marketing-plan · current-state-rubric

Current State Rubric — 17-Section Scoring Lens

This 17-section rubric is the source of truth for Section 3 ("Current State") of every marketing plan. Score each section 0–5 from available materials, then write a 2–4 sentence "shape interpretation" that names where strengths and gaps cluster.

How to score

From rich materials. When the team has shared decks, prior content audits, a brand voice doc, kickoff transcript, app store and analytics snapshots — score each section from those artifacts. Mark "scored from materials" in the section heading so the team can push back where they have better data.

From a separately scored audit. If the team has already run a scored current-state assessment (in any format), ingest those scores directly. Don't redo the work — note the date the rubric was scored and flag any sections where material has shifted since.

Either way, the output is the same: a 17-row scored table, a total out of 85, and a shape paragraph.

The 17 sections (scored 0–5 each)

1. Positioning

What's scored: Clarity of category claim, differentiation, alignment across surfaces (homepage, app store, pitch deck, founder messaging).

Score guide:

0 = No positioning anywhere
2 = Inconsistent across surfaces; team can't articulate it on demand
4 = Clear, original, mostly consistent; minor surface gaps
5 = Distinctive, category-defining, every surface aligned

Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting — feeds every stage.

2. Customer research

What's scored: Depth and recency of customer research, ICP clarity, voice-of-customer capture.

Score guide:

0 = No formal research, only founder intuition
2 = Some research but stale or one-off
4 = Active research practice, customer language captured
5 = Continuous research, customer language flows into copy / product / messaging

Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting — feeds especially Acquisition (channel choice) and Activation (onboarding voice).

3. Homepage

What's scored: Headline clarity, voice alignment, conversion architecture, mobile experience.

Score guide:

0 = Generic / broken / off-brand
2 = Functional but underperforming; voice mostly absent
4 = Clear, voice-aligned, converting; minor optimization opportunities
5 = Distinctive, converts strongly, fully voice-aligned

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Activation.

4. Sales / product pages

What's scored: Existence and quality of dedicated product / pricing / feature pages. Are SKUs documented? Is pricing scannable? Are upsells visible?

Score guide:

0 = No dedicated pages
2 = Pages exist but are stale or off-voice
4 = Quality pages for primary products; gaps on secondary
5 = Every product, tier, and upsell has a high-converting page

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Revenue.

5. Conversion pages

What's scored: Landing pages for specific campaigns, channels, or use cases. /partner, /science, /ambassadors, /eye-mask types of pages.

Score guide:

0 = No conversion pages
2 = One or two exist; rest of needed pages missing
4 = Most needed conversion pages exist; quality is good
5 = Full conversion page library, each high-converting

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Activation.

6. Competitor comparison

What's scored: Existence of "vs. {competitor}" pages, comparison content. Does the brand acknowledge alternatives, or pretend they don't exist?

Score guide:

0 = Nothing — actively avoiding competitor mentions
2 = Some content exists but is weak or hidden
4 = Solid comparison pages for top 2–3 competitors
5 = Comprehensive comparison library; SEO-targeted; high-converting

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition (consideration-stage SEO + sales enablement).

7. Resources / content

What's scored: Blog, knowledge base, science page, whitepapers, research, founder essays, podcast.

Score guide:

0 = No content surface
2 = Blog exists but is stale or thin
4 = Active content production; multiple formats
5 = Content is a moat — proprietary research, named pillars, daily volume

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.

8. Onboarding

What's scored: New user onboarding (in-app + email). Time-to-value, completion rate, brand-voice alignment.

Score guide:

0 = No onboarding flow
2 = Onboarding exists but is broken, off-voice, or underperforming
4 = Solid onboarding; clear bottlenecks identified
5 = Tested, optimized, on-brand; activation rate at category top quartile

Maps to AARRR: Activation.

9. Email lifecycle

What's scored: Existence and quality of lifecycle email programs. Welcome / onboarding / post-purchase / lapsed / win-back.

Score guide:

0 = No lifecycle email
2 = Some flows exist but drafted not live, or live but stale
4 = Core flows live and performing; gaps on secondary flows
5 = Full lifecycle live, segmented, performing above category benchmarks

Maps to AARRR: Retention (+ Activation for onboarding emails).

10. Sales material

What's scored: Sales decks, one-pagers, demos, case studies, pricing sheets. (For B2B / hybrid companies — for pure D2C, this can be marked N/A or scored low without implication.)

Score guide:

0 = No sales material
2 = Founder uses a deck but other material is thin
4 = Solid sales kit; reps can self-serve content
5 = Comprehensive material; updated quarterly; objection-handling library exists

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Revenue (B2B).

11. Messaging

What's scored: Voice, tone, vocabulary, message hierarchy across surfaces. Is the brand voice documented, consistent, distinctive?

Score guide:

0 = No voice documented; surfaces inconsistent
2 = Voice exists in founder's head but isn't operationalized
4 = Documented voice; mostly consistent across surfaces
5 = Distinctive voice; documented; every surface respects it; voice is a moat

Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting.

