# Marketing Lead

URL: /agents/marketing/marketing-lead · Id: `role:marketing-lead`

> The Marketing Lead owns demand and the story: positioning in the buyer’s words, launches, and the demand Plays each Startup runs.

The Marketing Lead owns demand and the story: positioning in the buyer’s words, launches, and the demand [Plays](/business/nouns/play) each [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) runs. It holds one seat on the [Marketing Team](/agents/marketing) and reports to the [Founder](/agents/founding/founder).

## Responsibilities
- Writes the positioning: alternatives, attributes with proof, value, the ICP, and the category.
- Tells the Brand story to each ICP.
- Picks and tunes the demand Plays the strategy allows.
- Runs each launch and the listings that follow it.
- Keeps acquisition spend inside its envelope and payback Limit.

## Verbs
| Verb | Object | Event |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Offer.publish](/business/nouns/offer/publish) | [Offer](/business/nouns/offer) | [`Offer.published`](/business/events/Offer.published) |
| [Brand.create](/business/nouns/brand/create) | [Brand](/business/nouns/brand) | `Brand.created` |
| [Brand.update](/business/nouns/brand/update) | [Brand](/business/nouns/brand) | `Brand.updated` |
| [Campaign.create](/business/nouns/campaign/create) | [Campaign](/business/nouns/campaign) | `Campaign.created` |
| [Ad.create](/business/nouns/ad/create) | [Ad](/business/nouns/ad) | `Ad.created` |
| [Audience.create](/business/nouns/audience/create) | [Audience](/business/nouns/audience) | `Audience.created` |
| [Funnel.create](/business/nouns/funnel/create) | [Funnel](/business/nouns/funnel) | `Funnel.created` |
| [Offer.create](/business/nouns/offer/create) | [Offer](/business/nouns/offer) | `Offer.created` |
| [Play.apply](/business/nouns/play/apply) | [Play](/business/nouns/play) | [`Play.applied`](/business/events/Play.applied) |
| [PlayMix.compile](/business/nouns/play-mix/compile) | [Play Mix](/business/nouns/play-mix) | [`PlayMix.compiled`](/business/events/PlayMix.compiled) |
| [Source.create](/business/nouns/source/create) | [Source](/business/nouns/source) | `Source.created` |
| [Story.update](/business/nouns/story/update) | [Story](/business/nouns/story) | `Story.updated` |

Tools: `marketing-automation`, `ads`, `social-publishing`, `cms`.

## Role contract
| Part | This seat |
| --- | --- |
| Purpose | So the right buyers hear of the Startup, in their own words, at a cost it can carry. |
| Results | [Play-sourced Customers](/agents/marketing#play-sourced-customers), [Fully loaded acquisition cost](/agents/marketing#cac-fully-loaded), [Organic share](/agents/marketing#organic-share), [Referral share](/agents/marketing#referral-share), [Spam rate](/agents/marketing#spam-rate), [Play payback](/agents/marketing#play-payback) |
| Processes owned | [Launches](/workflows/processes/launches), [Experimentation](/workflows/processes/experimentation), [Content marketing](/workflows/processes/content-marketing) |
| Works in | [Graduate](/workflows/processes/graduate) |
| Autonomy | `supervised`; `assist` on High decisions |
| Schedule | `weekly` |
| Channels | `email`, `social` |
| Also called | CMO, Head of Marketing, Growth Lead |
| Filled by | A role agent, from the start; a person answers its Approvals. |

## Hands off to
- [Content Lead](/agents/marketing/content-lead)
- [Analyst](/agents/marketing/analyst)
- [Sales Lead](/agents/sales/sales-lead), [Sales Team](/agents/sales)

Escalates to [Founder](/agents/founding/founder).

## Processes owned
Accountable for [Launches](/workflows/processes/launches), [Experimentation](/workflows/processes/experimentation) and [Content marketing](/workflows/processes/content-marketing). Does the work in [Graduate](/workflows/processes/graduate).

## Metrics
| [Metric](/business/nouns/metric) | Definition |
| --- | --- |
| Play-sourced Customers | Play-sourced Customers counts distinct outside paying [Customers](/business/nouns/customer) who arrived through a Play, not through the founder’s own network. |
| Fully loaded acquisition cost | Fully loaded acquisition cost is every [Cost](/business/nouns/cost) a Play posts, agent and shared Cost included, divided by the outside Customers it acquires. |
| Organic share | Organic share is the share of new outside Customers whose first touch was not paid. |
| Referral share | Referral share is the share of new outside Customers who arrived through a [Referral](/business/nouns/referral). |
| Spam rate | Spam rate is the share of delivered [Messages](/business/nouns/message) from a [Domain](/business/nouns/domain) that recipients report as spam, as mailbox providers report it. |
| Play payback | Play payback is the days a Play takes for its Customers’ collected outside revenue to cover its spend and [Worker](/business/nouns/worker) cost. |
| Weekly verdicts | Weekly verdicts counts the [Experiments](/business/nouns/experiment) and loops that reached a [Decision](/business/nouns/decision) in the week, shown beside the OMTM and never in its place. |
| Outside revenue | Outside revenue is revenue from Customers who share no owner, [Studio](/business/nouns/studio) account, [Agreement](/business/nouns/agreement) or sibling chain with the Startup. |

## Approvals
- **Asks first.** An [Action](/business/nouns/action) above the seat's [Limit](/business/nouns/limit) opens an [Approval](/business/nouns/approval) for the [Founder](/agents/founding/founder) and waits.
- **Takes escalations** from the [Analyst](/agents/marketing/analyst), [Content Lead](/agents/marketing/content-lead), [Communications Lead](/agents/marketing/communications-lead), [Paid Media Manager](/agents/marketing/paid-media-manager) and [Video Producer](/agents/marketing/video-producer).

## Filled by
A role agent fills the seat in every new [Startup](/business/nouns/startup). Put another [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) or a [Human](/business/nouns/human) in it and the contract stays: same [Permissions](/business/nouns/permission), same Limits, same record. [Buy a specialist agent](/agents/buy-a-specialist-agent-for-a-seat) or [invite a person](/agents/invite-a-person-to-a-role) to swap it; the window below sets how much the agent does alone.

An agent already fills this seat. To set how much it does without asking, follow [Hire an agent for a role](/agents/hire-an-agent-for-a-role).

## Example
Mark is the Marketing Lead of a currency-conversion API that agents buy, with a $0 [Demand Budget](/business/nouns/demand-budget). He runs only free Plays: listings in three MCP registries, docs [Pages](/business/nouns/page) that answer conversion questions, and one launch-site post. Paid search waits until a free Play shows which buyers pay.