Council Post: Four Frameworks For Building Your Startup's Marketing Plan

Founder of Prosh Marketing, a Fractional CMO & Marketing Agency that helps Startups & SMBs build their marketing practice and go to market. Though most entrepreneurs are business-minded individuals, marketing efforts such as product launches and branding may not have been a part of their experience. This is where marketing frameworks can be extremely helpful. Frameworks can help you organize your marketing efforts for improved alignment of your marketing team and its stakeholders, including agencies, partners and peers on cross-functional teams. As a fractional CMO who has developed and implemented marketing strategies for startups across various industries in global markets, here are four tried and true frameworks I've used to help build a cohesive marketing foundation: The Seven P's Marketing Mix is one of the most popular marketing models. It considers the many components of developing a marketing strategy.

So, what are the seven P's of marketing? The first two P's are product and price, which describe what your company is selling and how much it costs. The following two P's are place and promotion. They focus on where your company is selling the product and how you will communicate with your audience. People, process and physical evidence are the last three P's. Respectively, these P's focus on who within your startup is responsible for the product, promotion and distribution; what the purchasing process is like for customers; and what evidence you will provide to substantiate your claims. By thoroughly detailing the seven P's for your business, you can get a clear understanding of the key areas your marketing team needs to focus on. Porter's Five Forces are as follows: How much control do they have over resources and prices? How difficult is it for consumers to switch to a competitor? The early stages of launching a startup might require you to raise capital. Understanding the external forces that may impact your business's ability to acquire capital is imperative to protecting your bottom line. Similarly, in a marketplace full of new products, it is important to be aware of how intense the competition is, who the competitors are, and how you can make your company stand out among them. Who do you want to purchase your product? What is their thought process like? What are their pain points, and when do these occur? Customer journey maps visually depict a customer's experience with your company and its products while considering their needs, concerns and motivations. What actions do they take in the awareness stage? Perhaps they frequent social media and come across your Facebook page. In the consideration stage, they may sign up for your email newsletter. How do they complete the purchase stage? Do they prefer purchasing through an app, through a website or in person? The more you understand their journey, the more personalized you can make your marketing communications. This process provides clarity on who benefits most from your product and how best to reach them with your messaging. Segment your startup's customers using the following categories: What are their preferred communication channels? What are their hobbies, interests and lifestyles? When you narrow down your segments, you'll want to consider size, differentiation and reachability. Make sure your target segments are small enough for the message to be personalized but large enough to justify your marketing efforts and budget. Lastly, ensure your target segment is reachable. Are there any technical or legal barriers that may prevent your messages from reaching them? Here, you take the insights you gained from the previous two steps and decide how you will communicate your startup and its product to your target segments. Positioning is slightly different from segmentation and targeting because it is focused on the customer's perspective of your product. There are myriad ways to position your product. Is it the most affordable, the most exclusive or the best quality? Ultimately, you want to look inward and identify what makes your startup and its product unique. This will provide you with the foundation for a great positioning statement and marketing plan to follow. While it takes time and dedication to develop one, these frameworks are a great way to build a solid foundation for your plan based on time-tested fundamental marketing principles.