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Layer 1: Marketing Architect (Human)

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What This Layer Is

You. The human designer, strategist, and operator of your marketing system. You’re not a “user” of a tool. You’re an architect who designs, builds, and operates marketing infrastructure. The AI agents are your team. The skills are your capabilities. The tools are your external interfaces. This is Layer 1—the top of the org chart—where vision, strategy, and decision-making live.

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The Identity Transformation

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From Tool User → To Marketing Architect

Tool UserMarketing Architect
Prompts AI one task at a timeDesigns systems that handle recurring workflows
Juggles 15 SaaS subscriptionsOwns integrated, version-controlled infrastructure
Works IN the business (reactive)Works ON the business (systematic)
Hopes the next tool solves problemsIdentifies bottlenecks and builds solutions
Produces generic AI outputsGenerates brand-consistent, verifiable work
Rents convenienceBuilds competency
Dependent on vendor roadmapsControls capabilities directly

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What This Means in Practice

As a Marketing Architect, you:
  • Design your “team” (which sub-agents exist, what they do)
  • Build capabilities (skills that agents can use)
  • Create workflows (domain commands for recurring tasks)
  • Maintain your brand system (strategy files, research domains)
  • Evolve your infrastructure deliberately
You’re not consuming a product. You’re building a competitive moat.

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Your Responsibilities

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1. Design the System

Define your org chart:
  • Which specialized roles (sub-agents) do you need?
    • Brand Analyst for market research?
    • Content Writer for blog posts and social media?
    • Campaign Strategist for multi-channel planning?
  • What skills should each role have access to?
  • How do they communicate?
Example: 
My Marketing System:

Sub-agents:
- Brand Analyst (market research, competitive analysis)
- Content Writer (blog posts, Twitter threads, LinkedIn posts)
- Campaign Strategist (multi-channel campaign planning)

Core Skills:
- Conducting Market Research
- Writing Brand-Consistent Content
- Managing Multi-Step Projects

Tools:
- Perplexity (research)
- Firecrawl (web scraping)
- Replicate (image generation)

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2. Maintain Your Brand System

Build and evolve your strategy infrastructure: 
/strategy/
├── STRATEGY.md               ← Entry point (progressive disclosure)
├── /core/
│   ├── narrative.md          ← Brand story
│   └── positioning.md        ← Market position
├── /messaging/
│   ├── pillars.md            ← Key themes
│   └── value-propositions.md
└── /voice/
    └── tone-guidelines.md
This is your brand bible. Every agent references these files to ensure brand consistency. Your job:
  • Keep strategy files up to date
  • Add new domains as needed (audience personas, content frameworks)
  • Ensure research backs up strategic claims (footnotes)

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3. Conduct and Organize Research

Build research domains for reusable insights: 
/research/
├── /category-landscape/
│   ├── RESEARCH.md           ← Progressive disclosure guide
│   ├── /data/                ← Input materials
│   ├── /execution/
│   │   └── /2025-10-20/      ← Timestamped research runs
│   │       ├── PLAN.md
│   │       ├── TODO.md
│   │       └── analyst-notes.md
│   └── /exports/             ← Outputs
└── /competitor-analysis/
    └── ... (same structure)
Research is temporal—you can run it multiple times and see how insights evolve. Your job:
  • Define research domains relevant to your market
  • Provide data inputs (transcripts, surveys, etc.)
  • Run research and capture insights
  • Reference research in strategy (create audit trail)

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4. Create Workflows (Domain Commands)

Build reusable commands for recurring tasks: 
.claude/commands/
├── /onboarding/
│   ├── build-messaging.md
│   └── discover-brand-story.md
├── /campaigns/
│   └── launch-sequence.md
└── /content/
    └── weekly-social-batch.md
Commands are like buttons in a UI—they trigger predefined workflows. Your job:
  • Identify recurring workflows
  • Document them as commands
  • Specify which skills and agents to use
  • Refine based on outcomes

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5. Select and Configure Tools

Decide which external services to integrate: Available via MCP:
  • Perplexity (research and fact-checking)
  • Firecrawl (web scraping)
  • Replicate (AI models, image generation)
  • Figma (design assets)
  • Slack (notifications)
Your job:
  • Choose tools based on your needs
  • Configure them in MCP settings
  • Map tools to relevant skills

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6. Collaborate with Your Operations Manager

Work with the primary AI agent:
  • Describe what you want to accomplish
  • Review plans before approving execution
  • Provide feedback to refine workflows
  • Approve or adjust TODO items during implementation
This is collaborative, not command-and-control.

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What You Own

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Full Ownership

You have complete control over:
ComponentLocationWhat It Is
Brand Strategy/strategy/Your brand bible (narrative, positioning, messaging)
Research Domains/research/Organized insights that back up strategy
Sub-agent Definitions.claude/agents/Roles, behaviors, communication styles
Domain Skills.claude/skills/{domain}/Capabilities specific to your workflows
Domain Commands.claude/commands/{domain}/Reusable workflow triggers
Tool SelectionsMCP configurationWhich external services to integrate

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Shared Ownership

You collaborate with infrastructure team on:
  • Core skills (orchestration, project management)
  • Skill creation patterns (via meta commands—coming soon)

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No Control

Infrastructure team owns:
  • Output style (Operations Manager behavior)
  • Meta commands (plan, implement)
  • Core architecture and validation
  • .claude/ folder structure conventions

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Your Daily Workflow

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Option A: Ad-Hoc Requests

For one-off tasks:
  1. Communicate with Operations Manager in plain English
  2. Describe what you want
  3. Operations Manager orchestrates (may delegate to sub-agents)
  4. Review output
  5. Iterate as needed
Example: 
You: "I need to analyze our competitor's new campaign and identify 3 positioning opportunities."

