marketers-project-init

/marketers-project-init

Scaffold the marketing/ directory and register it in the project bible.

What this does

Creates a marketing/ folder at the current working directory's project root with five empty subdirectories:

marketing/
├── briefs/         # Campaign briefs (concept, narrative, USP, behavioral, testimonial)
├── positioning/    # Audience, angle, proposition, evidence — ad-ready
├── copy/           # Channel-specific ad copy (email, social, press, web)
├── press/          # Press releases, talking points, boilerplate
└── social/         # Social posts, thread copy

Then adds a ## Marketing section to .great-authors/project.md:

## Marketing

**Path:** `marketing/` (at project root, sibling to `.great-authors/`, `manuscript/`, `film/`, and `publishers/`)
**Current campaign:** `<user-chosen-slug>`

Commands that generate marketing artifacts (`/marketers-channel` save behavior, `/marketers-write-positioning`, `/marketers-write-launch-copy`) write to `marketing/<subdir>/<current-campaign>.md` by default. Update `Current campaign` when moving to a different launch or a different campaign for the same work.

When to use

• Starting the marketing/launch stage on a project that has manuscripts and/or publication-form artifacts.
• Extending an existing project (great-authors / great-filmmakers / great-publishers) with marketing-stage work.
• Before invoking /marketers-channel with save triggers (which need to know where to write).

Instructions for Claude

When this skill is invoked:

1. Verify .great-authors/ exists in the current working directory. If not, tell the user: "This skill assumes a project bible at .great-authors/. Run /authors-project-init (from great-authors-plugin) first to scaffold the bible, then re-run this skill."

2. Check for existing marketing/ directory. If it exists, ask: "A marketing/ directory already exists. Overwrite the scaffold (destroys existing content) or skip (leaves it alone)? (overwrite/skip)" — default skip.

3. Read .great-authors/project.md to import title and genre. If a ## Publishing section exists (from /publishers-project-init), note the current artifact; the marketing campaign slug often aligns with it. If genre field signals mystery / crime / thriller / horror, note this — it informs content-policy considerations for downstream copy work that may reference imagery.

4. Ask the campaign-slug question. One question:

   • "What's the slug for the marketing campaign you're starting with? Default: same as the project slug. Accept any kebab-case identifier (e.g., arizona-strip-launch, chapter-01-blog-promo, q2-rollout)."

5. Create the directory tree. Five empty subdirectories under marketing/:

   • briefs/
   • positioning/
   • copy/
   • press/
   • social/

6. Update .great-authors/project.md. Read the existing file. If it already has a ## Marketing section, ask whether to overwrite it. If not, append the ## Marketing block documented above, substituting the user's chosen slug into Current campaign.

7. Report:

   Created marketing/ with subdirs:
     briefs/  positioning/  copy/  press/  social/
   
   Updated .great-authors/project.md with ## Marketing section.
   Current campaign: <slug>
   
   Next:
   - /marketers-channel <persona> to channel a marketer (ogilvy, bernbach, mary-wells, clow, reeves, helen, barton, sutherland).
     Substantive output (briefs, positioning, copy) saves to marketing/<subdir>/<slug>.md by default.
   - /marketers-write-positioning <project> to produce an ad-ready positioning doc.
   - /marketers-write-launch-copy <project> [--channel <c>] to produce channel-specific copy.
   

Notes

• This skill does not commit to git. The user owns their repository.
• The marketing/ directory is for ARTIFACTS at the marketing/launch stage. The bible stays at .great-authors/; the manuscript stays at manuscript/; film artifacts stay at film/; publication-form artifacts stay at publishers/. Each has its own owner.
• If the user's project has no .great-authors/ directory at all (working on a one-off campaign for a standalone product), the skill still creates marketing/ but emits a warning that personas won't have bible context to read before working.
• The current-campaign slug is editorial: a single project might have multiple campaigns (a launch, a paperback release, a season-two rollout) and the slug names "what we're working on right now." Update when you move between campaigns.