Marketing Plan Template for Tech Startups

Learn from the Greatest Brands
of Silicon Valley
Marketing
Plan
Template
for Tech Startups (and not only)

Executive Summary
The most successful business leaders know how to constantly re-win their
customers’ business by delivering real value.
“Marketing Plan for Tech Companies” helps you achieve just that:
• Get to know your customers and your competitors
• Learn how to quantify your product’s value and how to communicate it
• Define realistic business objectives and strategies to achieve them

About the Author
I’m a marketing strategist and an engineer so naturally my passion is to help
fantastic tech products succeed in the marketplace.
My experience marketing tech products ranges from mobile apps, devices and
networks (Nokia), data center and cloud (Cisco Systems), to user experience
monitoring and optimization (Riverbed Technology).
On the academic front, I studied Strategic Marketing Management and General
Management at Stanford Global Business School after I graduated from Danish
Technical University and International Faculty of Engineering in Lodz, Poland with
a double degree: M.Sc. E.E. in Telecommunications.

The Sixteen Elements of a Marketing Plan
1. Current Situation
2. Vision
3. Competitive Analysis
4. Target Segments
5. Unique Value Propositions
6. Positioning
7. Pricing
8. Business Objectives
9. Marketing Collateral
10. Sales Enablement
11. Promotion Strategy
12. Distribution Plan
13. Offers
14. Conversion Strategy
15. Partnerships
16. Timeline
Click to download the PowerPoint version

Free Product Launch Plan included!

Current
Situation
Definition: A firms’ resources and capabilities analyzed
in the context of the competitive environment help
develop a competitive advantage.
Source: http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/
The first two things I did every time I started a new
consulting engagement was a couple of simple
exercises:
• First, understand my client’s business outlook.
• Second, get an idea on what’s going on in their
industry.
Looking at the outcomes of these exercises is the
first step in assessing how relevant your business
really is in the marketplace.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
E.g. Unique product features
Weaknesses
E.g. Product scalability issues
Opportunities
• E.g. Underserved and highly attractive
market segment
Threats
E.g. Competitors offering comparable product
at a lower price

Strengths
E.g. Unique product features
• Unique content – “House of Cards”,
Emmy awarded show
• On demand – free trial, transparent pricing
= low consumer risk of signing up
Weaknesses
E.g. Product scalability issues
• No real-time content – No chance to
watch Super Bowl
Opportunities
• E.g. Underserved and highly attractive
market segment
• More unique content – to encourage
seasonal users (that sign up once a year
to binge watch “House of Cards”) to
product loyalty
Threats
E.g. Competitors offering comparable product
at a lower price
• Viable alternatives – Hulu offers some of
the same content at the same price while
iTunes, Amazon offer pay-per-movie model
• Net neutrality battle – Internet providers
may throttle Netflix yielding it unwatchable
SWOT Analysis Example - Netflix
Source: www.netflix.com

Vision
Definition: A vision statement says what the
organization wishes to be like in some years’ time.
Source: https://hbr.org/2014/09/your-companys-purpose-is-not-its-vision-mission-or-values/
One of the most important
lessons I learned in the
beginning of my marketing
career was that a company
vision without a deadline
for executing it is just
wishful thinking.

Vision
Goal Timeframe Audience
What’s the big goal for the
company?
What deadline are you setting
for achieving the goal?
Whose lives will improve once
we’ll have achieved our goal?

Vision Example - NASA
“This nation should commit
itself to achieving the goal,
before the decade is out,
of landing a man on the
moon and returning him
safely to the earth.”
J.F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
Source: http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-Legacy/NASA-Moon-Landing.aspx
Goal Timeframe Audience
What’s the big goal for the
company?
What deadline are you setting
for achieving the goal?
Whose lives will improve once
we’ll have achieved our goal?
Land a man on the moon 9 years The nation

Competitive
Analysis
Definition: Strategic technique used to evaluate outside
competitors. The analysis seeks to identify weaknesses
and strengths that a company's competitors may have,
and then use that information to improve efforts within
the company.
Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/competitor-analysis.html

Competitive Analysis
Competitor
Competitor’s unique
value proposition
Response
Who is already after our market
and who is about to arrive?
If I were the end-customer, why
would I consider this
competitor’s product?
What are we going to do about
this competitor? Make an
informed decision to
ignore/monitor/act
Most companies fail to consider
new comers before it’s too late.

