# Example — Quietude Marketing Plan v1

**This is the canonical reference example for the `/marketing-plan` skill.** It's based on a real fCMO engagement for a hybrid hardware-and-software wellness platform. **Names, domains, and identifying details have been changed** — the client is called "Quietude" here, and the team members have been renamed (Alex / Sam / Casey / Devon). The funnel numbers, budget, and structural lessons preserve the shape of the original engagement so the example retains its teaching value.

Use this as the "what good looks like" reference when drafting a new plan. The structure, tone, depth, and operational specificity are the bar to clear.

**Quietude's archetype:** Hybrid hardware + software with deep-tech / clinical credibility layer. See `references/client-types.md` for archetype patterns.

**Funding-stage context:** Pre-seed-close (mid-raise on $3M seed). Tier 1 per `references/funding-stage-unlocks.md`. $0 paid budget; organic + lifecycle + ambassador only.

**What was strong about this plan:**
- Strategic frame (Section 2) leaned on the founder's own meditation-vs-regulation framing as the content pillar
- Current state (Section 3) included the 17-section audit rubric scored against existing materials (no formal audit run)
- 90-day roadmap (Section 9) had owner-assigned moves, not just actions
- Ops stack (Section 11) included a concrete operational proof-point (Customer.io MCP used live by non-technical founder on the kickoff call)
- Tactical idea bank (Section 12) cross-referenced all 139 marketing-ideas to AARRR + Quietude-specific status, including 23 explicit skips with rationale

---

# Quietude — Marketing Plan v1

**Prepared by:** Casey Reed (fCMO)
**For:** Alex, Sam, and the Quietude team
**Date:** 2026-05-27
**Status:** Draft v1 — for team review

## 1. Executive summary

Quietude has built something rare: a clinically validated, brand-coherent, founder-led product in a category that doesn't yet have a name. The opportunity in the next twelve months is not to invent a marketing engine from scratch — it's to **convert the existing organic gravity into a measurable, repeatable funnel**, then layer paid acquisition on top of that funnel once the seed round closes.

**Three big bets, ranked by leverage:**

1. **Fix the leak before pouring water in.** The Day 1 → Day 35 funnel shape (1.34% → 5.46%) tells us the product converts given time and contact. What it's missing is a working first-session moment (the headphone gate is killing conversion) and a lifecycle layer to deliver the contact. These two pieces — onboarding rebuild and Customer.io flows shipped — are the unlock for everything else.
2. **Compound the moats Quietude already has.** Peer-reviewed clinical study, longevity-influencer PR, 15K live event participants, Alex's founder voice — these are link generators, content pillars, and credibility anchors that most wellness brands would kill for. They're under-leveraged. SEO, content, and App Store optimization translate them into search and discovery surface area.
3. **Build the founder-and-fCMO operating system that lets a 4-person team market like a 20-person one.** This is what makes the plan actually executable at Quietude's team size and burn rate — agentic tooling on top of Customer.io, Shopify, App Store, Stripe, GitHub, and the marketing skill library means we ship without hiring.

**What twelve months looks like, plausibly:**

- App goes from beta to GA. Onboarding converts at meaningful lift over today's baseline.
- 4 SEO content pillars staked, with Pillar 1 (Nervous System Regulation) and Pillar 2 (Sleep + Eye Mask) ranking on Tier-1 keywords.
- Full lifecycle live in Customer.io: onboarding, lapsed re-engagement, hardware post-purchase, subscription-center opt-ins.
- Ambassador program live with 15–25 active hosts. First Quietude Guides cert pilot run.
- Eye mask wedge selling at scale via Shopify with a clean hardware → app activation path. Blended CAC measured and tracked.
- Paid acquisition firing post-seed-close at $5–10K/mo initial test budget, scaling to $20–50K/mo if unit economics validate.
- Series A narrative writes itself: clinical evidence + activation lift + lifecycle compounding + first B2B install reference cases.

**The 90-day priorities** (which the rest of this doc operationalizes):

1. Kill the headphones gate. Ship the bedrock fix this week.
2. Run the three-variant onboarding test. Find the activation winner.
3. Ship Customer.io Flows 6 (eye mask post-purchase) and 4 (lapsed user) — hold Flow 2 (onboarding) until app UI stabilizes.
4. Rewrite the App Store listing in Quietude's brand voice. Highest-leverage non-site asset right now.
5. Stake the SEO foundation: consolidate to `quietude.app`, publish Pillar 1 hub + 3 spokes, publish the peer-reviewed psychophysiology study landing page.
6. Launch the ambassador program with the ~5 inbound waiting.

Everything else compounds on top of those six.

---

## 2. Strategic frame

This section distills positioning, ICP, and brand voice into what the team needs to keep in mind while executing. Full detail lives in `marketing-os.md`, `icp.md`, and `sound-philosophy.md`.

### What Quietude is, in one sentence

A nervous system intelligence platform — clinically validated spatial audio + AI reflection companion (Mira) + hardware + venue installations + practitioner network. *"We start with sound. We expand to every sense. We end with cities."*

### The category we're claiming (and defending)

Quietude doesn't fit the meditation app category, the focus audio category, or the sleep tech category. The brand makes a stronger claim: **bottom-up nervous system regulation through spatial audio**, with clinical evidence as proof and somatic credibility as defense.

The category-defining frame, per Alex (2026-05-19): **Meditation is top-down. Quietude is bottom-up.** Meditation uses the mind to command the body — mental kung fu that fails the very people most likely to need help, because the prefrontal cortex is offline when stressed. Quietude enters through the brainstem, before the thinking mind. The body responds before it has to try. (Full content-pillar treatment in `meditation-vs-regulation.md`.)

This is the single most important strategic message. It belongs in App Store copy, onboarding, lifecycle email, SEO content, ambassador talking points, and the seed deck.

### Who we're for (D2C ICP, distilled)

Overstimulated high-achieving professionals, 25–45, urban (Bay Area, NYC, London, Berlin, Austin). Tech workers, founders, creators, academics, designers, consultants. Often neurodivergent (ADHD, HSP, gifted). Sophisticated wellness buyers — already invested heavily in their inner life.

**Their stated problem:** *"I can't shut my brain off. I've tried meditation apps. They don't work."*

**Their real problem:** Overstimulation, not under-motivation. Their gift (quick thinking) became a curse. They need permission to stop optimizing — including their rest.

**What they're actually buying:** the *feeling* of stability, sensory indulgence, beautiful rituals, effortless effectiveness, a luxurious shortcut to the genius they can't access in chaos.

### The business model logic (per seed deck)

**B2B seeds the market. D2C harvests.** A venue install puts Quietude in front of ~20K people/year at ~$17K cost → 5% convert to subs → ~$430K/year per venue. Six compound channels (referral, Guides, content, home hosting, PR, community) make CAC approach zero by Year 3. Year 5: 75% of new subs come from near-zero-cost channels.

**fCMO scope per kickoff: D2C-led.** Alex owns B2B sales through events/network/founder credibility. The fCMO leverage is on the app/hardware D2C side. This plan reflects that split — B2B is acknowledged as the harvest engine but not treated as primary work surface.

### Brand voice (the non-negotiable)

Per Marketing OS:
- **Tone.** Authoritative yet accessible. Intimate yet professional. Revolutionary yet grounded. Authority comes from lived experience, not explanation.
- **Speak from the body, not the mind.** Every sentence restores somatic safety and orientation. Language opens space rather than closing meaning.
- **YES vocabulary:** Aliveness, inner life, nervous system, spatial sound, resonance, somatic safety, embodied clarity, natural rhythm, orientation, initiation, truth-telling.
- **NO vocabulary:** Zen, chill, vibes, "high-vibe," spiritual bypass, meditation clichés, didactic/explainer language, "let me explain why this works."
- **Core method: Initiatory Reflection.** Writing's purpose isn't to explain or convince — it's to shift the reader's internal state. The result should be *"something in me moved,"* not *"I understand this concept."*
- **CTA rule:** Never pressure. "We do not remind. We invite."

This rule constrains every piece of copy across every AARRR stage. When in doubt: rewrite from the body.

---

## 3. Current state

This is what we're starting from — team, budget, what's already in motion, what's stuck, scored against the CF Marketing Audit 17-section rubric.

