Channel Advisor

Channel Advisor Skill

This skill recommends a channel mix and tactics for a specific goal, audience, and budget context, sequenced against the RACE funnel model.

This skill follows the shared step sequence in ../_shared/skill-contract.md. Steps below add only channel-advisor-specific behavior.

Step 0–1: Recall learnings and load context

If .claude/learnings.md exists, read it silently. Apply relevant entries — in particular, channel preferences, constraints, or vetoed channels. Do not announce this step. If the file is absent, continue normally.

Read the ## Context files table in CLAUDE.md. Match the following needs against the Summary column semantically — never against a label or filename:

• Business goals/KPIs — campaign objectives, business targets, success metrics, growth stage, revenue targets
• Target audience — positioning, audience profile, customer segments, buyer personas, organization background (prefer a positioning output file if registered)

Note silently if present (do not ask about): current marketing channels, budget, and a prior strategy performance review (strategy-performance-review output) if registered — factor validated/invalidated channel bets into the recommendation.

Step 2: Gating — Three-State Model

This skill gates on exactly two needs: business goals and target audience. For each, resolve one of three states:

1. Covered — present in the context table (Summary match) → use silently, no ask.
2. Absent-but-supplied — ask once (never twice in one invocation); user answers → use, non-degraded.
3. Absent-and-unanswered — asked once, no usable answer → that section is labelled ⚠ DEGRADED, never fabricated, and the rest of the recommendation still generates.

Check business goals

Search the context table Summary column for semantic matches: business goals, KPIs, objectives, targets, growth stage, success metrics.

If covered, use silently.

If absent, ask once:

"I need to understand what this channel recommendation should achieve. Briefly: What are your primary business goals or KPIs right now? (e.g. revenue growth, lead volume, retention, brand awareness) Is there a specific target or metric this recommendation should support?"

If the user provides usable answers, proceed non-degraded. If the user declines or the answer is too vague to use, label the section ## Business Goals ⚠ DEGRADED in the output and continue.

Check target audience

Search the context table Summary column for semantic matches: target audience, positioning, organization background, customer segments, buyer profile.

Prefer a positioning output file's Summary if one is registered; else fall back to organization background.

If covered, use silently.

If absent, ask once:

"I need to understand who this channel recommendation is for. Briefly: Who is the target audience? (role, company type/size if B2B, or demographic if B2C) What stage are they typically at when they encounter you? (just learning you exist, actively comparing options, or already a customer)"

If the user provides usable answers, proceed non-degraded. If the user declines or the answer is too vague to use, label the section ## Target Audience ⚠ DEGRADED in the output and continue.

Step 3: Calibrate

Take the goal from $ARGUMENTS if given, else from loaded business goals or the Step 2 gating answer. No campaign-type inference is needed here — just goal, audience, and whatever current-channel/budget context is loaded.

Step 4: Generate

Apply RACE from ../_shared/campaign-frameworks.md. State the mapping being applied before generating. Example:

"Using RACE to sequence channels by funnel stage."

Produce a channel recommendation that includes:

• Primary channel(s) — with rationale tied to the loaded goal and audience.
• Supporting channel(s) — channels that reinforce the primary channel(s).
• Tactical recommendations — at least one concrete tactic per recommended channel.
• Existing-channel calls — for each existing channel loaded from context, a maintain/grow/reduce/exit call, based on whether the advisor is recommending continued/increased investment (maintain/grow), reduced investment (reduce), or discontinuing it (exit) — including channels the advisor is NOT recommending going forward. Omit this element entirely if no current-channels context is loaded.
• Prerequisites — for any recommended channel where the loaded context suggests it may be out of reach (budget, capability, or skills the user may not have), a "prerequisites" note naming what's missing.

Step 5–6: Quality check and delimited output

Review the generated channel recommendation for:

• Completeness: All five elements above are present (existing-channel calls only when current-channels context was loaded).
• Extractability: Primary channels, supporting channels, and tactical recommendations are explicitly named so the user can act on them immediately.
• Framework alignment: RACE stages are clearly sequenced in the recommendation.
• Consistency: All sections reinforce the same goal and audience.

Fix any gaps before proceeding.

If Step 2 ended in a degraded state for one or both gated needs (business goals and/or target audience), prefix the output with:

⚠ DEGRADED OUTPUT — generated without: <comma-separated list of unmet needs>

For example, if target audience is degraded but business goals are not, prefix with: ⚠ DEGRADED OUTPUT — generated without: target audience

If both are degraded, prefix with: ⚠ DEGRADED OUTPUT — generated without: business goals, target audience

If neither need is degraded, omit the prefix.

Return the channel recommendation inside clear delimiters:

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
## Channel Recommendation
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

[Generated channel recommendation here]

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Step 7: Feedback

Store learnings tagged [cc-concept:channel-advisor] in .claude/learnings.md. Examples:

[cc-concept:channel-advisor] client vetoed paid social entirely, treat as excluded from all future recommendations — 2026-07-19
[cc-concept:channel-advisor] client's existing email list is small (<500) and shouldn't be weighted as a primary channel yet — 2026-07-19

If the session revealed a channel preference, constraint, or exclusion that future runs should apply, record it now.