The Strategy Signal — About
You’re flying blind on your next client pitch.
You have the experience. You have the instincts. But when a client asks what is working right now, you’re pulling from memory, gut feel, and whatever showed up in your LinkedIn feed last Tuesday.
That’s the gap. Marketing leaders, fractional CMOs, agency strategists: you are expected to walk into every room with a current, cross-industry read on what is actually moving the needle.
And the honest answer is: who has time to do that research?
I do.
Every week, I spend 7+ hours breaking down one real campaign. You get the mechanics, verified metrics, a named pattern, and a client-ready checklist, and a free GPT all in under 10 minutes.
What each issue covers
One campaign autopsy with verified numbers. The high-level strategic pattern, named and made transferable. Cross-industry proof showing the same mechanic at work in completely different sectors. A failure analysis showing exactly where the approach fell apart. And a checklist you can bring to your next strategy session.
Past breakdowns have covered campaigns from WhatsApp, Under Armour, Liquid Death, Nike, and Chime.
Last 2 months. So you’re up to date and the metrics have matured.
Who this is for
Marketing leaders who work with clients. Fractional CMOs. Agency strategists. VPs running multiple brands.
People who need to walk in prepared, with a cross-industry read built from actual research.
If clients call you for a strategic recommendation by Thursday, this is your Monday morning briefing.
Why I built this
I’m Matt Heyn. I spent 20 years developing a specific skill set, deep listening, pattern recognition, and the ability to sit with complexity long enough to see what’s actually happening underneath the surface. That training came from spiritual care and clinical healthcare. 20 years as a minister, 9 years in formal theological education, 15 years as a healthcare chaplain and 8 years as a clinical spiritual educator. The application landed in marketing strategy and ghostwriting.
I build content strategies for executives using a therapeutic interview process, 45 minutes of deep-listening conversation that surfaces expertise most people don’t realize they’re sitting on. That same instinct for seeing hidden patterns drives how I research campaigns for The Strategy Signal.
With the research process I try to be transparent: three LLMs cross-referenced across three research phases. Every metric verified against primary company sources and industry reporting. Roughly 25-50 sources per issue across 4+ industry verticals. I show my work because the process is part of the value.
Subscribe: Here’s what you get
When you subscribe you automatically get…
One email per week. One campaign broken down to its mechanics. One named pattern you can use with your next client.
One Youtube Video deep dive breakdown (posted on substack only - no email)
Two Reader’s Digest posts per month where I feature new marketing newsletters, their products, their issues. I cross post them to LinkedIn Articles, Quora, Reddit, and Medium. If you’re wanting to be featured there send me a DM on Substack.
If you’re still reading…Here’s Two free resources
While you are here, grab these:
1. The Substack Notes Cowork Skill.
Have you had trouble setting up Claude Cowork?
Tired of endless approaches at writing Substack notes?
Well this does both.
It’s sets your Claude Cowork up so you can build out skills and it gives you the methodology behind 6,000+ subscribers in under six months, compressed into a downloadable skill with 8 Note templates, 5 structural formats, a weekly interview process, and a full posting cadence.
Get the Substack Notes Cowork Skill and grow→
2. A free GPT built on the Cultural Aftermarket Strategy.
The exact pattern Coors Light used to generate 12.6 billion earned media impressions with $0 in Super Bowl ad spend. Put in your own campaign and see if the pattern applies.
Try the Cultural Aftermarket GPT →
All free.
Where to start reading?
if you like where this is going and you’d like to know the best issues so far, here are the most popular posts
