Marketing Strategy Workbook

Chapter 1

What Will Your Business Journey Be Like?

Every business is unique, but all businesses typically go through four main phases at the beginning of their journey:

• Discovery Phase (about 1-3 months): This is when you first come up with your business idea and begin researching it. You define what your business will offer and to whom. Think of it as laying the foundation for your future business.
• Development Phase (about 3 months): Here, you create your business model. This means figuring out how your business will make money and what resources you’ll need. A business model is essentially the plan for how your business will operate and generate revenue.
• Implementation Phase (about 2 years): In this phase, you start marketing your product or service and acquiring customers. This is when your business starts to become real as you begin interacting with customers and making sales.
• Growth Phase (after the first 2 years): After you’ve established your business, this phase involves scaling, which means expanding your customer base, increasing revenue, and possibly growing your team. Scaling is about taking your business to the next level by growing beyond the initial setup.

The Discovery Phase is the most critical stage for any business. It’s where you identify the problem your offer will solve, making it the essential first step in the new business development process.

Let’s take a closer look at these stages of business development:

1. Discovery Phase

During this phase, your business vision is translated into a workable roadmap with clear business goals and a focus on your target customers. We conduct market research and develop your business idea, core offer, business plan, marketing strategy, and content strategy. This phase lays the foundation for a smooth development process.

1. Development Phase

In this phase, we outline the company structure and processes, and finalise the following:

• Business plan
• Digital marketing and sales strategy
• Content strategy
• Business and financial model
• Implementation plan (including organization, processes, and measures)
• Business partners and investors

1. Implementation Phase

This phase focuses on optimising and executing your business strategies:

• Optimization of digital marketing and sales
• Development of a search engine optimized website
• Content marketing and social media (creating profiles, launching campaigns, and implementing tools for regular content marketing)
• Marketing automation (including freebies and lead magnets, design and creation of landing pages, and setting up email funnels)
• Networking

1. Growth Phase

Once you have established a solid operational system and have sufficient resources (both financial and human), you can enter the growth phase. This phase will allow you to scale your business by increasing the number of employees, expanding your customer base, and, of course, boosting revenue.

Planning every step of your business journey in Phases 1 and 2 will help you select only the most relevant activities for Phase 3. In Phase 3, you’ll then focus all your attention on implementing those selected activities, acquiring customers and earning first money. This approach will help you stay on track without wasting resources or time.

Here’s a good way to remember this principle:

• Phases 1 and 2: Do the right things.
• Phase 3: Do things right.
• Phase 4: Grow.

This book is designed to guide you through the Discovery Phase, ensuring you lay a solid foundation for your business. Everything you read, write, and do in this book will benefit you in the future. It will influence your business decision-making, marketing activities, and content selection. That’s why it’s crucial to take this phase of your business journey seriously and spend the necessary time on the activities and exercises in the book, to ensure you are well-prepared for the future.