1---
2name: free-tool-strategy
3description: 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," "free resource," "ROI calculator," "grader tool," "audit tool," "should I build a free tool," or "tools for lead gen." Use this whenever someone wants to build something useful and give it away to attract leads or earn links. For downloadable content lead magnets (ebooks, checklists, templates), see lead-magnets.
4metadata:
5  version: 1.1.0
6---
7 
8# Free Tool Strategy (Engineering as Marketing)
9 
10You 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.
11 
12## Initial Assessment
13 
14**Check for product marketing context first:**
15If `.agents/product-marketing-context.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing-context.md` in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
16 
17Before designing a tool strategy, understand:
18 
191. **Business Context** - What's the core product? Who is the target audience? What problems do they have?
20 
212. **Goals** - Lead generation? SEO/traffic? Brand awareness? Product education?
22 
233. **Resources** - Technical capacity to build? Ongoing maintenance bandwidth? Budget for promotion?
24 
25---
26 
27## Core Principles
28 
29### 1. Solve a Real Problem
30- Tool must provide genuine value
31- Solves a problem your audience actually has
32- Useful even without your main product
33 
34### 2. Adjacent to Core Product
35- Related to what you sell
36- Natural path from tool to product
37- Educates on problem you solve
38 
39### 3. Simple and Focused
40- Does one thing well
41- Low friction to use
42- Immediate value
43 
44### 4. Worth the Investment
45- Lead value × expected leads > build cost + maintenance
46 
47---
48 
49## Tool Types Overview
50 
51| Type | Examples | Best For |
52|------|----------|----------|
53| Calculators | ROI, savings, pricing estimators | Decisions involving numbers |
54| Generators | Templates, policies, names | Creating something quickly |
55| Analyzers | Website graders, SEO auditors | Evaluating existing work |
56| Testers | Meta tag preview, speed tests | Checking if something works |
57| Libraries | Icon sets, templates, snippets | Reference material |
58| Interactive | Tutorials, playgrounds, quizzes | Learning/understanding |
59 
60**For detailed tool types and examples**: See [references/tool-types.md](references/tool-types.md)
61 
62---
63 
64## Ideation Framework
65 
66### Start with Pain Points
67 
681. **What problems does your audience Google?** - Search query research, common questions
69 
702. **What manual processes are tedious?** - Spreadsheet tasks, repetitive calculations
71 
723. **What do they need before buying your product?** - Assessments, planning, comparisons
73 
744. **What information do they wish they had?** - Data they can't easily access, benchmarks
75 
76### Validate the Idea
77 
78- **Search demand**: Is there search volume? How competitive?
79- **Uniqueness**: What exists? How can you be 10x better?
80- **Lead quality**: Does this audience match buyers?
81- **Build feasibility**: How complex? Can you scope an MVP?
82 
83---
84 
85## Lead Capture Strategy
86 
87### Gating Options
88 
89| Approach | Pros | Cons |
90|----------|------|------|
91| Fully gated | Maximum capture | Lower usage |
92| Partially gated | Balance of both | Common pattern |
93| Ungated + optional | Maximum reach | Lower capture |
94| Ungated entirely | Pure SEO/brand | No direct leads |
95 
96### Lead Capture Best Practices
97- Value exchange clear: "Get your full report"
98- Minimal friction: Email only
99- Show preview of what they'll get
100- Optional: Segment by asking one qualifying question
101 
102---
103 
104## SEO Considerations
105 
106### Keyword Strategy
107**Tool landing page**: "[thing] calculator", "[thing] generator", "free [tool type]"
108 
109**Supporting content**: "How to [use case]", "What is [concept]"
110 
111### Link Building
112Free tools attract links because:
113- Genuinely useful (people reference them)
114- Unique (can't link to just any page)
115- Shareable (social amplification)
116 
117---
118 
119## Build vs. Buy
120 
121### Build Custom
122When: Unique concept, core to brand, high strategic value, have dev capacity
123 
124### Use No-Code Tools
125Options: Outgrow, Involve.me, Typeform, Tally, Bubble, Webflow
126When: Speed to market, limited dev resources, testing concept
127 
128### Embed Existing
129When: Something good exists, white-label available, not core differentiator
130 
131---
132 
133## MVP Scope
134 
135### Minimum Viable Tool
1361. Core functionality only—does the one thing, works reliably
1372. Essential UX—clear input, obvious output, mobile works
1383. Basic lead capture—email collection, leads go somewhere useful
139 
140### What to Skip Initially
141Account creation, saving results, advanced features, perfect design, every edge case
142 
143---
144 
145## Evaluation Scorecard
146 
147Rate each factor 1-5:
148 
149| Factor | Score |
150|--------|-------|
151| Search demand exists | ___ |
152| Audience match to buyers | ___ |
153| Uniqueness vs. existing | ___ |
154| Natural path to product | ___ |
155| Build feasibility | ___ |
156| Maintenance burden (inverse) | ___ |
157| Link-building potential | ___ |
158| Share-worthiness | ___ |
159 
160**25+**: Strong candidate | **15-24**: Promising | **<15**: Reconsider
161 
162---
163 
164## Task-Specific Questions
165 
1661. What existing tools does your audience use for workarounds?
1672. How do you currently generate leads?
1683. What technical resources are available?
1694. What's the timeline and budget?
170 
171---
172 
173## Related Skills
174 
175- **lead-magnets**: For downloadable content lead magnets (ebooks, checklists, templates)
176- **page-cro**: For optimizing the tool's landing page
177- **seo-audit**: For SEO-optimizing the tool
178- **analytics-tracking**: For measuring tool usage
179- **email-sequence**: For nurturing leads from the tool
180