### Team composition (marketing surface area)

| Person | Role | Marketing surface area |
|---|---|---|
| **Alex** | Co-founder, CEO | Owns: personal LinkedIn, live events, B2B sales, founder narrative, investor relations, brand voice authorship |
| **Sam** | Co-founder, CXO | Owns: clinical/somatic credibility, brand-voice stewardship, somatic angle on copy review, practitioner network |
| **Devon** | Lead Dev | Owns: product/UI build, instrumentation, Customer.io event wiring, App Store deployment |
| **Ed Dorsey** | Design Advisor | Advisory cadence (ex-Apple/Airbnb/Strava) |
| **Emily Babich** | Creative Strategy | Advisory cadence |
| **Matt Mikkelsen** | Field Recording | Audio library, not marketing |
| **Casey Reed** | fCMO | Strategy, lifecycle, SEO, onboarding tests, content, ambassador program, ops stack |

**No dedicated marketing hire yet.** First hire likely post-seed close (Q3 2026 candidate): a lifecycle + content marketing manager who owns Customer.io, SEO content production, and ambassador operations day-to-day.

### Marketing budget (current)

- **Paid acquisition:** $0. Confirmed by Alex, 2026-05-20: *"D2C UA so far: My personal LinkedIn posts, live Quietude events, organic word of mouth, and organic app store discovery."* No paid layer.
- **Tooling stack:** Customer.io subscription, Shopify (eye mask storefront), App Store Connect, GA4 (or pending), Stripe, Notion, Dub.co (ambassador attribution). Estimate ~$500–1,500/mo combined.
- **fCMO retainer:** Casey Reed engagement.
- **PR:** No paid PR. Organic longevity-influencer tailwind, consumer-tech angels + foundation-model lab network.

**Implication:** The 90-day plan must produce gains without any paid lever pulled. Everything in the next 12 weeks is organic, lifecycle, or product-level. Paid is a Q2–Q3 unlock.

### What's already done (acknowledge, then build on)

| Asset | Status | Marketing leverage |
|---|---|---|
| Peer-reviewed peer-reviewed psychophysiology study (2025) | Published | Anchor of clinical authority. Most undermarketed asset Quietude owns. |
| longevity-influencer eye-mask endorsement | Live, generating Shopify sales | Press hook. Underused for landing-page social proof. |
| consumer-tech angels + foundation-model lab investment | Closed | Investor PR opportunity. "Why I invested" Substack/Medium pieces. |
| 15K+ live event participants over a decade | Real | Email list potential, ambassador pool, testimonial bank, B2B reference. |
| Quietude eye mask (5K in stock) | Selling | The wedge product. Hardware → app activation path. |
| 38% 12-month retention (vs. category avg 20%) | Real | Headline metric. Belongs everywhere. |
| Customer.io + Shopify integration | Wired | The lifecycle infrastructure exists. Flows just need to ship. |
| 4 GitHub repos for context + product | Set up | `quietude-context` (shared brain), `quietude-promo`, `quietude-app` (app), `mira` (AI), `quietude-api` |
| Alex's Sound Philosophy doc | Working doc | Linkable position paper once polished and published. |
| ~5 inbound ambassadors waiting | Inbound | Referral program ready to launch — no demand-gen needed for v1. |
| Aurora B2B install (~€250K, July deadline) | In-flight | First flagship venue. Reference case once installed. |
| Notion Knowledge Directory | Live | Internal context. |
| Customer.io MCP (Claude integration) | Validated on kickoff | Non-technical team can ship flows independently. |

### What's in-flight (drafted but not shipped)

| Item | Status | Blocker |
|---|---|---|
| Flow 2 — App Onboarding (8 emails / 14 days) | Draft | App UI in flux; copy references screens that may change |
| Flow 4 — Lapsed User Re-engagement (5 emails / 38 days) | Draft | None — ship-ready |
| Flow 6 — Eye Mask Post-Purchase | Draft | None — ship-ready |
| Onboarding rebuild (3-variant test plan) | Strategy doc done | Eng scoping + headphone-gate removal |
| SEO 90-day plan + keyword research | Done | Awaiting domain consolidation decision + content production start |

### What's stuck (and needs to unstick this quarter)

| Issue | Cost of inaction | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Headphones hard-gate in onboarding | Confirmed conversion drop post-launch | Kill this week (bedrock fix) |
| 4 domains unconsolidated (quietude.app, quietude.space, quietude.audio, quietude.center) | SEO authority fragmenting, transactional email confusion | Consolidate to `quietude.app` per SEO data |
| App Store listing copy not in brand voice | Highest-traffic Quietude surface; off-brand experience for arriving users | Rewrite in voice (Pillar 1) |
| Domain consolidation requires 301 plan + email sender migration | Risk of traffic loss if mishandled | Plan in weeks 1–2, execute weeks 3–4 |
| `quietude-promo` repo hasn't shipped since March 2026 | Marketing site is stale | Confirm whether it's live; rewrite or replace |
| 29% monthly App Store churn vs. 38% 12-month retention claim | Metric definition mismatch confusing the team | Reconcile with Devon + Customer.io data |
| Mira post-session reflection scope unknown | Blocks Variant B and Variant C onboarding tests | Resolve with Devon |

### Audit rubric snapshot (17-section)

Scored 0–5 from materials, using the embedded rubric in `references/current-state-rubric.md`. Marked "scored from materials" rather than "formal audit" — Alex can push back on any score where they have better data.

| # | Section | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Positioning | **4** | Clear, original category claim. The bottom-up frame is the strongest piece. Needs broader external articulation. |
| 2 | Customer research | **4** | Deep founder-led research, decade of live participants. Could be more systematically captured. |
| 3 | Homepage | **2** | `quietude-promo` hasn't shipped since March. Off-brand voice in places. |
| 4 | Sales / product pages | **2** | Eye mask page exists on Shopify but isn't optimized for SEO or sales narrative. No app-product landing page in brand voice. |
| 5 | Conversion pages | **2** | `/partner` exists on `quietude.app`. No `/science`, `/eye-mask`, `/ambassadors`, `/guides` pages live. |
| 6 | Competitor comparison | **1** | Nothing exists. Big SEO + sales opportunity (own "Quietude vs. Calm/Headspace/Brain.fm/Endel" SERPs). |
| 7 | Resources / content | **1** | Sound Philosophy not yet public. peer-reviewed psychophysiology study not yet on a dedicated page. No blog. |
| 8 | Onboarding | **2** | Headphones gate killing conversion. Hold-and-fix project this quarter. |
| 9 | Email lifecycle | **1** | All three flows drafted, none live. Ship-order set. |
| 10 | Sales material | **3** | Seed deck is strong (investor-facing). B2B sales material more founder-led than asset-led. |
| 11 | Messaging | **5** | Alex + Sam have authored the most distinctive brand voice in the wellness category. This is a moat. |
| 12 | Pricing | **3** | $30/mo app, $45 eye mask, $7,500 speakers, $50–200K B2B. Hasn't been pressure-tested for D2C conversion lift. |
| 13 | CRO | **2** | App Store conversion rate trackable but no A/B history. Headphones gate is the obvious first test removal. |
| 14 | GTM / launches | **2** | App in throttled beta. Major launches (eye mask, Mira public) haven't had structured GTM. |
| 15 | Ads | **0** | No paid layer. Reflects the current organic strategy — not a weakness, but the budget unlock means this will move. |
| 16 | SEO | **1** | Current state: 7 organic visits/mo. Plan exists; execution not yet started. |
| 17 | Internationalization | **1** | Finland HQ + global ICP, but EN-only and US-centric copy. Defer until Q4+. |

**Total: 36 / 85 (42%).** The shape matters more than the score: high in Positioning + Messaging + Customer research, low in Conversion pages + Email lifecycle + SEO + Resources + Ads. That's the gap this plan closes.

---

## 4. Acquisition

> *"How do strangers become aware of Quietude?"*

### Current state

100% organic. Four real channels: Alex's personal LinkedIn, live Quietude events, organic word of mouth, organic App Store discovery. Plus passive PR drag from longevity-influencer endorsement + clinical study.

This is good news, not bad. Every dollar of revenue earned to date has been earned without paid acquisition. The bar to exceed it isn't high; the upside on top of an organic base is significant.

### The plan

**Channel 1 — SEO (primary 90-day investment).**
The full 90-day plan lives in `seo/plan.md`. Summary: consolidate to `quietude.app`, target three asymmetric clusters (nervous-system regulation KD 14–32, weighted/blackout sleep mask KD 6–30, WELL + social-wellness-club B2B KD 5–34), publish 4 content pillars. 90-day target: 500–1,500 organic visits/mo, 80+ ranking keywords. 12-month target: 10,000/mo, 1,000+ keywords.

**Channel 2 — App Store optimization (highest-leverage non-site asset).**
The App Store listing is currently the most-visited Quietude URL by Apple's algorithm. Fixing the copy is higher-leverage this quarter than fixing the marketing site. Rewrite in brand voice. Add the meditation-vs-regulation framing. Lead with the clinical anchor. Test screenshot variations.