Competitive Analysis Example –
Google Nexus
Competitor
Competitor’s unique
value proposition
Response
Who is already after our market
and who is about to arrive?)
If I were the end-customer, why
would I consider this
competitor?
What are we going to do about
this competitor? Make an
informed decision to
ignore/monitor/act
Incumbent: Nokia had the
largest share of the
smartphone market (28.9%)
Great selection of robust
handsets for every occasion
at a good price (though lack
of high-end)
Nokia’s market share
dropped 7.5% YoY
Decision: monitor
Challenger: Apple only sold
2.9% of all smartphones but
was growing fast
Unparalleled user experience
at a price comparable to
other high-end phones
(thanks to carrier subsidies)
With 87.2% YoY growth,
Apple is the category
thought leader
Decision: act
Smartphone running Android
launched by Google in 2010
Source: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1543014

Target
Segments
Definition: An identifiable group of individuals sharing
one or more needs. Market segments generally respond
in a predictable manner to a marketing or promotion
offer.
Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/market-segment.html
When I was building a market
segmentation model for a large mobile
service provider in Turkey I realized
that sometimes the seemingly
unattractive market segments (low
revenue per customer) can be the
perfect target market of a service if
subsidized by advertisement.

Target Segments
Name Size Revenue Problem Solution
How would you
describe the
segment?
(Demographics,
Behavior, Needs)
How large is this
segment?
What’s the
revenue per
segment?
What challenges is
this segment
facing?
How is your
product solving
segment’s
challenges?
The number of potential customers within your target segment should be big
enough to allow your business a growth trajectory. It’s ok to start with a small
focus group to test your product (e.g. PayPal started with targeting “power
sellers” on eBay) but you need to have a plan to achieve massive adoption.

Target Segments Example - Trunk Club
Source: www.trunkclub.com
Name Size Revenue Problem Solution
How would you
describe the
segment?
(Demographics,
Behavior, Needs)
How large is this
segment?
What’s the
revenue per
segment?
What challenges is
this segment
facing?
How is your
product solving
segment’s
challenges?
Men who hate
shopping but
love to look good
N/A N/A How to look
great without the
hassle of
shopping
One click on the
app to order a
batch of new
clothes
Trunk Club was built to solve a
simple problem – shopping for
clothes in stores or online just
doesn’t work for most guys.
With Trunk Club, guys discover
awesome clothes that are perfect
for them without ever having to
go shopping.
Personal stylists learn customer
preferences from social media
and past purchases to select the
most accurate batch.

Unique Value
Propositions
Definition: It is a description of the qualities that are
unique to a particular product or service and that
differentiate it in a way which will make customers
purchase it rather than its rivals.
Source: “Unique selling proposition”, The Economist, Nov 18th 2009, http://www.economist.com/node/14301696
Leonardo Di Caprio’s character in “The Wolf
of Wall Street” would probably sell ice to the
Eskimos but you are much better off building
a product that sells itself.
I was once analyzing the multimedia
landscape in Brazil to understand if my client
could compete with the market leading TV
conglomerate if they had a better network
with higher quality video. The result of my
study? Without top-notch content you cannot
monetize even the best in the world network
infrastructure.

Unique Value Propositions
Value proposition Benefit
What unique value do we offer to each target
segment and how do we communicate it?
What results does our value proposition deliver to
our target segment?

