Marketing Strategy for Startups: 9 Steps to Impact Growth
Aren’t your marketing efforts paying off?
The need to build a clear marketing strategy for your startup may be why.
Get the strategic direction you need to start seeing results and achieve sustainable growth.
👉 Understand why you need a startup marketing strategy, the advantages, and the steps to craft it.
Do you need help? Counting on a part-time CMO is a more affordable and flexible solution to enjoy senior advice and create and manage your startup strategy.
2 key points every startup founder must know 👉
How Does a Marketing Strategy Impact The Growth of a Startup?
How to Create a Startup Marketing Strategy in 9 Steps
How Does a Marketing Strategy Impact the Growth of a Startup?
Growth is the reason for a startup’s existence, as it is the reason for a baby. I will show you how a seasoned startup marketing strategy impacts directly on it and why you should create it to take advantage of, no matter the phase of its lifecycle.
You will see that achieving growth and scaling up a startup is not about implementing isolated growth-hacking tactics. Consistent marketing strategy pillars are essential to craft a winning startup marketing plan. They help generate sustainable growth through day-to-day tactics.
Digital marketing plan get the most attention from tech startups. Startups must stay current on each channel’s technical aspects and best practices. So, a clear perspective of how the digital landscape evolves is also mandatory to keep reaching out to your audience.
Understanding how everything works together is fundamental. It is important for adapting to rapid changes and succeeding in startup marketing. An updated big picture you can review anytime is also crucial.
Cracking the Impact of Tactics without a Strategic Foundation
- Strategy vs Tactics
It is curious to see how much content is written around the topic of which is more important: strategy or tactics.
No one is more important than the other; both are necessary parts of the same process to achieve success. We can’t ignore the possibility of succeeding only by luck.
I love this very famous quote. It illustrates a fundamental interconnection if we want to win and reach our KPIs:
”Strategy without tactics is the slowest way to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Sun TzuThe Art of War
Aligning tactical actions with long-term decisions yields much learning. It helps measure immediate results and ensures sustainable growth.
This well-known quote is one of the wisest and most intuitive logic related to strategy. Does anybody imagine building a house without all the plans and calculations that precede it? I bet no one dares to start placing bricks and see how it goes. The same thing happens with any complex outcome you want to produce. It requires many resources and variables to work together.
- Why Strategy Matters?
Today, there is some confusion surrounding the idea of startups.
Many founders misunderstand the concept of velocity and change. They avoid investing time in crafting a long-term strategy. This can lead to a lack of direction and prevent the startup from reaching its full potential.
It is important to strike a balance between short-term goals and long-term planning. This ensures sustainable growth and success.
Founders have many problems to solve and a lack of resources. It is common for them to skip this fundamental stage. The result of it is a team running around like a headless chicken.
Startup leaders need to realize that crafting their startup marketing strategy is a fantastic way to grow team alignment. It also boosts motivation. Leaders must share strategic decisions to empower talent efforts. They must also impulse a culture with shared vision and values.
It is surprising that many long-lived corporations don’t have a clear marketing strategy. They also don’t effectively communicate it to all levels and teams, which is almost the same thing.
That is another crucial point about crafting a successful marketing strategy: communicating it. If you work on it but keep it secret afterward, the highest probability is to fail during its implementation.
Tech startups’ marketing strategy pillars must be crafted to impact growth efforts directly.
Tech startups’ marketing strategy pillars include knowing who their customer is. They must also differentiate and build a memorable experience. They need to evolve demand generation efforts. This will help them find product-market fit, grow, and reach efficiency.
Invest in developing a comprehensive marketing strategy. Then, you can focus and measure your progress earlier and adapt as necessary.
Advantages of Crafting a Marketing Strategy for your Startup
A seasoned and well-articulated startup marketing strategy will give you the following advantages toward long-term success:
Clarity of purpose is a game changer from the start of every project. The definition of the vision and the mission sets the tone. The clearness, uniqueness, and power of many future decisions lie in the why. To develop a marketing strategy for impact-led startups, leverage their why to gain a competitive advantage.
Focus and clear direction drive the team to make essential decisions about where to focus time and effort. Most importantly, they show where not to focus. Select and deselect existing alternatives.
Team alignment: in each stage of startup life, crew alignment is one of the things the team can’t miss. This main ingredient will give you traction to move on to the next phase.
Investors’ and stakeholders’ confidence, you will be capable of demonstrating that the startup has a plan for sustainable growth. At this point, it will be essential to be aware of your industry numbers that are universally accepted to be coherent and set achievable goals.