**Channel 3 — Alex's LinkedIn (productize the channel).**
Today it's ad-hoc founder posting. The next move is structured: a 2–3x/week cadence, post categories that map to the content pillars (nervous system, sound science, founder journey, clinical evidence, behind-the-scenes), trackable links via Dub, follower → email subscriber → app install funnel measured. This is Alex's voice — the channel only works if he's the one writing. fCMO + Typefully scheduling makes the cadence sustainable.

**Channel 4 — PR amplification.**
longevity-influencer tailwind is real but underused on owned surfaces. Add a `/notable-users` or `/in-the-press` page. Pitch the peer-reviewed psychophysiology study to 5 outlets (wellness press: Well+Good, MindBodyGreen; tech-adjacent: Wired with the longevity-influencer hook; mainstream: Outside, Forbes Wellness). HARO/Help-A-B2B-Writer responses citing Quietude's data. Investor PR moments ("Why I invested in Quietude" Substack pieces from consumer-tech angels — push for these with backlinks).

**Channel 5 — Event-to-app instrumentation.**
Live events are the highest-converting ICP exposure Quietude has (15K+ participants, decade of trust). They're un-instrumented. Add: per-event QR code → app install + email capture, post-event lifecycle (Customer.io Flow 7?), event ROI tracking. Goal: turn an event from a one-night conversion moment into a 30-day funnel.

**Channel 6 — Eye mask wedge (consumer entry product).**
5K masks in stock. Shopify storefront exists but isn't optimized. Improvements: SEO-optimize the product page (target "weighted sleep mask," "blackout sleep mask," "silk sleep mask"), add reviews via Judge.me (per kickoff decision), 30-day return policy (US-market expectation, per kickoff), build the listicle ("Quietude vs. Manta vs. Nodpod vs. Lumon"). Consider Amazon listing as a v2 distribution play.

**Channel 7 — B2B venue installs (kept lean per kickoff).**
Alex owns this. Marketing supports with: case studies after each install, `/partner` page rewrite in voice (already exists on quietude.app), Pillar 4 content ("The Missing Sound Feature in WELL"), reciprocal links from partner venues baked into contracts.

**Channel 8 — Paid layer (unlocked post-seed close).**
Held until seed funding lands. Initial test budget: $5–10K/mo split across Apple Search Ads (highest-intent for App Store), Meta (Instagram + Facebook for eye mask), LinkedIn (B2B venue buyers). Don't fire until: (a) onboarding bedrock fix is shipped, (b) Flow 6 is live, (c) at least one Pillar landing page is in voice. Paid amplifies what already works — premature paid amplifies what's broken.

### 90-day acquisition moves

- Weeks 1–2: Domain consolidation decision + 301 plan. App Store listing rewrite first pass.
- Weeks 3–4: Domain 301s executed. GSC migration. SEO Pillar 1 hub drafted.
- Weeks 5–8: Pillar 1 hub + 3 spokes published. Pillar 2 (Eye Mask) hub + listicle published. Alex's LinkedIn cadence operationalized via Typefully. peer-reviewed psychophysiology study lands on dedicated `/science` page.
- Weeks 9–12: Pillar 4 (WELL/B2B) cornerstone published. Sound Philosophy goes public at `/research/sound-philosophy`. First PR push: pitch study + longevity-influencer hook to 5 outlets.

### 12-month acquisition outlook

- Q1 (Months 1–3): Foundation. SEO pillars staked. App Store rewrite shipped. LinkedIn cadence stable. PR push launched.
- Q2 (Months 4–6, post-seed close): Paid acquisition pilot at $5–10K/mo. SEO compounding — Pillar 1 ranking. First B2B install reference case live.
- Q3 (Months 7–9): Paid scales to $20–30K/mo if unit economics hold. All four pillars producing. App GA — new GTM moment.
- Q4 (Months 10–12): Compound channels live. 50+ pieces of pillar content. First Quietude Guides program pilot creating local SEO + earned media.

### Skills + tools

- **Skills:** `seo-audit`, `ai-seo`, `programmatic-seo`, `schema`, `content-strategy`, `competitors`, `launch`, `ads`, `ad-creative`, `social`, `typefully`, `analytics`, `copywriting`, `marketing-website-design`, `free-tools`
- **MCPs / APIs:** Ahrefs API, DataForSEO API, Typefully MCP (LinkedIn scheduling), GA4 MCP (when wired), GitHub MCP (`quietude-promo` repo work), Notion (knowledge directory), Stripe MCP (LTV / paid-CAC math), `agent-browser` (LinkedIn drafting + testing), `defuddle` (research)

---

## 5. Activation

> *"Once someone tries Quietude, do they have an experience that converts?"*

### Current state

Day 1 → paid: **1.34%**. Day 7 → paid: **3.73%**. Day 35 → paid: **5.46%**. *The funnel shape is the signal.* The ~4× lift over 35 days means the product converts given time and contact — both of which the current onboarding undermines and the lifecycle layer doesn't yet provide.

Caveats: app is in throttled beta. Metrics are noisy. Don't optimize against absolutes; optimize against funnel *shape* and *cohort comparison*.

### The plan

**Move 1 — Kill the headphones hard-gate (bedrock fix, this week).**
Confirmed conversion drop after the gate shipped. The fix isn't better copy on the gate — it's removing the gate. Replace with passive headphone detection + soft single-line nudge. No regret change. Full reasoning in `onboarding-recommendation.md`.

**Move 2 — Run the three-variant onboarding test.**
Three variants, each a pure expression of one belief about what drives activation in this ICP:
- **Variant 1 — Trust First.** Bold promise + clinical anchor + testimonial wall + 1-line mechanism. Tests whether the saturated ICP needs framing before they'll invest.
- **Variant 2 — Seen First.** Multi-step diagnostic → AI-generated "we see you" summary → personalized session. Tests whether being accurately named is the conversion event.
- **Variant 3 — Felt First.** Audio starts on app open. ~15 words on screen. The session IS the onboarding. Tests whether the product can carry it cold.

Test sequence (sequential, ~7 weeks to a winner): bedrock baseline → V3 vs. baseline → winner vs. V1 → winner vs. V2. Full system in `onboarding-recommendation.md`.

**Move 3 — App Store listing rewrite.**
Highest-leverage non-site asset. Rewrite in brand voice. Lead with meditation-vs-regulation. Screenshot variations to test. This is also an Acquisition move (organic discovery) but it lives here because it's the threshold to the trial.

**Move 4 — Customer.io Flow 2 (held until UI stable).**
The 8-email / 14-day onboarding sequence is drafted and on-brand. Holding the ship because the emails reference in-app screens that will change during the onboarding rebuild. Once a winning onboarding variant ships, Flow 2 gets a copy refresh against the final UI and goes live.

**Move 5 — Paywall + pricing review (cross-cuts to Revenue).**
What's the current trial structure? Length, paywall trigger, intro pricing? When the funnel shape is "lift over 35 days," extending trial may convert better than aggressively gating earlier. To be audited in Q1.

### 90-day activation moves

- Week 1: Headphones gate removed. Baseline established.
- Weeks 2–3: Variant 3 (Felt First) prototyped, instrumented, shipped to a test cohort.
- Weeks 4–5: Read Variant 3 vs. baseline. Decide ship/iterate. Begin Variant 1 build.
- Weeks 6–7: Variant 1 (Trust First) live.
- Weeks 8–9: Read V1 vs. winner. Begin Variant 2 build.
- Weeks 10–11: Variant 2 (Seen First) live.
- Week 12: Final read. Winning variant scheduled for permanent ship. Flow 2 unblocked.

### 12-month activation outlook

- Q1: Winning variant identified and shipped.
- Q2: Flow 2 ships. Paywall A/B tests start.
- Q3: GA launch — onboarding re-validated at higher traffic. Cohort segmentation by acquisition source (Shopify/eye-mask vs. direct vs. ambassador vs. paid) starts to drive variant forks.
- Q4: Onboarding is no longer the bottleneck. Focus moves to Activation → Retention transition (sessions 2–7).

### Skills + tools

- **Skills:** `onboarding`, `signup`, `cro`, `cro`, `paywalls`, `popups`, `copywriting`, `copy-editing`, `copycraft`, `marketing-website-design`, `ab-testing`, `marketing-psychology`
- **MCPs / APIs:** App Store Connect (manual + `dev-browser` for screenshot automation), GitHub MCP (`quietude-app` app repo for onboarding code), Figma / Pencil MCP (for onboarding screen design), Customer.io MCP (for any in-app/email coordination), GA4 MCP (activation events)

---

## 6. Retention

> *"Once someone converts, do they stay — and deepen?"*

### Current state

**Headline metric (per seed deck): 38% 12-month retention** — nearly double the category average (~20%). This is the strongest single retention signal in the deck and one of the most undermarketed claims Quietude owns.

