# Four Core Documents — Full Specification

Part 3 of the engagement methodology produces four documents at strategic depth. These define the brand's strategic spine — every channel strategy, every creative brief, every piece of copy reads back to these.

**Total: 61 explicit steps across the four documents.**

Each document is produced with all its steps in a single file. If a document cannot be completed in a single turn due to output limits, the next turn continues the same file from where it left off — never a new file.

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## Document 3.1 — Business & SBU Analysis (18 steps)

The complete business understanding at strategic depth. Defines what the business actually is, how it makes money, and what marketing must amplify (or not).

| Step | Content |
|------|---------|
| 1 | SBU identification — list every Strategic Business Unit operated by the entity. For each SBU: name, brief description, target customer (B2B/B2C/D2C), revenue contribution % if known, growth stage (early/growth/mature/declining), strategic priority for the engagement. |
| 2 | SBU separation rationale — why each SBU is treated as distinct (different customer, different competitive set, different value proposition). Note any cross-SBU synergies. |
| 3 | Revenue streams per SBU — categorise revenue: subscription, one-time sales, licensing, marketplace fees, advertising, services, etc. Include rough proportions if available. |
| 4 | Unit economics per SBU — average order value, contribution margin, gross margin, customer acquisition cost (estimated if not provided), lifetime value (estimated if not provided), LTV:CAC ratio, payback period. |
| 5 | Value chain mapping — identify where the SBU sits in its value chain (upstream/midstream/downstream), key suppliers, key customer segments, dependencies. |
| 6 | Offering portfolio at task-level granularity (B2B specifically) — break each offering into the actual jobs it does for the customer, not just product names. For B2C/D2C, this is the SKU/category breakdown. |
| 7 | Pricing architecture — pricing model (subscription tiers, usage-based, freemium, one-time, project-based), price points, anchoring strategy, discount practices. |
| 8 | Organisational and go-to-market model — how the SBU is organised (in-house vs partner-led), GTM motion (product-led, sales-led, marketing-led, channel-led), team size if known. |
| 9 | Sales and distribution architecture — direct vs indirect, online vs offline, geographic footprint, channel partner reliance. |
| 10 | Full SWOT with evidence — Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats. **Every item must be evidence-based with cited source.** Generic items (e.g., "Strong brand") are not allowed without evidence. |
| 11 | Growth levers — the 3–5 specific moves that would accelerate growth. Each lever sized (rough revenue impact range) and risk-rated. |
| 12 | Constraints — what's holding the business back. Capital, talent, technology, partnerships, regulation. |
| 13 | Customer acquisition economics — how customers are currently acquired, channel mix today, blended CAC, channel-level CAC if known, attribution challenges. |
| 14 | Customer retention economics — retention rate, churn rate, factors influencing retention, retention investments today. |
| 15 | Partnership and channel dependencies — list all critical partnerships, what each provides, switching cost if changed. |
| 16 | Risk profile — top 5 risks across market, competitive, regulatory, operational, and financial dimensions. |
| 17 | Strategic implications for the engagement — given everything above, what should the marketing strategy prioritise? What should it explicitly avoid? |
| 18 | Open questions — what cannot be answered with available information and needs client input or further research. |

**Evidence discipline:** Every claim in this document must cite a source. Sources include: client-provided documents (cite filename), public sources (cite URL), industry reports (cite report + page), or estimation methodology (state the assumptions explicitly).

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## Document 3.2 — Segmentation Framework (15 steps)

Target groups, sub-target groups, personas, and the scoring data that determines priority. For B2B engagements, includes the B2B Pointers overlay.