12. Pricing

What's scored: Pricing structure clarity, packaging logic, recent pressure-testing, listed vs. effective price reconciliation.

Score guide:

0 = Pricing not pressure-tested in over a year; unclear structure
2 = Listed pricing exists but plan mix / discounting muddles the read
4 = Clear pricing; recent tests; LTV math known
5 = Pricing tested quarterly; packaging optimized; expansion levers known

Maps to AARRR: Revenue.

13. CRO (conversion rate optimization)

What's scored: Test cadence, instrumentation, A/B history, statistical rigor.

Score guide:

0 = No tests run; no instrumentation
2 = Some ad-hoc tests; no statistical rigor
4 = Regular test cadence; some wins
5 = Continuous testing program; experimentation culture; documented wins

Maps to AARRR: Cross-cutting (most impactful at Activation + Revenue).

14. GTM launches

What's scored: Quality of past launch executions. Product launches, feature launches, campaign launches.

Score guide:

0 = No structured launches; "soft launches" only
2 = Some launches but uneven execution
4 = Solid recent launches; playbook exists
5 = Repeatable launch motion; Product Hunt #1s; press coverage on demand

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition + Activation.

15. Ads (paid)

What's scored: Paid acquisition state. Active campaigns, channels, CAC tracking, creative quality.

Score guide:

0 = No paid acquisition
2 = Some paid but unstructured / wasteful
4 = Paid is firing across 2–3 channels with positive unit economics
5 = Sophisticated paid stack; CAC/LTV understood; creative iterated weekly

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.

Note: For pre-seed clients with no paid budget, score this 0 without treating it as a weakness — it reflects the funding stage, not a marketing failure.

16. SEO

What's scored: Organic search performance. Domain rating, ranking keywords, organic traffic, content cluster strategy.

Score guide:

0 = No SEO; new domain or zero-authority
2 = Some content but no strategy; ranks for brand only
4 = Established content clusters; growing organic traffic; DR 25+
5 = SEO is a moat; DR 40+; thousand+ ranking keywords; consistent content production

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.

17. Internationalization

What's scored: Geographic expansion, language localization, region-specific pricing.

Score guide:

0 = US/EN only; no international consideration
2 = International users exist but aren't served (one language, one currency)
4 = Multi-language, region-specific pricing, GTM playbook for new markets
5 = International is a strength; multi-region revenue; localized GTM

Maps to AARRR: Acquisition.

Note: For most early-stage companies, internationalization scores 0–1 and that's appropriate. Don't penalize early-stage companies for not having international playbooks yet.

How to compute the total + read the shape

Total = sum of all 17 scores. Out of 85.

The total matters less than the shape. After the scoring table, write a 2–4 sentence "shape interpretation":

"High in {strong sections}, low in {weak sections}. That shape is the gap the rest of the plan closes — Sections X (AARRR stage) is the longest because that's where the gap is widest."

Common shapes

"Strong voice / messaging, weak distribution"

High: Positioning (#1), Customer research (#2), Messaging (#11)
Low: SEO (#16), Ads (#15), GTM launches (#14)
Translation: The founder is a strong storyteller but distribution hasn't caught up. Plan emphasizes Acquisition + paid layer prep.

"Strong acquisition, weak conversion"

High: SEO (#16), Resources (#7), Ads (#15)
Low: Homepage (#3), Onboarding (#8), Conversion pages (#5), Pricing (#12)
Translation: Traffic comes in but doesn't convert. Plan emphasizes Activation + Revenue.

"Strong conversion, weak retention"

High: Onboarding (#8), Homepage (#3), Pricing (#12)
Low: Email lifecycle (#9), CRO (#13)
Translation: Users sign up and pay but churn. Plan emphasizes Retention.

"Strong product, weak everything-else"

High: only Positioning (#1) and Customer research (#2) — the founder knows the customer
Low: everything operational
Translation: Pre-marketing stage. Plan is foundation-heavy. First quarter is bedrock fixes.

"Strong recent revenue, weak compounding"

High: Ads (#15), Sales material (#10), Pricing (#12)
Low: SEO (#16), Resources (#7), Referral mechanics
Translation: Performance marketing carries the business. Plan emphasizes building compounding channels before paid scales further.

When scores are subjective

Some sections are easier to score from outside than others. Subjectivity tier:

Objective (data-driven): SEO (#16), Ads (#15), Email lifecycle (#9), Onboarding (#8) — backed by analytics
Semi-objective: Pricing (#12), CRO (#13), Conversion pages (#5), Sales material (#10) — visible artifacts to evaluate
Subjective (judgment call): Positioning (#1), Messaging (#11), Customer research (#2), Resources (#7) — interpretive

For subjective sections, write the rationale into the "Note" column so the team can push back if they disagree.

When a prior scored audit exists

If the team already has scored output from any current-state assessment, ingest those scores directly — don't redo the work. Treat that prior scoring as the ground truth for sections it covers.

If the prior scoring was done weeks ago and material has shifted since (new shipped flows, new content live, repositioning, etc.), note "scored on YYYY-MM-DD; material has shifted since" and update any specific scores you have current evidence for.