skills/marketing-plan/references/current-state-rubric.md
This 17-section rubric is the source of truth for Section 3 ("Current State") of every marketing plan. Score each section 0–5 from available materials, then write a 2–4 sentence "shape interpretation" that names where strengths and gaps cluster.
From rich materials. When the team has shared decks, prior content audits, a brand voice doc, kickoff transcript, app store and analytics snapshots — score each section from those artifacts. Mark "scored from materials" in the section heading so the team can push back where they have better data.
From a separately scored audit. If the team has already run a scored current-state assessment (in any format), ingest those scores directly. Don't redo the work — note the date the rubric was scored and flag any sections where material has shifted since.
Either way, the output is the same: a 17-row scored table, a total out of 85, and a shape paragraph.
What's scored: Clarity of category claim, differentiation, alignment across surfaces (homepage, app store, pitch deck, founder messaging).
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting — feeds every stage.
What's scored: Depth and recency of customer research, ICP clarity, voice-of-customer capture.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting — feeds especially Acquisition (channel choice) and Activation (onboarding voice).
What's scored: Headline clarity, voice alignment, conversion architecture, mobile experience.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Activation.
What's scored: Existence and quality of dedicated product / pricing / feature pages. Are SKUs documented? Is pricing scannable? Are upsells visible?
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Revenue.
What's scored: Landing pages for specific campaigns, channels, or use cases. /partner, /science, /ambassadors, /eye-mask types of pages.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Activation.
What's scored: Existence of "vs. {competitor}" pages, comparison content. Does the brand acknowledge alternatives, or pretend they don't exist?
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition (consideration-stage SEO + sales enablement).
What's scored: Blog, knowledge base, science page, whitepapers, research, founder essays, podcast.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.
What's scored: New user onboarding (in-app + email). Time-to-value, completion rate, brand-voice alignment.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Activation.
What's scored: Existence and quality of lifecycle email programs. Welcome / onboarding / post-purchase / lapsed / win-back.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Retention (+ Activation for onboarding emails).
What's scored: Sales decks, one-pagers, demos, case studies, pricing sheets. (For B2B / hybrid companies — for pure D2C, this can be marked N/A or scored low without implication.)
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Revenue (B2B).
What's scored: Voice, tone, vocabulary, message hierarchy across surfaces. Is the brand voice documented, consistent, distinctive?
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting.
What's scored: Pricing structure clarity, packaging logic, recent pressure-testing, listed vs. effective price reconciliation.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Revenue.
What's scored: Test cadence, instrumentation, A/B history, statistical rigor.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting (most impactful at Activation + Revenue).
What's scored: Quality of past launch executions. Product launches, feature launches, campaign launches.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Activation.
What's scored: Paid acquisition state. Active campaigns, channels, CAC tracking, creative quality.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.
Note: For pre-seed clients with no paid budget, score this 0 without treating it as a weakness — it reflects the funding stage, not a marketing failure.
What's scored: Organic search performance. Domain rating, ranking keywords, organic traffic, content cluster strategy.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.
What's scored: Geographic expansion, language localization, region-specific pricing.
Score guide:
Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.
Note: For most early-stage companies, internationalization scores 0–1 and that's appropriate. Don't penalize early-stage companies for not having international playbooks yet.
Total = sum of all 17 scores. Out of 85.
The total matters less than the shape. After the scoring table, write a 2–4 sentence "shape interpretation":
"High in {strong sections}, low in {weak sections}. That shape is the gap the rest of the plan closes — Sections X (AARRR stage) is the longest because that's where the gap is widest."
Some sections are easier to score from outside than others. Subjectivity tier:
For subjective sections, write the rationale into the "Note" column so the team can push back if they disagree.
If the team already has scored output from any current-state assessment, ingest those scores directly — don't redo the work. Treat that prior scoring as the ground truth for sections it covers.
If the prior scoring was done weeks ago and material has shifted since (new shipped flows, new content live, repositioning, etc.), note "scored on YYYY-MM-DD; material has shifted since" and update any specific scores you have current evidence for.