marketing-plan · client-types

Client Types — Variations by Business Model

The 13-section plan structure stays consistent across client types. What changes is the content emphasis within each section. This doc names the dominant patterns by client archetype.

Archetype 1 — B2B SaaS

Core characteristics

• Subscription revenue
• Often higher ACV ($1K–$100K+ per year)
• Sales-assisted or self-serve depending on tier
• Buyer often different from user (champion vs. end-user)

AARRR emphasis

Acquisition heavy:

• SEO is the dominant top-of-funnel motion (people search for solutions)
• Content marketing (blog, knowledge base, comparison pages) drives MQLs
• LinkedIn for both organic founder presence and paid
• Outbound (cold email + LinkedIn) often complements inbound
• Events (conferences, webinars) for high-ACV products

Activation:

• Signup → trial → first key action (PLG products)
• Trial → demo → POC (sales-led products)
• Empty states matter — guide users to first value action

Retention:

• Product engagement metrics (DAU, feature adoption)
• Customer success motion (CSM team for higher ACV)
• Lifecycle emails focused on feature discovery, value moments

Referral:

• Customer advocacy programs
• Partner / integration co-marketing
• G2 / Capterra reviews
• Champion-to-buyer expansion

Revenue:

• Expansion / NRR is often the biggest growth lever
• Tier upgrades, seat expansion, usage-based add-ons

Skills emphasis

• cold-email, programmatic-seo, competitors, seo-audit, ai-seo
• ads weighted toward LinkedIn + Google
• emails for trial nurture + lifecycle
• pricing for tier optimization

Tier-1 budget priority

• SEO + content > everything else
• Founder-led LinkedIn channel
• Customer.io / Mailchimp for nurture
• HARO + investor backchannel for PR

Archetype 2 — D2C Consumer App (Subscription)

Core characteristics

• Lower ACV ($5–$30/mo typically)
• High volume, lower margin per user
• App Store / Play Store as the primary acquisition surface
• Lifecycle email + push for retention
• Often paid-acquisition-driven once budget unlocks

AARRR emphasis

Acquisition:

• App Store Optimization (ASO) is the highest-leverage non-site asset
• Paid social (Meta, TikTok) often dominant once budget exists
• Apple Search Ads for high-intent App Store traffic
• Influencer + content creators
• PR + endorsements

Activation:

• Onboarding is the dominant activation surface
• Time-to-value must be minutes, not hours
• Paywall structure + trial length critical

Retention:

• Lifecycle email + push
• In-app reminders (carefully — overuse = churn)
• Subscription preference center
• Win-back campaigns

Referral:

• Built-in sharing (share-a-month flow)
• Two-sided referrals
• Influencer / creator ambassadors

Revenue:

• Annual plan default is the biggest single move (compresses MRR but improves LTV)
• Tier optimization (Free → Premium → Premium+)
• In-app upsells

Skills emphasis

• onboarding, paywalls, emails
• ads, ad-creative (heavy creative iteration)
• referrals
• pricing for annual default + tier consolidation

Tier-1 budget priority

• ASO first (highest organic leverage)
• Onboarding rebuild
• Lifecycle email shipping
• Founder-led social if founder is on-camera

Archetype 3 — Hybrid Hardware + Software

Core characteristics

• Physical product + software companion (e.g., Quietude's eye mask + app)
• Hardware as a distribution wedge (lower price, easier first purchase)
• Software as the LTV (recurring revenue)
• Blended CAC across both surfaces

AARRR emphasis

Acquisition:

• Shopify storefront SEO (hardware product pages target consumer search)
• Amazon listing (high-discovery, takes margin)
• PR amplification (hardware is photogenic — high-profile influencer endorsements move volume)
• Paid social for hardware (Meta + Instagram, eye-catching creative)

Activation:

• Two activations to track: hardware unboxing experience + software signup
• Hardware → software activation flow is the bridge
• Concierge setup for high-value hardware buyers

Retention:

• Hardware post-purchase lifecycle (different from app onboarding)
• Software companion drives stickiness
• Community / practitioner network around hardware

Referral:

• Hardware gifting flows (high WOM for physical products)
• Eye-catching hardware drives organic social sharing
• Reviews on Shopify + Amazon

Revenue:

• Blended LTV math is critical (hardware margin + software recurring)
• Bundle strategy (hardware buy → free Premium for X months)
• Annual plan default for software

Skills emphasis

• seo-audit for Shopify product pages
• emails for both hardware post-purchase and software lifecycle
• referrals with gifting layer
• pricing for blended-bundle math
• ads with creative-heavy Meta presence

Tier-1 budget priority

• Shopify product page optimization
• Hardware post-purchase lifecycle ship
• Bundle strategy formalization
• Hardware → app activation audit

Archetype 4 — Marketplace

Core characteristics

• Two-sided product (supply + demand)
• Network effects matter
• Liquidity is the critical early metric
• Take-rate × GMV is the revenue model

AARRR emphasis

Acquisition:

• Two funnels — supply and demand
• Supply often acquired through outbound / partnership / cold email
• Demand often acquired through SEO / paid / content
• City-by-city programmatic SEO common

Activation:

• Supply activation: first listing posted, first response sent
• Demand activation: first purchase / first match / first transaction
• Both sides need their own onboarding

Retention:

