This is the ultimate guide to understanding and building a marketing plan. The Guide covers everything from before you sit down to the drawing board all the way to the final Excel file. The idea is that after reading it through and implementing the tasks in the different sections, you should come out the other end with a complete marketing program for your business
When I talk to technology leaders about tech marketing, I often hear non-marketers dismissively simplifying the task of building a valid marketing strategy and executing it.
"The product is ready, all we need now is a Google Adwords campaign to generate traffic."
“Lets just ‘put it on Facebook’ and the users will find us” (no, I don’t even know what that means) are just a couple of examples I’ve heard more times than I care to admit.
Unfortunately, the “if you build it they will come” approach rarely proves a valid strategy.
“If I had six hours to cut down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening my axe”
Oh, don’t get me wrong. Some of these leaders are top players in their respective fields. They’ve done the work and built a product. They know their business goals and have even raised money (how do you raise money without a valid marketing plan? Good question). Now they’re getting pressure from the VC/Angel/Backer to start spending it. They want to see users signing up. They’re dreaming of the perfect hockey stick graph to show at the quarterly board meeting.
If you recognize yourself in this description, this guide is for you. I’ve split it into several posts and numbered them, so they're easy to follow. The idea is to give you an overview of what you should be thinking of when putting together a marketing plan and giving you the tools to execute it. It won’t have all the answers, but it’s also meant to be somewhat of a living document so if you feel anything is missing, or if anything is unclear, reach out in the comments or an email, and we'll discuss.
I won’t lie; building and executing a robust marketing plan is a big task to undertake. It will take some time, and I know your itching to get started but before you do anything, before you spend even one marketing dollar, you need a plan, and it needs to be as detailed as possible.
You know that Abraham Lincoln quote: “If I had six hours to cut down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening my axe”? Well, he was a pretty smart guy.
So let’s get to axe sharpening, shall we?
Read the next post in this series about Understanding your target market, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments!
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