It’s been a while since we’ve talked about marketing for startups. We’ve been so focused on marketing and sales alignment, the buyer journey, and developing content for each piece of your marketing campaign. However, we know it’s fun to launch a startup and the journey that follows is even better. It’s filled with countless opportunities and challenges. A well-structured plan can make a difference while taking this into consideration, especially in the early stages. Today, we’ll run through a little 30-60-90 day marketing plan for startups to follow and establish a strong brand presence, fix their go-to-market strategy, and create content to associate at each stage (again, haha).
First 30 Days: Brand Strategy = WHY We Will Win
When you’re setting the “tone” for your brand, its positioning, and the overall value proposition the first 30 days matter the most. This is when you’ll want to focus on understanding the core aspects of the brand and its unique selling points.
Consider:
- Who is our audience? What are their pain points?
- What do we offer to help solve their problems?
- Who are the competitors? How are we different?
- What do we want our audience to feel?
- What are we NOT?
Tools to Utilize:
- Brand Pyramid: Define the brand’s core values and its personality in the market.
- Competitive Analysis: Who are your competitors and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
- Only Statement: Build your unique value proposition. Make sure it highlights what makes you different.
First 30 Day Deliverables:
- Brand Positioning: Where does your brand stand in the market? Make this very clear.
- Visual Identity + Voice & Tone Guide: The visual elements and communication style will be established here.
- Sample Campaigns: Create some test campaigns to show the brand tone and overall visual appeal.
30-60 Days: Marketing Strategy = HOW We Will Win
The next 30 days are dedicated to shaping the go-to-market strategy, focusing on the tactics and resources needed to achieve success.
Consider:
- What does success look like?
- What are the biggest levers to achieve that success?
- What is the priority order based on resources?
30-60 Day Deliverables:
- OKRs & Operational Heartbeat: Make sure you’ve set forth your objectives and then the key results which would mean you’ve accomplished your objectives.
- 4-5 Pillar Marketing Plan: Build out your marketing plan focusing on key strategic areas.
- Funnel: We love buyer journeys and funnels. Now it’s time to create a funnel to guide potential customers.
- 6-12 Month Roadmap: Build the roadmap of what the next 6 to 12 months look like including milestones and initiatives.
60-90 Days: Content Strategy = How Will We Communicate Our Brand?
Now that all of the foundational things are set in place, it’s time to focus on the content strategy. Why? Because we know content consists of everything from email, social media, SEO, education, and even community management.
Consider:
- Where is our audience?
- What are our primary channels?
- How are we communicating to the audience & customers along every step of the purchase funnel?
- How can we turn the funnel into a flywheel?
60-90 Day Deliverables:
- Funnel to Flywheel Touchpoints: Identify each touch point of importance which can convert the funnel into a flywheel.
- User Journey Map: If you’re in the B2B space, the buyer journey has changed. For other industries, it’s also not straightforward. Make sure you understand each step and optimize for each touch point.
- Content Pillars & Examples: Make sure all of your content has a theme and provide examples of those themes to guide the creation of your content.
- Social Strategy, Cadence, and OKRs: Build a social strategy, a content strategy, whatever content strategy you need. Associate posting schedules, objectives and key results with these strategies.
Takeaways:
If you set this strategy up for your startup, you’ll be able to lay a solid foundation for marketing efforts and ensure that you can position the brand, develop go-to-market approaches, and create content that associates with the brand and that go-to-market. Remember, the key to success is consistency and adaptation, so you can always make room to refine what you’ve started with.
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