The First 90 Days Marketing Plan: 16 Steps to Start Strong and Get Results
The first 90 days of your marketing efforts NEED to have a plan.
Oftentimes, before starting a new role or a new job, you need to explain HOW you will be successful as part of the interview process.
If you don't have an action plan and end up skipping a step as a result, you will have to backtrack later on.
This also might cause you to waste a lot of money which, if you’re a start-up or small business, you definitely can't afford.
Having a marketing roadmap is like having directions for that bookshelf you bought from IKEA. Sure, you could create a bookshelf without the directions, but there may come a day when you put one too many books on it and it all falls down.
Having a plan, directions, or a checklist ensures that you are building something that will last under pressure. This guide will help make sure you don't miss that crucial screw or peg needed to hold things together.
Here is a breakdown by month for accomplishing these steps.
First Month
1. Learn the Company History and Meet the Team
When starting your first week at a new company it is important to come in with a learning and listening mindset.
Your goal is to learn as much about the company and stakeholders as possible BEFORE you make any marketing action items.
During this onboarding you'll need to learn:
Everyone's first and last names and the roles of anyone and everyone that you will be working with on your new team (sales, customer service, marketing, etc.). You will need their help at some point so it's important to invest in creating strong relationships with these team members.
How the company has achieved its success. It's easy to see broken things. Yet, if you are coming into a company that has the budget to hire you chances are they have done a lot of things right, too. Know these.
The communication workflow. What CRM and marketing automations do they use? If you want to schedule meetings but your co-workers are more productive with emails you will find some resistance. Remember, before you seek to change anything be open to the way your team has been working. There is a story behind most of the habits that we have.
2. Perform a Content Audit
It's time to learn exactly where the company is from a marketing standpoint. You need data. Objective numbers. In order to know where you need to go, you first need to know where you are.
You need to know the basics:
Previous marketing campaigns or marketing programs.
Marketing budget.
Term goals.
Additionally, here are the key questions to answer during your content audit based on the medium.
Website Content Audit
Google Analytics will be your best friend here. If your company doesn't have this set up on their website, you just found your very first project. Use Google Analytics to learn:
How much monthly traffic they get from organic search, direct search, referral, social media, and email.
The average bounce rate, page sessions, and session duration (dwell time) for each of these categories.
The demographics of the audience that visits the site (age, gender, geographic location, interests, languages, etc.). This data will also be super helpful later on when you are crafting buyer personas because it is not based on assumption and bias.
If that website has any goals set up. If so, what are the conversion rates?
If they have a lead magnet on their website. If so what is the quality and conversion rate of that lead magnet?
Which keywords the website currently ranks for. Use the Google Search Console to find this information.
The domain authority and the amount of linking domains.
Long-Form Content Audit (Blog, Podcast, Video)
Depending on the type of long-form content the company has, you’ll want to measure how it is performing. For all of these pieces, you'll have a few general questions:
1. How many assets do they have for each category?
2. How frequently do they post?
3. Are they utilizing SEO best practices on this content?
4. How much traffic is it bringing to the website? (This is a very difficult metric to measure for podcasts.)
5. What are the top-performing posts, videos, or podcasts?
6. What keywords do these assets rank for?
Email Audit
1. What is the size of their email list?
2. How was this email list built up? This is important because many established older businesses have thousands of subscribers, but these were obtained by buying lists which will definitely lead to lower results.
3. What is the length and structure of the emails?
4. Do they add value or do they just offer promotions and ask for the sale?
5. What is the average open rate?
6. What is the average click-through rate?
Social Media Audit
1. What platforms is the company active on?
2. What is their follower list?
3. What is their posting frequency?
4. How is the quality of their posts? Are they helpful or just promotional?
5. What is their engagement? Do they get likes, shares, or comments?
Paid Advertising Audit
What mediums are they using for paid advertising (pay-per-click, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, other)?
What is their daily spend?
What is their cost per click?
What is their cost per conversion?
Do they have varied ads for different parts of the funnel (helpful content to build brand awareness, promotional content, or both)?
3. Get Voice of Customer Data by Talking to the Team
Now that you have some quantitative data (numbers) you need some qualitative data (stories). You need to talk to people who talk to customers, or even better yet, talk to customers yourself.
Talk with the sales and customer service team
Your sales and customer service team have more experience with the things that people love and hate about your product and service than anyone else. They are crucial to painting the picture of your target audience. You need to know what they know.
Take notes furiously and get as much of their actual words typed out as possible. Your sales team will have valuable insight on WHY people seek out your company and your customer service team will know HOW people interact with your brand as customers.
