Start-Up Marketers: The 90-Day Plan Template You Need to Start Strong

The first 90 days are arguably the most important for a marketer joining a start-up, especially if you are the first marketer or growth person on the team. During this time, you’ll build the foundation for your future success in the company by learning, earning trust, and getting some wins on the board. But if you're like most early hires, you don't know where or how to start. This 90-Day Plan Template is the blueprint for success that I've developed over 20 years and 6 startups (from small all the way to $500+ million). Avoid the pitfalls, learn from the mistakes I made, and build a strong plan to ensure success for your career and the company.

You'll get 2 PDFs when you buy this package:

• 90-Day Plan Outline - details out every step you need to take to create a successful 90-day plan
• 90-Day Plan Sample Output - provides a sample output for a fictional company to show you what a 90-day plan looks like

Here's a snippet of what you'll get in the 90-Day Plan Outline:

There are 4 phases in building your 90-day plan:

1. Learn
2. Synthesize
3. Plan
4. Act

1. Learn (3 weeks)
   1. Description: You may be tempted to start making changes and launching programs right away, but don’t fall into this trap. It is best to learn all you can about the business, customers, competitors, market, and current marketing strategy before diving in with action plans. Your goal during this phase is to truly understand the customers you are serving, including their pain points and how your company uniquely solves them. In addition, you want to identify the areas where the company’s marketing is strong and working, as well as the holes and opportunities for improvement.
   2. Steps:
      1. Read company documents
      2. Learn about the market
      3. Talk to key colleagues
      4. Talk to customers
      5. Read customer reviews and survey results
      6. Perform competitive analysis
      7. Understand the financial model
      8. Audit current marketing initiatives: Acquisition channels, Creative strategy, Landing pages, Lifecycle strategy (email, SMS), Content strategy, Owned social media, Loyalty and winback
      9. Audit current marketing tech and analytics stack: Conversion and goal tracking, Analytics platform, Data pipelines, Reporting tools, Social media tools, Email Service Provider (ESP), Content Management System (CMS)
   3. Output: After the “Learn” phase, you will have notes on all your conversations and research, with specific thoughts about the market, customers, and company strengths and weaknesses. You should be able to articulate rough answers to questions such as:
      1. What is the company’s mission?
      2. What is the company’s primary target market? What are their pain points?
      3. How does the company address customer pain points?
      4. Who are the competitors? How does the company differentiate itself in the market?
      5. What marketing has worked thus far for reaching the target audience?
      6. What are the marketing holes or opportunities?
      7. What are the key metrics that drive the financial model?
      8. What are the company’s short and long-term financial goals?