**App Store snapshot, 2026-05-16:** 145 paid, 42 churned (~29% monthly churn). Definition mismatch with the 38% claim — to reconcile. Possibly: 38% is annual cohort retention (people who paid month 1 and still pay month 12), 29% is gross monthly churn (people who paid this month who didn't pay next month). Both can be true. Need to clarify which metric is reported externally and which is the actual product health signal.

### The plan

**Move 1 — Ship Flow 6 first (Eye Mask Post-Purchase).**
Per kickoff decision and the onboarding-recommendation doc: this is the ship-ready flow. Hardware-anchored, doesn't reference in-app screens, can ship today. Wires the hardware → app activation path (eye mask buyers should get a free 6-month Premium trial — formalize this as part of the flow).

**Move 2 — Ship Flow 4 second (Lapsed User Re-engagement).**
Five emails over 38 days. Language is universal — doesn't depend on app UI state. Ship after Flow 6 is live.

**Move 3 — Hold Flow 2 (Onboarding).**
Eight emails over 14 days. Holds until app UI stabilizes post-onboarding-rebuild. Don't ship copy that will need rewriting in 8 weeks.

**Move 4 — Customer.io subscription center with opt-in topics.**
Per kickoff decision. Topics: events, app updates, somatics & nervous system, eye mask promotions. Users self-segment. Improves deliverability (lower complaint rates) and gives lifecycle a richer segmentation surface.

**Move 5 — Mira post-session reflection (when scoped).**
Most powerful retention move medium-term. After a session, Mira asks *"What did you notice?"* Optional preset chips + free text. Two payoffs: (a) gives Mira priors for personalization on session 2+, (b) reflection responses become a content + segmentation goldmine for the team. Scope question for Devon — does Mira currently support this, or is it new build?

**Move 6 — Hardware → app activation flow.**
The eye-mask-buyer-becomes-Premium-subscriber path is hinted in the seed deck (blended CAC via hardware) but isn't visible in the App Store dashboard. Audit the existing flow: does an eye mask Shopify purchase actually deliver a free Premium code? How is it redeemed? What's the conversion rate? This is foundational to the "B2C wedge" thesis.

**Move 7 — Reconcile the retention metric.**
What's the actual definition of "38% 12-month retention"? Cohort? Plan type (monthly vs. annual)? Survives this even if the answer is uncomfortable — the team and investors need to be talking about the same metric.

**Move 8 — Annual plan as default (cross-cuts to Revenue).**
Industry pattern: defaulting to annual reduces churn anxiety and improves LTV. To test in Q2.

### 90-day retention moves

- Weeks 1–2: Flow 6 (eye mask post-purchase) ships. Address fixes from kickoff review (study link line break, CAN-SPAM footer, founder face-bubble signature, Judge.me reviews).
- Weeks 3–4: Flow 4 (lapsed user re-engagement) ships.
- Weeks 5–6: Customer.io subscription center built and live.
- Weeks 7–8: Hardware → app activation flow audited and documented. Fix any leaks.
- Weeks 9–10: Retention metric reconciliation (with Devon).
- Weeks 11–12: Win-back campaign for churned cohort — test re-activation copy.

### 12-month retention outlook

- Q1: Flows 6 + 4 firing. Subscription center live.
- Q2: Flow 2 ships (post-onboarding-rebuild). Mira post-session reflection in production. Annual plan default tested.
- Q3: GA launch — retention metrics re-baselined at higher volume. Cohort-based lifecycle flows (eye mask vs. direct app install).
- Q4: Full lifecycle compound. Retention is no longer a top-three concern — focus moves to Referral and Revenue.

### Skills + tools

- **Skills:** `emails`, `churn-prevention`, `copywriting`, `copy-editing`, `paywalls`, `ab-testing`
- **MCPs / APIs:** **Customer.io MCP** (validated on kickoff — non-technical team can ship flows), Shopify (eye mask buyers as event source), Stripe MCP (subscription state, churn cohort pulls), GA4 MCP (session events, retention curves)

---

## 7. Referral

> *"Do retained users bring more users — and at what cost?"*

### Current state

~5 inbound ambassadors waiting (per kickoff). Dub.co set up. No formal program yet. WOM happens naturally per Alex's UA breakdown.

This is one of the strongest leading indicators in the business: 5 unaffiliated people have raised their hand asking to bring Quietude to their network *before any program exists*. That signal doesn't show up in apps with weaker product-market fit.

### The plan

**Move 1 — Launch the ambassador program with the 5 inbound.**
Tier 1 of the program. Per-ambassador landing pages (e.g., `quietude.app/with/sarah`). Dub.co tracks attribution. Commission structure to determine (per kickoff, $/sub or rev-share TBD). Soft-launch with the 5 — treat as pilot cohort, gather feedback, refine before opening applications.

**Move 2 — Build the share-after-shift moment.**
The Mira post-session reflection (see Retention) is the natural moment to surface a share prompt. After a user reports a felt shift, offer: *"Want to share Quietude with someone who needs this?"* Single-line, never pushy. Most powerful WOM mechanism: gift-a-month flow where the recipient gets a discounted or free intro.

**Move 3 — Founder amplification (Alex + Sam as ambassador-zero).**
Alex mentioning the fCMO engagement in fundraise pitches (permission granted). Reciprocal mentions in fCMO-side content. Sam's clinical network → practitioner ambassador pool.

**Move 4 — Quietude Guides cert pilot (long-term, Q3+).**
The Guides program is the Phase-2 referral compound (per seed deck). 500–1,000 Guides across 50+ cities by Y3–5. First cert pilot: 3–5 hosts who run live sessions, get a rev-share + co-marketing. Builds local SEO + earned media + ambassador-of-ambassadors flywheel. Hold until paid + lifecycle are firing — Guides is a multi-quarter build.

**Move 5 — Eye mask gifting flow.**
Hardware referral is rare and powerful. *"Send a friend an Quietude eye mask. They get the mask + a free 3-month Premium. You get a credit toward your next thing."* Holiday/gifting peak windows are the test.

### 90-day referral moves

- Weeks 1–4: Ambassador program scoped, commission structure decided, per-ambassador landing page template built, 5 inbound onboarded.
- Weeks 5–8: First ambassador-driven sales tracked via Dub. Attribution and payout flow validated.
- Weeks 9–12: Open applications for next 10–15 ambassadors. Begin Quietude Guides scoping.

### 12-month referral outlook

- Q1: Ambassador program live with 5–10 active.
- Q2: 15–25 active ambassadors. Share-after-shift moment in production (post-Mira reflection).
- Q3: Guides cert pilot launched (3–5 hosts). Eye mask gifting flow live for holiday peak.
- Q4: 50+ ambassadors + 5–10 Guides. Referral driving 15–25% of new D2C subs.

### Skills + tools

- **Skills:** `referrals`, `social`, `copywriting`, `marketing-website-design` (per-ambassador landing pages)
- **MCPs / APIs:** Dub.co (attribution — already in stack), Stripe MCP (commission accounting + payouts), GitHub MCP (landing page deployment in `quietude-promo` or new `quietude-ambassadors` repo), Customer.io MCP (ambassador lifecycle: onboarding, monthly performance digest, payout notification)

---

## 8. Revenue

> *"What do we charge, who pays, and how does that compound?"*

### Current state

| Product | Price | Volume signal |
|---|---|---|
| Quietude App + Mira | ~$30/mo | 145 paid subs (App Store snapshot 2026-05-16) |
| Quietude Eye Mask | ~$45 | 5K in stock, longevity-influencer PR-driven sales |
| Quietude Audio (speakers) | ~$7,500 | Niche, founder-led |
| Quietude Spaces (B2B install) | $50–200K | Aurora flagship in-flight (~€250K), pipeline of 4 venues |
| Quietude Experiences (events) | Varies | 15K+ historical participants |
| Quietude Guides | Rev share | Not yet operational |

**Revenue to date: ~$500K on ~$250K raised.** Capital-efficient. Hardware + B2B + app subs all contributing.

**MRR (App Store snapshot): $592.** Beta-throttled, not steady-state. The implied ~$4/sub/mo against $30/mo list suggests heavy annual plan adoption (which compresses monthly revenue but improves LTV) or significant promotional pricing — to reconcile with Alex.

### The plan

**Move 1 — Pricing audit.**
What's actually being charged today? List price, common plan mix, intro pricing, churn-recovery offers? The $4/sub/mo implied math doesn't tell a clean story — need ground truth before recommending changes.