As a marketer, you will be creating content to attract people and content to keep people, so it's important to learn from both perspectives.
Here are some questions to ask:
1. What is the reason most people buy our product or service?
2. What is going on in our customers’ lives that causes them to take action to seek us out?
3. How do most of our customers hear about us?
4. What is the biggest physical problem our product or service solves (short on time, on a budget, etc.)?
5. What is the biggest emotional problem or feeling (frustration, fear, anxiety, etc.) our product or service solves?
6. What philosophical problem does our product or service solve? For example, ask them to fill in the following sentences:
Our customers believe [blank] SHOULD be [blank].
Our customers believe [blank] SHOULD NOT be [blank].
7. What question are you sick and tired of answering? This will help you to formulate content ideas for the future.
8. What are the biggest problems that customers have with our product or service? Also great fuel for content ideas.
Reaching out to customers
If possible, it is always helpful to talk to customers and read their words. If you are at a physical location, be in-store and on-site to get to know the current customer base. Shadow a few workers in different positions for a day and see the day in and day out. This experience will become valuable especially in your copywriting later on.
Ask similar questions that you would to your sales and customer service teams. Again, get as many words as you can type out. It is important to use the actual words of your customers in everything you write. This will help you to connect with more people like your customers and speak their language.
Look at Customer Reviews
Look at as many customer reviews as you can.
Are there positive and negative patterns in the way people talk about your product or service?
What are the benefits that matter to your customers?
Are there common frustrations and problems they experience with your brand?
I like to take all of the 5-star reviews a company has and create a word cloud. Delete redundant or irrelevant words and focus on the adjectives and adverbs that people use.
Do the same thing for negative reviews but this time focus on the problems people have. This will be helpful when creating customer content to alleviate future struggles.
4. Create Buyer Persona
Now that you have data, it's time to connect the numbers and the stories. Create a buyer persona or a few buyer personas of your target market. I like to create one buyer persona for each of the 4 stages of a customer journey (more on this later).
Paint the picture for who this person actually is, where their attention is, and their biggest pain points and needs. The three main questions your buyer persona will answer is:
What is the context of your customer (professional context, experience context, and demographics)?
What are their biggest problems?
How is your product or service a solution to their problem?
For detailed help see my post: A Complete Guide to Creating a Buyer Persona.
5. Create a Brand Script
A brand script is a way for you to concisely explain the problem your customers go through, your understanding and empathy of that problem, your business or brand, and how you solve their problem and make their life better.
Its elements include:
Who you are and what your customer wants.
What your customer needs to do to get what they want.
The physical problem your customer has with getting what they want and how it makes them feel.
The philosophical problem of your customer's problem.
Empathy to your customer's problem that shows understanding, and authority that you can solve their problem.
Your 3-step process to HOW you will help solve your customer's problem.
Your call to action.
A review their pain point if they choose not to do work with you, and paint the picture for how their life will be better when they do choose to work with you.
When I work with businesses I use a template I adapted from StoryBrand to make this process simple. 👇
Here is an example of the brand script I created when I was a Squarespace Website Designer.
Hey, I'm Clint Mally! I know that you want to grow your business with an awesome website. In order to do that, you need simple and clear messaging and an easy-to-maintain website that will boost your business.
The problem is you don’t have the expertise to build your own website which makes you feel like you’re falling behind and wasting time doing things your website could automate. I believe websites should get you results and shouldn't be confusing.
I understand your time is limited, which is why I build one-of-a-kind Squarespace websites that grow your business and save you time in just two weeks!
Here is how I do it:
First, you schedule a FREE consultation call with me so that I can get to know you and your business.
Then, I create a custom website while keeping you updated and revising from your feedback.
Last, I hand over a ready-to-go website that will require no maintenance and will grow your business for years to come.
Schedule a FREE consultation call today, and while you wait for our call gather some inspiration sites so I have an idea of what you're looking for. Don’t miss out on the opportunities of having a clear website. Instead, invest in a website that will work as hard for your business as you do.
The brand script is a team project
When creating a brand script, It's important to include all the decision-makers in the business and to include people on the front lines of yours, too. Your brand script will be the common language that everyone will use when talking about your business.
It should be read at the top of every team meeting.
Its content will be put throughout the website.
It is THE place that people can go to learn about what you do.
From your brandscript you'll also craft:
A One-Liner: The problem you solve and the solution you bring to customers. This can be used on business cards, email signatures, and short-snippet company descriptions.
Your Website Header: This explains what you do and the solution you bring. This is the first thing people read on your website. It helps them to be crystal clear on what you do in 10 seconds or less with as few words as possible.
