Have you been trying to come up with your own personal marketing plan, but struggle coming up with effective marketing efforts for your new business? Girl, me too (when I first started). I remember spending countless hours trying to come up with an effective personal marketing plan, a marketing budget, getting my brand identity together and so much more.

I’m here to show you that creating a personal perfect marketing plan is much easier than you think. All the professionals do this. As long as you know your target audience and what your personal branding is, you don’t have to worry about the marketing strategy part. I’m going to do all that for you.

What Are The Steps to Creating a Personal Marketing Plan That Works?

We first have to understand what personal marketing efforts are. The first thing you need to do is set clear goals and objectives. As business professionals, what are you looking to accomplish in your business and how long will it take you (i.e. months/years) to accomplish these goals? The clearer you are the more successful you will be.

Once you determine your goals and objectives you have to know the people you’re trying to serve. The best way you can do this is by figuring out your audience’s pain points and how you’re going to solve them.

This is when we can start getting into the really fun stuff! Personal branding! Once you figure out who you’re trying to serve you need to establish a strong online presence that resonates. Everything from fonts, colors, your tone of voice, etc. is what you need to accomplish during this step.

Now it’s time for market research. Determine who your competitors are. Create a positioning statement so you can stand out from the competition and gain the leverage you need to start creating authority in your market.

Once you do all this, all your efforts can be focused on this step-by-step personal marketing plan guide.

Online Presence and Branding

This personal marketing plan may seem simple, but it is an effective marketing solution. Your personal brand is everything in today’s competitive market landscape. This marketing plan is only effective if you stick with it for an extended period of time.

This marketing plan starts with this. Create an online website (obviously), you’re going to want to create a LinkedIn profile and then regularly post articles on your blog and LinkedIn profile. You can have guest blogs on your website to boost your online authority and social media engagement. Done the line I’d consider creating some type of online course, after all by 2026 course creation will be a $500 billion dollar industry.

Network and Relationship Building

Now marketing plan may sound old school, but I guarantee you it’s not. People don’t love businesses, they love people. If you look at any personal marketing plan examples the best ones will revolve around a person connecting with his or her audience. This is also a great way to start self-marketing.

This personal marketing plan starts by attending industry events, joining professional organizations, and mentorships, and collaborating with peers in a similar market.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is really hard for most people because it requires a lot of time, testing, and trials. Think about it, we live in a self-gratifying world. With apps like TikTok and Meta, there isn’t a shortage of disappointed people. You can log onto any of these apps and the dopamine will start to release.

Well, it’s the opposite for content creators. You will put hours and hours of time in for little to no results, but after a while of being consistent, you will slowly and surely start to build a community. So keep that in mind for this marketing plan.

To start this personal marketing plan you will need to choose a platform. Choose the platform that the majority of your target audience is on. Then it’s time to create a content calendar. Whether it’s YouTube, podcasting, or making short-form content you will need to plan out at least one month in advance.

Once you get all of this together you need to always need to effectively communicate with your audience. Get them on an email list.

Personal Branding

Again, people want to connect with you. You’re the brand. Think about how many times you purchased something from someone because you like what they do or you like what you stand for. Your target market cares about how you make their lives better. That could be from your offers or simply just putting a smile on their face.

This personal marketing plan involves creating a unique selling proposition (USP). Once you have a USP getting client testimonials and developing case studies will create trust between you and your target market. Be sure to always have consistent branding and effective storytelling.

Online Advertising

If you’re not good with SEO (search engine optimization) you can always use Google Ads, if it’s within your budget. Google ads are always a great option because your landing pages will be shown first within your target audience.

Social media ads are also great for getting more eyeballs on your content. You can also use retargeting campaigns to re-engage with visitors who did not convert. This is a great personal marketing plan if it’s within your budget.

SEO and Website Optimization

This personal marketing plan is a great long-term play. Why? SEO (search engine optimization) is how you can build your topical authority which is the depth of knowledge you have on a topic. When Google sees this, they reward you by ranking your content higher leaving you with more free traffic.

When we’re talking about a personal marketing plan, this plan is something you definitely need to do. Essentially everyone focuses all their efforts on social media, in hopes that one day they will go viral. Honey, the odds of you going viral are low and while it does happen if you’re serious about scaling your online business you need to have another personal marketing plan other than social media alone.

Personal Development

Taking it low and slow is a very honorable thing to do. So many new entrepreneurs want to rush and focus on the marketing plan for their online business, but investing in yourself is still a part of your own personal marketing plan.

This personal marketing strategy is what creates winners. Don’t forget that the turtle won the race. Sometimes just reading a book, taking an online course, or joining a mastermind is a personal marketing plan example. It may not look like it, but again, people love (you guessed it) people, not businesses. So making sure you’re preparing your personal brand by investing in yourself will pay off in the end.

