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ToolMarketing

A methodology created by Diego Martinez

Your tool as an intelligent marketing piece.

ToolMarketing turns software, a kiosk, infrastructure or a service into a marketing piece that delivers recurring value, learns from use and shapes the right offer at the right moment. The tool serves before it sells.

Tool Behaviour (CCGO)

RVTTOOLMARKETINGAAttractionIInteractionNNurturingCConversionRRetention

Cycle. A sequential, predictable flow.

Click a behaviour to see the simulation.

market pillars
FIREmarket pillars
technical pillars
EPATtechnical pillars
tool behaviours
CCGOtool behaviours
by functionality
Segmentationby functionality

01The concept

What ToolMarketing is

Created by Diego Martinez, ToolMarketing is a methodology that turns marketing into a functional value-delivery system based on real utility, recurrence and intelligence. Instead of persuasion, promises or forced attention, an intelligent tool delivers value before, during and after conversion.

That tool is a marketing piece: it brings the tactics of attraction, interaction, nurturing, conversion and retention together in a single experience. While it is used, it learns from behaviour, understands the user’s problem and shapes the right offer. The sale becomes a consequence of utility.

  • It isn’t content.
  • It isn’t a lead magnet.
  • It isn’t funnel automation.
The tool serves before it sells, works before it persuades and delivers utility before any offer.

RVT tactics (AINCF)

The tactics are not fixed stages or a linear journey. They are activated by the tool’s behaviour, in a linear or non-linear way.

  1. A

    Attraction

    Brings users to the tool, through internal or external channels.

  2. I

    Interaction

    Direct use of the functionality.

  3. N

    Nurturing

    Storytelling and copy based on real use.

  4. C

    Conversion

    An offer built from real interaction data.

  5. R

    Retention

    Intentional return out of habit, value or need.

02Applied scenarios

One methodology, three scenarios

The tool can be digital, physical or hybrid. What defines ToolMarketing is not the format but the marketing function the tool takes on.

A

Software as Marketing

The tool is digital: a website, app or system that stops being just a product and operates as an active marketing channel. It guides behaviour, learns from use and converts through utility.

Examples

  • Simulators and configurators
  • Dashboards and planners
  • Checklists and diagnostics
B

Service as Marketing

The tool is physical: a device that provides a useful service at the point of contact, such as a kiosk or an IoT device. It delivers value before the sale, observes use in the physical world and builds relationships.

Examples

  • Self-service and diagnostic kiosk
  • Calibration station with IoT sensors
  • Posture scanner at the gym
C

Infrastructure as Marketing

The tool is a space: an environment designed to be used, which welcomes people, delivers value while they are there and becomes an asset for acquisition, relationship and intelligence.

Examples

  • Immersive room
  • Waiting room with an experience
  • Family area at the mall

03Pillars

Market and technical pillars

The pillars are structural and non-negotiable. FIRE defines the value the tool delivers to the market. EPAT defines how it is planned, run and fed.

Market · FIRE

The value the tool delivers

  1. F

    Functionality

    Solves a real pain with practical action.

  2. I

    Integrity

    Has value even without conversion.

  3. R

    Recurrence

    Stays useful over time.

  4. E

    Experience

    Focus on action, flow and real use.

Technical · EPAT

How the tool is built and run

  1. S

    Strategy

    Defining the pain, the goals and the action plan.

  2. P

    Processes

    The paths that lead to conversion.

  3. A

    Automation

    What runs autonomously.

  4. T

    Traffic

    How the tool is fed and interpreted.

04The core

What an RVT is: Recurring Value Tool

The RVT is the core of the methodology. It isn’t a free tool, a lead magnet or a free product: it is built to do marketing. It can be digital, physical or hybrid and works as an autonomous channel for relationship, utility and conversion.

Characteristics

  • Works with or without a campaign
  • Generates recurring value
  • Acts as an intelligent marketing channel
  • Collects behaviour, not identity
  • Learns from use
  • Converts as a consequence of utility

Strategic flows

  1. Functionality

    Practical delivery based on real use: calculate, organise, simulate, compare, guide.

  2. Relationship

    The tool’s response to the user: messages, feedback, recommendations and contextual copy.

Tool Behaviour (CCGO)

CCGO defines how the RVT is organised internally and how users move forward inside it.

  1. Cycle

    A sequential, predictable flow.

  2. Exchange

    Moving forward and back between steps.

  3. Graph

    Non-linear navigation driven by decisions.

  4. Orbit

    An architecture that combines cycles, exchanges and graphs around goals.

