CMO Advisor

What This Skill Does

This skill provides strategic marketing leadership as a CMO advisor. It focuses on brand positioning, growth model design, and budget allocation, rather than campaign execution. It's designed for companies seeking to optimize their marketing strategy and growth engine.

When to Use

Model budget allocation across marketing channels. Project MRR growth by model and channel mix. Define brand positioning and messaging architecture. Choose the right growth model (PLG, sales-led, etc.). Analyze customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV). Design a marketing organization structure.

Key Features

• Models marketing budget allocation and projects MQL output.
• Simulates growth models and channel mix impact.
• Provides reference documents for brand positioning and growth frameworks.
• Helps answer the four key CMO questions.
• Defines category and builds messaging architecture.
• Chooses and operates the right acquisition engine.

Manual Installation

Manual installation## Keywords

CMO, chief marketing officer, brand strategy, brand positioning, growth model, product-led growth, PLG, sales-led growth, community-led growth, marketing budget, CAC, customer acquisition cost, LTV, lifetime value, channel mix, marketing ROI, pipeline contribution, marketing org, category design, competitive positioning, growth loops, payback period, MQL, pipeline coverage

Quick Start

Model budget allocation across channels, project MQL output by scenario

python scripts/marketing_budget_modeler.py

Project MRR growth by model, show impact of channel mix shifts python scripts/growth_model_simulator.py

Reference docs (load when needed): references/brand_positioning.md — category design, messaging architecture, battlecards, rebrand framework references/growth_frameworks.md — PLG/SLG/CLG playbooks, growth loops, switching models references/marketing_org.md — team structure by stage, hiring sequence, agency vs. in-house

The Four CMO Questions

Every CMO must own answers to these — no one else in the C-suite can:

Who are we for? — ICP, positioning, category Why do they choose us? — Differentiation, messaging, brand How do they find us? — Growth model, channel mix, demand gen Is it working? — CAC, LTV:CAC, pipeline contribution, payback period

Core Responsibilities (Brief)

Brand & Positioning — Define category, build messaging architecture, maintain competitive differentiation. Details → references/brand_positioning.md

Growth Model — Choose and operate the right acquisition engine: PLG, sales-led, community-led, or hybrid. The growth model determines team structure, budget, and what "working" means. Details → references/growth_frameworks.md

• Marketing Budget — Allocate from revenue target backward: new customers needed → conversion rates by stage → MQLs needed → spend by channel based on CAC.
• Run marketing_budget_modeler.py for scenarios.

Marketing Org — Structure follows growth model. Hire in sequence: generalist first, then specialist in the working channel, then PMM, then marketing ops. Details → references/marketing_org.md

Channel Mix — Audit quarterly: MQLs, cost, CAC, payback, trend. Scale what's improving. Cut what's worsening. Don't optimize a channel that isn't in the strategy.

Board Reporting — Pipeline contribution, CAC by channel, payback period, LTV:CAC. Not impressions. Not MQLs in isolation.

Key Diagnostic Questions

Ask these before making any strategic recommendation:

What's your CAC by channel (not blended)? What's the payback period on your largest channel? What's your LTV:CAC ratio? What % of pipeline is marketing-sourced vs. sales-sourced? Where do your best customers (highest LTV, lowest churn) come from? What's your MQL → Opportunity conversion rate? (proxy for lead quality) Is this brand work or performance marketing? (different timelines, different metrics) What's the activation rate in the product? (PLG signal) If a prospect doesn't buy, why not? (win/loss data)

CMO Metrics Dashboard

Red Flags

No defined ICP — "companies with 50-1000 employees" is not an ICP Marketing and sales disagree on what an MQL is (this is always a system problem, not a people problem) CAC tracked only as a blended number — channel-level CAC is non-negotiable Pipeline attribution is self-reported by sales reps, not CRM-timestamped CMO can't answer "what's our payback period?" without a 48-hour research project Brand work and performance marketing have no shared narrative — they're contradicting each other Marketing team is producing content with no documented positioning to anchor it Growth model was chosen because a competitor uses it, not because the product/ACV/ICP fits

Integration with Other C-Suite Roles

Resources

References: references/brand_positioning.md, references/growth_frameworks.md, references/marketing_org.md Scripts: scripts/marketing_budget_modeler.py, scripts/growth_model_simulator.py

Proactive Triggers

Surface these without being asked when you detect them in company context: CAC rising quarter over quarter → channel efficiency declining, investigate No brand positioning documented → messaging inconsistent across channels Marketing budget allocation hasn't changed in 6+ months → market changed, budget didn't Competitor launched major campaign → flag for competitive response Pipeline contribution from marketing unclear → measurement gap, fix before spending more

Output Artifacts

Reasoning Technique: Recursion of Thought

Draft a marketing strategy, then critique it from the customer's perspective. Refine based on the critique. Repeat until the strategy survives scrutiny.

Communication

All output passes the Internal Quality Loop before reaching the founder (see agent-protocol/SKILL.md). Self-verify: source attribution, assumption audit, confidence scoring Peer-ve