stage 1 · question inventory free. Every question asked three or more times in support and community. The only research step, and it replaces the workshop where a team guesses at positioning.stage 2 · answer library free except time. One permanent page per question, sourced and dated. Each page is a destination, which every later stage requires and most campaigns lack.stage 3 · the citation $700 for a press release, $900 with promotion. A dated sentence on a domain you do not own, delivering almost no traffic alone.stage 4 · the paid layer the mix. Point paid distribution at the release and the answer pages, never a generic homepage. The cold reader lands on a publication or a precise answer, and both do work your marketing page cannot.stage 5 · screening free, and it decides everything. Of 1,820 measured accounts in our roster, 29% return exactly zero. Rejecting two thirds costs nothing and moves the result more than any creative decision.stage 6 · the case written from whichever category stage 4 produced most, sent to projects at that exact stage, no pitch attached.Now the compounding. Stage 2 makes stage 4 convert. Stage 3 makes it credible. Stage 5 makes it affordable. Stage 4 tells you what to write in stage 6. Stage 6 generates new questions, which feed stage 1.
The loop closes, and each pass is cheaper: the library is larger and the screening list better.
What breaks it. Remove stage 2 and it becomes a spend. Remove stage 5 and stage 4 silently doubles in cost. Remove stage 1 and you answer questions nobody asked, beautifully.
Why almost nobody runs it: the first three stages produce nothing visible for weeks, and all three are free. A free line item with no immediate output is the easiest thing to cut, and it is the one holding the rest up.
