Creating Your Marketing Plan

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?

Your marketing plan can be comprehensive but provides your brand with a holistic marketing strategy for every circumstance you will run into. This plan will help you tackle some of the

most intimidating tasks in regards to brand exposure and selling practices.

ARE YOU READY TO CREATEYOUR MARKETING PLAN?

CREATING A 6 MONTH TO ONE YEAR MARKETING PLAN IS A GREAT PLACE TO START.

Developing the plan may seem tedious and challenging however, it’s totally worth it. It’s your job as a brand owner to decide on what you want to do and how you want to do it.

How does your marketing plan tie into your business plan and vision?

Your business plan is the skeleton of your fashion business; it dictates what your company does and does not do. It spreads far beyond just marketing to all sectors of your business.

Your vision statement is included within your business plan and elaborately states what you see the business becoming.

Your marketing plan is a small subset of your business plan that is only covering marketing practices to help you reach your vision.

So let’s get started!.

Step one is to remind yourself about who your customer is. Review the Customer Profile you created using the “How to Create a Detailed Customer Profile” Collection in the Community and fill in the questions below.

Read through “The Character” you created and write a 3 to 5 sentences that capture your customer.

STEPONE

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

OK, now that your customer is top of mind, it’s time to look at your money situation..

What are your customer’s favorite social media platforms?

What are some specific activities your customer likes?

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

REVIEW YOUR FINANCES

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Before deciding on which marketing ideas you would like to focus on, review your financial plan and your operating budget. How much money do you have available for marketing for the next year?

Whether you have $500 or $5,000, it’s important to know your numbers. You can create a marketing plan even with a budget of just a few hundred bucks; knowing what you have available makes your plan a lot easier to create.

AREAS OF MARKETING

OK, now it’s time to think about marketing areas. There are 6 areas of focus for building your marketing plan. Each area should be represented in your marketing plan. Choose a few ideas in each category for the next 6 months of your marketing.

Branding

Visibility: Advertising

Visibility: SEO

Visibility: Public Relations

Visibility: Promotions

Customer Service

STEPTHREE

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

BRANDINGThe goal of branding is to create a clear and consistent message about why you do what you do (the passion and purpose behind your brand) and how specifically you are able to help your customer. It goes beyond “what makes you special” to include “how you make your customer feel special”.

BRANDING COLLATERAL: Check off all that you have already.

Review the list above. Of the items you’ve checked off, is there is anything that needs updating, redesigning, or changes?

☐ Logo

☐ Website

☐ Postcards

☐ Look book

☐ Business cards

☐ Tagline

☐ Brand personality

☐ Brand Mission Statement

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

List the items you haven’t checked off from the above list and brainstorm where/how/who you need to get them created. Also, include a deadline for getting them done.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

BRAND BUILDING PRACTICES Check off all that you already do and a few new ones you want to focus on.

☐ Collect testimonials

☐ Collect reviews

☐ Participate in community-based projects

☐ Participate in charitable or purpose-based initiatives

☐ Create a brand community through email communication (not promo emails but emails that bring another kind of value to your customers)

☐ Join Facebook groups around a topic that relates to your customer

☐ Organize social or networking events or other non-sales focused gatherings

Review the items you’ve checked off in the above list and get more detailed. Brainstorm ideas for improving the things you already do and for moving forward with the things you don’t yet do but want to focus on in the next 6 months. Include names of people you will reach out to for help, research you need to do, topics for events, locations, etc.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

VISIBILITY (ADVERTISING, PUBLIC RELATIONS, PROMOTIONS)The goal of visibility is to make sure that your customers don’t forget who you are. Visibility can be defined as the ability to be seen and the degree to which something has attracted general attention. Remember there is a lot of competition for your customer’s attention; make sure you’re marketing your brand in a way that keeps you visible.

There are 4 components for maintaining visibility:

ADVERTISING PRACTICES Check off all that you already do and a few new ones you want to focus on.

☐ Purchase magazine and newspaper ads in (expensive)

☐ Purchase ads or sponsored posts on blogs your customer reads

☐ Do paid placement with bloggers

☐ Sponsor an event where your target customer will be

☐ Place Facebook ads

Review the items you’ve checked off in the above list and get more detailed. Brainstorm ideas for improving the things you already do and for moving forward with the things you don’t yet do but want to focus on in the next 6 months. Include names of people you will reach out to for help, research you need to do, topics, locations, etc.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)Check off all that you already do and a few new ones you want to focus on.

