A 90-day marketing plan for new small businesses, covering brand foundations, online presence, local marketing, content strategy, and performance measurement.
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Brand Foundation (Days 1-15)
Define your target customer in one paragraph
Describe your ideal customer's age, income, location, pain points, and buying habits. Businesses that define a specific target audience see 2-5x better return on marketing spend than those targeting 'everyone.'
Write down 3 specific problems your customer faces
Identify where your customer spends time online and offline
Write your unique value proposition in one sentence
Follow this formula: 'We help [specific customer] achieve [specific outcome] by [your unique method].' Test it by asking 5 people to read it — if they cannot explain what you do after reading it once, revise it.
Create your visual brand basics
At minimum you need: a logo, 2-3 brand colors, and 1-2 fonts. A professional logo costs $300-$2,000 from a designer. Free logo makers exist but produce generic results. Consistent visual branding increases revenue by an average of 23%.
Set a monthly marketing budget
New businesses should allocate 12-20% of projected revenue to marketing. If revenue is zero, set a fixed monthly budget you can sustain for 6 months. Even $200-$500 per month can drive meaningful results with the right tactics.
Online Presence (Days 15-30)
Launch your website with at least 5 essential pages
You need: Home, About, Services/Products, Contact, and at least 1 landing page targeting your main keyword. A basic professional website costs $1,000-$5,000 or $50-$200 per month with a website builder. Prioritize mobile responsiveness — 60%+ of visitors use phones.
Claim and complete your business listing on maps and directories
Complete every field: hours, photos (at least 10), services list, and description. Businesses with complete listings get 7x more clicks. Add your listing to 5-10 relevant directories in the first month.
Choose 2 social media platforms and set up professional profiles
Pick platforms where your target customers spend time. For B2C: focus on visual and community platforms. For B2B: focus on professional and industry networks. Two platforms done well beats five done poorly.
Complete your profile with bio, photos, and contact links
Plan your first 10 posts before publishing anything
Set up email marketing with a lead capture form
Email marketing returns $36 for every $1 spent on average. Add a signup form to your website offering something valuable (a discount, free guide, or checklist) in exchange for an email address. Aim to collect 50+ emails in your first month.
Local Marketing (Days 30-45)
Join your local chamber of commerce or business association
Membership costs $200-$1,000 per year and provides networking events, referral opportunities, and credibility. Active chamber members report 20-30% more revenue than non-members, largely from referral networks.
Partner with 3-5 complementary local businesses
Find businesses that serve your same customer but do not compete with you. A wedding photographer can partner with florists, venues, and caterers. Cross-referral agreements cost nothing and can generate 10-20% of new client leads.
Ask your first 10 customers for reviews
Send a direct link to your review page within 24 hours of a positive interaction. Make it one-click easy. Businesses with 10+ reviews show up significantly more often in local search results than those with fewer.
Attend 2-3 local networking events per month
Bring 25 business cards to each event. Focus on building relationships, not selling. Follow up with everyone you meet within 48 hours. It takes an average of 5 touchpoints before a networking contact becomes a client.
Content and Advertising (Days 45-75)
Publish 4-8 pieces of helpful content on your website
Write blog posts, guides, or FAQs that answer your customers' most common questions. Target long-tail keywords with 100-1,000 monthly searches. Each piece of quality content is a permanent asset that drives traffic for years.
Post on social media 3-5 times per week
Follow the 80/20 rule: 80% helpful or entertaining content, 20% promotional. Batch-create a week's worth of content in one sitting. Consistency matters more than perfection — businesses posting 3+ times weekly get 67% more leads than those posting less.
Test a small paid advertising campaign ($200-$500)
Start with one platform and one clear objective (website visits or lead form submissions). Set a daily budget of $10-$20. Run the campaign for 14 days before evaluating results. Most platforms need 3-5 days to learn and improve targeting.
Define your target audience for the ad campaign
Create 2-3 ad variations to test
Send your first email newsletter to subscribers
Keep it short (300-500 words), valuable, and include one clear call to action. Send biweekly or monthly — not weekly, which causes unsubscribes for new businesses. A 20-25% open rate is healthy for small business emails.
Measure and Adjust (Days 75-90)
Review your website analytics and identify top-performing pages
Look at total visitors, traffic sources, most-visited pages, and conversion rate. If your website gets under 100 visitors per month after 60 days, your SEO or promotion strategy needs immediate attention.
Calculate your customer acquisition cost for each channel
Divide total marketing spend per channel by the number of new customers it generated. If social media cost $300 and brought 6 customers, your CAC is $50. Compare this to your average customer value to see which channels are profitable.
Double down on the 2 tactics producing the best results
After 90 days, you will see that 1-2 channels drive 80% of your leads. Shift budget and time from underperforming channels to your top performers. Revisit underperformers in 6 months when your brand has more recognition.
Create a monthly marketing routine and calendar
Schedule recurring marketing tasks: weekly social media batching, monthly email newsletter, quarterly content creation, and monthly review of analytics. Marketing only works with consistency — sporadic efforts produce sporadic results.
Set 3 specific marketing goals for the next quarter
Make goals measurable: '100 email subscribers by month 6' or '$500 in revenue from paid ads.' Review progress monthly. Businesses with written marketing goals are 42% more likely to achieve them than those without.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should a small business spend on marketing?
The SBA recommends 7-8% of gross revenue for businesses under $5 million in annual sales. Startups in their first year often need to spend 12-20% of projected revenue to build awareness. In dollar terms, most local businesses spend $1,000-$3,000 per month across all channels. Allocate 60% to digital (website, SEO, social, ads) and 40% to local (events, print, sponsorships) for a balanced approach.
What is the fastest way to get customers for a new business?
Paid search ads (Google Ads) deliver the fastest results because they target people already searching for what you sell. Most local businesses see their first leads within 24-48 hours of launching a campaign. Budget $500-$1,500 for the first month while you test which keywords and ads convert best. Simultaneously, claim your business profile on mapping platforms and ask your first 10 customers for reviews — businesses with 10+ reviews get 3x more clicks from local searches.
Is social media marketing worth it for small businesses?
Organic social media reach has dropped to 2-5% of followers on most platforms, meaning a post from a page with 1,000 followers reaches only 20-50 people. Social media works best when paired with a small paid budget ($5-$20 per day) to boost top-performing posts. Focus on 1-2 platforms where your customers actually spend time rather than spreading across 5-6. For B2B businesses, LinkedIn outperforms all other platforms. For local retail and restaurants, Instagram and Facebook yield the best results.
How long does SEO take to show results?
Most businesses see measurable organic traffic increases in 4-6 months with consistent effort. Local SEO (ranking in map results for your city) moves faster — often within 2-3 months if your business profile is fully optimized with photos, reviews, and accurate information. National SEO for competitive keywords can take 12-18 months. The compounding nature of SEO means that content published today continues generating traffic for years, unlike paid ads that stop the moment you stop paying.
Should I hire a marketing agency or do it myself?
Do it yourself for the first 3-6 months to learn which channels work for your business. This prevents agencies from wasting your budget on channels that do not fit your audience. When revenue is consistent and your time is worth more than the agency fee, outsource. Local marketing agencies charge $1,500-$5,000 per month for small businesses. Freelance specialists (SEO, ads, social) charge $500-$2,500 per month per channel and often deliver better results than generalist agencies.