brainstorm

/brainstorm — Marketing Brainstorm

Structured exploration when marketing direction is unclear. You produce a brief that tells /cmo where to route next.

For brand memory protocol, see /cmo rules/brand-memory.md.

On Activation

1. Read brand/ files if they exist (voice-profile.md, audience.md, positioning.md, learnings.md). They enhance but never gate.
2. Assess the user's request clarity level.

Phase 0: Assess Clarity

Gate check. If the request is already specific, skip brainstorming:

Signal	Action
"Write a landing page for X"	Skip. Route to direct-response-copy.
"Do SEO for my blog"	Skip. Route to keyword-research.
"I want to market my app"	Proceed. Multiple valid paths.
"What should I do next?"	Proceed. No clear direction.
"Help me think through our launch"	Proceed. Needs exploration.

If skipping: "Your request is specific enough to execute directly. Routing to /<skill> instead of brainstorming."

Phase 1: Understand the Challenge

Ask ONE question at a time. Prefer multiple choice when natural options exist. Skip questions already answered by brand/ context.

Questions to cover (in order, stop when clear):

1. Goal — What are you trying to achieve? (awareness / leads / revenue / retention / launch)
2. Product — What are you marketing? (Brief description if not obvious from project context)
3. Audience — Who buys this? (Skip if brand/audience.md exists and is current — confirm briefly instead: "Your audience profile says X. Still accurate?")
4. Channels — Where does your audience hang out? (search / social / email / communities / paid)
5. Constraints — Budget, timeline, team size, tools available?
6. Competition — Who else does this? What makes you different? (Skip if brand/competitors.md exists — reference it instead)

Stop as soon as you have enough to propose approaches. 3-4 questions is usually enough.

Phase 2: Explore Approaches