6. Create a Customer Journey Map and Determine Your Customer Sources
Now that you are super clear about who your customer is, the problem that you solve, and the solution that you bring, it's time to map out how your customers will find you.
Since you know them via your buyer persona and research it will be easier to determine WHERE they are hanging out and HOW they should interact with your brand.
There are four stages to the customer journey map:
Awareness: This person doesn't know you exist yet. They have no idea who you are. How will they get to know you? What will be their first impression? Will they find you from your blog or podcast? Will they need a webinar or an e-course?
Consideration: This person is looking for a product or service like yours. How are you different? How do you meet their particular needs? How do you compare to others? This person will need to be convinced that you are the right fit for them.
Customer: Congratulations, you got the sale. Now what? Keep them on board! How do you get them to stay or buy again? Do you give them email discounts? Do you give them helpful how-to content to ensure they know how to use your platform?
Fan: They have decided to stick around! How do you help them share the love? How do they give referrals? Do you give them a code? Do you have a networking webinar? What kind of status boosting swag can you create that incentivizes them to share your product or service with their friends?
Creating this map helps you determine WHERE to focus your efforts. For more details on this, see my detailed post: How to Create a Customer Journey Map: 7 Steps to Help People Go From Strangers to Loyal Fans.
Since every business is different, you will also need to focus on which customer sources you want to own in your first 90 days. The six types of customer sources are:
Paid Advertising: Any time you pay money to get in front of eyeballs, this is paid advertising. Billboards, direct mail, social media marketing, all paid.
Earned Media: These are platforms that give you a chance to build an audience.
Owned Media: Think email marketing, phone number lists, and your website domain name.
Outbound Marketing: Outbound marketing is when you call or email prospects who are "cold," meaning they have not subscribed to your stuff or given their information to you previously.
Referrals: Many businesses generate a huge part of their revenue through word of mouth from their existing customers.
Strategic Partnerships and Affiliates: Most businesses do not operate in a vacuum. Their product or service is dependent or complementary to another product or service. When you find a compatible business with your own, then everyone wins.
Certain businesses are limited to which types of customer sources they can tap into for ethical and legal reasons. For example, cryptocurrency businesses currently can't do any social media advertising. Owned and earned media are non-negotiable, and the rest of these can be built up as you increase your capacity and success.
Focus on no more than 3 sources at a time. Don't trade one source for another either. Build up, don't replace.
For even more details on the six types of customer sources, see my post: Customer Sources: 6 Ways to Get New Customers to Grow Your Business and Expand Your Reach.
7. Review the Competition
You are almost ready to start creating content, but first you need to answer one important question.
How will you stand out?
Chances are there are already a ton of businesses doing what you do. How will your content be different. What would make some people choose you over the other folks?
Become a spy for your competition. Opt into their newsletters, get their downloadables, subscribe to their YouTube channel, consume their content. See their funnel inside out. The three questions you are trying to answer here are:
What do they do well?
What do they suck at?
What are the gaps in their game?
This information will help you craft a memorable strategy that won't get drowned out in the noise. Can you make your content:
Funnier: Add humor to humanize your brand.
More Simple: Break things down into step-by-step solutions.
More Clear: Avoid jargon and technical speak.
More Helpful: Give resources, guides, and action items.
More informative: Use relevant research from experts or conduct your own research.
More Concise: Give answers quickly.
Be More Casual and Authentic: Be real, tell real stories, use real language even if they are curse words.
Chances are you'll find the gap in your competitor's content somewhere. For example, I noticed that most marketing videos were filled with jargon and were boring to watch. So I decided I would make my content simple and more fun. Boom.
Does this turn some people off to my content? Absolutely. It's interesting that many brands are quick to tell me that that they like my content but they would want something a little more sophisticated and buttoned-up.
However, when I research their market I see that that there are already a ton of their competitors who are crushing it at the smart and clean angle. They may get results with their content if they choose to go this direction, but it will definitely take longer because they won’t stand out from the crowd.
In order to make great content, you have to be unique in some way. Researching your competition is a great way to figure out how.
8. Choose Your Content Mediums
Now it's time to pony up and decide on a few things.
What are the content mediums you are going to go after? Blogging, video, or podcasting? Spoiler, no matter which medium you choose it will still include a blog post, too, for website SEO.
Here’s a quick recap on the five content mediums:
Blogging: Create educational or entertaining content in written form, like this post. Usually, blog posts are centered around solving some sort of problem that is in the orbit of the product or service you offer. Blogs are ideal to build up your company's website SEO which makes them a staple of content marketing.