Unique Value Propositions Example - Tesla
Source: www.teslamotors.com
Value proposition Benefit
What results does our value proposition deliver to
our target segment?
• Energy efficient
• Green technology
&
• Awesome design
Driving a car that’s both green and great looking
Environmentally
conscious connoisseur of
great style will not find a
car as good looking as
Tesla from other electric
car manufacturers.

Positioning
Definition: Create "position" in a prospective
customer's mind - one that reflects a company's own
strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its
competitors.
Source: “Positioning: The Battle for your Mind”, Al Ries and Jack Trout, 1981
In the early days of LTE I was advising mobile
service providers how they can differentiate their
services to become more than “bit-pipes”
connecting consumers to their favorite Internet
website.
One idea was to enrich user experience by
combining contacts, messaging and news into a
single app integrated into the phone screen that
would make users more productive. By offering
such a value add service, the carriers could
position themselves as content providers.

Positioning
Value proposition Competition
How does our value proposition compare to closest
viable alternatives that our customer has?
Most companies fail to identify the
closest viable alternatives to their
product. Sometimes the closest
viable alternative is status quo.

Positioning Example – Lyft Line
Value proposition Competition
How does our value proposition compare to closest
viable alternatives that our customer has?
Lyft Line: Flexibility and comfort of a taxi for the
price close to a bus ticket”
Unparalleled offer; for the duration of
“MatchMuni” campaign the consumer only pays
for a taxi ride the equivalent of the bus ticket
Source: http://blog.lyft.com/matchmuni/
After the promotional campaign is over
and the price of Lyft Line goes up it will
still be anchored in consumer's mind as
the cheapest taxi.

Source: “Positioning: The Battle for your Mind”, Al Ries and Jack Trout, 1981
Positioning – Timeless Slogans
"You've tasted the German beer that's the most
popular in America. Now taste the German beer
that's the most popular in Germany."
“Avis is only No. 2 in rent a cars.
So why go with us?
We try harder”

Pricing
Definition: Pricing should be driven primarily by the
value of the product to the customer.
Source: “Pricing: A Value-Based Approach”, Robert J. Dolan, HBR, 2003
Deciding on the right price for your product or
service is not a trivial task. You need to understand
two things:
• First, how important is your product to the
customer?
• Second, what are the affordability levels of the
different segments?
When I was building go-to-market plans at Nokia I
sometimes recommended going after less affluent
segments and subsidize the service through
advertisement.

Value Based Pricing
Atribute 1 Atribute 2 Atribute 3 Atribute 4
Your product 5 1 4 5
Competitor 1 2 5 2 1
Competitor 2 4 3 4 3
0
1
2
3
4
5
Comparison of attributes of your product against competition
Total
15
10
14
Vertical axis:
How does a customer
perceive the value of
the attribute.

Value Based Pricing Example – Uber
Speed Comfort Cleanness Friendliness
Muni Bus 1 1 0 2
Uber 5 5 5 5
Taxi 5 4 3 3
0
1
2
3
4
5
Comparison of attributes among San Francisco
transportation options
The price for Uber based on value it
delivers is 33% more than a taxi.
Total
4
20
15

Value Based Pricing – Thought Process
Source: http://www.projectjuice.com/; www.pressedjuicery.com
$10.25 $8
How San Francisco consumers
decide between two bottles of
cold pressed almond milk:
• Local
• Certified organic
None of the above
Are “Local” and “Certified
organic” attributes enough to
justify $2.25 higher price? Or
perhaps even $5?

Business
Objectives
Definition: Now that you understand your current
situation, you’ve established a vision of where your
company wants to be in the future, and that you’ve
decided what types of problems you’ll be solving for
your current segment it’s time to set concrete business
objectives for the next year.
Peter Drucker once said: “If you
can't measure it, you can't
manage it.”
Measuring your success begins
with setting quarterly goals that
inspire strategic planning and
give you a benchmark to
regularly review your marketing
tactics against.

Business Objectives
Objective Timeline Plan
E.g. Revenue targets, Profitability
targets, Market share increase
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What’s the strategy to achieving
the goals?