| Step | Content |
|------|---------|
| 1 | Target Group (TG) identification — list all candidate target groups for the SBU. Cast the net wide initially. |
| 2 | TG scoring across criteria — for each TG, score 1–10 across: market size, growth rate, accessibility (can we reach them via available channels), profitability (LTV:CAC potential), competitive intensity, fit with SBU strengths. **Include the raw scoring data, not just the final ranking.** |
| 3 | TG prioritisation — based on weighted scores, identify primary TG, secondary TG, tertiary TG. Document weight assignments and why. |
| 4 | Sub-TG breakdown — within each priority TG, identify sub-segments (e.g., within "B2B SaaS companies" → enterprise, mid-market, SMB; or within "millennial homeowners" → first-time buyers, upgraders, investors). |
| 5 | Persona development per primary TG — produce 1–3 personas per TG using the actionable persona format (see actionable-persona-format.md). Each persona answers the 6 questions: primary job, trigger, search location, evaluation criteria, choose-us reasons, NOT-choose-us reasons. |
| 6 | Behavioural attributes per persona — purchase frequency, brand loyalty patterns, decision speed, price sensitivity, channel preferences, content consumption habits. |
| 7 | Psychographic attributes per persona — values, beliefs, lifestyle indicators, aspirational identity, sources of information they trust. |
| 8 | Need-state mapping — for each persona, identify the underlying needs the offering addresses. Use Jobs-to-Be-Done framing: "When [situation], they want to [job], so they can [outcome]." |
| 9 | Geographic distribution — where the personas concentrate (countries, states, cities, tier-1/tier-2/tier-3, urban/rural). Critical for media planning. |
| 10 | (B2B only) Multi-stakeholder Decision Unit per persona — identify the User, Influencer, Decision-maker, Gatekeeper roles. For each role: what they care about, what they fear, what would make them say yes. See [b2b-decision-making-unit.md](b2b-decision-making-unit.md). |
| 11 | (B2B only) MQL definition — what behaviours and attributes qualify a lead as marketing-qualified. Specific criteria, not vague descriptions. |
| 12 | (B2B only) SQL definition — what behaviours qualify a lead as sales-qualified (ready for sales handoff). Specific criteria. |
| 13 | (B2B only) Pipeline logic — the journey from MQL to SQL to Opportunity to Close. Average time per stage, drop-off rates if known, marketing's role at each stage. |
| 14 | Anti-personas — who we explicitly do NOT target. This is as important as defining who we DO target. Include why each anti-persona is excluded. |
| 15 | Activation guidance — for each priority persona, summarise: which channels to reach them on, what message will resonate, what proof they need, what objections to address. This briefs Part 9 (Channel Strategy). |

**Output discipline:** Personas must be actionable, not biographical. "Priya, 28, lives in Bangalore, loves yoga" tells a story but does not inform marketing decisions. The 6-question format does.

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## Document 3.3 — Brand Positioning & Communications (19 steps)

The most consequential strategic document. Defines what the brand stands for, what it does NOT stand for, and how it talks about itself across every touchpoint.

| Step | Content |
|------|---------|
| 1 | Positioning options considered — list 3–5 candidate positioning territories the brand could occupy. Each with one-sentence summary. |
| 2 | Per-option rationale — for each positioning option: why it could work, what evidence supports it, what risks it carries. |
| 3 | Per-option trade-offs — what each positioning forces the brand to give up. (Positioning is sacrifice — you cannot be everything.) |
| 4 | Chosen positioning with defence argument — pick one positioning and write the defence: why this one, why now, why for this brand specifically. The defence should withstand challenge from a skeptical reader. |
| 5 | Positioning statement — the formal one-sentence positioning: "For [target customer] who [has this need/problem], [brand name] is the [category] that [key differentiation] because [reason to believe]." |
| 6 | Trade-offs explicit — what positions are we deliberately giving up? What customer segments are we explicitly not pursuing? |
| 7 | Brand promise — the core commitment to the customer in one sentence. |
| 8 | Proof points for the brand promise — 3–5 concrete proof points. Statistics, customer outcomes, certifications, partnerships, founding team credentials, etc. |
| 9 | Primary message architecture — the message hierarchy: brand narrative → value proposition → pillar messages → proof points → channel-specific adaptations. |
| 10 | Messaging pillars (3–5) — the core themes every piece of communication will reinforce. Each pillar named, defined, and justified. |
| 11 | Proof points per pillar — for each messaging pillar, 2–3 specific proof points. These become the building blocks of all content. |
| 12 | Segment-level messaging variations — for each priority persona, the messaging pillar variations. Same brand, different emphasis per audience. |
| 13 | Full-funnel communication framework — for each funnel stage (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU, retention, advocacy), the message focus, content types, primary channels. |
| 14 | Tone-of-voice principles — the brand's voice attributes on the spectrums (formal↔casual, serious↔playful, technical↔simple, assertive↔humble, reserved↔enthusiastic). With concrete examples of on-tone vs off-tone copy. |
| 15 | Explicit don't-say rules — words, phrases, and topics the brand never uses. Both regulatory (banned claims) and stylistic (off-brand language). |
| 16 | Sensitive-topic handling — for industry-relevant sensitive topics (politics, health claims, financial claims, demographic stereotypes), the brand's stance and approach. |
| 17 | Crisis-communication posture — pre-defined response framework for negative events (product failure, public criticism, regulatory issue, competitive attack). Speed of response, channels used, decision-maker for response. |
| 18 | Application guidance across channels — how the positioning translates into each channel's voice (social-casual vs LinkedIn-professional vs sales-pitch). |
| 19 | Open positioning questions — what could not be resolved and needs client input. |

