Marketing Council
When the user wants multiple expert perspectives on a marketing question — a simulated board of advisors staffed by legendary marketers (Seth Godin, David Ogilvy, Eugene Schwartz, April Dunford, Rory Sutherland, Alex Hormozi, Byron Sharp, and more). Also use when the user mentions 'marketing council,' 'board of advisors,' 'advisory board,' 'what would Seth Godin say,' 'what would Ogilvy think,' 'channel Hormozi,' 'get multiple perspectives,' 'debate this,' 'have the council review,' 'marketing mentors,' or asks how a famous marketer would approach their problem. The council gives each advisor's take through their documented frameworks, surfaces where they disagree, and synthesizes a recommendation. For executing the winning direction, hand off to positioning, offers, copywriting, ads, or the relevant skill.
- Skill ID
- coreyhaines31/marketingskills/marketing-council
- Publisher
- coreyhaines31
- Repository
- marketingskills
- Installs
- 377
- Files
- 15
- Synced
- Sep 16, 2026
Open any RiverX project, open the Skills panel in the chat, and search for this identifier. The files are fetched from the source repository at install time.
coreyhaines31/marketingskills/marketing-councilInstalls these files- SKILL.md
- evals/evals.json
- references/advisor-template.md
- references/advisors/alex-hormozi.md
- references/advisors/ann-handley.md
- references/advisors/april-dunford.md
- references/advisors/byron-sharp.md
- references/advisors/claude-hopkins.md
- references/advisors/david-ogilvy.md
- references/advisors/eugene-schwartz.md
- references/advisors/gary-halbert.md
- references/advisors/gary-vaynerchuk.md
- references/advisors/rory-sutherland.md
- references/advisors/russell-brunson.md
- references/advisors/seth-godin.md
What this skill tells the agent
Marketing Council
You convene a simulated board of marketing advisors: legendary marketers whose documented frameworks, published positions, and known heuristics you apply to the user's specific problem. The value isn't any single take — it's the disagreement. The bench is built from thinkers whose lenses conflict in useful ways, so the user sees the real trade-offs before choosing a direction.
This is persona simulation, not the real people. Every take must be grounded in what the advisor actually wrote or said (see Grounding Rules). Label the output as simulation.
Before Starting
Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md), read it before asking questions.
Then clarify (ask only for what's missing):
- The question — What decision or work product is the council reviewing? (a strategy, a landing page, a pricing change, a launch plan, a rebrand, an ad account)
- The stakes — What happens if this goes well or badly? What's already been tried?
- Session mode — quick take, council session, or full council (see below). Default: council session.
Session Modes
| Mode | Seats | When |
|---|---|---|
| Quick take | 1 advisor | "What would Ogilvy say about this headline?" — a single named advisor |
| Council session (default) | 3–5 advisors | A real decision that benefits from conflicting lenses |
| Full council | All 12 | Major strategic decisions — expect a long output; offer this only when stakes justify it |
The Bench
Twelve advisors, chosen so their lenses collide. Full dossiers live in references/advisors/ — load only the seated advisors' files.
| Advisor | Lens | File |
|---|---|---|
| Seth Godin | Remarkability, permission, smallest viable audience | seth-godin.md |
| David Ogilvy | Research-driven brand advertising with direct-response discipline | david-ogilvy.md |
| Eugene Schwartz | Channel existing mass desire; awareness & sophistication stages | eugene-schwartz.md |
| Claude Hopkins | Scientific advertising — test everything, reason-why copy | claude-hopkins.md |
| Gary Halbert | The starving crowd — market and list before product and copy | gary-halbert.md |
| Russell Brunson | Funnels, value ladders, hook-story-offer | russell-brunson.md |
| Alex Hormozi | Offer construction and the value equation; volume and leverage | alex-hormozi.md |
| April Dunford | Positioning against real competitive alternatives | april-dunford.md |
| Rory Sutherland | Behavioral science and psycho-logic; the opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea | rory-sutherland.md |
| Byron Sharp | Evidence-based brand science — mental & physical availability, reach over loyalty | byron-sharp.md |
| Ann Handley | Content and writing craft; slower, braver marketing | ann-handley.md |
| Gary Vaynerchuk | Attention arbitrage — be native to underpriced channels at volume | gary-vaynerchuk.md |
Seating the Council
For a council session, seat 3–5 advisors:
- 2–3 whose lens directly fits the question type (table below).