Business Objectives Example -
Theranos
Objective Timeline Plan
E.g. Revenue targets, Profitability
targets, Market share increase
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What’s the strategy to achieving
the goals?
Hit 1 million blood tests in 2015 By end of Q4 2015 Partnership with Walgreens to
reach consumers at convenient
for them locations
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/15/blood-simpler
https://theranos.com/press/theranos-selects-walgreens-as-a-long-term-partner
Theranos blood test is pain-free, 50%
cheaper and uses only 0.1% of blood
amount required by traditional
methods.
Walgreens is the nation’s largest
retail pharmacy chain with more than
8,100 neighborhood pharmacies)
required by traditional methods.

Definition: What types of collateral do you need to
create/update to communicate the unique value
proposition of your product to target segments?
At Riverbed I was responsible for a multiproduct solution
launch and demand generating campaign. Naturally, I had to
create a lot of content assets. The content pieces with the
highest number of views and shares on social media had
three things in common:
• they all contained beautiful visuals
• told a personal story
• and presented fresh and often provocative stats or
statements.
As Walt Disney said: “I would rather entertain and hope that
people learned something than educate people and hope
they were entertained.”
Marketing
Collateral

Marketing Collateral
Name Timeline Plan
E.g. Case study, product
brochure, ROI study, whitepaper,
video, inforgraphic, thought
leadership blog, byline article,
industry publications
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? Who and how will produce the
collateral? (Internal teams, ad
agencies)

Marketing Collateral Example -
Dropbox
Name Timeline Plan
E.g. Case study, product
brochure, ROI study,
whitepaper, video,
inforgraphic, thought
leadership blog, byline
article, industry
publications
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? Who and how will
produce the collateral?
(Internal teams, ad
agencies)
Update the website with
the new offering
Q2 2014 Content: Product
Marketing
Design: Web Team
Document customer
testimonials in video
format
Q2 2014 Script: Customer Rep +
Product Marketing
Shoot: Video Team
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/09/dropbox-hits-275m-users-and-launches-business-product-to-all/
Sample collateral
production plan for
Dropbox for Business
launch on April 9th
2014

Source: http://www.brainshark.com/ideas-blog/2013/july/what-is-sales-enablement-3-defintions.aspx
Wolf of Wall Street Sales Training Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxRStrx8xtc
Sales
Enablement
Definition: A systematic approach to increasing sales
productivity, by supporting reps with the content, training
and analytics they need to have more successful sales
conversations.
A common mistake that many companies
make is not to close the loop on sales
enablement. What do I mean by that?
Well, it is not enough to create a sales
playbook and upload it to SharePoint or
Dropbox. You need to ensure that every
sales rep lives it. My favorite example of
effective enablement is sales training
scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street”.

Sales Enablement
Name Timeline Plan
E.g. Sales playbook, case study
with proof points, product
video, inforgraphic
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? Who and how will produce the
agencies)

Sales Enablement Example - Marketo
Name Timeline Plan
E.g. Sales playbook, case study
with proof points, product
video, inforgraphic
Q1, Q2, Q3
or Q4?
Who and how will produce the
agencies)
Sales playbook: target
audience, questions to ask,
pain points to find, solutions to
offer, benefits to show and
proof points
N/A Develop buyer personas to help
sales people understand buyers’
journey and align sales activities
accordingly
Training: regular product
update calls, instructor led
hands-on product and
business value training, new
hire onboarding
N/A Ensure your salespeople are on
top not only the latest product
information but also market
trends.
Source: http://www.marketo.com/_assets/uploads/WP.Precision.Thinking12.pdf?20130115213859
http://www.marketo.com/_assets/uploads/Enterprise-Breakout-Mapping-to-Buyer-Personas-and-Journeys.pdf?20141219190143
Your offerings can have
multiple buyers with different
needs. Personalize your
message to be heard in a
crowded marketplace.
According to
@CEB_Marketing, 39% of
the top performing reps are
equipped to challenge their
customers’ assumptions and
push them outside of their
comfort zone. In order to do
so they need to know more
about customer’s
marketplace that the
customer himself.

