How to Prepare a Marketing Plan for Startups

by David Jones Digital Marketor

Whether a start-up has a revolutionary business model or offers the best product or service to its market, the key to its success will be its marketing strategy. Marketing will not only set the brand for a company, but will also help build the sales pipeline.

Customers are looking for reliable companies to trade in, which is why content is so important. Research material related to your brand trust can differ in the type of conductors that flow through your pipeline.

Making sure resources are available to your audience is the other half of the battle. Choose the right channels for your audience to find you without the hassle of searching. Let your customers find you by showing them where they are.

Branding

Start with the details. Define your product / service, put it in a category in which it already exists, and then connect it to its main benefits. Ask like "Why do my customers buy from me?" and "What does my company offer that no one else can?" Your name, logo and website must mean something.

To make things easier, follow these steps to create an authentic brand:

Tell your story - reflect on your personal beliefs / values that led you to form the startup. It’s important for your audience to know who you are and why you do what you do.

Find meaningful quotes - brands can sometimes inspire us to do something bigger than expected. The most iconic Nike brand logo is Just DO It. Providing inspiration to your customers gives them confidence that you want them to reach their fullest potential.

Find photos - a picture says a thousand words. Your brand needs to be visualized to evoke emotions you want your audience to feel.

Know your competitors and know your strengths - find out what your competitors are doing right and how they are succeeding. Understand their weaknesses as well as your own. Write it down and be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Content

Digital marketing is a powerful tool. Used correctly will bring leads directly into your pipeline. Content available through syndication or social channels allows your audience to be exposed to your brand. Blogs, infographics, white papers and videos are the best kind of content to generate B2B sales.

Having meaningful and relevant content will allow your customers to connect with the story you are trying to tell. Pairing all the channels together will optimize the time spent developing content. Create a clear, transparent image of your company.

Advertising

Promote content created through online advertising. Monitor, test and apply the best strategies for your product / service. Facebook ads and Google AdWords are great places to start. They are cheap and effective. Their analysis is easily decipherable to make decisions about how to move forward.

Find out what your customers are looking for when they trade with you. Did they come with an ad on Facebook, Instagram, Google or email? Narrow the audience to have a clear picture of your customer persona. That way you won’t shoot blindly by buying ads.

Stick to the decisions you made when creating the strategy. Many founders have no experience or desire to create a marketing plan. On average, companies have seen an average 20% increase in sales opportunities from their marketing efforts. According to research by DemandGen Report, leads fueled by marketing make it lower down the funnel than without marketing.

Marketing is essential for the success of a start-up. Be ahead of the game, spend time sooner rather than later develop it. Work on it constantly and find your new business to flourish.