☐ Create a blog and a blogging calendar; consistently blog at least once per week

☐ Use blog plugins to optimize the content and get more reach

☐ Do Keyword Research and Key Phrase Research and implement your findings into your website and blog

☐ Create a backlink strategy (get people to write about you online and link to your website)

☐ Create a social media strategy and use it

☐ Optimize your website speed

Review the items you’ve checked off in the above list and get more detailed. Brainstorm ideas for improving the things you already do and for moving forward with the things you don’t yet do but want to focus on in the next 6 months. Include names of people you will reach out to for help, research you need to do, topics, locations, etc.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

PUBLIC RELATIONS PLANCheck off all that you already do and a few new ones you want to focus on.

☐ Pitch your story for a featured article to blogs and online magazines

☐ Pitch your story for a featured article in print magazines

☐ Pitch your brand/product to editors for inclusion in a theme-based article

☐ Create a social media strategy that includes some or all of the following channels: Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Periscope

☐ Write guest blogs on a relevant topic for blogs that are highly trafficked by your audience

☐ Collaborate with complementary businesses in order to tap into each other’s customer base

☐ Attend networking events, take part in events as a speaker or teach a workshop

☐ Host launch parties for new collections

☐ Send personalized emails to your network, asking for referrals and introductions

Review the items you’ve checked off in the above list and get more detailed. Brainstorm ideas for improving the things you already do and for moving forward with the things you don’t yet do but want to focus on in the next 6 months. Include names of people you will reach out to for help, research you need to do, topics, locations, etc.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

PROMOTIONS PLANCheck off all that you already do and a few new ones you want to focus on.

☐ Create contests and coupons (don’t overdue this, think hard about when you might want to do it) around the holidays, for a special event like your business anniversary or reaching a milestone (5000 Insta followers!), etc.

☐ Include postcards with coupon code in event goodie bags

☐ Send emails with promo codes

☐ Create “refer a friend” programs

☐ Send postcards to buyers (for those with a wholesale sales channel)

☐ Create a digital and downloadable lookbook and line sheet (for those with a wholesale sales channel)

☐ Participate in trade shows (for those with a wholesale sales channel)

Review the items you’ve checked off in the above list and get more detailed. Brainstorm ideas for improving the things you already do and for moving forward with the things you don’t yet do but want to focus on in the next 6 months. Include names of people you will reach out to for help, research you need to do, topics, locations, etc.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

CUSTOMER SERVICEThe very best kind of marketing is the marketing that you don’t do yourself, but instead comes for your current customers singing your praises. Providing the best possible customer experience is an excellent way to market your business.CUSTOMER SERVICE POLICIESCheck off all that you already do and a few new ones you want to focus on.

☐ Offer free or low cost shipping on returns and exchanges

☐ Provide warranties or guarantees

☐ Offer extended return deadline (30 days or more is always appreciated)

Review the items you’ve checked off in the above list and get more detailed. Brainstorm ideas for improving the things you already do and for moving forward with the things you don’t yet do but want to focus on in the next 6 months. Include names of people you will reach out to for help, research you need to do, topics, locations, etc.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

CUSTOMER SERVICE PRACTICESCheck off all that you already do and a few new ones you want to focus on.

☐ Create frequent buyer programs

☐ Offer special discounts or access for regular customers

☐ Include small gifts with purchase

☐ Send hand written thank you notes with every order

☐ Place your customers in the spotlight via Instagram and/or email

☐ Create ways to receive customer feedback like surveys

☐ Implement a customer service email and monitor it regularly and respond promptly

☐ Provide helpful content like how to wash, how to wear, and tips for use for each piece

☐ Treat customers like you would a friend (the language you use to speak to them, going out of your way to help, etc)

Review the items you’ve checked off in the above list and get more detailed. Brainstorm ideas for improving the things you already do and for moving forward with the things you don’t yet do but want to focus on in the next 6 months. Include names of people you will reach out to for help, research you need to do, topics, locations, etc.

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CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

BY STARTUP FASHION

IMPORTANT: SAVE NOW BEFORE CLICKING THROUGH TO THE MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE

Now that you’ve done all this thinking, go back to the digital version of this workbook and click on this link:

MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE

The link will take you to your organized marketing plan along with a built in budget.

With your printed workbook in hand, fill in the marketing ideas in your digital template that you plan to focus on.

Also fill in an estimate of the cost associated with each idea; update the costs once you complete your research and planning.

Once you’ve got your plan filled in, head over to wherever you choose to keep your to-do list (There’s one in your HUB!) and list each task you need to complete to get your marketing ideas up and running.

And remember, review your plan monthly! Update it as you experiment and learn.

MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE

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