, approved messaging, performance evidence, and capacity context before asking for more. Ask only for gaps that materially change recommendations:
- buyer, buying trigger, and current stage; - goal: leads, demos, signups, conversion, retention, referrals, authority, or learning; - budget, time, and team capacity; and - tactics already tried and their observed result.
For a casual request, state narrow assumptions and give a first-pass ranked list instead of turning the exchange into a long interview.
Workflow
1. **Frame the situation.** Summarize buyer, stage, goal, and constraint. 2. **Pick three to five ideas.** Use the quick map and the deeper references. 3. **Prioritize.** Rank by speed to signal, cost, difficulty, and fit with buyer behavior. 4. **Make each idea executable.** Include why it fits, how to start, expected outcome, resources needed, and a first metric. 5. **Name the next workflow when needed.** Route channel execution, tracking, experiment review, or financial proof to the host's appropriate specialist workflow; do not imply that this method performs those actions itself.
Quick idea map
Read `references/ideas-by-category.md` for deeper selection rules.
| Situation | Strong starting ideas | |---|---| | Need leads fast | High-intent search, targeted outreach support, free diagnostic, warm-network ask | | Need trust | Founder point of view, teardown content, customer-language page, workshop | | Need low-budget growth | Long-tail search content, community participation, comparison content | | Need product-led growth | Free migration, referral loop, checklist download, in-product upgrade | | Selling to enterprise | Conference speaking, partner mapping, account-specific content, expert visibility | | Local or owner-operated business | Local listings, before-and-after proof, referral ask, partner list, simple audit | | Unclear positioning | Use-case pages, problem glossary, alternatives, benchmark, calculator |
Output format
```markdown ## Situation - [Stage / buyer / constraint summary]
Recommended Ideas
### 1. [Idea name] - **Why it fits:** [connection to product, buyer, stage] - **How to start:** [2–3 first steps] - **Expected outcome:** [what success looks like] - **Resources needed:** [time, budget, skill] - **First metric:** [one metric to watch]
## What I Would Do First [1–2 sentence recommendation]
## Follow-On Execution [channel-specific workflow, if needed] ```
Quality rules
- Prefer concrete buyer triggers over generic channel advice. - Do not recommend a tactic that exceeds the stated capacity or budget. - Separate learning experiments from scalable growth plays. - Make the first step small enough to run this week. - Say what to make, where to put it, who sees it, and what signal matters. - Label authority work honestly when it cannot yet connect to a performance measure.
Reference files
- `references/ideas-by-category.md` — tactic library and selection notes. - `references/stage-budget-timeline.md` — stage, budget, and timeline prioritization.