**Move 2 — Annual plan as default (test).**
Industry pattern, cross-references to Retention. Test in Q2.

**Move 3 — Hardware → app bundling formalized.**
Per partner-event-business framing in the seed deck: blended CAC via hardware → app subscription is the play. Today an eye mask buyer gets... what, exactly? Free Premium? Trial code? Audit + formalize. The eye mask is the wedge; the app is the LTV.

**Move 4 — Eye mask Shopify storefront optimization.**
The current page underperforms what it could. Add: SEO targeting ("weighted sleep mask," "blackout sleep mask"), Judge.me reviews (kickoff decision), 30-day return policy (kickoff decision), upsell flow into Premium app.

**Move 5 — Consider Amazon listing for eye mask.**
Amazon takes margin but is its own discovery engine. Test as v2 distribution if Shopify volume validates.

**Move 6 — B2B install case studies + sales material.**
Alex owns B2B sales but marketing supports with: post-install case studies (Aurora as the flagship), `/partner` page rewrite in voice, Pillar 4 SEO content. Each B2B install is a ~$430K/year recurring + reference-case multiplier.

**Move 7 — Data licensing (long-term, flag for ops stack).**
Per seed deck Y10–15 value pool: $100–160M/yr. Not immediate revenue. Belongs in the 24-month strategic agenda. Flag here so we don't lose sight.

### 90-day revenue moves

- Weeks 1–2: Pricing audit. Reconcile implied vs. listed MRR.
- Weeks 3–4: Hardware → app activation flow audited (also Retention move 6).
- Weeks 5–8: Eye mask Shopify page rewrite + SEO optimization + Judge.me + return policy. Aurora case study scaffolded for post-install.
- Weeks 9–12: Annual plan default test scoped.

### 12-month revenue outlook

- Q1: Pricing audit closes. Hardware → app activation formalized.
- Q2: Annual plan default test live. Eye mask Shopify producing measurable lift.
- Q3: B2B install case studies (1–2) published. GA launch + new pricing tier consideration (e.g., a higher-tier Mira-heavy plan?).
- Q4: Pricing optimized via test results. Hardware → app blended CAC tracked and reported. First numbers on the data-licensing thesis (still very early).

### Skills + tools

- **Skills:** `pricing`, `paywalls`, `sales-enablement`, `revops`, `ab-testing`, `copywriting`
- **MCPs / APIs:** Stripe MCP (pricing tests, subscription analytics, churn cohort, blended CAC math), Customer.io MCP (paywall-related lifecycle), Shopify (eye mask transactions), GA4 MCP (revenue events), Notion (commercial knowledge directory)

---

## 9. 90-day roadmap

Tactical execution layer. Each item is AARRR-tagged so priority is visible.

### Weeks 1–2 — Unblock

| Move | Stage | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Kill the headphones hard-gate | Activation | Casey + Devon |
| Domain consolidation decision documented | Acquisition | Casey + Alex |
| 301 plan drafted (page-by-page) | Acquisition | Casey |
| App Store listing rewrite — first pass | Activation + Acquisition | Casey + Alex + Sam (voice review) |
| Flow 6 (eye mask post-purchase) ships | Retention | Casey + Customer.io MCP |
| Ambassador program scoping doc | Referral | Casey |
| Pricing audit kicked off | Revenue | Casey + Alex |

### Weeks 3–4 — Foundation

| Move | Stage | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Domain consolidation 301s executed | Acquisition | Devon + Casey |
| GSC + GA4 stood up on `quietude.app` | Acquisition | Casey |
| SEO Pillar 1 hub drafted (Nervous System Regulation) | Acquisition | Casey |
| `/science` hub built with peer-reviewed psychophysiology study | Acquisition + brand | Casey + Sam |
| Variant 3 (Felt First) onboarding prototyped + tested | Activation | Casey + Devon |
| Flow 4 (lapsed user) ships | Retention | Casey |
| Ambassador program: 5 inbound onboarded | Referral | Casey |
| Hardware → app activation flow audited | Retention + Revenue | Casey + Devon |
| App Store listing rewrite — final + ship | Activation + Acquisition | Alex + Sam + Casey |

### Weeks 5–8 — Velocity

| Move | Stage | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Pillar 1 hub + 3 spokes published | Acquisition | Casey |
| Pillar 2 hub (Eye Mask) + listicle published | Acquisition | Casey |
| Alex's LinkedIn cadence operationalized (Typefully) | Acquisition | Alex + Casey |
| First PR push: study + longevity-influencer hook to 5 outlets | Acquisition | Casey + Alex |
| Variant 3 read; ship or iterate | Activation | Casey |
| Variant 1 (Trust First) prototyped + tested | Activation | Casey + Devon |
| Customer.io subscription center built | Retention | Casey |
| Eye mask Shopify storefront rewrite (SEO + reviews + return) | Acquisition + Revenue | Casey + Alex |
| First ambassador attribution verified via Dub | Referral | Casey |

### Weeks 9–12 — Compound

| Move | Stage | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Pillar 4 (WELL/B2B) cornerstone published | Acquisition | Casey |
| 3 more Pillar 1 spokes published | Acquisition | Casey |
| Sound Philosophy published at `/research/sound-philosophy` | Acquisition + brand | Alex + Casey |
| Variant 1 read; begin Variant 2 (Seen First) build (Mira-dependent) | Activation | Casey + Devon |
| Win-back campaign for churned cohort | Retention | Casey |
| Annual plan default test scoped | Revenue | Casey + Alex |
| Open ambassador applications for next 10–15 | Referral | Casey |
| 90-day review + Q2 plan recalibration | Cross-cutting | Casey + Alex |

---

## 10. 12-month outlook

Quarterly milestones with funding-stage capability unlocks named explicitly.

### Q1 — Months 1–3 (Jun–Aug 2026)

**Funding state:** Pre-seed-close. Paid budget = $0. fCMO + founder-led + tool costs only.

**Focus:** Foundation. Plug the leaks. Stake the SEO ground. Get lifecycle firing.

**Outcomes by end of Q1:**
- Headphones gate gone; onboarding winner identified
- All four SEO pillars seeded (hub + first spokes)
- Lifecycle Flows 4 + 6 live
- App Store listing in brand voice
- 5 ambassadors active
- Pricing audit closed
- Domain consolidated

**KPI targets:** Onboarding Day 1 → paid lift of 25–50%. Organic traffic 500–1,500/mo. App Store conversion rate +20%.

### Q2 — Months 4–6 (Sep–Nov 2026)

**Funding state:** Seed close (~Q3 2026 target). First paid budget unlock: $5–10K/mo test.

**Focus:** Validate paid. Scale winning onboarding. Add Flow 2.

**Outcomes by end of Q2:**
- Paid acquisition firing on Apple Search Ads + Meta
- Onboarding winner permanently shipped
- Flow 2 (onboarding emails) shipped
- Mira post-session reflection in production
- 15–25 ambassadors active
- First B2B install reference case (Aurora) published
- Annual plan default tested

**KPI targets:** Paid CAC < $50 blended. Organic traffic 1,500–3,500/mo. Retention curves visibly improving.

### Q3 — Months 7–9 (Dec 2026–Feb 2027)

**Funding state:** Seed deployment. Paid scales to $20–50K/mo if unit economics hold. First marketing hire (lifecycle + content manager).

**Focus:** Scale + diversify. App GA. B2B reference cases compound.

**Outcomes by end of Q3:**
- App GA launched with new GTM moment (PR + ad creative refresh + Pillar 3 spatial-audio-science content cycle)
- First Quietude Guides cert pilot (3–5 hosts)
- All four pillars producing weekly content
- Eye mask gifting flow live for holiday peak
- New marketing hire onboarded

**KPI targets:** Paid + organic blended CAC stabilizing. App GA conversion +50% from beta baseline. Guides pilot validates rev-share + co-marketing model.

### Q4 — Months 10–12 (Mar–May 2027)

**Funding state:** Pre–Series A. Paid scaling continues. Series A pitch in motion.

**Focus:** Compound. Position for Series A.

**Outcomes by end of Q4:**
- Compound channels (organic + ambassador + Guides + lifecycle) producing 50%+ of new subs
- 50+ ambassadors, 5–10 Guides
- 4 SEO pillars + 30+ pieces of content live
- Paid scaling to $50–150K/mo if validated
- Series A narrative: clinical evidence + activation lift + lifecycle compounding + B2B reference case pipeline

**KPI targets:** D2C ARR run-rate trajectory clear. Blended LTV/CAC > 3. Founder narrative + data + reference cases ready for Series A.

---

## 11. Marketing operations stack

This is what makes the plan executable at Quietude's team size. A 4-person founder team + fCMO + agentic tooling can ship the output of a 15–20-person traditional marketing org — because the marketing skill library and MCP integrations do the orchestration.

