Marketing Implementation is the process of taking your marketing plan and assigning team members to execute it, setting deadlines to complete tasks, and creating the collateral needed to achieve your marketing goals.

While a marketing plan lives on paper, it won’t translate to results unless you have a clear implementation strategy to pursue. 

A perfect marketing plan has no worth without a proper implementation strategy.

Why Should You Have A Robust Marketing Implementation Strategy?

Having a robust marketing implementation strategy helps you convert your plans into processes. It allows you to have a clear idea about deadlines and the timeline of the projects in hand and adjust your work accordingly.

Without a proper implementation strategy, your team remains informed on what projects to work on at which time and how long each of the tasks should take. 

It also helps your team stay focused on the work while having a common goal in mind, which you seek to achieve through your marketing plan. Not to mention, any type of strategy work also looks great on a marketing resume

A good marketing implementation strategy also allows you to prioritize your projects and make sure that crucial tasks aren’t delayed. 

By incorporating a strategic approach, you can effectively navigate the dynamic landscape of tech startup marketing, ensuring that your initiatives align with the unique challenges and opportunities within the industry. This approach not only helps in timely execution but also enhances the overall efficiency and success of your marketing endeavors for tech startup ideas

In short, your marketing implementation strategy will help you outline the actions of your team in fixed timeframes and help bring your marketing plan to life in the most efficient way. 

How To Implement Your Marketing Plan In 11 Steps

If you still haven’t crafted an implementation strategy, here’s a 10 step guide for you to successfully implement your marketing plan and bring your ideas to life.

1

Set Realistic Expectations

The first step of implementing your marketing plan is to set realistic expectations for everyone involved. Having too optimistic expectations can pressurize your team and make them averse to risks and experimentations. 

A common mistake while setting expectations is keeping tight deadlines which ignore the possibilities of an unexpected delay in the process.

The entire process of implementing a marketing plan cannot be controlled strictly by your marketing team since it involves actions by other parties, including the audience. You might need to make adjustments to cope with new developments.

Make sure you have enough room to measure results. Trying to make sense of results too early will lead to an inaccurate assessment of the implementation process. 

So set expectations for the implementation process that are aligned to the overall goal of the marketing plan, and are achievable within the set timeframe. Also, when managing collaborative efforts, Office 365 shared calendar can facilitate effective communication and coordination among team members, aiding in the successful implementation of your marketing strategy.

2

Document Your Implementation Strategy

Now that you have set your expectations for the implementation, make sure you have a documented plan and strategy to guide you through the process. 

Improvising the marketing implementation process is a mistake made by too many marketers.  The most effective marketing is documented before the plan is implemented. About 16% of marketers document their entire marketing strategy, while others do it partially or avoid it entirely.

This can cause you to lose your efficiency in implementing the marketing plan. However sharp your mind may be, trying to improvise an implementation process will hinder your decision-making, as you have to create tasks on-the-go.  

Documenting a marketing strategy helps you spend more time planning each task and time frame carefully, effectively channeling your effort towards achieving your marketing goal. Using process documentation software, such as marketing management tools, can streamline this documentation process and make it more efficient.   

This doesn't have to be fancy either.  I use Google Sheets to document my content strategy. 

marketing implementation document

Start with your goals, which need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Next, try to figure out what internal and external challenges you may face. 

Besides, you also need to keep your audience in mind at all times. This helps you keep your marketing strategies aligned with the needs of your audience. To pinpoint exactly what those needs are, consider using survey generators to create surveys and explore your audience's preferences.

Identify the proper channels to target. You can combine multiple channels according to the presence of your intended audience, including offline, digital marketing and posting on social media.

Your brand message should also be an important part of your overall goal, as you want your marketing efforts to be recognizable by your audience and aligned with your brand identity.  

Set a realistic marketing budget and timeline, along with room to extend if needed. Finally, make sure you have appropriate KPIs to measure your performance accurately. 

Having all these documented properly will give you concrete guidelines to refer to during the implementation process.