Operations Manager:
- Delegates to Brand Analyst sub-agent
- Brand Analyst uses "Conducting Competitive Research" skill
- Leverages Perplexity and Firecrawl tools
- Returns analysis with 3 opportunities

You: Review, provide feedback, refine

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Option B: Structured Workflows (Plan/Implement)

For multi-step projects:
  1. Use plan meta command
  2. Operations Manager creates PLAN.md (maps skills, agents, files)
  3. You review and approve
  4. Use implement meta command
  5. Operations Manager executes, creating TODO.md for tracking
  6. Work becomes visible and trackable
Example: 
You: "plan: Build messaging for our new product feature"

Operations Manager creates PLAN.md:
- Skills: Conducting Market Research, Writing Brand-Consistent Content
- Agents: Brand Analyst (research), Content Writer (messaging)
- Files: /strategy/core/narrative.md, /strategy/messaging/pillars.md
- Steps: 1) Research competitor messaging, 2) Draft positioning, 3) Create value props

You: Approve plan

You: "implement"

Operations Manager creates TODO.md and executes work systematically

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Option C: Domain Commands (Templated Workflows)

For recurring tasks:
  1. Invoke domain command: /onboarding/build-messaging
  2. Command specifies workflow, skills, agents
  3. Operations Manager executes predefined steps
  4. You get expected output
Example: 
You: "/onboarding/build-messaging"

Operations Manager executes command:
- Uses predefined workflow from .claude/commands/onboarding/build-messaging.md
- Delegates to specified agents
- Follows template structure
- Delivers messaging package

You: Receive output, minimal supervision needed

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Your Success Metrics

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How do you know you’re succeeding as a Marketing Architect?

1. Compounding Value
  • Your skills get better with refinement (not starting from scratch)
  • Your research accumulates over time (temporal domains)
  • Your system becomes faster and more capable
2. Reduced Tool Fatigue
  • Fewer SaaS subscriptions
  • Less copy-pasting between platforms
  • More systematic, less chaotic
3. Brand Consistency
  • AI outputs are verifiably on-brand
  • Strategy files ensure alignment
  • Audit trail (research → strategy → content) is clear
4. Working ON vs IN
  • You’re designing workflows, not executing every task
  • You’re identifying bottlenecks and building solutions
  • You’re strategic, not reactive
5. Proprietary Moat
  • Your system is unique to you
  • Competitors can’t replicate it by buying the same SaaS
  • It improves faster than market alternatives

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Common Questions

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Q: Do I need to code?

Not really. You work in an IDE and use Git, but you’re mostly:
  • Writing markdown files (strategy, skills)
  • Organizing directories
  • Describing workflows in plain English
If you can write a Google Doc, you can write a strategy file.

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Q: How much time investment is required?

Upfront: Setting up your brand system (strategy files, first sub-agents) might take 10-20 hours. Ongoing: Refinement and evolution is continuous but compounds. Each improvement makes future work faster. Think years, not months. This is infrastructure, not a quick win.

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Q: What if I don’t know what sub-agents or skills I need?

Start simple:
  1. Identify your most frequent workflow (content creation? research?)
  2. Create one sub-agent for that (Content Writer)
  3. Build one skill (Writing Brand-Consistent Content)
  4. Use it, learn, refine
  5. Add more as needs become clear

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Q: Can I migrate my existing brand guidelines into this system?

Yes! If you have:
  • Brand voice docs → /strategy/voice/
  • Messaging docs → /strategy/messaging/
  • Personas → /strategy/audience/
  • Research reports → /research/{domain}/data/
Just organize them into the file structure.

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Q: What if my brand strategy changes?

That’s the point! Version control (Git) means:
  • You can see evolution over time
  • You can revert changes if needed
  • Your strategy becomes a living document, not a static PDF

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Q: How do I know if I’m doing this right?

You’ll feel it:
  • Tasks that used to take hours now take minutes
  • Outputs are consistent and on-brand without babysitting
  • You’re thinking about “What capability should I build?” instead of “Which tool should I buy?”
You’re building leverage.

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The Mindset Shift

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Old Mindset (Tool User)

“I need to create social media content. Let me find a tool that generates posts.” Result: Generic output, no differentiation, tool dependency.

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New Mindset (Marketing Architect)

“I frequently create social media content. Let me build a ‘Social Content Generation’ skill that:
  • References my brand voice
  • Uses my messaging pillars
  • Follows my frameworks
  • Leverages appropriate tools (image generation, research)”
Result: Proprietary capability that compounds, brand consistency, competitive moat.

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What’s Next

Now that you understand your role, explore the other layers you’re designing: Or learn how your work maps to the file structure: File Structure
“You’re not using a tool. You’re designing a system. Act accordingly.”