SOP-091 — Channel plan & publishing cadence

SOP · owner: Growth (Growth Director). Layer: SOP/Runbook (docs/canon.md). The channel concept, 8-step format, and chunk taxonomy live in docs/concept.md; the growth-metric contract and hard boundaries live in docs/units/growth/charter.md — not restated here. This is one of the unit’s two Director-owned recurring procedures (artifact-matrix §3 ✓): the procedure that turns a concept/product brief into a channel strategy with a named audience segment, a distribution plan, a publishing cadence, and falsifiable growth metrics.

Interface Contract

Inputs: product brief / launch instruction ← from CGEO · trigger: product brief delivered
Inputs: funnel / cohort data ← from Data & Analytics Director · trigger: briefing posted
Inputs: calendar + script package for review ← from Content Strategist · trigger: content commissioned
Outputs: cadence + segment commission → to Content Strategist · trigger: content commissioned
Outputs: growth-metric definitions → to Data & Analytics Director · trigger: requirements issued
Outputs: platform growth-feature requirements → to Engineering Director · trigger: requirements issued
Outputs: registered-learner acquisition→retention seam → to Customer Success Director · trigger: audience handed to retention
Outputs: go-to-market plan → to Principal · trigger: review requested
Outputs: channel strategy / GTM plan → to Archivist · trigger: artifact approved
Handoff trigger (in): a concept/product brief, a CGEO launch instruction, or a direct request opens a growth question
Handoff trigger (out): a channel strategy with a named segment, distribution plan, cadence, and metric set is packaged — commissioned to the Content Strategist, defined for Data & Analytics, and (for GTM) routed to the Principal for approval
Definition of Done before handoff:
- [ ] One growth lever named (not multi-headed); audience segment defined (who · where they live · the need this channel uniquely serves)
- [ ] Distribution plan: primary channel · derivatives · secondary platforms with native framing · timing · re-engagement hook
- [ ] Publishing cadence set with explicit rationale (frequency · series pacing · priority order under constraint) — built from audience behaviour, not production convenience
- [ ] Metric set complete: primary (non-vanity) · guardrail · decision rule (charter §metric contract)
- [ ] Commission to the Content Strategist carries segment · lever · cadence · 30/90-day success metric
- [ ] Metric definitions handed to Data & Analytics; no telemetry built by Growth
- [ ] GTM plan routed to the Principal for approval before execution
- [ ] No vanity metric used as a primary metric; no product concept originated
- [ ] Learnings captured to docs/knowledge/growth/ if the work surfaced one
- [ ] Package handed to the Archivist (0 drift)

Triggers — registration status. product brief delivered is registered (docs/handoff-triggers.md Wave-2 block); review requested and artifact approved are registered (seed block). content commissioned and audience handed to retention are registered (Waves 3+4 block). growth metrics defined / growth requirements issued were folded into the existing requirements issued (registry “Folded as a synonym” note) — this SOP’s IC block and body use requirements issued directly. The Data & Analytics (SOP-060) and Engineering (SOP-054) consumers declare a placeholder-producer requirements issued sink, so those edges reconcile as matched (fan-in); the → Principal edge is exempt (Principal) per interface-contract-spec.md §3.1.1 R2.

Purpose

Turn a concept/product brief or a direct request into a deployable channel plan: a named audience segment, a distribution strategy, a publishing cadence with rationale, and a falsifiable metric set — so the channel grows a qualified audience on evidence, with the segment defined before the channel is chosen and a non-vanity primary metric in hand, never on “post more often.”

When to use

Whenever the channel needs positioning or a go-to-market plan: a new content series, a platform launch, a major feature drop, or a CGEO product brief arriving for go-to-market translation. Also when Data & Analytics returns funnel/cohort data that should revise the cadence or the metric thresholds.