Competitive differentiation defines the place your solution will occupy within the existing market. It is also defining how it will create a new market. And being aware of the market landscape is essential.
Brand long-term consistency: this is a company asset that can skyrocket your project if you are willing to take the time to pay a little attention to it. Name a unicorn that didn’t exceed on it. Take your time; you will need it ;). I know, there is none.
Adaptability is the ability to make adjustments and corrections when needed. A strategy is not a series of decisions set in stone at a given moment. On the contrary, it is something living that must be reviewed and adapted as we advance and learn.
The ability to make data-driven decisions is fundamental. It involves setting the metrics and KPIs to measure the outcome and performance.
Progress measurability to make the team aware of the milestones achieved so they can celebrate them together. Celebrating successes on the way is a must-do to focus our brain and soul on the right path.
Sustainable growth is the fundamental condition that will allow you to have a relevant impact on the world with your startup. Only this kind of growth is valid; that will align with our purpose, vision, and values. We want the type of growth that comes from building long-term relationships with satisfied customers. This kind of growth is sustainable. And that is the one that will come with high LTV and customer advocation.
Efficiency: it will allow the team to increase the efficiency in resource allocation as the project evolves and grows.
Risk mitigation: if you take the time to build a marketing strategy, you will be able to consider associated risks during the decision-making process. You will have the opportunity to think about possible measures to mitigate or avoid them.
The Need to Align Your Marketing Strategy to Your Business Strategy
The marketing strategy needs to contribute to the overall business goals. Growth is the quintessential strategic business objective for every startup. It seems a truism, but choosing the right KPIs can sometimes be challenging. This alignment is the first thing to consider when building it.
Some business goals will impact the setting of marketing objectives. They are marketing goals or are supported by marketing efforts. These goals need to be translated into several marketing objectives. Here are examples of each kind:
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A business goal that is, per se, a marketing goal is to increase aided brand awareness by 10 points. This is a common goal for startups or new entrants in a competitive market. They must establish their identity and reputation among potential customers. The marketing team will set specific and measurable marketing objectives. They will do this to achieve this goal. They might aim for a certain percentage of impression share, reach volume, or number of views, clicks, or mentions on different channels.
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A typical business goal supported by marketing efforts is increasing revenue. Marketing efforts should support this goal by translating it into specific marketing objectives. This is a common goal for any business that wants to grow and generate more profit. To achieve this goal, the marketing people will need to articulate how by pulling a combination of marketing levers and actions. They will set specific and measurable marketing objectives. They will decide the stages of the customer journey that they will impact. These stages include attracting, converting, or delighting customers. For example, the marketing team may set goals. They might aim to improve conversion rates, reduce churn rates, or increase customer lifetime value. They have many other options.
With this in mind, we will identify which business goals need marketing support. Then, we will translate those goals into specific marketing goals. This way, we will ensure that our marketing strategy aligns with the business plan.
When aligning marketing to business strategy, always keep your startup’s mission, vision, and values in mind. Follow and incorporate them as a north star.
This alignment is a determining part of every startup’s success, making everything consistent. Consistency will resonate with all stakeholders. It will avoid pitfalls that could make your startup fail.
It’s crystal clear that crafting a marketing strategy for your startup is crucial, regardless of the stage you are in. Now, let’s dive into the necessary steps.
These are the analyses and decisions you and your team must go through:
How to Create a Startup Marketing Strategy in 9 Steps?
These steps guide startups to accomplish essential research and decision-making. They serve as a guide for creating a marketing strategy for startups.
Strategy involves making thoughtful decisions that drive consistent implementation and positively impact results. It is about anticipating after reflecting.
Each step can be adapted for both mature startups and those starting from scratch. Growth must be an intrinsic feature of a successful startup, and any growth means change.
It’s essential to build a solid foundation for the long term. It’s equally important to be flexible and adaptable to change as you move forward.
Remember, it’s not just a one-time document. It’s a living record. You update it as you learn during implementation or encounter new data and circumstances.
It should also be accessible to all team members. This way, everyone can contribute and make corrections as needed.
Many software options are available to help you with this task. They range from basic tools like Google Drive to more advanced platforms like Notion, Slack, or Asana. These tools help you update and share it.
Finally, communicate the strategy and its corrections. Ensure every team member is aware and aligned with it.
Step 1: Define your why, vision, mission, and values
This step will make a difference from now on to the following steps.
These are foundational pillars for recently launched startups and startups of any size. They will work and generate rewards from day one, as well as in the long term.
