5 Steps to Create an Effective Marketing Plan for Your Startup

Without effective marketing tactics, most businesses are set for failure. Many small businesses don’t take the time to create comprehensive marketing plan due to limited budget, resources, knowledgeability and skills. Without the marketing plan, customers can’t learn about a business. Without customers or clients, there is no viable business.

Many budding entrepreneurs and marketing professionals struggle to describe what a marketing plan is and how to build one from scratch. A well-prepared marketing plan is a roadmap that acts as a guide towards the overall business objectives.

A marketing plan is evolving document. It is modified and refined according to business objectives, market trends, new technology and new target audiences. It is often time bound (12- 18 months) and addresses various aspect of business growth and marketing such as total costs, cost of conversions, lifetime value, objectives and actionable steps.

Here are 5 easy steps that can help you get started with your business plan.

1.Identifying key strategic objectives that your startup must focus on-

The first step is to defining your business as a product or service and finding out the top three challenges faced by your business. Evaluating past industry data, market trends and competitor data to identify top challenges in acquiring new clients, users and customers. You need to be able to predict upcoming challenges and market trends and overall impact of each strategic marketing goal, objective and decisions.

2.Catergorizing your key target personas

The next step is to find out which target audiences you will be focusing on during the time period of a particular marketing plan. Marketing segmentation and targeting the correct consumer, is the key to a successful customer acquisition process.

3.Defining value proposition for them to accomplish the strategic objectives

Once you identify your key targets, the next step is about positioning your product, services or brand value to these key targets. Once your customer can identify with your ‘Value’ in their lives, it is easier for you to acquire and engage them.

4.Deploying marketing tactics you would need to achieve those objectives

After your positioning statement is ready, you need to evaluate what marketing channels are most effective in reaching out to your target audiences. For example, if your core audiences are teenagers, social media would be your primary marketing channel.

5.Setting up growth hacking tools and best practices for startups to execute on a low budget

The main element of growth hacking is to measure and tweak your marketing plan as per the market evidence. It is essential that you keep your marketing plan dynamic and steer it in the direction of maximum traction.

An effective marketing plan doesn’t have to be an expensive one. It is all about finding out your target customers from the get go and keeping them engaged with your brand.

To learn more about creating your Marketing plan — Join us for our webinar on “How to create an effective marketing plan for your startup?” — https://bit.ly/2B6kHE2