Capstone: Build a Complete Marketing Strategy

From Framework to Finished Strategy

In the previous lesson, we explored analytics, measurement, and optimization. Now let’s build on that foundation. Over seven lessons, you’ve learned each piece of the marketing strategy puzzle: market research, positioning, campaign planning, email sequences, customer journey mapping, and analytics. Each lesson produced a deliverable.

Now it’s time to put them all together into a single, comprehensive marketing strategy document. This is the same type of deliverable that marketing agencies charge $10,000-50,000 to produce. You’re going to build one in a day.

We’ll use a realistic scenario throughout. But the real exercise is doing this for your own product or service—using the exact prompts and frameworks from each lesson.

The Scenario: FocusFlow

Product: FocusFlow — a time-blocking app for remote workers that integrates with calendar, task manager, and focus music.

Current state:

• Launched 4 months ago
• 1,200 active users (free plan)
• 180 paid users ($12/month)
• $2,160 MRR
• Growth mostly from Product Hunt launch and word of mouth
• No structured marketing yet

Goal: Reach $10,000 MRR within 6 months.

Let’s build the strategy.

Section 1: Market Research (Lesson 2)

Conduct a competitive analysis for FocusFlow, a time-blocking
app for remote workers.

Key competitors:
1. Clockwise - AI calendar optimization
2. Reclaim.ai - Smart scheduling for teams
3. Sunsama - Daily planner for professionals
4. Akiflow - Unified task and calendar management

Analyze each competitor's:
- Positioning and messaging
- Target audience
- Pricing model
- Key differentiators
- Weaknesses (from user reviews)

Then identify:
- What everyone in this space says (table stakes messaging)
- What nobody is saying (messaging gaps)
- The underserved customer segment

AI-generated insight (summarized): All four competitors target productivity-focused professionals and emphasize “AI scheduling” and “team coordination.” Nobody is specifically targeting the emotional side of remote work—the isolation, decision fatigue, and lack of structure that make remote workers feel scattered. FocusFlow’s integration of focus music hints at the wellness angle, but nobody owns this positioning.

Underserved segment: Remote workers who struggle not with task management, but with maintaining focus and energy throughout the day. They don’t need more productivity tools—they need a rhythm.

Section 2: Positioning (Lesson 3)

Based on the research:

Create a positioning statement for FocusFlow using this
market gap: competitors focus on productivity and scheduling,
but nobody addresses the emotional/wellness side of remote
work focus.

Target: Remote workers (individual contributors, not managers)
who feel scattered and drained by unstructured remote workdays.

Differentiation: Focus music integration + energy-aware
time blocking (schedules deep work when you have the most
energy, not just when your calendar is open).

Generate 3 positioning options taking different angles:
1. Wellness-productivity hybrid
2. Anti-productivity (it's about energy, not tasks)
3. The "rhythm" angle (give your day a beat)

Chosen positioning: “FocusFlow doesn’t manage your tasks. It manages your energy. Time-blocking that works with your brain, not against it.”

Messaging hierarchy:

• Core: Your energy, your rhythm, your best work
• Pillar 1: Energy-aware scheduling (deep work when you’re sharpest)
• Pillar 2: Focus states (music + environment for different work types)
• Pillar 3: Sustainable productivity (avoid burnout, not just get more done)

Section 3: Campaign Plan (Lesson 4)

Create a 90-day marketing plan for FocusFlow to go
from $2,160 to $10,000 MRR.

Available resources:
- Solo founder doing marketing (10 hrs/week for marketing)
- $1,000/month marketing budget
- Strong on Twitter (2,500 followers, remote work community)
- Good at writing (can produce 2 blog posts/week with AI)
- No email list yet (need to build one)

Phase 1 (Month 1): Build audience and email list
Phase 2 (Month 2): Nurture and convert free users
Phase 3 (Month 3): Scale what's working

Use our positioning: energy management, not task management.

AI produces a month-by-month plan:

Month 1: Build the Audience

• Launch “Remote Work Energy Guide” as lead magnet
• Blog series: “Why Productivity Advice Doesn’t Work for Remote Workers”
• Twitter thread strategy: 3 threads/week on remote work energy management
• Begin guest posting on remote work blogs
• Target: 500 email subscribers, 1,000 new website visitors

Month 2: Nurture and Convert

• Welcome email sequence (6 emails) for new subscribers
• Product-led content: “How I Structure My Remote Work Day with FocusFlow”
• In-app campaign targeting free users who’ve been active 14+ days
• Limited-time annual plan discount for early adopters
• Target: 100 new paid users (from existing free + new subscribers)

Month 3: Scale What Works

• Double down on top-performing content topics
• Launch referral program (give a month, get a month)
• Retargeting ads for website visitors who didn’t sign up ($500 budget)
• Partnership with one remote work community (co-branded content)
• Target: 150 new paid users

Section 4: Email Sequences (Lesson 5)

Create the complete welcome email sequence for FocusFlow.

