From Strategy to Execution

Creating Your First 90-Day Marketing Plan

"So, what's your plan?"

Five words that made my palms sweat during my first week as Marketing Director at the new company I started working at. I was sitting across from our CEO, armed with nothing but an Asana Board full of chaotic ideas and a drowning feeling of overwhelm at all the puzzle pieces that was this current Marketing Department I was now in charge of.

I had spent my first three days in a whirlwind of meet-and-greets, diving into analytics dashboards, and trying to remember everyone's names. The last thing on my mind was crafting a coherent 90-day plan to present at a company-wide Zoom Call. But there I sat, realizing that this question would define not just my next three months, but potentially my entire tenure at the company.

If your palms are also starting to sweat right along with mine, you've probably been there too. Or maybe you're there right now, staring at a blank document titled "90-Day Marketing Strategy" while your calendar fills up with tactical meetings and urgent requests from your new team members that you are just learning the names of.

Here's what I wish someone had told me back then: The first 90 days in a marketing leadership role isn't just about making a good impression—it's about laying foundations that will either support or sabotage your success for years to come. While 76% of marketing leaders report feeling pressured to prove their value within the first three months, only 31% actually have a structured plan for doing so.

After leading marketing teams across health & wellness, coworking, and commercial real estate industries, I've learned (sometimes the hard way) that success in those first 90 days isn't about having all the answers—it's about asking the right questions and creating a framework that turns chaos into clarity.

In this guide, I'll share the exact process to create and execute a 90-day marketing plan that gets buy-in from stakeholders, sets clear expectations to your team, and creates momentum for long-term success. No more sweaty palms when the CEO asks about your plan—just confident, strategic direction backed by experience and data.

Let's turn those chaotic ideas into a roadmap for success.

The Assessment Phase: Your First 30 Days

Remember that Asana board full of chaotic ideas? Let's put it aside for a moment. The first thing I learned (after making the mistake of trying to change everything at once) is that your first 30 days aren't about making sweeping changes—they're about becoming a detective (like in your favorite True Crime podcast).

The Marketing Audit: More Than Just Numbers

When I stepped into my role at the coworking company, I was tempted to immediately start "fixing" their social media strategy. After all, their Instagram engagement was sinking deeper and deeper into despair at the dismay of their Brands they had influencer relationships with, and their email engagement rates had been costing the company tons of money (just to name a couple of many issues). But here's the thing: surface-level problems usually have deeper roots.

Instead of jumping into execution mode, I created what I now call my "Marketing Detective Framework." Here's what it looks like:

Channel Performance Deep Dive

Don't just look at the numbers—look for the stories behind them. At my last company, I discovered that our "failing" email marketing actually had a small but highly engaged segment of readers who were generating 60% of our qualified leads. If I had just looked at the overall open rate, I would have missed this gold mine.

Quick Win: Create a simple spreadsheet with these columns:

• Channel Name

• Current Performance Metrics

• Historical Performance (last 6 months)

• Resource Investment (time/money)

• Return on Investment

• Team Member Responsible

• Notes/Observations

Team Capabilities (The Human Factor)

Here's where I made my biggest rookie mistake: I assumed job titles told the whole story. Turns out my "Social Media Manager" was actually a brilliant marketing strategist who had been pigeonholed into posting content, while our "Marketing Coordinator" was a secret whiz at video production.

Start with these questions in your one-on-ones:

• "What's the most successful project you've worked on here?"

• "If you could spend 80% of your time on one type of work, what would it be?"

• "What tools or resources would make your job easier?"

• "What processes do you think need improvement?"

Pro tip: Use Notion or your favorite note-taking app to document these conversations. Trust me, you'll want to reference these insights later.

The Tech Stack Reality Check

Picture this: I once inherited a marketing department that was paying for three different social media scheduling tools because different team members had signed up at different times. Meanwhile, we didn't have a proper CRM. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Create your "Tech Stack Audit":

1. List every tool currently in use

2. Note who uses it and for what

3. Document monthly/annual costs

4. Identify overlaps and gaps

5. Flag immediate optimization opportunities

The Budget Truth-Bomb

Here's a fun fact that nobody tells you: the marketing budget you "inherited" might not reflect reality. In one role, I discovered we were actually overspending by 40% because nobody was tracking recurring subscriptions properly.

Create a real-time budget tracker that shows:

• Committed monthly spend

• Variable expenses

• Contract renewal dates

• ROI metrics for each major expense

• Hidden costs (like those sneaky SaaS subscriptions)

Stakeholder Insights (The Political Landscape)

Remember that CEO who asked about your plan? They're just one piece of the puzzle. In my experience, success in a marketing leadership role is 50% marketing expertise and 50% understanding the internal landscape.

My "Stakeholder Matrix" includes:

• Department heads and their key objectives

• Past marketing wins and failures from their perspective

• Brand partners if your company participates in Brand Partnerships or influencer relationships where content performance affects the bottom line of a different company

• Their preferred communication style

• Their definition of marketing success

Pro tip: Pay special attention to the Sales Team. If there's tension between Sales and Marketing, that's your first red flag (and probably your first big opportunity).

Turning Insights into Action

By day 30, you should have a clear picture of your marketing ecosystem. But here's the key: don't keep these insights to yourself. I create what I call a "State of Marketing" presentation that includes:

• Key findings from each area

• Quick wins identified

• Major challenges uncovered

• Preliminary recommendations

The magic of this approach? When you present your 90-day plan (coming up in the next section), nobody can say you're making assumptions. You've done the homework, you've talked to the people, and you've got the data to back up your strategy.

