Your marketing plan is your blueprint

Your online marketing plan spells out what you hope to accomplish and how you'll go about it. It starts with your mission statement and goes on to identify specific resources, battle targets, and weapons you'll use to reach your goal. Begin with a budget. Figure out how much time you can devote to online marketing. Use this estimate to determine your targets. Delegate responsibilities. Next consider your finances. Estimate setup and monthly access charges, classified ad fees, training, computer and telephone equipment.

Targets include discussion groups, electronic storefronts, advertising locations, conference venues and electronic publishing locations. Allocate time and money to each target. Finally, choose the weapons that service your targets. For example, to set up a discussion group, you'll need one or more signatures, an electronic brochure, canned messages and a mailbot, while an electronic storefront requires a storefront design, a logo, graphics, text, a location, domain name and a master plan.