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## Document 3.4 — DMFlow (9 steps)

The channel selection and allocation logic at a business level. This is the strategic input to Part 9 (Channel Strategy Fan-out).

| Step | Content |
|------|---------|
| 1 | Channel universe considered — every digital channel that could plausibly serve this brand. Cast wide — Search, Profile/Social, Contextual, Marketplace, Utility (the 5 Digital Markets, see [five-digital-markets.md](five-digital-markets.md)). |
| 2 | Channel selection with rationale per channel — which channels make the cut and why. Each channel rated for: audience presence, intent match, proven format fit, cost feasibility, brand safety, measurement availability. |
| 3 | Funnel architecture per channel — for each selected channel, which funnel stages it serves (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU, retention, advocacy). Some channels serve multiple stages. |
| 4 | Media mix logic across paid/organic/earned/owned — the strategic split across PESO. Paid for what, organic for what, earned for what, owned for what. With rationale. |
| 5 | Budget allocation logic at business level — the rough percentage allocation across channels. Not down to the rupee — at the strategic level. With the In-Market vs Out-Market split (see [in-market-out-market.md](in-market-out-market.md)). |
| 6 | Channel interdependencies and sequencing — which channels feed which (e.g., SEO content feeds retargeting; LinkedIn ads feed sales outreach; email nurtures website visitors). The sequencing matters. |
| 7 | Conversion framework — what counts as conversion at each funnel stage per channel. Lead form fill, demo booking, trial signup, purchase, repeat purchase, referral. With value assignment if available. |
| 8 | Measurement approach — what gets measured at each channel, what tooling is required (GA4, ad platforms, CRM, attribution tools), what known measurement gaps exist. |
| 9 | Strategic implications and track weightages — given the above, the recommended balance of brand-building vs performance-marketing investment, the recommended channel weight for budget, and the rationale for each. |

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## Document 3.C (Optional) — Combined Core Document

All four core documents stitched into a single executive-reference file with a master TOC, master assumptions table, and master source index. Produced **only when an executive audience genuinely needs a single-file read**. Not produced by default — the four component files remain canonical for team operating work.

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## Quality Discipline Across All Four Documents

1. **Every claim has a source.** No "we think" — only "the evidence shows" with cited source.
2. **Every assumption is explicit.** When estimating (CAC, LTV, market size, etc.), state the methodology and inputs.
3. **Every recommendation flows from analysis.** No conclusions that the body doesn't support.
4. **No generic statements.** "Strong brand" is generic. "92% brand recall in target segment per [source]" is specific.
5. **All four documents reference each other consistently.** A persona defined in 3.2 must be the same persona referenced in 3.3 messaging variations and 3.4 channel selection.
6. **Open questions are documented**, not hidden. If something cannot be answered with available info, say so.

## Producing the Documents

Use the `/digital-marketing-pro:engagement` command family:

- `/digital-marketing-pro:engagement four-core` — produces all four documents in sequence
- `/digital-marketing-pro:engagement four-core 3.1` — produces just 3.1 (Business & SBU Analysis)
- `/digital-marketing-pro:engagement four-core combined` — also produces 3.C Combined Core Document

Each document writes to `engagements/{engagement-id}/part-03-four-core-documents/v1/` (or `v2/` for re-runs).
