For example, if your company’s mission is “to help small businesses manage their finances,” your marketing mission might be “to attract and educate small business owners through helpful, actionable content.”
I always start here. Even if the rest of the plan evolves, having a clear mission up top keeps everything aligned.
Pro tip: If you need help building your mission statement, check out this guide with mission statement examples and templates. And if you’re running a startup or small business, HubSpot’s starter bundle is a great all-in-one solution — it can help you find and win customers, execute content marketing plans, and more.
2. Set your KPIs.
I’ve seen too many plans fall apart because the goals weren’t clear or weren’t measurable. Setting KPIs forces you to define what success looks like from the start.
Think beyond vanity metrics like impressions. Ask: What’s the real outcome we’re driving? For example:
Website traffic from organic search.
Number of demo requests or product sign-ups.
Cost per lead (CPL) from paid campaigns.
Email engagement or conversion rates.
There are tons of other B2C and B2B marketing KPIs, but whatever you pick, make sure your reporting tools can track them easily — I’ve used HubSpot dashboards, Google Analytics, and even Notion for scrappier setups.
3. Define your buyer personas.
Who are you trying to reach? And what do they care about?
When I helped launch a B2B product that served both HR and finance leaders, we realized we needed two distinct personas malta telemarketing database with different pain points, language, and buying triggers. That insight completely changed how we structured our messaging and lead nurture flows.
Pro tip: You don’t need to overcomplicate this — a clear one-pager that covers demographics, goals, challenges, and buying behavior is often more than enough. HubSpot’s free Make My Persona tool is a great starting point.
4. Map out your content and channel strategy.
This is where most of the heavy lifting happens. I usually break this section down by:
Content types (blog, video, email, lead magnets, etc.).
Goals for each type (SEO traffic, lead gen, engagement).
Channels for distribution (social, email, partnerships).
Cadence and ownership (weekly blog posts, monthly webinars, etc.).
At one company, we focused 90% of our resources on SEO and LinkedIn because those channels consistently outperformed the rest. Prioritization is key — especially if your team is small.