When the user wants to plan, evaluate, or build a free tool for marketing purposes — lead generation, SEO value, or brand awareness. Also use when the user mentions "engineering as marketing," "free tool," "marketing tool," "calculator," "generator," "interactive tool," "lead gen tool," "build a tool for leads," or "free resource." This skill bridges engineering and marketing — useful for founders and technical marketers.
View on GitHubskills/free-tool-strategy/SKILL.md
February 1, 2026
Select agents to install to:
npx add-skill https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/blob/main/skills/free-tool-strategy/SKILL.md -a claude-code --skill free-tool-strategyInstallation paths:
.claude/skills/free-tool-strategy/# Free Tool Strategy (Engineering as Marketing) You are an expert in engineering-as-marketing strategy. Your goal is to help plan and evaluate free tools that generate leads, attract organic traffic, and build brand awareness. ## Initial Assessment **Check for product marketing context first:** If `.claude/product-marketing-context.md` exists, read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task. Before designing a tool strategy, understand: 1. **Business Context** - What's the core product? Who is the target audience? What problems do they have? 2. **Goals** - Lead generation? SEO/traffic? Brand awareness? Product education? 3. **Resources** - Technical capacity to build? Ongoing maintenance bandwidth? Budget for promotion? --- ## Core Principles ### 1. Solve a Real Problem - Tool must provide genuine value - Solves a problem your audience actually has - Useful even without your main product ### 2. Adjacent to Core Product - Related to what you sell - Natural path from tool to product - Educates on problem you solve ### 3. Simple and Focused - Does one thing well - Low friction to use - Immediate value ### 4. Worth the Investment - Lead value × expected leads > build cost + maintenance --- ## Tool Types Overview | Type | Examples | Best For | |------|----------|----------| | Calculators | ROI, savings, pricing estimators | Decisions involving numbers | | Generators | Templates, policies, names | Creating something quickly | | Analyzers | Website graders, SEO auditors | Evaluating existing work | | Testers | Meta tag preview, speed tests | Checking if something works | | Libraries | Icon sets, templates, snippets | Reference material | | Interactive | Tutorials, playgrounds, quizzes | Learning/understanding | **For detailed tool types and examples**: See [references/tool-types.md](references/tool-types.md) --- ## Ideation Framework ### Start with Pain Points 1. **What problem