The RVT is implementation

Understanding the concept is the first step. Designing, building and running an RVT that sells requires method: strategy, processes, automation and traffic. This implementation is tailor-made, directly with Diego Martinez.

Hire the implementation

05Principles

The principles that guide the tool

The principles ensure that delivery does not depend on the sale, but on an autonomous experience of value.

  1. P01

    Customer at the centre

    The journey is a flow that talks with the customer, not just a feature on offer.

  2. P02

    Value before the offer

    First the tool delivers value; the offer follows, inside the flow.

  3. P03

    Utility over persuasion

    The tool sells through flows of utility, not forced persuasion.

  4. P04

    Lasting, transparent value

    No tricks: triggers used honestly preserve trust.

  5. P05

    Solve a real problem

    There is a legitimate problem, solved again and again.

  6. P06

    Channel, not bait

    The tool is an active channel of interaction, not disposable content.

How it compares with other methodologies

ToolMarketing is not a free tool that captures leads. It isn’t freemium, it isn’t PLG and it isn’t a free tool. It is a piece that brings marketing tactics together and must be recurring.

Lead magnet
What it isFree material (e-book, spreadsheet, class) exchanged for a person’s contact details.
Difference from ToolMarketingValue ends at email capture. The RVT keeps delivering value and converts through use.
Free tool
What it isA free tool offered to attract traffic and attention to the brand.
Difference from ToolMarketingIt acts as a magnet: it attracts, creates a one-off interaction and ends at capture. The RVT is an acquisition engine.
Software as Magnet
What it isSpecific software designed to attract users through immediate utility.
Difference from ToolMarketingIt brings people in, but doesn’t sustain relationship, recurrence or continuous conversion.
Freemium
What it isA free, limited version of the product itself, designed to lead to the paid plan.
Difference from ToolMarketingThe tool is the product. In ToolMarketing it is a marketing piece and can sell any product or service.
PLG
What it isProduct-Led Growth: the product being sold is the main growth channel.
Difference from ToolMarketingIt depends on a software product. The RVT also works as a service, kiosk or infrastructure.
Engineering as Marketing
What it isBuilding free software tools as an acquisition channel.
Difference from ToolMarketingIt only fits the software part (Software as Marketing). It doesn’t cover services or infrastructure and doesn’t require FIRE or recurrence.
ToolMarketing
What it isA methodology that turns software, a service, a kiosk or infrastructure into an intelligent marketing piece.
Difference from ToolMarketingBrings attraction, interaction, nurturing, conversion and retention together in a recurring piece that converts sales.

06Innovations

ToolMarketing’s innovation approaches

ToolMarketing changes the unit of marketing: instead of campaigns and content that run out, a functional piece that works every day.

The RVT as an intelligent marketing piece

Marketing tactics stop being separate channels and live inside a single tool.

Tool behaviour (CCGO)

Instead of a static funnel: cycles, exchanges, graphs and orbits.

Segmentation by functionality

The audience is segmented by the function it uses and the problem it is trying to solve.

Functionality-Driven Intelligence

The tool learns from what users do, not from who they are.

Functionality-Driven Experience

Experience focused on action, not on capturing screen time.

Software and Service as Marketing

Services, physical products and experiences can also be sold through a tool.

07Concepts

ToolMarketing glossary

The terms that structure the discipline.

ToolMarketing
A methodology that turns marketing into a functional value-delivery system, with a tool as its central piece.
Recurring Value Tool (RVT)
A digital, physical or hybrid tool built to do marketing by delivering recurring value.
FIRE
Market pillars: Functionality, Integrity, Recurrence and Experience.
EPAT
Technical pillars: Strategy, Processes, Automation and Traffic.
AINCF
RVT tactics: Attraction, Interaction, Nurturing, Conversion and Retention.
CCGO
Tool behaviour: Cycle, Exchange, Graph and Orbit.
Software as Marketing
A digital tool (website, app or system) operating as an active marketing channel.
Service as Marketing
A physical tool, such as a kiosk or IoT device, that provides a useful service and operates as a channel of continuous value.
Infrastructure as Marketing
A space that becomes an acquisition and intelligence asset, such as an immersive room, a waiting room or a family area at the mall.
Functionality-Driven Intelligence (FDI)
Intelligence generated by user actions inside the tool.
Functionality-Driven Experience (FDE)
Experience designed to perform a task that delivers immediate value.
Segmentation by Functionality
Classifying the audience by the function used and the problem being solved.