3

Build a Great Team

A great marketing team is a competitive advantage that you can build on.  After all, marketing is about the people. Utilizing a cloud recruitment software can help you find the best candidates for your tasks. 

Assess the needs of your marketing plan and determine what skills and resources to complete the marketing activities to make achieving your goals a reality. By incorporating AI recruiting software and recruitment services, you can gain valuable data-driven insights into the talent landscape, identifying the specific skills and expertise needed for your marketing initiatives.

For a marketing department in a tech startup or an agency, you can either have your in-house team do the work or hire an external digital marketing and web design agency to do so. You also have the option to combine both, utilizing the best recruitment CRM software to streamline the process. For example, if you're a small business, you can collaborate with a web design agency to do all your design work including logo design using a logo maker and let your in-house team, equipped with efficient ATS recruitment software

The next step is to make sure your team has the right tools at their disposal. By hiring a Zapier expert, you can empower your team with automation tools that enhance productivity and efficiency. Building the right tool stack can be challenging, especially if you are trying something different with your marketing plan. Experiment with tools and techniques, such as graphic design creator for marketing materials, to see what works best for your team and your execution strategy. 

Once you have your team and equipped them with tools, it’s time to move on to create outlines on how they will use these tools.

4

Optimize Your Workflows

Building workflows for each task gives your marketing team a clear idea of how to approach them and when to adjust the marketing program. The purpose of making specific workflows is to identify the most efficient way of completing a task using as few steps as possible. 

The first step of making workflows is mapping out the tasks needed to be completed. This will allow you to understand what AI tools for business to use, as well as useful extensions that can help your team implement their tasks more effectively. After defining the steps involved in completing the task, your marketing managers can assign them to the team members and set a deadline. Additionally, you can hire a virtual receptionist to streamline and optimize your marketing workflows.

Once you've built a map of the tasks that need to be completed, you can then build out a template or a timeline management tool for how to get things done.

For instance, this is a template that we use to create our writing briefs.

content brief

However, you must keep in mind that you might need to adjust the workflows during the implementation process. It is essential to collaborate with your team in this regard. Having inputs from your team about the workflows may help you discover a more efficient way of doing things. This is where intranets can come in handy, as they will allow your employees work together more effectively, share information, and stay organized, leading to improved productivity and better team collaboration

So build workflows beforehand, and keep optimizing as much as you need to make the implementation process smooth and efficient.

5

Create a Timeline for Tasks

Creating a timeline is essential for your strategy implementation as it helps you and your team realize if you are on track to finish the tasks on time. 

You can do so by breaking down each of your tasks and assigning deadlines to each. Task management software will help your team stay on top of the progress and not scramble to meet project deadlines.

You can divide your projects into phases and work with your team to get a realistic idea of how long each phase should be. Or you can use a timeline template that includes a milestone icon to mark when you’ve completed a task or phase of the project, or create your own using a templates editor. This is especially useful for larger projects that have many phases or steps.

Once you have your timeline established, keep revising it as you proceed to help you adjust to any delays or setbacks.

6

Manage Your Projects Efficiently

Project management is an important part of the marketing implementation process. This involves making necessary adjustments when needed or prioritizing tasks to achieve the best possible results. This can be easily achieved by making use of any project management tool available in the market.

However, if you are a construction company, it is better to use Construction Project Management Software tailored to the unique needs of construction projects. If you are a delivery company, it is better to optimize logistics with delivery route planning tools for teams.

Even if you already have a favorite project management tool like clientvenue.com, but crave more features, explore versions and alternatives. For instance, if you use monday.com, check monday.com alternatives – after all, the best tool is the one that caters to your current needs.

As mentioned earlier, the implementation process involves actions by your audience too. So there is an unpredictable element to it, which you need to be prepared to tackle. 

Have enough flexibility in managing projects to make changes without hampering the progress of the project or without having to restart the entire project.

