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Marketing For Startups Final

This document outlines a five-step process for creating an effective marketing plan for a startup. The steps are: 1) Define goals; 2) Do research on customers, competitors, and your company's strengths/weaknesses; 3) Create a strategy that identifies your unique value proposition, builds your brand, optimizes your website, creates quality content, and defines distribution channels; 4) Define key performance indicators to measure success; 5) Create tactical plans with actions to achieve goals through testing and measurement. The overall process provides a framework to strategically market a startup from planning to execution.

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90 views

Marketing For Startups Final

This document outlines a five-step process for creating an effective marketing plan for a startup. The steps are: 1) Define goals; 2) Do research on customers, competitors, and your company's strengths/weaknesses; 3) Create a strategy that identifies your unique value proposition, builds your brand, optimizes your website, creates quality content, and defines distribution channels; 4) Define key performance indicators to measure success; 5) Create tactical plans with actions to achieve goals through testing and measurement. The overall process provides a framework to strategically market a startup from planning to execution.

Uploaded by

oumarou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Ready For Takeoff:

Launching Your Startup With a Great Marketing Plan

Scott Kerr
September, 2018
“Marketing is about values. It’s a
complicated and noisy world,
and we’re not going to get a
chance to get people to
remember much about us. No
company is. So we have to be
really clear about what we want
them to know about us.”

- Steve Jobs
How do I market my startup?
How do I buy running shoes?
Advice is always based on assumptions
How much you want to spend
Where you like to shop
What style of running shoes you normally wear
Why you need new running shoes now
Startup marketing is the same
Who are your customers
What motivates them to purchase
What they love about your offering
How they make purchase decisions
Marketing is big
Branding
Lead gen
Advertising
Social Media
PR
Content
Messaging
Sales support
Events
How to increase blog traffic, get email signups, improve
your SEO, run adwords campaigns, get more Twitter
followers/Facebook fans, create better content, improve
your sales effectiveness, shorten sales cycles, convert free
trials to paid…and on and on and on and on.
What tactics should you focus on now?
How should you tailor them for your specific business?
Start
with a good
marketing plan
Structuring a Marketing Plan
Five Steps

1 2 3 4 5

Define Do your Create a Define Create


your goals homework strategy your KPIs tactical plans
STEP 1: DEFINE YOUR GOALS
Establish your objectives

Listing your goals on the first page of


your final marketing plan document sets
the stage for everything to come.
STEP 2: DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Research is the foundation

Competitive Analysis SWOT Analysis Buyer Personas Buyers’ Buying Cycle


STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Whittle down your goals

Set quantitative and qualitative goals.

Make them attainable, but not easy.

Evaluate your current position in the


marketplace.

• Tie your goals to your overall mission


• Pick 2 or 3 main goals, a few supporting
• Accept you may not reach some goals
• Create milestones
STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Know what makes you unique

Knowing your unique selling proposition


(USP), and marketing that USP is
essential in beating the competition and
solidifying your company’s value in the
marketplace.
Complete the following:

Our _____________ is the ONLY


(brand name)

_____________ that _____________.


(product category) (uniqueness)

Source: ZAG by Marty Neumirer, 2006


STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Ensure you have a strong brand

A brand can be one of the strongest


assets a company possesses and if done
right will attract the buyer loyalty every
business dreams of. A brand is not what
you say it is, it’s what THEY say it is.
STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Optimize your website

Your website has to be more than pretty


(although that helps), it needs to be clear
and functional.

Bad
Cluttered
Hard to navigate

Good
Clear messaging
Easily found information
STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Create kick-ass content

Quality content is the meat that will


attract your buyers. It’s what Google uses
to search for keywords and drive users to
your site and what buyers use to glean
information and knowledge about their
problem as they move through the
buyer’s journey.
STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Content nurtures your customers through the buyer’s journey

eBooks Webinars Product comparisons


White papers Webcasts Case studies
Editorial content Podcasts Free trials/downloads
Blog posts Video Product focused content
Reports Expert guides
STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Define distribution channels

As important as content is, without


distribution, your content goes to waste.

It’s useless.

It’s essential to have a clear


understanding of how each channel
works and to use a mix of paid, owned
and earned media.
STEP 3: CREATE A STRATEGY
Get found

SEO is what Google and other search


engines use to index your pages and
allow your content to be found by your
prospective customers.

It’s hugely important. You could think


about it as another distribution channel
with a whole different set of rules.
STEP 4: DEFINE KPIs
What success looks like

Before you have implemented your


strategy you should be measuring to
establish your baseline.

What have you done in the past and what


were the results? How can those
strategies shift to improve ROI?
STEP 5: CREATE TACTICAL PLANS
Actions to achieve your goals

Having tactical plans and calendars gives


life to your ideas and strategy.

Try focusing on four or five main tactics


for the year and create execution plans
around these tactics.

Selected based on:


Who you need to reach
Where you can reach them
Stages where the friction is
Moving them to the next stage
Test and measure.
Test and measure.
Test and measure.
“Marketing is about values.
It’s a complicated and noisy
world, and we’re not going to
get a chance to get people to
remember much about us. No
company is. So we have to be
really clear about what we
want them to know about us.”

- Steve Jobs
Thanks!
silvertoneconsulting.com
@scott_kerr

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