• Repeat transaction frequency
• Supply utilization (% of listings active)
• Demand habit (DAU / MAU)

Referral:

• Supply → supply (refer other providers)
• Demand → demand (refer other buyers)
• Cross-side referrals are weaker

Revenue:

• Take-rate optimization
• Premium tier (better matching, lower fees)
• Lead-gen vs. transaction-fee monetization

Skills emphasis

• programmatic-seo for city pages, vertical pages
• cold-email for supply-side recruitment
• referrals for both sides
• pricing for take-rate decisions

Tier-1 budget priority

• Programmatic SEO build for one side
• Cold outbound to seed supply (or demand, whichever is bottleneck)
• Lifecycle email for both sides

Archetype 5 — Developer Tool / Open Source

Core characteristics

• Technical buyer (developer or eng leader)
• High bar for content quality (developers are skeptical)
• DevRel matters more than traditional marketing
• Open source layer often funnel into commercial product

AARRR emphasis

Acquisition:

• Technical content + docs SEO
• DevRel (conferences, talks, community)
• GitHub presence + npm/pip/etc. discovery
• Hacker News + Reddit + dev Twitter

Activation:

• First build / first integration is the activation event
• Time-to-Hello-World matters
• Documentation = onboarding for dev tools

Retention:

• Depth of integration (using more of the product)
• Team adoption (one user → entire org)
• Active project count

Referral:

• Star count on GitHub (semi-organic)
• Recommendation in technical forums
• Conference talks mentioning the tool

Revenue:

• Free → paid conversion when usage exceeds limits
• Team plans, enterprise tiers
• Support / SLA upsells

Skills emphasis

• programmatic-seo for docs
• Less emphasis on traditional ads
• Heavy content-strategy + technical content
• cold-email to engineering leads at target companies

Tier-1 budget priority

• Docs + technical content production
• DevRel (founder doing talks)
• GitHub presence
• HN / Reddit / dev community

Archetype 6 — Deep-Tech / Scientific / Clinical

Core characteristics

• Long sales cycles
• Heavy credibility burden (must prove the science)
• Highly informed buyers (academics, clinicians, researchers)
• Often regulatory considerations

AARRR emphasis

Acquisition:

• Academic publishing + peer-reviewed studies
• Conference speaking (academic + industry)
• Investor / advisor introductions
• PR via credibility hooks

Activation:

• Pilot programs / proof-of-concepts
• Concierge setup with high-touch onboarding
• Educational webinars / training

Retention:

• Customer success heavily
• Co-publication with customers
• Community of practice

Referral:

• Academic / clinical references
• Conference panel features
• Case studies with named institutions

Revenue:

• Pilot → paid expansion
• Institutional contracts (multi-seat / multi-year)
• Compliance / certification upsells

Skills emphasis

• Light traditional marketing
• Heavy product-marketing, sales-enablement, pricing
• cold-email to specific researchers / practitioners
• PR + investor marketing

Tier-1 budget priority

• Academic outreach + conference speaking
• Investor backchannel for institutional warm intros
• Pilot deployment with key customers
• Case study + scientific publication

Archetype 7 — Commerce / DTC (non-subscription)

Core characteristics

• Physical or digital products sold transactionally
• Average Order Value matters
• Repeat purchase rate is the key retention metric

AARRR emphasis

Acquisition:

• Paid social (Meta, TikTok) often dominant
• Shopify SEO for product pages
• Amazon listings
• Influencer + creator partnerships

Activation:

• First purchase is the activation event
• Cart abandonment recovery
• Trust signals on checkout (reviews, returns, shipping)

Retention:

• Post-purchase lifecycle
• Loyalty programs
• Email + SMS for repeat purchase

Referral:

• Gifting flows
• Refer-a-friend programs
• Reviews + UGC

Revenue:

• AOV optimization (bundles, upsells)
• Customer LTV optimization (repeat purchase frequency)
• Subscription option for repeat purchases

Skills emphasis

• ads + ad-creative (heavy weight)
• emails for post-purchase + abandoned cart
• referrals with gifting
• pricing for bundles + subscription option

Tier-1 budget priority

• Shopify storefront optimization
• Email lifecycle ship
• Influencer / UGC seeding
• Paid social testing (if minimal budget exists)

How to use this doc when drafting a plan

When you start drafting Sections 4–8 (AARRR), identify the client's archetype (or hybrid if applicable) and lean into the patterns above.

Hybrid cases are common. Quietude is "Hybrid hardware + software" with significant overlap to "Deep-tech / scientific / clinical" (because of the peer-reviewed study + clinical positioning). The plan blends emphases from both archetypes.

When in doubt, lead with the archetype that best fits the primary monetization model. Quietude's primary monetization is software subscription (with hardware as the wedge), so the D2C consumer app + hardware-hybrid patterns dominate, with deep-tech credibility moves layered in.

When the client doesn't fit cleanly

Some clients defy archetype:

• Content / media businesses — neither SaaS nor commerce; ad revenue or subscription model
• Social networks — own category, network effects dominate
• Real estate / events — physical + service model

For these, identify the closest archetype and adjust. Don't force-fit — name the deviation in the plan's Strategic Frame.

Source: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/skills/marketing-plan/references/client-types.md · v1.1.1 · MIT License (c) 2025 Corey Haines.