80/20 Traffic Strategy
Use this skill to choose and sequence traffic sources by leverage, buyer fit, and economic potential. It is based on 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall.
Source Traceability
Primary source: 80/20 Sales and Marketing, chapters 4, 6, 10, and 11.
- Chapter 4 emphasizes positioning and media mastery over low-leverage prospecting.
- Chapter 6 introduces the traffic, conversion, economics triangle and list quality.
- Chapter 10 covers media expansion after a funnel starts working.
- Chapter 11 covers scaling and diversification after conversion proves out.
Workflow
1. State The Economic Constraint
Before recommending traffic, capture:
- Offer price and margin.
- Target customer value.
- Allowable acquisition cost.
- Sales cycle.
- Conversion path.
- Existing traffic source performance.
Think backwards from economics before adding traffic.
2. Inventory Traffic Sources
List owned, rented, paid, earned, and partner sources. For each, estimate:
- Buyer intent.
- Reach.
- Cost or effort.
- Speed to signal.
- Targeting precision.
- Control.
- Fit with the offer and conversion path.
3. Identify The Mastery Candidate
Recommend mastering one source before expanding when:
- The audience has the urgent problem.
- The source can produce measurable conversions.
- The economics can plausibly work.
- The team can learn it deeply enough to outperform average buyers.
Avoid shallow testing of many sources when one source deserves real mastery.
4. Sequence Expansion
Expand only after a source and funnel show signal. Prefer adjacent sources where the same offer, message, or economics can transfer.
Expansion options:
- Paid search or high-intent traffic.
- Email and affiliate partners.
- Social or community traffic.
- Offline or niche media.
- Owned list development.
Output Format
# 80/20 Traffic Strategy
## Economics First
- Offer:
- Customer value:
- Allowable CAC:
- Current conversion path:
## Traffic Inventory
| Source | Intent | Reach | Cost/Effort | Speed | Fit |
|--------|--------|-------|-------------|-------|-----|
## Mastery Recommendation
- Source to master:
- Why this source:
- First test:
- Required tracking:
## Expansion Sequence
1. [Source] - [condition to expand]
2. [Source] - [condition to expand]
3. [Source] - [condition to expand]
Quality Bar
- Do not recommend traffic before checking economics.
- Do not equate reach with quality.
- Prefer one mastered source over many shallow experiments.
- Separate list quality from list size.
- Define the condition for expansion before recommending expansion.
Source: hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins → plugins/LVTD-LLC/skills/skills/eighty-twenty-traffic-strategy/SKILL.md