Failure to plan is as good as planning to fail…
Once you understand what your customers want, the next step is to create a plan for reaching all of your potential customers (a.k.a. your “target market”).
In an established company, the full marketing plan can be hundreds of pages in length. It can include a dozen rules on how to use the brand name and logo. It can include another dozen pages on colors, typefaces, and page layouts. It can include keywords and key phrases to include in all written communications. It can include a list of 1,000 contacts for public relations, a day-by-day plan for social media posts, a few dozen pre-written blog posts, press releases, etc., etc., etc.
For your startup, your marketing plan can be as short as a page or two. It can be as simple as a checklist in a spreadsheet or a list of tasks on a “to do” list.
The key is that, rather than jumping straight into action, you should give a few hours of thought to how you will conduct your marketing efforts, document these efforts, measure your progress, and, as best as possible, measure the success or failure of each effort. It is important to know your desired outcome for every marketing effort before you take action.
The remainder of the MARKETING section of this book will help you generate your marketing plan.
