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The no-nonsense framework to running smarter marketing campaigns

When marketing at a startup, there’s never enough time.

There are a million things to do, and only 40–80 hours each week to do them. Yet, somehow, you need to quickly find the channels that will grow your business.

That means you need to test many different campaigns without wasting your precious time by testing the wrong ones.

You need a process.

To help get you started, here’s a framework to walk through before running your next marketing campaign.

Before Launch:

Test Summary:

Describe this test so that when you read this a year from now, you’ll still remember the campaign.

Test Objective:

In 1–2 sentences, why are you running this test?

Examples: Bring in more leads; Increase the number of people who create accounts.

Hypothesis:

If X, then Y because Z.

Example: If we run ads with LinkedIn, then we’ll generate more qualified leads because prospects will be interested in our offer, click the ad, and create an account.

Opportunity Size:

If this test works, what’s the total impact we could expect to see over a year?

Time to Test:

How long will it take to run this test?

Likely Scenarios:

Write out your assumptions and 3 of the most likely scenarios.

Link to the Results:

Insert a link to the results spreadsheet.

After Launch:

Next Steps:

Now that you know the results, what will you do? If the campaign worked, how can you expand it? What can you test that is similar?

What Worked? What Didn’t?

What did you learn? What went well that you’d repeat?