### The thesis

Every move in the AARRR breakdown above maps to (a) one or more marketing skills that operationalize the work, and (b) one or more MCP/API integrations that let it execute without a dedicated headcount per channel.

The fCMO's job is to:
1. Define the strategy and sequencing (this doc)
2. Run the skills against the right context at the right time
3. Maintain the shared context (`quietude-context`) and tooling so Alex + Sam + future hires can plug in
4. Hand off operational work to humans (or future hires) only where the cost of agentic execution > human execution

### Skills mapped to AARRR stages

| Stage | Primary skills | Supporting skills |
|---|---|---|
| **Acquisition** | `seo-audit`, `ai-seo`, `programmatic-seo`, `schema`, `content-strategy`, `competitors`, `ads`, `ad-creative`, `social`, `typefully` | `launch`, `free-tools`, `analytics`, `cold-email`, `copywriting`, `marketing-website-design` |
| **Activation** | `onboarding`, `signup`, `paywalls`, `cro`, `copywriting`, `copy-editing`, `copycraft` | `marketing-website-design`, `ab-testing`, `marketing-psychology`, `cro`, `popups` |
| **Retention** | `emails`, `churn-prevention` | `copywriting`, `copy-editing`, `ab-testing`, `paywalls` |
| **Referral** | `referrals`, `social` | `copywriting`, `marketing-website-design`, `emails` |
| **Revenue** | `pricing`, `paywalls`, `sales-enablement`, `revops` | `ab-testing`, `copywriting` |
| **Cross-cutting** (brand, intelligence) | `product-marketing`, `customer-research`, `marketing-psychology` | `marketing-ideas`, `diagram-maker` |

### MCPs / APIs mapped to stages

| Stage | Existing connections at Quietude | Tooling layer (Casey's fCMO stack) |
|---|---|---|
| **Acquisition** | App Store Connect (manual), Shopify, GA4 (in progress), Notion | Ahrefs API, DataForSEO API, Typefully MCP, GitHub MCP (`quietude-promo`), `agent-browser`, `defuddle` |
| **Activation** | App Store Connect, Customer.io, Shopify | App Store Connect (via `dev-browser` for screenshot automation), Figma / Pencil MCP, GitHub MCP (`quietude-app` app repo), Stripe MCP |
| **Retention** | **Customer.io (with Claude MCP — validated on kickoff)**, Stripe, Shopify | Customer.io MCP, Stripe MCP, GA4 MCP |
| **Referral** | Dub.co, Stripe | Dub.co, Stripe MCP, GitHub MCP (per-ambassador landing pages), Customer.io MCP |
| **Revenue** | Stripe, Shopify, Customer.io | Stripe MCP, Shopify, GA4 MCP, Notion |
| **Cross-cutting** | Notion, GitHub (`quietude-context`) | Notion, GitHub MCP, `defuddle`, `obsidian-cli` (for Casey's working notes) |

### The Customer.io MCP unlock (concrete example)

Per kickoff call: *"Built live on call — abandoned-cart flow drafted using Customer.io's Claude MCP. Validated that non-technical team can use the skill pattern independently."*

This is the operational proof that the stack works. Alex, who is not a developer, drafted a working lifecycle flow with Claude + Customer.io MCP in real time on a kickoff call. The same pattern applies to: Flow 4 ship (lapsed user re-engagement), subscription center build, win-back campaign, eye mask gifting flow, ambassador lifecycle. The fCMO's role becomes orchestration + brand-voice QA, not hand-cranking each email.

### Capability unlocks by funding stage

| Stage | Headcount | Tooling | Channels live |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Pre-seed-close (now)** | fCMO + founder team | All current tooling + Casey's marketing skill library + MCP layer | Organic only (SEO, content, App Store, LinkedIn, events, WOM, ambassador) |
| **Seed close (~Q3 2026)** | + first marketing hire (lifecycle/content) by end of Q3 | + paid ad accounts (Apple Search Ads, Meta, LinkedIn) | + paid acquisition pilot $5–10K/mo |
| **Seed deployment (Q3–Q4 2026)** | + designer (potentially fractional) | + analytics expansion (Mixpanel or Amplitude if needed) | + paid scaling $20–50K/mo, + Guides cert pilot |
| **Series A (2027)** | + performance marketing lead + content lead | + dedicated tooling spend (~$2–5K/mo software) | + paid scaling $50–150K/mo, + international, + B2B vertical expansion |

The marketing skill library scales these stages. Every channel added doesn't require a 1:1 headcount increase because each skill encodes the workflow.

---

## 12. Tactical idea bank — 139-idea cross-reference

The `marketing-ideas` skill catalogs 139 proven marketing tactics. Sections 4–8 (AARRR) prescribe what we're *doing*. This section maps the full universe of what's *possible* — every idea cross-referenced to the AARRR stage it primarily serves, with Quietude applicability and timing.

This is the exhaustive menu. The plan above is the curated path. When we move to Q2 / Q3 / Series A and unlock new capacity, this is the inventory we pull from.

**Status legend:**

- **Now (Q1)** — already in the 90-day plan OR can run alongside it without new capacity
- **Q2** — post-bedrock-fix, post-foundation; second-quarter layer-ins
- **Q3+** — post-seed-close, post-GA; expansion moves
- **Q4+** — long-game / large-investment moves
- **Skip / off-brand** — incompatible with Quietude's brand voice, business model, or product category

### 12.1 Acquisition ideas (88 mapped)

**Now (Q1):**

| # | Idea | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Easy Keyword Ranking | SEO plan Tier-1 cluster (nervous system, sleep mask, B2B) targets this directly |
| 2 | SEO Audit | Run `/seo-audit quietude.app` quarterly; publish findings as content |
| 5 | Content Repurposing | Sound Philosophy → essays → LinkedIn posts → newsletter → podcast loop |
| 6 | Proprietary Data Content | peer-reviewed psychophysiology study now; anonymized Quietude HRV / sleep dataset later |
| 7 | Internal Linking | Built into the pillar/spoke structure of the SEO plan |
| 10 | Parasite SEO | Alex's LinkedIn already does this; consider mirror to Substack |
| 12 | Marketing Jiu-Jitsu | Meditation-vs-Regulation IS this — turn "meditation works" assumption against itself |
| 36 | Quora Marketing | Answer "why meditation doesn't work for me" + HRV + somatic questions |
| 37 | Reddit Keyword Research | Mine r/somatic, r/CPTSD, r/HSP, r/ADHD for ICP language (feeds Customer Language #139) |
| 39 | LinkedIn Audience | Alex's channel productized — primary D2C top-of-funnel today |
| 59 | Article Quotes | HARO / Help-A-B2B-Writer for Alex + Sam — easy press wins |
| 70 | Conference Speaking | Alex: WELL Conference, biophilic design events, Mindful Leadership Summit |
| 74 | Press Coverage | Pitch peer-reviewed study + longevity-influencer hook to 5 outlets in Q1 |
| 109 | Public Demos | Live Quietude events ARE this; instrument the in-person → app conversion |
| 114 | Moneyball Marketing | Already practicing — asymmetric SEO keywords, undervalued channels |
| 133 | Investor Marketing | Alex's raise — leverage angel backchannel for PR + intros |

**Q2:**

| # | Idea | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Glossary Marketing | Sound + nervous system glossary — "what is polyvagal," "what is HRV," "what is somatic listening" |
| 8 | Content Refreshing | Revisit Pillar 1 quarterly with new data and search-intent updates |
| 11 | Competitor Comparison Pages | Quietude vs. Calm / Headspace / Brain.fm / Endel / Wavepaths — high-intent SERPs |
| 13 | Competitive Ad Research | SpyFu + Facebook Ad Library before launching paid |
| 17 | Quiz Marketing | "What's your nervous system profile?" — generates personalization seed + lead capture |
| 25 | Facebook Ads | Eye mask creative + somatic content + retargeting from event attendees |
| 26 | Instagram Ads | Visual product + Reels-native ads (eye mask especially) |
| 28 | LinkedIn Ads | B2B venue buyers + investor-adjacent ICP |
| 31 | Google Ads | Apple Search Ads first (App Store intent); Google for eye mask + B2B |
| 38 | Reddit Marketing | Authentic participation in r/somatic, r/HSP, r/ADHD after content base exists |
| 40 | Instagram Audience | Eye mask + somatic creators; Reels-native |
| 44 | Comment Marketing | Thoughtful comments on Huberman / the partner-event-business / Tim Ferriss / wellness creators |
| 49 | Monthly Newsletters | Either Quietude-branded or sync with Sam's Sam's Substack newsletter |
| 54 | Affiliate Discovery via Backlinks | Find who links to Calm/Headspace/Brain.fm — pitch them on Quietude affiliate program |
| 58 | Newsletter Swaps | the partner-event-business, founder wellness Substacks, Alex's investor network |
| 64 | Community Sponsorship | Somatic newsletters, wellness Substacks, founder communities |
| 65 | Live Webinars | Alex + Sam hosting "Sound + the Nervous System" |
| 101 | Industry Interviews | Alex + Sam interview category experts (becomes seed of Quietude podcast) |
| 102 | Social Screenshots | Mira reflection responses (anonymized, consented) — social proof gold |
| 108 | Changelogs | Public changelog at `quietude.app/changes` — product momentum signal |
| 115 | Curation as Marketing | Curated "field recordings of the year" feature; Quietude Spaces directory |
| 135 | Support as Marketing | Surface customer support / Mira reflection moments as content |
| 138 | Podcast Tours | Alex on Huberman, the partner-event-business, Tim Ferriss, Rich Roll, Rangan Chatterjee |