Besides, you need to make sure you are prioritizing high-value tasks and maintain swift communication with your team. Using WhatsApp bulk message sender can help you efficiently distribute important information to your team, allowing you to focus on strategic tasks and ensure everyone stays on the same page, ultimately boosting productivity and collaboration. Having a WhatsApp API will save you on this. 

Equipping yourself with the right project management certifications can provide you with the skills and strategies to effectively conduct projects like a professional marketing project manager. 

7

Monitor Progress Regularly

Since a marketing implementation is a dynamic process, you need to monitor and track your progress regularly. 

Monitoring involves tracking your progress to see whether you are on pace to meet your next target in terms of time, resources and budget.

By implementing marketing data analytics, you can spot the areas in your business that need improvement

You also have to monitor the consumer-end to understand which efforts are working with your audience and which are not.

Monitoring allows you to be prepared to take steps for tackling any issue before they cause a problem. 

If you use various tools, think about using tool tracking software to streamline your monitoring processes.

Set specific intervals and metrics for monitoring your progress and keep revising them too. 

8

Make Necessary Changes to Optimize Results

One of the reasons for monitoring your progress is to identify opportunities to make adjustments to your marketing implementation strategy. 

Apart from monitoring your efforts and results, you also need to consider external factors, including marketing trends and economic factors, to be able to make necessary adjustments if needed. 

Once you have identified the opportunity or need for adjusting your marketing efforts, first try to build on the existing efforts. If that doesn’t work, reconsider your tactic and try to look for new ways to approach the issue

You might want to channel your efforts to achieve growth by coming up with new ways to engage with your audience.

While your carefully documented marketing implementation strategy can guide you through the process, it is wise to have enough flexibility to deviate from it to get better results.

9

Have a Contingency Plan

Having a backup plan if your original one doesn’t work will save you the time and effort to start back from scratch if a part of your implementation strategy isn’t working.

Contingency plans also allow you to have room for error, which encourages your team to experiment with new ideas. If any new ideas fail, then you always have your contingency plan as a fall-back option. 

But keep in mind that since it’s a fall-back option, you need to be a little conservative and avoid including bold ideas in it. It is also wise to keep extended timelines in your contingency plans as it will make up for any time wasted to shift to your Plan B.

10

Review and Measure Results

Once your implementation plan is up and running, you might try to stop and try to understand how your current efforts and progress fit your overall goal. 

This will help you understand if you are on track to achieve the desired results or even help you identify opportunities to improve your workflows.

Try to understand which phase of the broad timeline your team is currently in and whether they are producing the expected results. You can also get an idea if you need to expand your team and diversify the skillset of your team.

While reviewing your results, work backward and try to understand what strategies, tools, or approaches are contributing to the results. 

Take this opportunity to gather feedback from your team about the progress of the implementation plan. They might have insights to add which can prove to be valuable for your current project or future ones.

11

Communicate the Final Results

By now, you have documented and executed your marketing implementation strategy and measured your results. But your work is not done yet. 

Communicate the results to your team and congratulate them. While it might look like a small step for you, it goes a long way to boost your team’s motivation

If they have demonstrated exceptional performance, make sure to acknowledge the greatness of their efforts and consider rewarding them with high-quality crystal awards to truly commemorate their achievements.  Or go one step further with personalized gifts tied to their unique interests, like a custom "Fortnite Spider-Man" outfit for a Spiderman fan or surprise a Star Wars devotee with the new video game, to show that you pay attention and care for them. 

You can pick custom employee appreciation awards to boost their motivation.  If they’ve failed to meet the project expectations, provide constructive feedback and guidance on how to improve in the next project.

Finally, to give them a broader picture, you can also let them know how their efforts have created a difference in consumers’ lives.

Conclusion

While this 10 step guide gives you an overview of the marketing implementation process, please note that implementing a marketing plan can vary based on the industry, product/service type, or even company culture.

Consider this a starting point and adjust it according to the needs of your company. The basics are simple – craft a strategy, break them down to actionable tasks, monitor regularly and keep on improving.