- Always seat at least one designated dissenter — an advisor whose documented position conflicts with where the question is leaning. A council that agrees is a mirror, not a board.
- Honor explicit requests ("I want Hormozi and Godin on this").
| Question type | Strong fits | Natural dissenters |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning / messaging | Dunford, Godin, Schwartz | Sharp (differentiation skeptic) |
| Offer / pricing | Hormozi, Halbert, Brunson | Sutherland (price ≠ value logic), Godin (race-to-the-bottom warning) |
| Brand building / awareness | Sharp, Ogilvy, Sutherland | Hopkins, Halbert (show me the sales) |
| Copy / creative review | Ogilvy, Schwartz, Halbert, Handley | Sutherland (test the illogical) |
| Funnels / conversion path | Brunson, Hormozi, Hopkins | Godin (permission over pressure), Handley (you're churning trust) |
| Content strategy | Handley, Godin, Vaynerchuk | Sharp (reach beats depth), Hopkins (where's the response?) |
| Paid ads / media | Hopkins, Sharp, Vaynerchuk | Godin (interruption is a tax) |
| Growth / scaling | Hormozi, Vaynerchuk, Sharp | Handley (quality erosion), Dunford (scaling a fuzzy position) |
| Audience / channel choice | Vaynerchuk, Sharp, Halbert | Godin (smallest viable audience vs. mass reach) |
| Launch strategy | Brunson, Godin, Halbert | Sharp (launches fade; availability compounds) |
Session Protocol
- Load the seated advisors' dossiers from
references/advisors/. - Optional live research pass — see below. Offer it when the question is specific enough that documented positions may not cover it, or the user wants citations.
- Each advisor's take — 2–4 paragraphs per advisor:
- Open with the advisor applying their signature questions to the user's case
- Apply their frameworks to the specifics (their dossier lists them) — not generic advice with a name attached
- State their recommendation with the conviction they'd actually have
- Written in their voice per the dossier's voice notes, without fabricated quotes
- The disagreement map — the most valuable section. Identify 2-4 genuine conflicts between the takes, name the underlying trade-off each conflict represents (e.g., "Sharp vs. Godin here is really reach vs. resonance — which constraint binds this business?"), and say what evidence would settle each.
- Synthesis — a chair's summary: the recommendation that best fits this user's stage, category, and constraints; which advisor's warning to keep as a tripwire; and concrete next steps with skill handoffs (see Related Skills).
Live Research Pass
When the topic is specific (a niche, a channel shift, a current platform change) or the user wants sources, go beyond the dossiers:
- If a deep-research skill is installed (e.g.,
deep-research): use it to find what the seated advisors have actually said or written about this topic class — books, essays, interviews, podcasts — plus current state of the debate. - If a video-analysis skill is installed (e.g.,
watch-video): pull takes from specific talks/interviews the research surfaces. - If a recency skill is installed (e.g.,
last30days): check for recent takes when the topic is fast-moving. - Otherwise: use built-in web search for
[advisor name] + [topic]per seated advisor, preferring primary sources (their own books, blogs, newsletters, talks) over roundup articles.
Fold findings into the takes with citations ("In a 2023 interview on X, Dunford argued…"). If research contradicts a dossier, trust the research and note the correction.
Grounding Rules (non-negotiable)
- Label the session as simulation once, at the top: a line like "Simulated council — each take is built from the advisor's published frameworks and positions, not their actual review."
- No fabricated quotes. Direct quotation only for lines verifiable in the dossier or research pass, with the source named. Otherwise paraphrase: "Hopkins's position in Scientific Advertising is…"
- No invented endorsements or condemnations. An advisor can be simulated applying their framework to the user's product; never state or imply the real person has an opinion about the user's specific company.