ALG Dynamics · Stimulating Growth

Growth Marketing & Consumer Psychology · algdynamics.com

Why this checklist exists

Most small-business marketing doesn’t fail because the ideas were bad. It fails because everything was decided in the moment — a post here, a promo there, a boosted ad when sales dipped — with no plan connecting any of it.

That’s not a discipline problem. It’s a cognitive load problem. When you’re running the whole business, your brain protects you by defaulting to whatever is easiest right now. A written plan removes that decision fatigue: you decide once, calmly, and then execute on autopilot during busy weeks.

This checklist walks you through a full marketing plan in one sitting (60–90 minutes). Work top to bottom. Skip nothing — the questions you’re tempted to skip are usually the ones you’ve never answered.

Part 1 — Foundation (answer before you plan anything)

  • Write down who your best customer actually is. Not “everyone who needs X.” Think of the last three customers who paid happily and were easy to work with. What do they have in common — situation, problem, urgency?
  • Write the problem in their words, not yours. Customers don’t buy “solutions” or “services.” They buy relief from a specific frustration. If you’ve heard a customer describe their problem out loud, use that exact phrasing. (This one sentence will improve every ad, email, and page you write.)
  • Name the feeling behind the purchase. People decide emotionally and justify logically. Are your customers buying confidence? Time back? Relief from embarrassment? Status? Write it down — your messaging should speak to it.
  • State your one honest differentiator. Complete this sentence: “Unlike my competitors, I ______.” If you can’t finish it, that’s your first strategic task — not a bigger ad budget.
  • Confirm your capacity. How many new customers can you actually serve well next quarter? Marketing that outruns delivery destroys reputations. Plan to that number.

Part 2 — Goals (make them small and real)

  • Pick ONE primary goal for the next 90 days. More leads, more repeat purchases, higher average order, more booked calls — pick one. A plan with five goals is a plan with none.
  • Attach a number and a date. “More leads” becomes “15 qualified inquiries per month by the end of Q3.”
  • Write down your current baseline. You can’t know if the plan worked without knowing where you started. Even a rough number (“about 5 inquiries a month, I think”) is enough to begin.
  • Sanity-check the math. If you need 10 new customers and 1 in 10 inquiries becomes a customer, you need ~100 inquiries. Does your plan realistically produce that? If not, adjust the goal or the plan — now, not in month three.

Part 3 — Channels (fewer than you think)

  • List where your best customers already spend attention. Not where you enjoy posting — where they look when they have the problem you solve. Ask two or three of them if you’re not sure.
  • Choose a maximum of TWO active channels. One channel done consistently beats five done sporadically. Consistency is what builds the familiarity that makes people trust you (psychologists call this the mere-exposure effect — repeated, low-pressure contact makes a brand feel safer to buy from).
  • Choose ONE owned channel. An email list, a text list — something an algorithm can’t take away. If you don’t have one, starting it goes in this quarter’s plan.
  • Write down what you will STOP doing. Every channel you quit funds the ones you keep. Say it explicitly: “We are pausing X until further notice.”

Part 4 — Message & offer

  • Draft your core message in one sentence. Formula: We help [your best customer] get [the outcome they want] without [the thing they dread].
  • Define your lead offer. What does someone get for raising their hand before they’re ready to buy? (A guide, a checklist, a free assessment, a first-visit deal.) The gap between “stranger” and “customer” is too big to cross in one step.
  • Check every offer for clarity over cleverness. A confused mind says no. If a stranger can’t tell what you’re offering and what to do next within five seconds, rewrite it.
  • Add one honest trust signal to your main page. A real review, a credential, a photo of you, a guarantee. People look for evidence that others chose you before they will (social proof) — but it must be real. Never invent it.

Part 5 — Calendar & cadence

  • Block a recurring weekly marketing hour. Same day, same time, in the calendar, treated like a client appointment. This single habit outperforms every productivity tool.
  • Plan content in batches, not daily. Decide this month’s topics in one sitting. Daily “what should I post?” decisions are where consistency goes to die.
  • Map the next 90 days at the theme level only. Month 1 theme, Month 2 theme, Month 3 theme. Detail only the next two weeks. Plans that are too detailed too far out get abandoned when reality shifts.
  • Schedule a monthly 30-minute review. Three questions: What did we do? What happened? What changes next month? That’s the whole meeting.

Part 6 — Measurement (keep it humane)

  • Pick 3–5 numbers to watch — no more. For most SMBs: inquiries/leads per month, conversion rate to customer, revenue, and one channel-health number (e.g., email list growth). (Our Marketing Metrics Checklist covers these in plain language.)
  • Decide where the numbers live. One simple spreadsheet updated monthly beats a dashboard you never open.
  • Ask every new customer one question: “How did you hear about us?” Write the answers down. Twelve months of this is more valuable than most analytics tools.

The 10-minute version

No time for the full exercise today? Answer these five and you’re ahead of most:

  1. Who is my best customer, in one sentence?
  2. What is the one result I want in 90 days, with a number?
  3. Which TWO channels will I commit to — and which will I stop?
  4. What is my one-sentence core message?
  5. When is my weekly marketing hour?

When you’re ready for a plan built around your business

This checklist gives you the structure. If you’d like a second brain on the strategy — someone who understands both the psychology of why customers say yes and the systems that make marketing run without consuming your week — that’s exactly what we do.

Start the conversation: algdynamics.com/start-scaling

ALG Dynamics — Stimulating Growth

ALG Dynamics — Growth Marketing & Consumer Psychology. Want this working in your business? Start with a short conversation →