Trigger: Downloads the "Remote Work Energy Guide" lead magnet.
Goal: Convert to free trial, then paid.
Persona: Remote IC who feels scattered, tried productivity
  hacks, still feels drained by 3 PM.

6-email sequence over 2 weeks.
Emotional arc: validation → insight → possibility →
  proof → invitation → gentle push

AI generates 6 complete emails. The key email—Email 3—shares the story of a remote developer who replaced three productivity apps with FocusFlow and discovered that scheduling around energy (not around meetings) changed everything.

Quick check: Before moving on, can you recall the key concept we just covered? Try to explain it in your own words before continuing.

Section 5: Customer Journey Map (Lesson 6)

Map the FocusFlow customer journey from awareness to advocacy.

Key data points:
- 60% of trial users connect their calendar on day 1
- Only 25% try focus music feature (our key differentiator!)
- Users who try focus music have 3x higher conversion rate
- Most common cancellation reason: "Went back to Google Calendar"
- Highest NPS scores from users who use energy scheduling

Moments of truth to focus on:
1. First visit to website (do they understand we're different?)
2. First day of free trial (do they discover focus music?)
3. Day 7 of trial (have they built a habit?)
4. Month 1 of paid plan (does it stick?)

Critical insight from AI: The focus music feature is the product’s secret weapon (3x conversion rate), but only 25% of trial users discover it. The entire onboarding should be redesigned to make focus music the first experience, not a buried feature.

Section 6: Measurement Framework (Lesson 7)

Create a measurement framework for FocusFlow's
marketing strategy.

North Star: Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Current: $2,160 | Target: $10,000 in 6 months

Define metrics for each level:
- Business metrics (CAC, LTV, payback)
- Campaign metrics (email conversion, content performance)
- Activity metrics (what to track weekly)

Include:
- Monthly reporting template
- Weekly check-in metrics
- Optimization triggers (when to change course)

AI creates a dashboard structure with clear targets:

The Complete Strategy Document

Now compile everything into a single document:

Compile our FocusFlow marketing strategy into a
professional strategy document. Structure:

1. Executive Summary (half page)
2. Market Research & Competitive Analysis (1 page)
3. Target Customer & Personas (half page)
4. Positioning & Messaging Framework (1 page)
5. 90-Day Marketing Plan (2 pages)
6. Email Marketing Strategy (1 page)
7. Customer Journey & Optimization Plan (1 page)
8. Measurement Framework & KPIs (1 page)
9. Budget Allocation (half page)
10. Risks and Contingencies (half page)

Total: ~8 pages. Concise, actionable, with specific
numbers and timelines throughout.

AI produces the complete document. You review, refine, and you have a professional marketing strategy in a day instead of a month.

Your Challenge

Build a complete marketing strategy for your own product or service. Follow each section using the prompts from this lesson and the detailed techniques from each preceding lesson.

Day 1: Research & Positioning

1. Conduct competitive analysis (Lesson 2 prompts)
2. Build customer persona from real data
3. Create positioning statement (Lesson 3 prompts)
4. Build messaging hierarchy

Day 2: Planning & Execution 5. Design 90-day campaign plan (Lesson 4 prompts) 6. Write welcome email sequence (Lesson 5 prompts) 7. Map customer journey (Lesson 6 prompts)

Day 3: Measurement & Assembly 8. Build measurement framework (Lesson 7 prompts) 9. Compile into strategy document 10. Prioritize: what do you execute first?

Three days. One complete strategy. No agency required.

Prioritizing Execution

A strategy on paper is worth nothing. Prioritize by impact and effort:

Start with items 1 and 2. They have the highest impact and are feasible immediately.

What You’ve Learned in This Course

Key Takeaways

• A complete marketing strategy builds bottom-up: research → positioning → campaigns → channels → measurement
• AI compresses weeks of strategy work into days
• Every section should contain specific numbers, timelines, and owners
• Prioritize execution by impact and effort—start with high-impact, low-effort wins
• The strategy is a living document—update it monthly with new data
• You don’t need an agency. You need a framework, AI, and the discipline to execute

Congratulations on completing AI Marketing Playbook. You now have the tools to build professional-grade marketing strategies that drive real results. Go execute.