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February 19, 2026
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BySteffy A
Steps to Take to Create a Marketing Plan for a New Business
Introduction
A lot of startups struggle with creating a clear marketing plan, often due to the misconception that marketing requires a large budget from the start. However, a strong startup marketing plan goes far beyond running ads or posting on social media. It is a structured approach that defines a new business’ positioning, pricing, brand identity, distribution strategy, and how you reach customers both online and offline.
This guide explains the steps to take to build an effective startup marketing plan.
What is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is a structured framework that outlines how a business attracts, converts, and retains customers over a defined period, usually 12 months. It defines the target audience, market positioning, messaging, pricing approach, distribution channels, and promotional activities required to achieve measurable growth.
Rather than focusing only on advertising, a new business marketing plan ensures every activity supports the business strategy.
Why a Marketing Plan Matters for Startups
A structured new business marketing strategy helps businesses:
- Build credibility and consistency in messaging
- Clarify positioning against competitors
- Allocate budgets strategically
- Create realistic expectations based on growth stage
- Measure progress using relevant metrics
Steps to Take to Create a Marketing Plan for a New Business
1. Understanding the Context of Your Startup
It is also important to understand your market position. Are you entering an existing market, creating a new category, or targeting a specific niche? This decision influences your competition, pricing, and messaging.
2. Building Brand Identity and Positioning
Start by defining your core mission, the problem you solve, your brand personality and voice, how you want customers to describe you, and your unique value compared to competitors. This foundation keeps your messaging clear and consistent across all marketing channels.
3. Conducting Customer Research and Market Analysis
A new business marketing strategy starts with deeply understanding your customers beyond the basic demographics. Focus on the motivations and problems of customers.
Use the total addressable market and realistic serviceable segments to assess market opportunities. This helps you evaluate whether your business model can scale.
4. Mapping the Customer Journey and Value Segments
Not all customers contribute equally to growth. Some segments generate more revenue or are easier and more cost-effective to serve. Mapping the customer journey helps you understand how marketing and operational decisions connect at every stage.
Look at how customers discover your business, compare options, make buying decisions, and stay engaged after purchase. This helps identify opportunities to improve onboarding, retention, and overall customer experience.
5. Defining Pricing, Distribution, and Partnerships
Your pricing strategy shapes customer perception and directly affects revenue, so decide whether you want to position your offering as premium, value-focused, or niche.
Distribution is equally important. Define how customers will access your product or service, whether through direct online sales, partnerships, marketplaces, or physical channels based on your business model. Strategic partnerships can also speed up market entry by giving you access to new audiences or complementary services.
6. Creating a Balanced Market Entry Strategy
A clear market entry strategy should define how customers will first discover your business, what makes you different from competitors, and which channels are best for building awareness versus driving conversions.
7. Building a Digital Marketing Roadmap
A practical digital marketing roadmap may include search engine optimization, content marketing, email campaigns, paid advertising, and social media engagement. Each channel should have a defined purpose within the customer journey.
Rather than spreading efforts across every platform, focus on the channels where your target audience already spends time.
8. Budget Planning and Measurement
Allocating resources effectively requires linking budget decisions to expected outcomes. Define key performance indicators such as brand awareness metrics, lead generation, customer acquisition cost, or retention rates.
Regular measurement ensures marketing activities remain aligned with business goals. Early adjustments prevent wasted spending and improve long-term performance.
How Ebizfiling Supports Businesses with Marketing Planning
At Ebizfiling, we support startups with strategic guidance to build strong brand positioning, effective market entry strategies, and scalable growth foundations.
- We offer guidance on branding and market positioning.
- We support your business with market entry and growth strategy.
- We offer strategic advisory for sustainable scaling
- We offer personalized digital marketing plans for businesses.
Conclusion
A new business marketing strategy combines brand identity, customer research, positioning, pricing decisions, distribution planning, and performance measurement. At Ebizfiling, we help startups align these elements with their business goals to build a clear, structured strategy that supports sustainable growth.
Suggested Read:
Understanding the Nature of Business Advisory Services
All About Business Ideas in India for Beginners and Top 12 Business Ideas in India for Beginners
A guide on the Inbound marketing strategies for B2B Businesses
What are the Roles of Business Advisors in Strategic Planning?
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How to create a marketing plan for a new business?
Start by understanding your market, defining your brand positioning, researching customers, setting clear goals, and selecting both online and offline marketing strategies aligned with business objectives.
2. What are the key parts of a startup marketing plan?
Brand positioning, target audience research, pricing strategy, distribution channels, market entry approach, marketing tactics, and performance measurement.
3. Why is branding important before running ads?
Brand clarity builds trust and improves conversion rates. Without strong positioning, performance marketing becomes more expensive and less effective.
4. What is a market entry strategy?
It defines how a business introduces its product into the market, including positioning, target segments, pricing approach, and promotional channels.
5. Should startups focus only on digital marketing?
No. Digital marketing is important, but successful strategies also include branding, partnerships, pricing decisions, and customer experience.
6. How often should a marketing plan be updated?
Review every three to six months and adjust based on performance data, market changes, or business growth.
7. What metrics should startups track?
Metrics may include customer acquisition cost, conversion rates, brand awareness indicators, retention rates, and revenue growth.
8. How long does it take to build a marketing plan?
Depending on research depth, it may take several weeks to develop an initial plan, followed by continuous refinement.
9. When should a startup create a marketing plan?
A startup should develop a marketing plan as early as possible, ideally before launch. Early planning helps define positioning, target customers, and go-to-market strategy, reducing wasted budget and unclear messaging.
10. How detailed should a new business marketing strategy be?
It should be clear enough to guide decisions but flexible enough to adapt as the business learns from the market. Focus on core elements like customer insights, positioning, pricing, channels, and measurable goals.
Business Advisory and Management Consulting Services
Business consulting firm in India
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