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A simple 90-day marketing plan for a small business

Launch, refine, grow

A 90-day plan is long enough to learn something and short enough to change. Here is a simple way to lay it out, whatever channels you chose.

Month 1: Launch

• Write down your one goal, your customers, your area and your monthly budget.
• Set up the basics: your business listings, your website’s main message and a way to count where customers come from.
• Start two or three channels, and write the offer or message for each.
• At the end of the month, note what each channel cost and what it brought.

Month 2: Refine

• Keep what brought customers. Change the message or the offer on what did not.
• Move a small part of the budget from the weakest channel to the strongest.
• Ask new customers how they heard about you and write the answers down.

Month 3: Grow

• Put more into what is clearly working.
• Try one new channel with a small test budget.
• Plan the next 90 days with what you have learned.

Keep it simple

The best plan is the one you will actually follow. If it is too long to keep up with, cut it down to the few things that matter most.

New to this? Start with how to build a small-business marketing plan.

This guide is general information, not professional advice. Prices, availability and results vary by business and by market, so check details with the people who sell the advertising before you spend money.