Flow

flowchart LR
  A["Growth question<br/>(one lever)"] --> B["Benchmark the<br/>landscape"]
  B --> C{"Audience segment<br/>defined?"}
  C -->|no| F["Define segment:<br/>who · where · need"]
  C -->|yes| D["Design distribution<br/>+ set cadence"]
  F --> D
  D --> E["Define metrics<br/>(primary · guardrail · rule)"]
  E --> G["Commission Content Strategist<br/>(segment · lever · cadence)"]
  E --> DA["Metric defs →<br/>Data &amp; Analytics"]
  G --> H["Review calendar +<br/>packages vs. strategy"]
  D --> P["GTM plan →<br/>Principal (approval)"]
  H --> AR["→ Archivist"]
  classDef s fill:#1d4ed8,color:#fff,stroke:#1e3a8a
  classDef d fill:#0f766e,color:#fff,stroke:#134e4a
  class A,B,F,D,E,G,DA,H,P,AR s
  class C d

Text fallback: name the one growth lever → benchmark the creator landscape for differentiated positioning → is the audience segment defined? (no → define it: who they are, where they live, the need this channel uniquely serves; yes → proceed) → design the distribution plan and set the publishing cadence with rationale → define the metric set (primary · guardrail · decision rule) → commission the Content Strategist (segment · lever · cadence · success metric) and hand metric definitions to Data & Analytics → review the calendar and script packages against the strategy → route the GTM plan to the Principal for approval and hand all docs to the Archivist.

Steps

Name the growth lever — one focused question (subscriber acquisition? platform sign-ups? series launch? channel-level retention?). If the request is multi-headed, prioritise and say so.
Benchmark the landscape — Grep/Glob prior competitive intelligence in the repo first; synthesise into a view on differentiated positioning (not a list of creators).
Define the audience segment — who they are (specific, not “learners”), where they currently live, what they need this channel is uniquely positioned to provide, and how the concept’s ethos maps to that need. If the segment is not clear, stop — the distribution choice follows from the audience.
Design the distribution plan — primary channel (YouTube) · derivatives (Shorts, newsletter, template/prompt/checklist per the concept) · secondary platforms with platform-native framing · timing relative to the primary publish · the re-engagement hook back to channel/platform.
Set the publishing cadence — frequency target with rationale, series pacing, priority order when capacity is constrained. Built from audience behaviour, not production convenience. This becomes the constraint the Content Strategist’s calendar honours.
Define the metric set — primary (non-vanity) · guardrail · decision rule (charter §metric contract). Hand the definitions to Data & Analytics (requirements issued); they instrument, Growth interprets.
Commission the Content Strategist (content commissioned) with segment · lever · cadence · 30/90-day success metric; review the resulting calendar and the Video Producer’s packages against the strategy, and resolve drift before production.
Route platform growth-feature requirements to Engineering (requirements issued) and the acquisition→retention seam to Customer Success (audience handed to retention) where applicable.
Route the GTM plan to the Principal for approval before execution (review requested); hand the strategy/plan to the Archivist (artifact approved).
Capture the learning — record any durable audience-intelligence pattern to docs/knowledge/growth/ and link it.

Roles / approvers

Run by the Growth Director. The Principal approves go-to-market plans before execution and may direct positioning. The CGEO (cluster head) approves the unit’s operating documents and provides product/launch briefs. Data & Analytics instruments the metric definitions; Engineering implements platform growth features; Creative holds the brand gate on derivative assets; Customer Success receives the acquisition→retention seam — each in their own lane.

Guardrails

Qualified growth over vanity metrics — no plan ships with a raw view/subscriber/ impression count as its primary metric; name a non-vanity primary, a guardrail, and a decision rule.
Distribution follows the audience — never recommend a channel because it is easy; name who and where first, with the reasoning explicit.
Stay in lane — do not originate product concepts (Innovation), design retention programs (Customer Success), make brand/visual calls (Creative), conduct primary user research (Design Research), edit foundational docs (Documentarian), or build telemetry (Data & Analytics). Hand across the seam; do not cross it.
Surface disagreement in writing — if the Principal’s/CGEO’s direction conflicts with the audience evidence, say so explicitly before complying (GR-3).
State the empty state — no audience, no baseline, no produced chunk → say so; never fabricate a number or a segment.
Never touch the Principal’s personal information — PA-only.
Do not restate the concept’s format/chunk taxonomy or the metric contract — link to docs/concept.md and the charter.

See also: SOP-092 (content-calendar) · SOP-093/094 (Video Producer) · docs/units/growth/charter.md · docs/concept.md · docs/handoff-triggers.md.