Creating a Solid Marketing Plan

If you are starting a business, you are probably thinking about your customers. How do you find them, reach them, and lead them to purchase from you?  You need a marketing plan—one that makes sense for your business. 

Picture your marketing plan as the engine that moves your business from no sales to thriving sales. It helps you define your marketing goals, understand your target market and identify the most effective strategies to engage and convert customers. 

You’ll need to fuel that engine. What are you trying to accomplish? How much staff time can be devoted to marketing your business? What funds can your business put into marketing? How will you know you’ve reached goals and been successful? 

The engine needs a housing to underpin and contain it. You can approach customers, but your marketing engine needs support if they are going to trust you, buy from you, and come back again. Your website is the central structure of your business’ face to the world and your specific customers. Identify an email provider; set up payment processing; track inventory; establish online analytics. 

So, what goes into the engine and how does it work?

Define Yourself
Start by clearly articulating your business’s mission, vision, and unique selling proposition—the one thing that makes your business stand out from your competition. By aligning your marketing efforts with your broader vision and mission, you ensure that every action contributes to your business’s growth. 

Identify Your Target Market
Understanding your target market is the key to your success. Define and analyze your target audience, including their demographics, preferences, and behaviors. Where do they live? How old are they? What are their likes and dislikes? What are their pain points that your product or service solves for them? Knowing your audience enables you to tailor your messaging and tactics to effectively reach and resonate with your ideal customers.

Reaching Your Target Market
Armed with insights about your target market, you can craft strategies that make the most impact. A marketing plan outlines the channels, tactics, repetitions, and messaging you’ll use to reach your audience. Whether it’s content marketing, social media, paid advertising, print or radio ads, you’ll likely need a combination of approaches to execute a well-thought-out plan that maximizes your marketing efforts.

Select the marketing channels that best reach and engage your target audience. This could include a mix of online and offline platforms such as social media, content marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and paid advertising. Consider your budget, target market preferences, and the channels where your competitors are present. 

Translate your marketing strategies into actionable tactics. Create a content calendar, outlining the type of content you’ll produce and when it will be published. Plan your social media campaigns, email marketing sequences, and other promotional activities. Ensure your tactics are aligned with your brand message and tailored to your target market.

Develop a compelling and consistent brand message that resonates with your target audience. Clearly communicate the value and benefits your products or services offer. Your messaging should be customer-centric, addressing their pain points and positioning your business as the best possible solution.

Build a stellar website. Your website serves as your digital storefront and a crucial touchpoint for potential customers. A user-friendly, visually appealing, and informative website, optimized for search engines, will improve your online visibility. Include clear calls-to-action and track user behavior to continually optimize your website’s performance. All your marketing tactics should lead back to your website, whether it’s the “Contact Us” page, a blog that answers a question your customers are asking, or a landing page about an upcoming event you are hosting in your storefront that you posted on Instagram. 

Make sure customers can find you online using search terms by taking control of your Google Business page and ask customers to leave reviews there to help your listing be closer to the top of the search results.

Develop Your Marketing Budget
Allocate your resources wisely as startups often have limited resources. A marketing plan helps you budget your time, money, and personnel effectively. By identifying the most cost-effective channels and activities for your business, you can make smart decisions about resource allocation. Consider factors such as personnel, tools and software, content creation, advertising costs, and any external resources you may need, like graphic designers or copywriters. Be realistic about what you can afford and prioritize accordingly. Remember that your time is not free. 

Don’t Forget to Measure Your Results
Establish metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success of your marketing efforts. By monitoring your performance against these benchmarks, you can assess what’s working, what’s not, and make necessary adjustments to improve your results. Regularly review your marketing plan’s performance against your established goals. 

Analyze data, track metrics, and gather customer feedback. Adjust your strategies and tactics based on these insights to continually freshen and enhance your marketing efforts. Be as efficient as possible so no resources are wasted.

Get Started
Crafting a comprehensive marketing plan is a vital step for any startup business. It sets the foundation for understanding your target market, defining your strategies, and maximizing your resources. Identifying targets that align with your overall business objectives, whether you focus on increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or generating leads, will help you build a solid marketing plan that moves your startup toward success. 

Remember, your marketing plan is a dynamic document that should be revisited and refined as your business evolves.

Heidi Edwards Dunn is the education and communications director of the NH Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which provides advising and educational programs to 3,000 small businesses in approximately 200 NH communities annually. Amy Sterndale, seacoast region business advisor with SBDC, also contributed to this article. For more information, visit nhsbdc.org.