08The author

Diego Martinez, creator of ToolMarketing

Diego Martinez

Creator of ToolMarketing. Strategist, designer and developer of functional marketing systems.

He combines business administration, marketing and technology. Trained in Business Administration and graduated in Systems Analysis and Development, he has worked at companies such as MSC, IBM, GPTW and Itaú.

After several unsuccessful attempts to sell online, he realised what was missing was a channel that delivered value before the sale. That pain became a method: the first tests with functional tools began in 2023 and, since then, he has been structuring and spreading the discipline.

Credentials

Books on Amazon

Author of “Marketing de Ferramenta” (MARTTENZI, 2 December 2025, ISBN 978-6598960001) and other titles on Amazon.

Author page

Talk at HackTown

Presented ToolMarketing on stage at HackTown, a festival of innovation, technology and creativity.

Research on Zenodo

Open-access academic preprint: “Marketing de Ferramenta: a new strategy based on recurring value tools”.

DOI 10.5281/zenodo.15165196

Open methodology on GitHub

The conceptual foundation of the method is published in an open repository, with pillars, tactics and behaviours.

github.com/marketingdeferramenta

How the discipline evolved

  1. Sep 2023

    First experiment: a team picker with an affiliate banner outperforms ads in engagement.

  2. 2023-2025

    Dozens of tools tested across niches: the theory emerges, with pillars, principles and behaviours.

  3. 2025

    Preprint published on Zenodo and the methodology starts to spread.

  4. Dec 2025

    Launch of the book “Marketing de Ferramenta” by MARTTENZI, on Amazon.

MARTINEZ, Diego. Marketing de Ferramenta: Uma nova estratégia baseada em ferramentas de valor recorrente. Zenodo, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15165196

See the book on Amazon

09Frequently asked questions

Questions about ToolMarketing

What is ToolMarketing?

It is a methodology created by Diego Martinez that turns software, a service, a kiosk or infrastructure into an intelligent marketing piece. That piece, the RVT, delivers recurring value, brings together attraction, interaction, nurturing, conversion and retention, and converts sales as a consequence of utility.

Is ToolMarketing the same as marketing tools?

No. Marketing tools are the systems a team uses to do marketing: CRM, email automation, ad managers, analytics. ToolMarketing flips the logic: the tool itself is the marketing. It is used by the customer, not the team, and it is the tool that attracts, builds the relationship and sells.

Why doesn’t ToolMarketing treat the tool as just lead capture?

Because lead capture is only the front door and, in traditional models, that is where value ends. In ToolMarketing the tool keeps working after the first use: it observes behaviour, understands the problem, shapes the right offer and drives the sale inside the experience itself. The lead is a consequence, not the goal. The metric that matters is sales conversion and recurring use, not the number of contacts on a list.

So it isn’t a free tool?

No. A free tool, like Software as Magnet, works as a magnet: it attracts, creates a one-off interaction and ends its job at capture. The RVT is an engine: it retains, nurtures, learns from use and drives the journey continuously.

Is it freemium or PLG?

No again. In freemium the tool is a limited version of the product and the goal is the upgrade. In PLG the product being sold is itself the growth channel. In ToolMarketing the tool is a marketing piece independent of the product: it can sell a service, a physical product or an experience and keeps delivering value even to people who haven’t bought yet.

What about Engineering as Marketing?

Engineering as Marketing proposes building free software tools as an acquisition channel. It only fits the software part of ToolMarketing, Software as Marketing. ToolMarketing is broader: it includes services, kiosks and infrastructure and requires the FIRE and EPAT pillars, recurrence and the full set of tactics up to retention.

Does the tool have to be software?

No. It can be software, a service, a kiosk or infrastructure, or hybrid, like a digital tool launched by a QR code in a physical space. What matters is the function: solving a real problem repeatedly and operating as a marketing piece.

What data does the tool use?

Behaviour, not identity. The tool observes use, it doesn’t watch the user: it relies on anonymous tags and local storage to personalise the experience without collecting sensitive data. That intelligence is what makes good offers possible.

Does it work for any business?

Yes, as long as there is a real problem to be solved repeatedly. There are already applications in health, education, finance, retail, automotive and services.

How do I hire an RVT implementation?

Implementation is tailor-made with Diego Martinez. Click any contact button on this page to open a WhatsApp chat.

Implementation

Your tool can be your best marketing piece.

From strategy to operation, the RVT is designed for your business: learn from use, shape better offers and convert sales with recurrence.

Talk to Diego on WhatsApp

The chat opens on WhatsApp with a ready-made message (sent in Portuguese).