Community Engagement

This personal marketing plan is a must. Join communities where your target audience congregates. This could be a forum page, Facebook group, etc. You can also host webinars and workshops and when you’re more established, speak at conferences to expand your authority.

Public Relations

Press releases are a great way to get exposure. A press release is when a digital or print publication writes an article or feature on you or your business. A digital press release can vary in price depending on the publication company. For example, if you’re looking to get published in Forbes, you’re looking at paying over a thousand dollars because the potential clients you may gain would be a lot more than if you released on a smaller publication.

This personal marketing plan allows you to talk about your mission, sell your service, and develop a stronger relationship with your target audience. Being featured in the press opens the doors for more networking opportunities.

Personalized Outreach

Personalized outreach is a great way to target customers within your specific audience. Not everyone likes to reach out to one because, let’s face it, you will face challenges, but these challenges will be the ultimate guide to understanding your market.

This personal marketing plan works through your email campaigns, or like I already said, direct (one-to-one) messaging. I’d consider doing this so you really understand how and why your audience speaks the way they do and why they think the way they think.

Partnerships and Collaborations

Creating strategic partnerships is a great personal marketing plan because leveraging someone else’s resources and skill set will only propel your business forward. Most newbie entrepreneurs think that they need to do everything themselves, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

In the same way, going out with friends can be a rewarding experience getting into a joint venture with another entrepreneur can be mutually beneficial. You can leverage each other’s resources to grow faster making it a perfect personal marketing plan.

Data Analytics and Metrics

Your personal marketing plan will have to involve making data-driven decisions. Some data-driven decision examples would be A/B split testing and looking at the key metrics, therefore, making decisions based on your audience and not your own personal marketing plan.

That’s the secret right there, don’t focus on your own personal marketing plan if it goes against what your audience wants from you. After all, the customer is always right. This marketing strategy is essential to follow. No matter what personal marketing plan you choose.

Thought Leadership

This personal marketing plan involves showcasing your personal expertise. The absolute best way you can do this is by publishing a book. Yes, you heard me publish your own book and become an author. Conducting your own research and reports establishes you as an expert in your industry field. This will lead to authority. Which will lead to you creating a tribe of people who are willing to purchase your offers.

Personal Branding Reinforcement

This is an uncommon personal marketing plan because we really don’t hear much about personal branding reinforcement. Personal brand reinforcement is when you host training or workshops with a small group opinion to get feedback on your knowledge and skills.

This personal marketing plan also includes making sure you stay consistent across all platforms so your online presence is memorable and has a unique feel toward your target audience.

Feedback and Improvement

Similar to personal branding reinforcement, acquiring feedback is a different personal marketing plan. Why? This strategy involves you conducting focus groups and surveys on your products and services. Instead of focusing on yourself, this personal marketing plan involves you focusing on what you’re offering to your target market.

Crisis Management

Everyone needs to have this as one of their personal marketing plans part of their business simply because we are living in a day and age where everyone can get canceled left and right. Although your intentions may be pure, social media is not to be played with. Misinterpretation runs rampant on the internet.

Content Syndication

This personal marketing plan involves syndicating your content to third-party platforms, industry publications, and other websites. This marketing strategy involves you sharing your content with a wider audience through established channels.

Content syndication can help you reach your new audience through established channels and establish authority in your field.

How Can Having A Personal Marketing Plan Benefit You?

Having a personal marketing plan is a dynamic document that evolves with your career and changing industry landscapes. Be sure to regularly assess your progress, adapt your strategies, and stay open to new opportunities that align with your goals and values.

You can choose more than one of these personal marketing plans. Remember, your personal brand is going to always be evolving so you’re going to have to choose more than one of these strategies as time goes on.

Wrapping Up

So why should you listen to me? The big question. Well at 23 I sold my first marketing package which was $20,000 in total. Since then I have grown a successful marketing agency with my partner then had the fantastic idea to step away and build another business teaching faith-based female entrepreneurs how to build a successful and profitable online business. So yeah, that’s about it. If you found any value be sure to check out The Commendable Kind and follow along. We’re just getting started!

How do you write a personal marketing plan?

Well, you can use this as a personal marketing plan template. Everything in this guide is the productive activities needed for creating a winning marketing strategy for your businesses.

What are the 5 P’s of personal selling?

Most people want to jump right in without first going over the 5 P’s of personal selling. Developing this for your band will help you focus on what you need to do to hone your skills and get more clients. The 5 P’s are product knowledge, prospecting, personalization, presentation, and persistence.

What are the 7 elements of a marketing plan?

The 7 elements of a marketing plan are an executive summary, a situation analysis, a target market and customer segmentation, marketing goals and objectives, a marketing strategy, marketing tactics, and a budget and implementation timeline.