Promotion
Strategy
Definition: Promotion includes all the activities of the
company undertakes to communicate and promote its
products to the target market.
Source: “Marketing Management”, 14th Edition”, Philip Kotler
The best way to convey your product value to prospective
customers is through the stories of your existing
customers. When I was responsible for Riverbed’s
corporate messaging at our main events I would start a
presentation with a customer success story. Because I
wanted my audience to remember Riverbed as a company
behind Gilt Groupe’s ability to flawlessly serve 100,000 e-
commerce customers per second.
Stories stick, tech jargon goes over your audience’s head.
90% of tech products are advertised as “leading brand,
positive ROI, cutting edge etc.” It’s so hard sometimes to
understand what the company is actually doing!

Promotion Strategy
Name Timeline Plan
E.g. Advertising, publications,
campaigns, spokespeople
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? How are you going to achieve
your promotional goals?

Promotion Strategy - Example
Name Timeline Plan
Industry events – trade shows,
awards
Main event
in October
Dreamforce: company’s signature
event attracts over 45000 attendees
Publications and analysts -
Feature byline articles, participate
in product evaluations, brief
industry analysts
ongoing Dreamforce is known for partnering
with industry gurus (e.g. Tony
Robbins) to independently validate
and promote their solutions
Email campaign – nurture leads ongoing If you download a document from
salesforce.com, a sales rep will
contact you
Website – frequently updated
product information and relevant
thought leadership content
ongoing Upload latest marketing materials
your website and track the number
of views
Social media – join conversations ongoing Online omnipresence
Ads - digitally (LinkedIn, Google)
and traditionally (print, taxis)
ongoing Billboards in prime spots along
Hwy 101
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/subscriber-only/2014/12/26/conventions--expos.html
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008929&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4
77% of buyers
say they are
more likely to
buy from a
company whose
CEO uses social
media.
Enterprise customers are
already 57% along in the
purchasing process
before they engage with
their suppliers
@CEB_Marketing.

Distribution
Plan
Definition: How are you going to reach your
customers?
At Riverbed, only 10% of revenue comes from direct
sales. Great channel partners can help you reach
customer segments that are too expensive to serve
through direct sales force. They will also help promote
and let customers discover your product if it’s
embedded in their broader offering.
For example, a multinational organization turns to BT
Global Services to sign an MPLS contract. It’s a great
time for a BT sales rep to introduce the customer to the
benefits of application acceleration solutions from
Riverbed that can enhance customer’s MPLS
deployment.

Distribution Plan
Type Timeline Plan
E.g. Direct and indirect sales Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What do you need to do to enable
your sales channel?

Distribution Plan Example - Suse
Name Timeline Plan
E.g. Direct and indirect sales Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What do you need to do to enable
your sales channel?
Direct Sales – customers buy
from your website or place an
order with a sales rep
N/A Suse server sold on
www.suse.com
Indirect Sales – customers
discover and buy your product
from a partner, in this case
AWS is a cloud provider
N/A Suse server sold through AWS
Marketplace
Source: https://www.suse.com/ and https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/B007O0H35O

Offers
Definition: How are you going to convince your
customers to try your product?
A free trial is a great way to demonstrate
the value of your software product. At
Riverbed, prospective buyers can instantly
check how much faster their website load
if they used our web content acceleration
software.

Offers
Type Timeline Plan
E.g. Free trial, free basic version
with upgrade options, how many
different offers
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What’s the plan to prepare and
launch different offers?