**Q3+:**

| # | Idea | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Programmatic SEO | Quietude Guides city pages once Guides program scales |
| 9 | Knowledge Base SEO | When help docs scale enough to have problem-solution coverage |
| 14 | Side Projects | Eventually a free Quietude-adjacent tool that lives outside the app |
| 15 | Engineering as Marketing | HRV interpretation guide; nervous system self-assessment; sound bath finder directory |
| 18 | Calculator Marketing | Sleep latency calculator; overstimulation index |
| 20 | Microsites | For specific GTM moments (e.g., Mira GA launch) |
| 23 | Podcast Advertising | Huberman, Tim Ferriss, Rich Roll, the partner-event-business — host-read most relevant |
| 24 | Pre-targeting Ads | Warm audiences via content before direct-response |
| 29 | Reddit Ads | r/HSP, r/ADHD, r/somatic — high ICP density, low advertiser saturation |
| 30 | Quora Ads | Intent-rich for "why meditation doesn't work" queries |
| 32 | YouTube Ads | Pre-roll on Huberman / Lex Fridman / wellness creator videos |
| 33 | Cross-Platform Retargeting | Standard layer once paid is firing |
| 35 | Community Marketing | Quietude Spaces community (Discord/Circle); host monthly drop-ins |
| 42 | Short Form Video | TikTok / Reels — somatic education + eye mask UGC |
| 55 | Influencer Whitelisting | Run ads through ambassador / Guide accounts for authenticity |
| 57 | Expert Networks | Quietude Guides program IS this — certified hosts who can market |
| 60 | Pixel Sharing | Standard once paid is firing |
| 61 | Shared Slack Channels | Partner venue Slacks (Aurora, Lumen, Stillwater) |
| 63 | Integration Marketing | Apple Health (HRV data), Oura, Whoop — co-marketing |
| 66 | Virtual Summits | Quietude participates or hosts |
| 68 | Local Meetups | Cities with high ICP density (SF, NYC, LA, Austin) |
| 69 | Meetup Sponsorship | Sponsor wellness / biohacking meetups |
| 72 | Conference Sponsorship | Industry conferences once budget unlocks |
| 75 | Fundraising PR | "Quietude raises $3M" moment when seed closes |
| 78 | Product Hunt Launch | Mira public launch moment |
| 79 | Early-Access Referrals | App GA early-access list (cross-references to Referral) |
| 81 | Early Access Pricing | App GA — early-access tier locked in for first cohort |
| 82 | Product Hunt Alternatives | BetaList, Launching Next, AlternativeTo at GA |
| 97 | Playlists as Marketing | Quietude curates Spotify playlists for somatic listening |
| 98 | Template Marketing | Free "nervous system reset" protocol PDFs |
| 100 | Promo Videos | High-quality brand films — Ed Dorsey advises, Matt Mikkelsen field audio |
| 103 | Online Courses | Alex's Sound Philosophy course; Sam's somatic methodology course |
| 107 | Podcasts | Quietude podcast — interview format with category experts and customers |
| 111 | Challenges as Marketing | "21-day nervous system reset" — tasteful, no fitness-bro tone |
| 113 | Controversy as Marketing | Meditation-vs-Regulation IS mild controversy — lean in carefully |
| 126 | YouTube Reviews | Pitch Quietude to wellness YouTubers — Huberman fan-creator tier |
| 127 | YouTube Channel | Sound design behind-the-scenes; Sam session demos |
| 129 | Review Sites | App Store reviews actively managed; Trustpilot for eye mask Shopify |
| 130 | Live Audio | Twitter Spaces / LinkedIn Audio with Alex on sound + body |
| 134 | Certifications | Quietude Guides cert IS this — Q3+ pilot |

**Q4+ / long-game:**

| # | Idea | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|
| 56 | Reseller Programs | Corporate wellness platforms (Modern Health, Lyra) as resellers |
| 67 | Roadshows | Quietude Experiences IS this — eye mask + listening session pop-ups in 3 cities |
| 71 | Conferences | Quietude-hosted "Sound + the Body" — long-game category-defining moment |
| 76 | Documentaries | Alex's story is documentary-grade — long game |
| 77 | Black Friday Promotions | Holiday eye mask + Premium bundle |
| 80 | New Year Promotions | New Year nervous system reset campaign |
| 84 | Giveaways | Eye mask giveaway with brand partner (Wellness Mama tier) |
| 85 | Vacation Giveaways | Quietude + retreat partner giveaway (quietude.center could be venue) |
| 87 | Powered By Marketing | "Sound system by Quietude" badge in B2B venue installs |
| 104 | Book Marketing | Sound Philosophy as a book — long-game positioning anchor |
| 105 | Annual Reports | "State of the Nervous System" — Quietude's data + industry commentary |
| 106 | End of Year Wraps | "Your nervous system year" — Spotify Wrapped equivalent |
| 110 | Awards as Marketing | Quietude founds an award for innovative biophilic acoustic design |
| 116 | Grants as Marketing | Free Quietude subscriptions for therapists, social workers, first responders |
| 119 | OOH Advertising | SF / NYC billboards if Series A budget unlocks |
| 120 | Marketing Stunts | Public sound installation could work — brand-fitting |
| 121 | Guerrilla Marketing | Sound installation in subway / airport — interesting but requires care |
| 131 | International Expansion | Finland HQ + global ICP — Q4 or post-Series A |

**Skip / off-brand for Quietude:**

| # | Idea | Why skip |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Importers as Marketing | No competitor data to import (consumer wellness, not SaaS) |
| 19 | Chrome Extensions | Off-platform (mobile-first product) |
| 21 | Scanners | No obvious product fit |
| 22 | Public APIs | Not core business |
| 27 | Twitter Ads | Lower priority unless Alex's X presence grows |
| 34 | Click-to-Messenger Ads | Off-brand (no DM-driven sales pattern) |
| 41 | X Audience | Depends on Alex's bandwidth — defer unless he wants to |
| 43 | Engagement Pods | Off-brand |
| 73 | Media Acquisitions | Too capital-intensive at this stage |
| 83 | Twitter Giveaways | Off-brand voice |
| 86 | Lifetime Deals | Brand-conflict — pressures the "no pressure" voice and damages LTV math |
| 88 | Free Migrations | No competitor data to migrate |
| 89 | Contract Buyouts | Not relevant for D2C subs |
| 99 | Graphic Novel Marketing | Off-brand |
| 112 | Reality TV Marketing | Off-brand |
| 117 | Product Competitions | Not a developer product |
| 118 | Cameo Marketing | Off-brand |
| 122 | Humor Marketing | Brand voice is serious; humor would feel off |
| 123 | Open Source as Marketing | Proprietary audio library |
| 125 | App Marketplaces | Not relevant for native consumer app (no app-of-app pattern) |
| 128 | Source Platforms | G2 / Capterra are B2B-focused; D2C uses App Store reviews |
| 132 | Price Localization | Q4+ — tied to international expansion |
| 136 | Developer Relations | Not a dev product |

### 12.2 Activation ideas (7 mapped)

| # | Idea | Status | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 124 | App Store Optimization | Now | Q1 priority — listing rewrite in voice (also Acquisition) |
| 90 | One-Click Registration | Now | OAuth (Apple, Google) for app signup — standard activation lift |
| 51 | Onboarding Emails | Q2 | Flow 2 — held until UI stable post-onboarding-rebuild |
| 96 | Onboarding Optimization | Q1-Q2 | The 3-variant test IS this — primary activation work |
| 47 | Founder Welcome Email | Q2 | Personal welcome from Alex or Sam early in Flow 2 |
| 48 | Dynamic Email Capture | Q2 | Smart capture on `quietude.app` — exit intent + scroll depth |
| 95 | Concierge Setup | Q3+ | High-touch onboarding for B2B venue clients + high-value subscribers |

