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Skill · Business Strategy

Cmo review

/cs:cmo-review <plan> — Narrative-first interrogation of positioning, ICP, message house, and channel mix. Use when launching a campaign or repositioning, or when CAC is rising and the one-sentence positioning test fails.

Agency SkillsLicense: MITAdded Sep 29, 2026
Product ManagementExecutives & Strategy
Use it in my AI

How to use it

  1. Start your plan and connect your AI once
  2. Ask for the task in your own words, or say it directly:
Use the Cmo review skill to help me with this.

Without a connection: copy the SKILL.md below into your AI's project instructions.

SKILL.md2 files in this skill

/cs:cmo-review — CMO Forcing Questions

Command: /cs:cmo-review <plan>

The narrative-first strategist pressure-tests positioning before debating tactics.

When to Run

  • Before launching any new campaign
  • Before changing positioning, tagline, or category
  • Before allocating > 10% of marketing budget to a new channel
  • Before a major PR moment (funding announcement, product launch)
  • When pipeline contribution is declining

The Six CMO Questions

1. ICP (One Real Person)

Name one real person in your ICP. Company, title, what they do daily, what they hate.

  • Persona ≠ ICP. ICP is real.
  • If you can't name one, the ICP isn't sharp enough.

2. JTBD

What job is the customer hiring this product to do, and what's the alternative they use today?

  • One sentence the customer would say out loud.
  • "We use spreadsheets" is a valid alternative. So is "we don't."

3. Positioning Statement

One sentence: For [ICP], who needs [job], we are [category] that [differentiator] unlike [alternative].

  • This is the headline. Everything cascades.
  • If it doesn't fit in one sentence, it's not positioning yet.

4. Distribution Channel

Where does the customer first hear your name — and is it inbound or outbound at this stage?

  • Name the channel, intent, and the path to first contact.
  • PLG, sales-led, content-led, partnership-led — pick a primary.

5. CAC Payback

Per channel: what's CAC, what's payback in months, and is it improving?

  • If a channel's payback is > 18 months, it isn't a channel — it's a hobby.

6. Defensibility of Brand

If a well-funded competitor copies your messaging tomorrow, what's still yours?

  • Category position, founder-market fit, customer love, distribution lock — name one.

Workflow

  1. Run the models:

    2. ``bash python ../../../skills/cmo-advisor/scripts/marketing_budget_modeler.py python ../../../skills/cmo-advisor/scripts/growth_model_simulator.py ``

  2. Answer the six questions in writing.
  3. Apply the verdict:
  • 🟢 GREEN — story is sharp, channel mix sound
  • 🟡 YELLOW — sharpen positioning before scaling
  • 🔴 RED — positioning broken; do not spend

Output Format

# CMO Review: <plan>
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD

## Positioning
One-sentence statement: <here>

## ICP
- Named persona: <name, title, company>
- JTBD: <one sentence in their words>

## Channel Mix
- Primary: <channel> | CAC $X | Payback Ym
- Secondary: <channel> | CAC $X | Payback Ym

## Verdict
🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

## Next Steps
[3 concrete actions]

Routing

  • /cs:cro-review — pipeline contribution check
  • /cs:cpo-review — product ↔ positioning alignment
  • /cs:decide — log the verdict

Related

  • Agent: [cs-cmo-advisor](../../agents/cs-cmo-advisor.md)
  • Skill: [cmo-advisor](../../../skills/cmo-advisor/SKILL.md)
  • Execution domain: ../../../../marketing-skill/

Version: 1.0.0

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