Kramer Mkt1 Field Guide

---
name: kramer-mkt1-field-guide
description: "Apply Emily Kramer's public MKT1 method to B2B startup marketing plans, campaign briefs, content roadmaps, and team assessments. Use when prioritizing work around audience evidence, company advantages, revenue levers, and execution capacity."
---

# MKT1 Field Guide for B2B Startup Marketing

Based on Emily Kramer's public method. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Emily Kramer.

## When to use

Use this skill to turn a B2B startup's marketing ideas into a focused annual or quarterly plan, campaign brief, content roadmap, channel portfolio, or team assessment. It connects strategy, planning, production, distribution, and learning so the chosen work has a reason to exist and a credible path to results. It is especially useful when requests outstrip capacity, content has weak distribution, or leadership expects a revenue target without an execution plan. [S1] [S2]

Produce a decision-ready marketing package using [templates/output-template.md](templates/output-template.md). Scale the package to the assignment: a single campaign needs a concise summary of existing strategy and one brief; an annual plan needs the dashboard, portfolio, goals, capacity, and forecast. Reuse valid inputs instead of reopening every strategic decision. When evidence is absent, show the assumption and the smallest useful research or test rather than inventing certainty.

This package paraphrases public frameworks. Its ordered agent workflow, fill-in template, and review gates are implementation aids, not official MKT1 templates. Consult [references/sources.md](references/sources.md) to distinguish the public Field Guide summaries from older articles whose remaining sections require a subscription.

## Procedure

1. **Frame the assignment and evidence.** Read [method section 1](references/method.md#1-scope-and-strategy-drivers). Establish the requested decision, horizon, business model, GTM motion, historical performance, available resources, and audience research. Separate supplied facts, supported interpretations, and open assumptions. Identify which missing inputs would materially change the recommendation.

2. **Prioritize the audience and ecosystem.** Use [method section 2](references/method.md#2-audience-and-ecosystem). Define company and person ICPs, distinguish core from testing audiences, and map competitors, partners, communities, and trusted information sources. Explain why this audience should receive attention now instead of treating the whole market equally.

3. **Select advantages to accelerate.** Follow [method section 3](references/method.md#3-marketing-advantages). Connect each evidenced advantage to a growth mechanism and an activation investment. Distinguish an advantage already available from one requiring development. Remove generic strengths and forced founder or category narratives.

4. **Rank the four revenue levers.** Apply [method section 4](references/method.md#4-revenue-levers). Rank core-audience acquisition, new-audience acquisition, customer value, and efficiency for the planning period. Give the rationale and approximate effort allocation. Reconcile the ranking with leadership's business priorities before choosing channels.

5. **Make the story usable.** Read [method section 5](references/method.md#5-positioning-and-story). State who the product serves, what it is, and why it differs from the relevant alternative. Define three to five audience-voiced Perceptions across company and product story. Use these beliefs to guide creative work, rather than treating content topics as the narrative.

6. **Build the dashboard and goals.** Use [method section 6](references/method.md#6-decision-dashboard-and-kpo-goals) and the corresponding template fields. Consolidate ICP priorities, advantages, Perceptions, revenue levers, and goals. Include KPI outcomes, Project milestones, and Ops prerequisites, with dates, owners, risks, dependencies, and non-goals.

7. **Choose the portfolio before sizing everything.** Apply [method section 7](references/method.md#7-portfolio-prioritization). Classify current work as stop, maintain, or scale. Group proposed work into big bets, core work, operations, and not now. Eliminate strategic mismatches first, then compare effort and impact within categories and fit commitments to capacity.

8. **Pair fuel with engine.** Follow [method section 8](references/method.md#8-fuel-engine-and-lifecycle). Choose the useful message or asset together with its distribution, tooling, and measurement. Select reinforcing engine families that fit the audience and GTM motion. Where relevant, define account tiers, contact and account stages, qualification signals, and handoffs.

9. **Brief the campaign before production.** Complete the GACCS block in [templates/output-template.md](templates/output-template.md), using [method section 9](references/method.md#9-gaccs-content-and-mileage). Specify Goals, Audience, Creative, Channels, and Stakeholders. Check that the audience gains something useful and that the creative contributes a differentiated idea.

10. **Plan reuse, ownership, and resources.** Use [method sections 9 and 10](references/method.md#10-team-capacity-and-forecast). Assign one campaign DRI, production and distribution owners, follow-up, and a review date. Give every derivative asset its own distribution and next action. Match hiring or contractors to the actual foundation, fuel, engine, or coordination gap.

11. **Reconcile forecasts when in scope.** Apply [method section 10](references/method.md#10-team-capacity-and-forecast). Model reachable demand, historical conversion, customer value, timing, and spend. Compare the bottom-up result with the top-down target. Expose the gap and revise activities or resources; do not insert unsupported conversion gains to make the spreadsheet balance.

12. **Review, deliver, and define learning.** Run [checklists/review-checklist.md](checklists/review-checklist.md). Fix failed gates or state the unresolved evidence needed. Return the package with explicit tradeoffs and next decisions. Set a monthly reassessment for quarterly campaigns, and define what evidence warrants scaling, revising, or stopping. Consult [examples/worked-examples.md](examples/worked-examples.md) when the practical transformation is unclear.

## Files in this skill

- `SKILL.md`: Entry point, use cases, and the agent's main procedure.
- `references/method.md`: Detailed principles, decision rules, warnings, and edge cases.
- `references/sources.md`: Eight fetched public sources and their contributions.
- `examples/worked-examples.md`: Two invented illustrations with weak drafts, improved plans, and rule notes.
- `templates/output-template.md`: Adaptable deliverable template with guidance for every field.
- `checklists/review-checklist.md`: Pass/fail review gates and common failure modes with fixes.