Email: This medium is tough because it is often treated like interruption marketing instead of content marketing. A good rule of thumb is to create 10 value-driven emails for every 1 sales email. Think about the emails you look forward to getting. If you don't have any, then you have a lot of good examples of what not to do.
Social Media: This is the daily pulse that shows that a business or brand is relevant and alive because the content here has a short shelf life. Here you have the opportunity to offer daily communication and value to your audience. Help them stay informed and aware with frequent snippets of helpful tips.
Video and Audio: Think YouTube and podcasts. This is a great way to build evergreen content that can help people who don't have time to read blog posts or emails. Give walkthroughs or tell a story that utilizes the senses. Think about what types of things deserve to be shown or explained in greater detail.
Web Design: If all of your other efforts work, people will eventually land on your website, so make sure it's something that communicates what you do and how your product or service works in a clean, clear, and simple way. All your other content is flowers to attract bees, but your website is the apiary (beehouse) that keeps them there.
For each medium you need to determine:
What value will you bring? How will you make people's lives better? How will your content in that medium help them survive in the world?
How consistent will you be? Will you post every day or once a month? People trust consistent brands, so you need to plan out just how consistent you can be.
How will you ensure your content is quality? How will you know that your blog will be free of most grammatical errors? How can you ensure that your video quality will be steady and that your microphone will be clear?
How will you stand out? Will you use expert contributors? Will you be super clear and concise?
9. Document Your Content Marketing Mission Statement
Most marketers don't have a clearly defined mission statement for their content marketing strategy and for each of their content mediums.
It needs to be written down.
It needs to be short (1-3 sentences).
It should be simple enough to explain to a child.
For more information on choosing the right content mediums for your business, see my post: Content Marketing Strategy: The 3-Step Process to Creating a Measurable Digital Marketing Strategy.
10. Determine Your Primary and Secondary Keywords for SEO
No matter what content you create, it should ultimately add web pages to your website that contain words. Those web pages should be filled with words. Those words should include keywords that people would put into search engines when looking for stuff related to your product or service.
You need a list. This will help you narrow down your topic ideas later on and ensure that all the content you create drives people to your website or place of business.
For a detailed explanation on finding keywords and topics, see my post: A Complete Guide to SEO: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough to Build Organic Traffic Through SEO-Optimized Content.
11. Website Design and Lead Magnet
Now, that you have your primary and secondary keywords, you need to ensure that they are placed throughout the core pages of your website. You also need a way to capture people's contact information even if they choose not to buy from you on their first visit (which they probably won't).
You want to make your website simple and clear, not cute and clever. It's important that your website is divided into sections that will help the browser understand what you do and the problem you solve.
It doesn't matter if your Instagram posts are great and bring a ton of traffic to your website if people don't take action when they get there.
Each homepage should have the following sections:
A Clear Header or Hero Section: This is the first sentence you want visitors to read when they land on your website. Use this formula to create yours: What you offer + How it helps.
A Problem Section: The part of your website where you address the problem your customer faces.
A Benefit List: Explain the benefits, NOT THE FEATURES, of using your product or service (try to stick to 3).
The Guide Section: Show that you have the understanding and experience to be able to help them. The questions you answer here are, "Do they get me?" and "Do they have the expertise to help me?"
The Steps Section: Explain how your business solves the customer’s problem in no more than 2 to 3 steps.
A Stakes Section: How will the customer's life be worse if they don't do business with you? How will it be better if they do?
A lead magnet: You wouldn't ask someone to marry you without first introducing yourself to them. Likewise, you should offer something for free that adds value to them in exchange for contact information. This will allow you to stay in touch until they are ready to buy. This could be a downloadable pdf, video course, or guide to help make their life better.
12. Create Long-Form Content
Now that your website is warm and inviting, it's time to drive some traffic there. You need to create high-quality, long-form content assets that solve a pain point for your audience. This should be content based on your primary keywords.
Start off with your greatest hits, or the stuff you know is helpful both to your current customers and your future customers. After you have your core library, branch out to your secondary keywords which will be easier to rank for and will drive even more traffic.
For a detailed explanation of what long-form content is and how to create it, see my post: Long-Form Content: 6 Steps to Writing Amazing Long-Form Blog Content.
13. Batch Your Content Creation to Get Ahead on Social Media Posts and Emails
Chop up your long-form content into smaller sections to use throughout your email and social media. These should be helpful snippets that add value but lead directly back to your website for the complete scoop. If done right, you will be able to get ahead.
In your first 90 days, you should have all your emails and social media posts written for the year.
If you batch your content creation process, that last line will not seem like a joke.
For a detailed walk-through on what content batching is and how to do it, see my post: Content Creation Batching: 7 Steps to Batch Your Content and Get Ahead.
