4 Steps to Building a DIY Marketing Plan That Really Works Stop wasting your time and money — this is the foundation of a marketing strategy that leads to sales and brand loyalty.

Many entrepreneurs are wasting the time and money they spend on marketing and don't know it.

This is because marketing is much bigger than creating viral social media posts, buzzy advertising campaigns, and flashy websites. In the end those amount to expensive entertainment that might get a lot of attention but likely not so many sales.

We need to think about marketing as a total strategy for engaging target audiences, nurturing their decision journeys toward a trial, and delivering personalized experiences and continuous value to secure loyalty. Marketing is about building a brand around all of these elements — not just creating a lot of content and campaigns.

Success begins with using market and consumer data to ensure your messaging and experiences capture attention and trigger engagement. A well-thought-out plan doesn't just grab first-time users — it also sets the foundation to maintain a strong competitive market position.

These are the cornerstones of a marketing plan that brings sustainable success, which I delve into in my new book, Market Your Business – Your DIY Guide to Marketing, available now.

1. Know Your Markets and Customers: Monitor market and consumer data to reveal opportunities and risks within your market. Analyzing consumer purchasing and attitudinal trends and economic indicators can help entrepreneurs make wise decisions about resources, budgets, and product launches, and craft winning plans. Staying on top of market research by reviewing data presented by global data companies and conducting your own is key to staying relevant for all customer target groups regardless of market and competitive influences.
2. Build a Value-Driven Brand: Because products and services are easy for big brands to replicate, entrepreneurs need to build a brand that appeals to the values, personas and purposes that matter most to target consumers. To do this, research what personal and social values and practices influence buyers' brand choices. Define the values of your business beyond the product. Use this to guide marketing, customer experiences, and service. Most customers want to spend their money with brands that align with their standards and beliefs.
3. Plan and Execute with Relevance: Research shows that 90 percent of what we do and think is governed by our unconscious mind yet most marketing campaigns and experiences cater to the conscious mind with talk about price and convenience. Marketing and customer experiences that appeal to the triggers of the unconscious mind such as authority, social proof, FOMO (fear of missing out), and personal aspiration are the most effective for generating leads, loyalty and ROI. Emotionally relevant messaging needs to be integrated into the overall plan.
4. Master the Right Channels - To ensure marketing programs pay off, be sure to use the right channels to reach your targets. Marketing plans need to identify the best channels for each audience group, how best to use each channel via paid and organic methods, and specific messaging and formats accordingly. Channels need to include social, digital, print, events, search, and diverse formats like videos, memes, reels, blogs/reports, user-generated content, and so on to maintain relevance and appeal. Plans need to address content relevance, frequency, promotions, calls to action, and metrics to help determine which channels pay off and which do not.

Market Your Business is available now on Amazon and the Entrepreneur Bookstore.

Get more actionable tips in Market Your Business – Your DIY Guide to Marketing, Jeanette McMurtry's new book for Entrepreneur Press. The four-time author of global business books shares insights and tactics to help entrepreneurs:

• Learn how to use market and consumer data.
• Define your brand values beyond goods and services sold.
• Appeal to psychological triggers that influence purchasing.
• Engage and nurture target customers along touchpoint journeys toward lifetime value.

Each chapter leaves readers with clear actionable steps to take on any budget. Get clear how-to guidance for setting up metrics and learning plans, and executing SEO, social, email, CRM, advertising, Google Ads, website, and thought leadership campaigns. Readers will learn how to find and use resources including contractors and AI tools for optimizing production and reach.

Market Your Business serves an important prequel to McMurtry's other titles published by Wiley and McGraw-Hill, which provide supplemental tactical guidance. Get more information about this book and others devoted to launching and growing a business at the Entrepreneur Bookstore.

Related: How to Build a Tech Brand That Stands Out in a Competitive Market