Aligning all team members with shared leitmotifs will strategically impact growth.
If you still need to define this, I encourage you to dedicate an inspiring and fun session with your team.
Step 2: Identify Who Your Customer Is and What Their Pain Points Are
Defining their customer is likely the most critical step for a startup. And being ready to include this information as part of its marketing strategy requires time and effort.
I want to advocate for the process I like the best to define your target market. I’ll use the MIT methodology to go through this journey. It is suitable, regardless of the startup’s size. You can choose more or less costly resources, depending on your budget or available team. And you can use it from scratch or review your existing personas.
You have 5 phases within this method:
1. Market segmentation
Identify the industries, market segments, and potential end-users for your solution. You need to describe their problems, pains, and the benefits of your solution. Complement it with primary research.
2. Select your beachhead market
Choose a small portion. A small portion lets you conquer it quickly. This is a strategic move to learn and create a strong foundation for future growth.
3. Define the end user profile
Continue getting more specific within your selected beachhead market. Identify a subset of end users with similar features and needs. Build the generic profile of this particular segment.
4. Calculate your TAM
Identify the total addressable market. Focus your scarce efforts there. Multiply the volume of end users by potential unit revenue.
5. Create the persona/s:
It is essential for representing your end-user profile. This should be an actual person identified during prior steps. It will be the tool to visualize your target customer.
This is a great and easy-to-follow method. It can give founders and decision-makers a detailed approach to who everything happens for in the business. It’s very resourceful.
Step 3: Run External and Competitors Analysis
Once we know precisely who our persona is, I recommend looking at the market. Research our competitors. If you think you don’t have competitors, you may be in trouble or an extreme rara avis.
Even if you’re the most innovative tech startup, you probably have some rivals. They might be indirect competitors, but they’re solving the same problem as you. It is essential to be aware of this and include it in your marketing strategy.
These are some frameworks that will help you organize information and consider new factors.
Porter 5 forces: it will help you reflect on and identify the main competitive forces affecting your business. The 5 forces are:
→ The threat of new entrants
→ Power of suppliers
→ Power of buyers
→ Threat of substitutes
→ Competitors rivalry
Pestel framework: it helps founders see the bigger picture. They consider macro-environmental factors that can impact business. These are the factors you will think about:
→ Political
→ Economic
→ Social
→ Technological
→ Environmental
→ Legal
Positioning and perceptual map: it helps you visualize how your target perceives your solution related to the market. You can create as many as you want by combining the two variables you want into an x and y-axis.
Step 4: Craft The USP and Value Proposition
You must now define the Unique Selling Proposition. To do this, start with a clear customer definition and a picture of your main competitors.
Your USP is why a potential customer should choose you from the available options. It spotlights your product or service’s unique feature or benefit compared to competitors.
Your value proposition contains the USP plus your target audience. It includes a deeper description of the solution. And the relevant reason why that emotionally connects with your audience.
A tool called Value Proposition Canvas can guide you in formulating it efficiently. It is conducive.
This canvas is composed of two parts:
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The customer profile defines their jobs, gains, and pains.
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The value map to link with your product/ services, gain creators, and pain relievers.
This step will set the basis of your pricing strategy. It will be a key component of the reason-why for customers to choose your solution over others in the market.
Step 5: Execute Internal Analysis
The intensity and dedication of this step will be directly related to the startup’s momentum, size, and the kind of service or product. But I recommend everyone follow it to become conscious of the startup business state. It doesn’t matter where you are on the road.
Frameworks and tools I find practical to enjoy a self-analysis:
Customer Journey Map: a well-known visual representation of the stages and interactions customers go through when interacting with a business.
You can use it to follow all phases of the marketing funnel. It will be the perfect tool to identify moments of truth. These are the critical touchpoints. You need to focus your scarce resources on these moments to make the user fall in love.
- BCG Matrix: a simple matrix reserved for more mature startups with several products or services in the market.
It classifies the portfolio based on market share and growth rate. It is a big picture to allocate marketing efforts strategically and efficiently.
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Business Model Canvas: it’s a bonus track, broader than marketing territories or internal analysis. I strongly recommend it. It will help build the marketing strategy with a deep understanding of your business. It serves as a gold standard for startups. It provides a comprehensive rationale for how a business creates, delivers, and captures value.
Step 6: Compile a Marketing SWOT
Translating all the previous information into a simple, condensed framework is useful. This framework will highlight all internal and external factors. It will include positive and negative aspects that will influence our marketing decisions.
In this step, we will list our internal strengths and weaknesses. We will also note the external opportunities and threats in our environment.
