The document provides a marketing plan template to help tech startups and other companies define and execute their marketing strategies. The template includes calendars to plan key milestones for preparing marketing materials such as roadmaps, messaging, demos and content assets. It also includes calendars to plan promotion activities like press releases, analyst briefings, industry events, social media, and sales enablement. The template provides guidance on how to use the calendars to align cross-functional work, set reasonable timelines, and track progress towards marketing goals.

1. Connect the dots looking forward!
Marketing Plan:
For Tech Start-ups (and not only)
&Prepare Promote

2. Executive summary
Defining and executing a marketing strategy includes many
internal and external stakeholders. How do you quickly gain an
overview of the key milestones, understand the cross-functional
dependencies and allocate reasonable execution times?
“Marketing Plan: Prepare & Promote” helps you achieve just
that:
• Prepare for success by aligning your roadmap, messaging
and demos
• Promote your positions with analysts & media, via social
channels & industry events
• Stay on top of both preparation and promotion activities at
any time

3. About the author
I’m a marketing strategist and an engineer passionate about helping
fantastic tech products succeed in the marketplace.
My experience marketing tech products includes:
• mobile apps, devices and networks (Nokia)
• cloud compute and video solutions (Cisco Systems)
• container platforms (Apcera, acquired by Ericsson)
• cloud networking and digital experience (Riverbed Technology)
On the academic front, I studied Strategic Marketing Management
and General Management at Stanford Global Business School after I
graduated from the Technical University of Denmark and International
Faculty of Engineering in Lodz, Poland with a double degree: M.Sc.
E.E. in Telecommunications.

4. Connect with Justyna
@justyna_bak linkedin.com/in/justynambaktechsurprises.com

5. How to use this template: Prepare
1. Take a look at the calendar in the next slide and mark two important dates:
“Roadmap (key releases) and Messaging (including the positioning statement)
ready”.
2. Now that you know your target release date, identify key Industry Events that
your target audience will be attending. Rationale: I may make sense to launch at an event where
you can compress multiple meetings with customers, prospects, analysts, reporters and partners in just a few days.
3. Set your Product Launch date. Then decide if you’d like to do a Stealth Launch
with a limited number of customers, partners and media beforehand.
4. Finally, decide what Content assets and product Demos you’ll need to create.
Set sufficient time aside.

6. By Justyna Bak - techsurprises.com
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Marketing Strategy – PrepareMilestones
Product Launch
Main launch for the year: product introduction
supported by strong media/analyst coverage,
customer success stories and rich content and
demo assets
RoadmapMessagingDemosReferences
2018
Roadmap
Customer
launch
ambassadors
identified
2018 Q2
Roadmap
Update
Press ReleaseContent assets
& social media
plan (blogs,
videos, paid
ads
Messaging doc -
Key Use Cases :
Situation / Problem /
Solution / Results
Content assets -
customer facing
deck & solution
architecture doc.
Analyst / media
follow up with the
launch impact
2018 Q3
Roadmap
Update
2018 Q4 Roadmap
Update Post-
Launch
2018 Positioning
Statement /
Messaging Theme
Content assets &
direct campaign
plan (analyst decks,
customer FAQ and
email templates)
Demos reviewed
against customer
facing content
assets
Demos scoped out
and aligned with
messaging
Demo
backup
video
ready
Demos
ready
Customer
success stories
captured and
quotes secured
Customer
ambassadors ready
for media /analyst
interactions
Stealth Launch
Limited preview of the main
product launch to test the
messaging and assets
You are here

7. How to use this template: Promote
1. Decide the scope of your launch; you’ll typically issue a Press Release with a
customer quote, schedule Analyst Briefings, update your Website and promote
your launch message via Social Media. You also need to think of Customer
Facing Content and Sales Enablement programs.
2. Estimate the time to prepare each of the launch elements and set the
milestones on the calendar.
3. Create detailed plans for each of the launch elements. As a minimum, I
recommend: Content Strategy, Website Strategy, Analyst Engagement
Strategy, Social Media Strategy, Event Strategy and Sales Enablement
Strategy.

8. By Justyna Bak - techsurprises.com
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Marketing Strategy – PromoteMilestonesEventsAR/PR
Social
+Web
Enablement
Pre-launch
briefings with
analysts and
media
Sales Kick-Off: Share
the annual marketing
strategy
First sales
training &
feedback
Social media
plan, budget
and assets
identified
Industry Event 1: Stealth
launch with friendly
reporters and customers –
analyse feedback
Launch
roadshow
Industry Event 2:
Reinforce the
launch message
Press ReleaseEarly
Briefing
materials
ready
List of
targeted
analysts /
reporters
Secure customer
/ analyst quotes
for press release
Analyst / media
follow up with the
launch impact
Product Launch
Main launch for the year: product introduction
supported by strong media/analyst coverage,
customer success stories and rich content and
demo assets
Social media
assets ready,
website
updated
Second
sales
training
Sales outreach
in support of
stealth launch
Stealth Launch
Limited preview of the main
product launch to test the
messaging and assets
Website
outline
ready
Website
live
You are here

9. Bringing it all together
1. Review the “10,000 feet view”
marketing plan weekly to
ensure you’re on track with
the key deliverables.
2. Adjust the scope and the
exact milestones if needed;
make sure you understand
the implications the changes
have on the other work
streams.
&Prepare Promote

10. Have you seen my ”Marketing
Plan Template for Tech Startups
(and not only)?”
Preview it on SlideShare
Download it from TechSurprises

11. Bonus Materials

12. Positioning statement
Positioning Statement Template
For [target market]
the [brand]
is the [category]
that [point of differentiation]
unlike [competitive solutions]
Every marketing strategy should begin with a
clear positioning statement. Why? Because
you need to know your target market, your
product category and the exact point of
differentiation before you can think of a
strategy to address the needs of your
audience. It’s the foundation of product
marketing.
Not sure you have your positioning statement
in place? Ask 4-5 colleagues, ideally
representing different business functions,
such as Engineering, Product, Sales,
Business Development or Support, and
compare their answers with your intended
one. If the answers don’t align, you know
where to start.

13. Messaging - guiding principles
Generosity
Variety Consistency
• Succinct, clear, to the point
• Transparency and clarity on value proposition and
unique selling points (USPs)
• E.g. A single published roadmap, clear idea how
our roadmap fits into roadmaps of other business
units or technology partners
• Across teams
• Across types of content
• E.g. Using consistent naming, once a product
name is locked in and all the main features
named, you should use the names in the exact
same fashion across the different content pieces
• Different content formats to
match the audience preference
• E.g. A range of collateral types
from high-level and visionary to
deeply technical; some of your
customers prefer written
content, while others may want
to watch a video
These are three guiding
principles I try to adhere to in
all of my marketing efforts.

14. Messaging hierarchy
Main message
Supporting messages
Proof points
After your concise positioning
statement is complete, the
messaging hierarchy exercise is the
second step I recommend to
document your top-line messaging.
Main message – your key theme,
the ideal sound-bite, the one key
take-away from your launch that
represents the value proposition of
your product
Supporting messages – ideally they
come as a set of three key
differentiators / use cases
Proof points – these validate your
messages: analyst quotes and data-
points, customer quotes