Offers Example - Breather
Name Timeline Plan
E.g. Free trial, free basic version
with upgrade options, how many
different offers
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What’s the plan to prepare and
launch different offers?
Free trial - Customers want to
try new products and discover
their benefits before they are
ready to commit to a purchase
Ongoing Breather offers a free hour at
any of the spaces they rent for
first time user
Free rental credit for friends
referrals – an incentive to
spread the word about the
product
Ongoing A win-win offer to give a free
product trial to friends and
acquaintances plus and gain
free Breather hours

Conversion
Strategy
Definition: What’s your plan to capture, nurture and
eventually convert your leads into paying customers?
The key to converting prospects into
customers is continuous communication
that creates value for the prospect at each
touch point. At Riverbed, the first step of
lead nurturing campaign is to understand
the potential buyers’ profiles to always
present them with relevant content.

Conversion Strategy
Type Timeline Plan
E.g. How to convert a viewer
browsing the website into a lead,
how to convert a free trial user
into a paying customer?
How often do we attempt to
engage with the prospect?
What’s the plan to prepare and
launch different conversion
strategies?

Conversion Strategy Example - DocuSign
Source: http://www.techtarget.com/downloads/research/2013_Media_Consumption_Report.pdf
Type Timeline Plan
E.g. How to convert a
viewer browsing the website
into a lead, how to convert
a free trial user into a
paying customer?
How often do we attempt
to engage with the
prospect?
What’s the plan to prepare
and launch different
conversion strategies?
Add to database:
• Respondents to direct
email campaign
• Viewers of online
demos and thought
leadership webinars
• Leads from trade
shows
Customer signs up for a
1-month free trial
Before the trial period is
over, offer another 2
months free of charge if
they sign up for paid
service
Advertise your product
online and once the
prospect visits your
website, offer a free trial
Segment the database to
deliver target
communication in optimal
intervals to nurture your
leads
If the customer does not
respond to offers, start
nurturing
Send relevant third party
or in house content
The majority of technology
buyers worldwide view a
minimum of 4 pieces of content
before they begin to build a short-
list of vendors. (TechTarget)

Partnerships
Definition: Explore and evaluate synergies for
achieving your business objectives by partnering with
another entity.
Riverbed and Microsoft partnership is a win-win
situation. Office 365 and SharePoint are some of
the most important user workloads that Riverbed
accelerates.
Thanks to Riverbed, Microsoft customers can
enjoy great performance of their most critical
business applications.
Thanks to Microsoft, Riverbed gets access to a
huge sales force that pitches application
acceleration together with the application itself.

Partnerships
Name Timeline Plan
What strategic objectives does
the partner help accomplish?
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What’s the plan to set up and
maintain the partner
relationships?

Partnerships Example - Walgreens
Name Timeline Plan
What strategic objectives does
the partner help accomplish?
Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4? What’s the plan to set up and
maintain the partner
relationships?
Walgreen’s goal is to transform
from community pharmacy into
a health and wellness center.
Partnering with Theranos helps
Walgreen’s offer a
differentiated patient
experience through affordable,
painless and on-demand lab
testing.
N/A Offer Theranos lab testing in a
few locations in the beginning
and grow to cover over 8000
pharmacies.
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/15/blood-simpler
http://www.walgreens.com/pharmacy/lab-testing/home.jsp
A great partnership creates
synergy for both partners.

Timeline
Definition: A marketing plan should include a high level
calendar that outlines specific tactics that will be
undertaken for a 12-month period.
Source: http://www.marketsmartb2b.com/downloads/Market-Smart-B2B-Marketing-Calendar.pdf
The key learning from my most
successful projects at Nokia, Cisco
and Riverbed? They all had a clearly
defined plan with milestones and
actions necessary to hit these
milestones on time.

Timeline
Q1
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Q2
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Q3
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Q4
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Key Activity 1
Key Activity 2
Key Activity 1
Key Activity 2
Key Activity 1
Key Activity 2
Key Activity 1
Key Activity 2

References
Brands’ logos referenced in this presentation are
copyright protected.

References

Connect with Justyna
@justyna_bak linkedin.com/in/just
ynambak
techsurprises.com

Marketing Plan Template for Tech Startups

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