How to create a marketing plan for startups

It is no news to you, as a good entrepreneur, that digital marketing is nowadays a fundamental tool when it comes to positioning your startup in the market, boosting its online visibility and attracting new customers through your website or your social networks. That is why it is important that, before entering the infinite world of the internet, you have a good marketing plan for startups, specific to your business, to help it reach its full potential.

It is a good time for entrepreneurship in Spain, now that the new Startup Law has just been passed. But remember that your success depends above all on drawing up and developing the digital marketing plan you need. Here we give you 5 basic keys to do it successfully.

‘Spain is already the fourth European country in terms of the number of startups, behind only the United Kingdom, France and Germany. And, if their value has multiplied by 20 in 10 years, the evolution of investment has been prodigious: in 2000 nobody knew about us, in 2012 126 million were invested in Spanish startups and in 2021 investment exceeded 4,300 million dollars’. (María Benjumea, President of South Summit)

1. Define the objectives of your startup marketing plan

To establish your objectives in this first stage of your business, you must first decide, according to your plan, if you are looking to increase brand awareness/positioning, or if your priority is to attract new customers from the very beginning. If you are looking to prioritise brand awareness, you need to tell your audience who you are, what you do, what makes you different, what your purpose is, and your strategy should be geared in that direction.

If your priority is to start attracting customers, then your digital marketing plan should pursue objectives such as reaching new audiences, generating traffic to your website, provoking interactions with potential customers, converting leads, and so on.

In any case, remember that your objectives should always be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).

2. Determine what your market is and who – and what your competition is doing.

Monitoring the environment in which your business will operate is a prior analysis on which depends not only the success, but also the viability of your startup. If there is sufficient demand, if there is a niche, if you offer a solution to a problem, if you are different from the competition, if your positioning is correct, what is the socioeconomic situation of your sector… The SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a simple and effective tool to know where you are and who is around you.

Another advantage offered by the digital environment is that you can get to know your competitors with certain precision (who they are, where they are, how they are positioned, even their marketing strategy) simply by researching their website, their social networks, their Adworks campaigns or by subscribing to their newsletter.

3. Establish your budget for a marketing plan tailored to your startup.

There are several factors that will define your digital marketing budget: operating costs, production, revenue forecasts, profits, timing… The important thing is that, whatever budget you can afford for your marketing plan, you optimise it as much as possible; use the channels that will help you achieve your goals; avoid experiments; and don’t be afraid to readjust your strategies if you see that you are not getting the results you should.

In any case, you can always choose between a more aggressive and powerful launch campaign or a more moderate strategy, which is implemented gradually and builds your image.

4. Find the right channels for your startup

A good startup marketing plan should have these basic channels to reach your customers:

Website

Careful, comfortable for the user and easy to navigate. With a good design that attracts attention and sets you apart (it is your image). With information about your products and services, news, offers, etc. With your data and your history. Well positioned in SEO (keywords, tags, meta descriptions, links, content). And with tools to connect with your customers.

Email marketing

An effective tool to build a relationship with your public, a weekly or fortnightly contact to send your news, news, information of interest, etc. To be able to execute it, you will have to create a database, for example by collecting the emails of visitors to your website through a form.

Social networks

They connect you 24/7 with your followers and potential customers. To tell them what you want to tell them, but also to listen to what they want to tell you. There has to be an open, two-way dialogue for them to work. Depending on your budget, you can also design campaigns in the networks that are closest to your target, as most of them allow you to segment according to different factors (gender, age, location, income, hobbies…).

Content Marketing

Blogs, articles, videos, podcasts, ebooks… Content marketing offers you a multitude of formats to create and share your content with your audience. The important thing is that this information is relevant, valuable, useful… In a word, interesting. It is an effective technique in the medium or long term that will help you not only to attract and convert customers, but also to position yourself in your sector.

5. Set your KPIs and metrics to see if your startup marketing plan is working.

Key Performance Indicators are the metrics that track and analyse the progress of your digital marketing strategy. They tell you whether you are achieving your goals. For them to work properly, you need to define these indicators according to your objectives.

For example, traffic to your website, clicks, likes and shares on your social networks, new contacts, conversion rates, daily sales…

In the end, it is the behaviour of your audience that tells you what works and what doesn’t in your startup marketing plan. And what you can improve.

Do you need an agency specialised in startup marketing?

Digital marketing is in a constant state of evolution. It is essential to keep up to date because new developments and trends are appearing faster and faster, and the startup marketing plan you designed at the beginning of your business will need constant changes and adjustments (and they will become more complex as your company grows).

All this requires dedication and time, as well as budget. And more and more specialisation. So, if you need an expert hand, at Sheridan Omnicanal we are here to help you with everything you need to define, plan and develop your personalised digital marketing strategy, specifically for startups.

We are a digital and offline marketing and communication agency with a team of 60 professionals and 30 years of experience in all sectors. Contact us for specialised advice without obligation.