A strategic content marketing plan is a key component of building a successful business online. It attracts new visitors, connects you with your target audience, and converts them into paying customers to win their loyalty. In the absence of an effective marketing plan, even the most groundbreaking product fails to generate revenue.

However, small businesses and startups often don’t have the resources to create a strategic marketing plan and execute a big-budget marketing campaign. Developing a marketing plan for entrepreneurs requires a strategic and innovative approach. You must use cost-effective strategies to attract your potential customers and position your product/service as the right solution to their problems

In this blog, we’ll discuss how to create a marketing plan for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

1. Know Your Audience, Goals & Budget

The first step is to identify your target audience and define buyer personas for different types of audience members. You must have a clear idea of their age group, gender, profession, spending habits, location, socio-economic background, and online behavior. Additionally, you need a deep understanding of their ambitions, challenges, and pain points.

It’s also essential to define your marketing objectives. While your long-term objective is to grow your business, you must break it into specific, measurable, and short-term goals. Next, assign measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) to each goal. Lastly, allocate a dedicated marketing budget, even if it’s a meager amount.

2. Establish a Brand Identity in Your Marketing Plan

Your company’s logo, name, and website play a crucial role in building brand awareness. Make sure the logo and name are eye-catching and memorable. Additionally, they should reflect your brand’s values and highlight the distinguishing factors. Likewise, it’s essential to build a fast, secure, well-designed, easily navigable, and mobile-responsive website. You can hire freelance graphic designers and website developers at affordable rates from platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, etc.

3. Use SEO and Content Marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps drive increased organic traffic to your website. Identify relevant and popular keywords in your niche. Next, optimize individual web pages using target keywords. Use guest posting and link building opportunities to attract authentic and high-quality backlinks.

It’s also essential to publish insightful blog posts that address your audience’s pain points. Optimize the content using relevant keywords. In addition to blog posts, you should use other content formats including infographics, podcasts, videos, etc. You must distribute the content across the right channels including social media, emails, streaming platforms, etc.

The combination of SEO and content marketing helps you attract qualified website visitors and win their trust. It lets you drive conversions, boost customer retention, and establish brand authority. The best part is that these techniques continue to generate revenue in the long run.

4. Utilize Email Marketing in Your Marketing Plan

Once your website starts attracting visitors, use attractive lead magnets to compel them to share their email addresses. For instance, you can offer free e-books or webinars in exchange for their contact information. Next, send relevant and valuable newsletters to your mailing list showcasing your latest content. You should also send personalized emails that include product recommendations, promotional offers, etc.

Note how Attracta sends email newsletters.

5. Leverage Social Media & Influencers

A robust social media marketing strategy boosts brand awareness, audience engagement, and customer retention. Identify the social media platforms that your target audience uses. Next, create profiles/pages for your business on these platforms and start posting engaging content. Typically, infographics, memes, short videos, images, etc. garner traction on social media.

Additionally, host live sessions, AMAs, polls, etc. to further increase engagement. You can even host a contest or giveaway to create a buzz before a product launch. Up your social media game by collaborating with relevant and popular influencers in your niche.

6. Don’t Ignore Paid Advertising in Your Marketing Plan

Facebook advertising is one of the most cost-effective paid channels for a small business marketing strategy. You can use it to drive website traffic, promote your products, and even increase conversions. Moreover, you can precisely define your target audience based on their spending habits, consumer preferences, and other parameters. You can also track the performance of your campaigns and modify them for better results.

Likewise, Google Ads lets you quickly climb to the top of relevant search results. This is particularly crucial when you’re competing with established. Even though it’s expensive, it helps you gain quick traction in situations such as a new product launch.

Image via Google

7. Develop a Referral Strategy

A referral program helps convert your existing customers into promoters of your brand. Offer incentives like reward points, discount coupons, etc. to encourage them to recommend your product/services to their contacts. This, in turn, attracts new customers and skyrockets your revenue.

Conclusion

A marketing plan for entrepreneurs should focus on organically attracting potential customers and converting them into loyal brand advocates. SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, pay-per-click advertising, and email marketing play a crucial role in this. And last but not the least, it’s essential to monitor your campaign and measure ROI effectively.

Need help building your marketing plan? Drop us a message with your requirements and we can get you a free content marketing playbook custom-built to boost your business.