# free-tool-strategy

> A Claude Code skill that plans engineering-as-marketing free tools — calculators, generators, graders, audits — that earn organic traffic, links, and qualified leads.

**Use case**: Plan a free tool that pulls leads, not noise

**Canonical URL**: https://agentcookbooks.com/skills/free-tool-strategy/

**Topics**: claude-code, skills, marketing, growth

**Trigger phrases**: "engineering as marketing", "free tool", "build a tool for leads", "ROI calculator", "grader tool"

**Source**: [Corey Haines](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/free-tool-strategy)

**License**: MIT

---

## What it does

`free-tool-strategy` is a Claude Code skill from Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). It turns Claude into an engineering-as-marketing strategist who evaluates free-tool ideas against three filters: does the tool ride a real search query, does it produce a result a user wants to share, and does it lead naturally into the paid product? The skill activates when you mention "engineering as marketing", "free tool", "calculator", "grader tool", or "build a tool for leads".

The output of a session is a tool brief: tool concept, target query and search volume hypothesis, MVP feature scope, lead-capture moment (gated result vs ungated + email opt-in), distribution plan, and the success metric that disqualifies it if it underperforms.

## When to use it

Reach for it when:

- You have an engineering-light moment and want a marketing asset that compounds
- A specific high-intent query has no good free tool today and you have the data to build one
- Your category has obvious "audit / score / generate" formats and nobody owns them yet

When *not* to reach for it:

- You don't have engineering capacity; tools require ongoing maintenance
- The tool would just be your product with steps removed — that's a free trial, not a marketing asset

## Install

The skill is distributed via Corey Haines's [marketing-skills repo](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). Install via the repo's recommended path — copy the [`free-tool-strategy` SKILL.md](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/free-tool-strategy) into your project's `.claude/skills/free-tool-strategy/` directory, or use the repo's plugin install if you've set it up.

Once installed, the skill activates on the trigger phrases above. The first time it runs, it will check for `.agents/product-marketing-context.md` (or `.claude/product-marketing-context.md`) — populating that file with your product context first dramatically improves output quality across all of Haines's marketing skills.

## What a session looks like

A typical session has three phases:

1. **Idea filtering.** Three filters: search query exists, result is shareable, leads into the product. Most ideas die here, which is the point.
2. **MVP scoping.** What's the smallest version that's still genuinely useful? Where's the lead-capture moment — is the result gated, or do we capture on email opt-in for "save your result"?
3. **Distribution + metrics.** Launch plan (Product Hunt, directories, content), embed strategy, success metric (organic traffic, signups attributed, link velocity).

The discipline that makes it work: a free tool that doesn't ride a query and isn't shareable is just an unfunded side project. The three filters kill 80% of ideas, including most of yours, and that's correct.

## Receipts

Honest reporting on what `free-tool-strategy` produces and where it has limits:

**Where it works well:**
- The three-filter test is brutally good at killing tools that would have flopped
- The lead-capture-moment design avoids both the over-gated tool (which kills traffic) and the unmonetized tool (which kills the business case)
- Distribution plan keeps you from launching to crickets

**Where it backfires:**
- It evaluates ideas, it doesn't generate them — you need to bring the candidate list
- Building tools is genuinely engineering work; the skill can scope but not ship

**Pattern that works:** evaluate three candidate ideas in parallel and pick the one that scores highest across all three filters. Going deep on one mediocre idea wastes the engineering moment.

## Source and attribution

Originally written by [Corey Haines](https://corey.co). The canonical SKILL.md and any supporting files live in the [`free-tool-strategy` folder](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/free-tool-strategy) of his [marketing-skills repository](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills).

License: MIT. You can install, adapt, and redistribute the skill, with attribution preserved.

This page documents the skill from a practitioner's perspective. For the formal spec and any updates, defer to the source repo.