INTRODUCTION

Download your copy of ‘How To Start A Marketing Plan’ here. The How To Start A Marketing Plan is the easiest and fastest way to create a marketing plan that will propel your business growth. In literally a single page, you’ll be able to map out your own sophisticated direct response marketing plan. The How To Start A Marketing Plan canvas consists of nine squares split up into three major “acts” or phases of the marketing journey.

ACT I – THE “BEFORE” PHASE

The “before” phase encompasses the first three squares of the How To Start A Marketing Plan canvas.

In the “before” phase, you’re dealing with prospects. Prospects are people who may not even yet know you exist. In this phase, you’ll identify a target market, craft a compelling message for this target market and deliver your message to them through advertising media.

The goal of this phase is to get your prospect to know you and respond to your message. Once they’ve indicated interest by responding, they become a lead and enter the second phase of your marketing process.

SQUARE 1 – SELECTING YOUR TARGET MARKET

Selecting your target market is a crucial first step in the marketing process. Doing so will ensure your marketing message resonates better, which in turn will make your marketing far more effective. By focusing on the right target market for your business, you’ll be able to get the best return on the time, money and energy you invest.

SQUARE 2 – CRAFTING YOUR MESSAGE

Most marketing messages are boring, timid and ineffective. To stand out from the crowd you need to craft a compelling message that grabs the attention of your target market. Once you have their attention, the goal of your message is to compel them to respond.

SQUARE 3 – REACHING PROSPECTS WITH ADVERTISING MEDIA

Most marketing messages are boring, timid and ineffective. To stand out from the crowd you need to craft a compelling message that grabs the attention of your target market. Once you have their attention, the goal of your message is to compel them to respond.

ACT II – THE “DURING” PHASE

The “during” phase encompasses the squares four, five and six of the How To Start A Marketing Plan canvas.

In the “during” phase, you’re dealing with leads. Leads are people who know you and have indicated interest in what you have to offer by responding to your marketing message. In this phase, you’ll capture these interested leads in a database system, nurture them with regular value-building information and convert them into paying customers.

The goal of this phase is to get your leads to like you and what you have to offer enough to buy from you for the first time. Once they’ve bought from you, they become a customer and enter the third and final phase of your marketing process.

SQUARE 4 – CAPTURING LEADS

Capturing leads in a database system for future follow-up is critical to your marketing success. This is because only a very small percentage of interested leads may be ready to purchase from you immediately. Lead capture is all about properly handling interest and building your future sales pipeline.

SQUARE 5 – NURTURING LEADS

Nurturing leads is the process of taking people from being vaguely interested in what you have to offer to desiring it and wanting to do business with you. The lead nurturing process ensures that leads are interested, motivated, qualified and predisposed to buying from you before you ever try to sell to them.

SQUARE 6 – SALES CONVERSION

Sales conversion is all about creating enough trust and demonstrating enough value to motivate interested leads to become paying customers. Positioning yourself correctly will make the sales conversion process easy and natural for both you and your customer.

ACT III – THE “AFTER” PHASE

The “after” phase encompasses the squares seven, eight and nine of the How To Start A Marketing Plan canvas.

In the “after” phase you’re dealing with customers. Customers are people who like you and what you have to offer enough to have paid you money at least once. In this phase, you’ll turn your customers into raving fans by delivering a world-class experience. You’ll then find ways of doing more business with them and increasing their lifetime value. Finally, you’ll create an environment where referrals continually come your way.

The goal of this final phase is to get your customers to trust you and buy more from you. This phase continues in an ongoing “virtuous cycle” where you deepen your relationship with customers, do more business with them and get more referrals.

SQUARE 7 – DELIVERING A WORLD CLASS EXPERIENCE

By delivering a world class experience, you turn customers into a tribe of raving fans who want to buy from you repeatedly. To deliver this world class experience you need to implement systems in your business and make smart use of technology.

SQUARE 8 – INCREASING CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE

Increasing the lifetime value of existing customers is where the real money is made. To do this you need to have strategies and tactics for getting existing customers to do more business with you. You also need to know, manage and continually improve key numbers in your business.

SQUARE 9 – ORCHESTRATING AND STIMULATING REFERRALS

Orchestrating and stimulating referrals is an active process. Many businesses wish and hope for referrals but don’t have a deliberate system for making them happen. By implementing some simple tactics, you can make the flow of referrals a more reliable part of your marketing process.