A SWOT analysis is a traditional basic tool, useful for everything in life. It provides a highly condensed and helpful big picture.
It will guide you to focus your growth efforts on high-impact levers smartly. You can maximize your strengths and work on your weaknesses. This helps you alleviate market threats and take advantage of opportunities.
Step 7: Create Main Pillars for Brand Definition
This step is comprehensive and will differ based on the startup’s maturity. So, I will stick to the basics to help you understand the high-value aspects you must define.
Investing in building a brand is critical for startup success. This is true, even if you’re at a very early stage. Achieving differentiation influences growth metrics directly.
Consistent messaging and content can fuel growth through the funnel using your brand. This can give your company a valuable competitive advantage.
If you have followed the previous steps, you have already gone half the way to create your brand pillars. It will take you a few sprints. It will be highly worthwhile if you want to maximize your marketing investment.
We need to create a strategic brand platform to define the brand identity. I have created a framework for this end that I will develop in a future blog post.
For now, aspects I consider paramount strategic to define as soon as possible:
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Brand essence: the purpose, vision, mission, values, and USP are the core of a brand.
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Value proposition.
We have already worked on these two points in previous steps. These are relevant brand bases that will make everything else coherent and consistent.
- The brand promise and the reason why.
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Principles and a brand manifesto are not mandatory. However, it is excellent practice to work on them.
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Territories your brand lives in.
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Brand story and brand messages.
The last 2 points are the results you need to craft through this step in your marketing strategy.
It will depend on whether your startup has already worked on creating an appropriate brand strategic platform; these will be pillars to make future decisions or adjustments about the brand and the design or development of its tangible projection (naming, look and feel, tone, etc.).
Step 8: Set Clear Marketing Goals Aligned with the Startup Business Strategy
In this final step, we will translate the business goals that affect the marketing budget or efforts into marketing goals. This way, we will follow the mandatory rule. We must align our marketing goals with business objectives.
I am used to working with the OKR’s goal-setting framework. Many tech startups, like Google and LinkedIn, commonly define goals through quarterly tracking.
This methodology helps startups align their efforts and set measurable objectives. Most importantly, it helps them be adaptable and track progress.
Objectives are ambitious, qualitative goals that express the organization’s strategic priorities. Key Results are specific, measurable outcomes that indicate success in achieving those objectives.
- Objectives are clear and inspirational defined statements to achieve. They should align with the overall mission and vision. They should be challenging yet achievable. They should provide a sense of direction for the entire team.
- Key Results are specific, quantifiable milestones that measure progress toward achieving the objectives. They are concrete and time-bound, providing a clear way to assess success. Each objective typically has several corresponding Key Results.
OKRs align top-level organizational objectives and individual goals, fostering transparency and collaboration. Regular check-ins allow for frequent evaluation and quick adjustments. Scoring and grading Key Results on a scale helps teams assess performance objectively.
The OKRs framework encourages ambitious yet attainable goals. It fosters continuous learning and enhances focus, alignment, and agility in goal-setting. It also helps drive performance, strategic execution, and a results-oriented culture.
Step 9: Translate the Marekting Strategy into an Actionable Marketing Plan
This step connects the Marketing Strategy with its implementation. I will dedicate a complete blog post to its detailed development. It is the step that will transform the strategy into tactics.
After finalizing the marketing strategy, we should focus on creating a short-term plan for marketing tactics. This plan will help us allocate our marketing budget and resources effectivly. By running specific marketing campaigns, we can achieve our growth and marketing objectives.
These 9 steps will guide us through the appropriate analysis and decision-making process. This will ensure we have the necessary input to craft a winning marketing strategy.
But I want to remind you again that it’s essential to build your startup marketing strategy in an evolving document. It’s also important to communicate it and make it accessible to team members. I recommend using a platform that allows collaborative interaction. Use it to share all team learnings during the implementation.
I will delve into each step of creating your startup marketing strategy in future posts. For now, I hope this has given you an idea of the big picture.
Creating an overarching marketing strategy is the first step. It helps convert your efforts into a targeted marketing strategy. This marketing plan is for both digital and offline marketing across various channels. This will help you make informed decisions about marketing actions. You’ll use it on platforms such as social media, content marketing, referral programs, and any tactical activity.
Remember to focus on specific and clear numerical data. Let’s prioritize accuracy and clarity in all our documents and communications. For this end, I will also share a marketing plan template in future blog posts.
We look forward to any comments about topics you will be interested in reading. If you enjoyed this, I would appreciate any shares to help others.
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