A marketing plan is just like a business plan as it will aid you in making the best decisions as to how and where you expend your resources.
Your chances of succeeding inflate when you put up a good marketing plan. The frameworks chronicled below will help you start up and create the best online marketing campaign for startups.

1. Back an idea with a plan

It is brilliant to have an idea but they need to be properly organized to execute them in the best manner. For each idea, you have to recognize the scope of the project such as the time frame for the campaign, the resources required for running a successful campaign and the expected outcome of the campaign exercise. As you go through each of the planning processes, keep track of your progress so as to ensure accountability.

2. Identify Target Audience

You do not need to spend your time and money to reach everyone even if your products or services appeal to them. Discover the audiences that can help you get the best out of your limited resources as a startup.

• What type of marketing campaign will resonate with your targeted prospects?
• How can you deliver as much as expected to your prospects?

Prioritize customer satisfaction to get the best feedback and appreciation for your work

3. Conduct SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis can help you to identify your position in the market. It can help you locate the untapped segment of the market that is yet to be approached by your competitors.

Strengths– Enumerate your advantages. You must learn how to build on your strength by making the best of your opportunities.

• What can you do better than your competitors?
• Which resources are at your disposal that others will not have access to easily?
• Who are your loyal customers?

Weaknesses– You must assess the impact of weaknesses to ascertain if you need to eradicate them or prevent them from growing

• What can you improve on?
• Is your customer retention low?
• Do you have enough resources and staff?

Opportunities– Create new opportunities for yourself and others.

• Which trends can you capitalize on?
• Is there an untapped market for you?
• Are your competitors with a weak point in your strong areas?

Threats– Cyber threats are most typical and they are not under your control but you have to work on minimizing their impacts on your business.

• Is financing a challenge?
• Is a new technology threatening the existence of your business?
• Is the taste of your consumers evolving constantly?

4. Set SMART Objectives

The information obtained from the SWOT analysis should help you set the right objectives. If your customer retention is low, for instance, you can consider this while drafting your marketing plan. Your objectives must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-sensitive).

Your goals should be very specific with the time frame, saying you want to increase sales are not good enough. You have to be very specific to be able to measure your level of success. For example, Use “I am targeting 5000 downloads after this campaign” instead of “I want to increase the number of downloads”. A measurable goal helps you check the level of success or failure.

5. Use right tactics

Your objectives can only be achieved with the right combination of strategies and tactics. You must make a decision using the right strategy to achieve each one of the objectives. You must decide if you want to advertise your product, increase engagement with customers on social media platforms or subscribe to running an email campaign. Your strategies should align with your objectives.

6. Finalize Budget and Timeline

The cost for all the strategies to be adopted must be properly estimated. As a Startup, you may have to focus more on human resources and time. A plan on how to spend and a timeline must be recorded. When you are armed with this information, you will be able to reconcile the money planned to be expended to the actual costs and time spent on the campaign.

7. Constantly evaluate

There is nothing like a perfect marketing campaign since there is always room for improvement. You have to monitor and adjust your plan as time passes. Every marketing campaign must be thoroughly evaluated to figure out if the objectives are properly met. Your marketing plan should be designed to guide you as you move through each stage of the marketing program. You must constantly update it upon venturing new endeavors.
For those of you who also have any experiences to add to the list above, kindly use the comment section below