14. Set Up Your Paid Advertising Campaign
You may be wondering why implementing a paid advertising campaign is the 14th step on a 90-day marketing plan. Don't you want to increase cashflow quickly? Shouldn't you establish some quick wins or set smaller short term goals?
The fact is that even the best advertisers have to do a bit of testing to find the creative and copy that resonates with your audience. You can either spend money doing testing, or test your creative and copy organically.
This will allow you to see what your audience is actually responding to. You should be advertising different lead magnets and long-form content.
Are people commenting?
Are they sharing?
Are they liking?
Choose the social media posts that are generating the most amount of engagement and then turn those into advertisements. These are your top-of-funnel ads. The ads that you will boost to give something away for free and to capture a lead’s contact information.
Your middle-of-the-funnel ads are easy. This is your brand script in video form.
Retarget people who:
Opt-in to your lead magnet.
Click on your ad.
Watch a certain percentage of your video, such as 25% or more.
Since you will constantly have new social media content from your long-form posts, you will have tons of tested creative and copy so that it never runs out.
15. Measure Your Content Plan
Here are the key performance indicators or KPIs that are worth measuring based on how often they should be measured.
Weekly Measurements
Website traffic for each channel.Conversions, both opt-ins and monetary.
Email open rates and click-through rates.
Clicks and conversions for paid advertising.
Top performing copy and creative combinations for advertising.
Monthly Measurements
Bounce rate, session time, conversion rate for blog.
2. Click-through rate and drop off rate for video.
3. Views/downloads and subscribers for video and/or podcasts.
3. Amount of ranking keywords and which keywords are ranking.
4. Social media followers.
Quarterly Measurements
Domain authority.
Total revenue.
Top performing content assets.
Top performing keywords and their positions.
16. Review Your Results and Retest
No matter how much you prepare, you will need to revise and edit your marketing plan. Have an "If this then that" strategy for every metric that is not growing on a consistent basis.
Your marketing plan is a living document. The numbers will tell a story, but you can change the narrative by changing the variables.
If your bounce rate is high... then be sure to add value above the fold on your webpage and blog page. This means a clear headline that explains the problem you will solve, the solution that you bring, and why you are an authority on the subject.
People will not move forward in a haze, so add clarity and value right away. Another way to decrease bounce rate is by adding video under your blog title or a way for someone to interact or use a tool on your landing page.
If your session time is low... think about making your content longer and easier to skim. Provide clear formatting like headers and sub-headers, bullets, bolded worlds, and images to help keep people engaged.
If your conversion rate is low... consider adding a pop up on your site, tweaking the call to action of your lead magnet, or using a different lead magnet altogether.
If your website traffic is low... make sure that all of your outbound content is pointing people back to the website for the full scoop. Have links in the description box of your YouTube videos or in the show notes of your podcast. Every post is an opportunity to link back to your website.
If your email open rates are low... change up your headline and front load benefits. Start a story that finishes in the email. Create a headline that YOU would actually open.
If your click-through rate of your emails is low... then consider adding more clear CTAs using buttons or command that suggest benefit. Don't say “Read HERE," say "Up your marketing skillset now."
If the clicks are low on your ad... then your creative or copy is tired or not engaging. Hook people in with value or with a problem right away.
If your cost per conversion rate is high or you are not getting enough opt-ins... then it's your landing page’s fault. Are things clear? Are you asking for too much information too soon? For example, it is best practice to ask someone for their name and email address before you ask them to schedule a call.
If your views or downloads are low... it comes down to content quality, consistency, exceptionality, and value. Usually one of these variables is off. Are you posting enough, is it helpful, is the quality good, are you original? Leaving out any of the four factors ensures that your content will tank. It's like a table: you need all four legs to stand.
If your click-through rate on your video is low... then your thumbnail and title need to be more engaging. If your watch time is low, then you need to draw your reader in by giving lists, adding more value, or provoking curiosity within your content.
If your keyword rankings are down... consider if you have given the content enough time to work through the Google algorithm. Are keywords spaced throughout your content and used naturally? Is your content long enough? Does it have relevant sources? Is the formatting and scrollability strong? All of these things play a role in ranking eywords.
If your social media followers are low... consider if you are posting often enough. Also, are you engaging with your audience? Are you liking others’ content, or sharing others’ posts? Do you respond when people comment?
If your domain authority is low... are you providing valuable content? Are you guest blogging? Are you providing share-worthy content?
Summing It Up
All 16 of these steps will give you a clear way to start out right in a new marketing role. However, these things have an order of operation. Do them in this order to minimize mistakes and maximize success.