### 12.3 Retention ideas (8 mapped)

| # | Idea | Status | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | Reactivation Emails | Now | Flow 4 ships in weeks 3–4 — exactly this |
| 52 | Win-back Emails | Q1 (week 11-12) | Standalone campaign on top of Flow 4 |
| 53 | Trial Reactivation | Q2 | Expired-trial recovery campaign once paywall is firing |
| 45 | Mistake Email Marketing | Q2 | When something genuinely goes wrong, send "oops" — drives engagement |
| 50 | Inbox Placement | Q1 | Subdomain silo strategy (`mail.quietude.app` / `commerce.quietude.app`) addresses this |
| 91 | In-App Upsells | Q2 | Premium upsell points within app (also Revenue) |
| 94 | Offboarding Flows | Q2 | Optimize cancellation flow to retain or learn — feeds churn intel |
| 135 | Support as Marketing | Q2 | Customer support stories surface as content (also Acquisition) |

### 12.4 Referral ideas (5 mapped)

| # | Idea | Status | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | Affiliate Program | Now | Ambassador program v1 is exactly this — launched with the 5 inbound |
| 137 | Two-Sided Referrals | Q2 | Reward both referrer and referred — share-after-shift moment + gifting flow |
| 92 | Newsletter Referrals | Q3 | If we launch a newsletter, Sparkloop-style referral mechanic |
| 93 | Viral Loops | Q3 | Built-in share mechanics post-Mira reflection |
| 79 | Early-Access Referrals | Q3 | App GA early-access list referrals (cross-references to Acquisition) |

### 12.5 Revenue ideas (3 mapped — most ideas serve top-of-funnel)

| # | Idea | Status | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | In-App Upsells | Q2 | Premium upgrade prompts; eye mask cross-sell from app (also Retention) |
| 132 | Price Localization | Q4+ | Adjust pricing for local purchasing power once international |
| 86 | Lifetime Deals | Skip | Brand-conflict — see Acquisition skip list |

### 12.6 Cross-cutting / brand foundation ideas

| # | Idea | Status | Quietude note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 139 | Customer Language | Now | Mira reflection responses + 7 Ds language = the source-of-truth for customer language across all copy |
| 114 | Moneyball Marketing | Ongoing | Find undervalued channels at every stage — methodology, not a single tactic |

### Idea-bank summary

- **88 ideas applicable to Acquisition** (the dominant stage at Quietude's current stage — makes sense, Quietude's product converts well; the bottleneck is the top of funnel)
- **7 ideas to Activation, 8 to Retention** (smaller because these stages are about depth, not breadth — execute the right few well rather than running a wide tactic menu)
- **5 ideas to Referral** (program-driven, not tactic-driven)
- **3 ideas to Revenue** (most revenue work is pricing strategy, not tactical tricks)
- **2 cross-cutting**
- **23 ideas skipped for brand / business-model fit** — Quietude's category positioning constrains what's available

**What this proves:** the plan is roughly 30% of the available tactical surface area, not 100%. That's appropriate at this stage and budget. As capacity unlocks across Q2 → Q3 → Series A, the cross-reference becomes the inventory we pull from to scale activity without losing strategic coherence.

---

## 13. Measurement, RACI, open decisions, appendix

### Measurement — the metrics that matter

**North star (proposed):**
**Blended-LTV-to-blended-CAC ratio per acquired user**, where:
- Blended LTV combines app subscription revenue + hardware revenue (eye mask + speakers) + any cross-sells, per cohort
- Blended CAC combines paid spend + content production cost + ambassador commissions + lifecycle tool spend, per cohort

This captures the business model: the eye mask wedge isn't free if it costs $X to make, and the app sub isn't expensive to acquire if a Bryan-Johnson-style PR moment is paying for itself.

If a single metric is preferred for team-level focus, fall back to: **monthly new D2C subscribers from non-paid channels.** This isolates the compound channels the long-game strategy depends on.

**Leading indicators by AARRR stage:**

| Stage | Leading indicators |
|---|---|
| Acquisition | Organic visits/mo (overall + per pillar), App Store visit-to-install rate, Alex's LinkedIn engagement → email subscribers, event-to-app conversion rate, ambassador-attributed visits |
| Activation | Day 1 / Day 7 / Day 35 → paid conversion, onboarding session-completion rate, first session Mira reflection completion |
| Retention | 30 / 60 / 90-day retention, monthly churn, Flow 4 reactivation rate, hardware → app activation rate |
| Referral | Ambassador-attributed new subs (Dub), share-after-shift rate, Guides pilot referrals (when live) |
| Revenue | Blended MRR, ARPU, annual plan adoption %, LTV by cohort, eye mask attach rate |

**Review cadence:**
- **Weekly:** fCMO ↔ Alex 30-min sync. AARRR scoreboard + this week's ships.
- **Monthly:** Full metrics review (extended sync, Sam included). Compare against quarterly KPI targets.
- **Quarterly:** Plan recalibration. What's working, what's not, what funding-stage moves we're triggering.

### RACI

| Domain | Responsible | Accountable | Consulted | Informed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic plan (this doc) | Casey | Alex | Sam, Emily | Team |
| Brand voice | Alex + Sam | Alex + Sam | Casey | Team |
| App + onboarding implementation | Devon | Alex | Casey | Team |
| Lifecycle flows (Customer.io) | Casey | Alex | Sam (copy QA) | Team |
| SEO content | Casey | Casey | Sam, Alex | Team |
| App Store copy | Casey | Alex | Sam | Team |
| Alex's LinkedIn cadence | Alex | Alex | Casey (orchestration) | Team |
| Events | Alex + Sam | Alex | Casey (instrumentation only) | Team |
| Ambassador program | Casey | Casey | Alex | Team |
| B2B sales | Alex | Alex | Casey (case studies) | Team |
| Pricing | Alex | Alex | Casey | Sam |
| Investor narrative | Alex | Alex | Casey, Sam | Team |
| Quietude Guides program (Q3+) | TBD (likely future hire) | Alex + Sam | Casey | Team |
| Future marketing hire (Q3) | Casey | Alex | Sam | Team |

### Open decisions blocking the plan

Most blocking, ranked by impact:

1. **Canonical domain.** SEO data + this plan recommend `quietude.app`. Needs exec sign-off + 301 execution plan. *Blocks: domain consolidation, SEO foundation, email sender migration.*
2. **Retention metric definition.** Reconcile 38% 12-month retention claim vs. 29% monthly App Store churn. *Blocks: clean dashboards, investor narrative coherence, lifecycle test reads.*
3. **Mira post-session reflection scope.** Does Mira currently support this, or is it new build? *Blocks: Onboarding Variants 1 and 2 (which depend on Mira reflection moment), retention compound moves.*
4. **App UI stability timeline.** When does the headphone-gate-removal + onboarding-rebuild allow Flow 2 to ship without rework risk? *Blocks: Flow 2, full lifecycle, paid acquisition timing.*
5. **GA launch timeline.** When does the throttled beta become GA? *Blocks: paid acquisition scale, Q3 GTM planning.*
6. **Pricing structure ground truth.** What's actually charged today? *Blocks: pricing audit conclusions, annual-plan default test, blended LTV math.*
7. **First marketing hire scope.** Lifecycle + content owner, or something else? When does the JD get written? *Blocks: Q3 capacity plan, succession of fCMO operational work.*
8. **Ambassador commission structure.** $/sub, rev-share, hybrid? *Blocks: ambassador program launch, attribution dashboards.*

### Appendix — deep-dive links

**Published to the team via `Quietude-Inc/quietude-context` GitHub repo:**
- `marketing/seo/plan.md` — Full 90-day SEO + keyword research plan
- `marketing/seo/keyword-shortlist.md` — Tier 1 keyword shortlist
- `marketing/seo/raw/` — Ahrefs + DataForSEO API pulls
- `marketing/onboarding-recommendation.md` — Three-variant onboarding test plan

**Founder-authored strategic context** (in Quietude's internal knowledge base):
- Seed deck — Investor narrative
- Sound Philosophy — Alex's technical/philosophical working doc
- Marketing OS — Brand voice, content rhythm, visual system
- ICP doc — D2C audience profile
- Meditation-vs-Regulation note (2026-05-19) — Central content pillar
- Kickoff call transcript (2026-05-18) — Decisions + open questions
- App Store copy snapshot + voice-gap analysis
- App Store metrics snapshot (2026-05-16)
- Customer.io lifecycle flows inventory

---

*Marketing Plan v1. Prepared by Casey Reed (fCMO), 2026-05-27. For team review and discussion.*