Remember: You can't fix what you don't understand, and you can't understand what you haven't properly assessed. Take these 30 days to be thorough—your future self (and team!) will thank you.

Strategy Development: Days 31-60 (The Fun Part)

Alright, fellow Marketing Detective, you've spent the last 30 days gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses (aka your team members). Now it's time for the part that probably kept you up at night when you first got that "So, what's your plan?" question: actually creating the strategy.

But here's the good news – all that detective work you did? It's about to pay off bigly.

Setting Objectives That Actually Mean Something

Let me tell you a story about objectives gone wrong. In my first director role, I proudly presented what I thought were perfect SMART goals: "Increase Instagram engagement by 50% in Q3." My CEO nodded along, but then asked the question that changed how I think about objectives forever: "And how does that help us sell more coworking memberships?"

Cue awkward silence and me dying inside 🫠

Breaking News: as much as we marketers love to grow, grow, grow on platforms- the people paying you simply want to sell more of the thing they are selling. They don’t care about vanity metrics and social media clout if it doesn’t translate to actual dollars.

Here's how to avoid that awkward moment that I was blessed to experience:

The Objective Framework That Actually Works

Start with these three categories:

1. Revenue Impact Goals

   • Direct connection to company revenue

   • Measurable in actual dollars

   • Example: "Generate 25 qualified leads per month from our email list for our premium coworking spaces"

2. Brand Building Goals

   • Long-term brand equity

   • Relationship nurturing

   • Example: "Achieve 85% positive sentiment in brand partner feedback surveys while maintaining a 48-hour response time on collaborative content"

3. Operational Excellence Goals

   • Team efficiency

   • Process improvements

   • Example: "Reduce content approval time from 5 days to 24 hours by implementing new workflow in Asana"

Pro tip: For each objective, write down the answer to "How does this make the company money?" before presenting it to leadership. Trust me on this one.

Resource Reality Check

Remember that budget truth-bomb we uncovered in the audit phase? Now's the time to get real about resources. Here's what I do:

The Resource Allocation Matrix

Create a spreadsheet with these sections:

• Must-Fund Activities (things that directly drive revenue)

• Strategic Investments (long-term plays)

• Nice-to-Haves (your wish list)

• Cost-Saving Opportunities (where you can trim fat)

Example: In one role, I had to cut our software budget by 30% to fund a critical hire. That meant some tough conversations about why we couldn't keep all three social media scheduling tools and why we cancelled Adobe Photoshop to exclusively use Canva for all visual content creation.

Identifying Quick Wins (Your Early Credibility Builders)

This is where being a detective really pays off. Look for these patterns from your audit:

The Quick Win Checklist:

• Takes less than 2 weeks to implement

• Requires minimal resources

• Shows visible results

• Solves a pain point for multiple stakeholders

Example: In a past position, we discovered our brand partners were getting frustrated with slow response times on campaign approvals. The quick win? Creating a dedicated Slack channel for rapid feedback instead of the back and forth over email. Cost: $0. Impact: Reduced approval time by 72% and made four key partners very happy.

Planning for the Long Game

While quick wins build credibility, your strategy needs to look further ahead. Here's my framework for long-term planning:

The 3-Horizon Strategy Map

1. Horizon 1 (Next 90 Days)

   • Quick wins

   • Process improvements

   • Immediate revenue opportunities

2. Horizon 2 (3-6 Months)

   • Team capability building

   • New channel development

   • Partnership expansions

3. Horizon 3 (6-12 Months)

   • Major initiatives

   • Market expansions

   • Strategic repositioning

Pro tip: Always have something from each horizon in progress. It keeps your quick wins flowing while building toward bigger goals.

Getting Buy-In (The Part They Don't Teach You)

Here's something I learned the hard way: the best strategy in the world means nothing without buy-in. Here's my pre-presentation checklist:

The Stakeholder Buy-In Blueprint

1. Pre-socialize key ideas with influential team members

2. Have concrete examples ready for every major initiative

3. Know your numbers cold (especially anything related to revenue)

4. Prepare for the "what if" questions

5. Have a clear ask for each department you'll need support from

Before presenting a major shift in our brand partnership strategy, I had coffee chats with each department head to understand their concerns. When I finally did the presentation, half the room was already on board.

The Strategy Document Template

Here's the exact structure I use for presenting my strategy (feel free to steal this):

1. Executive Summary

   • 3 biggest opportunities

   • 3 critical challenges

   • 3 key initiatives

2. Current State Recap

   • Key findings from audit

   • Quick wins already implemented

   • Immediate concerns addressed

3. Strategic Objectives

   • Revenue goals

   • Brand goals

   • Operational goals

4. Resource Requirements

   • Budget needs

   • Team needs

   • Technology needs

5. Timeline and Milestones

   • 30-day markers

   • 60-day markers

   • 90-day markers

6. Success Metrics

   • Primary KPIs

   • Secondary metrics

   • Review cadence

Remember, this isn't just a presentation – it's your roadmap for the next year and your insurance policy when someone asks "why are we doing this?" three months from now.

In the next section, we'll talk about turning this strategy into actual execution. But for now, focus on making your strategy crystal clear, well-supported, and directly tied to business outcomes.

And don't forget to celebrate this milestone! Creating a solid strategy is hard work, and you've probably already made more progress than you realize. 🎉

The Execution Phase: Days 61-90 (Where The Rubber Meets The Road)

Ok, so you've done your detective work and created a strategy that would make any CEO proud. NOW comes the part that separates the good marketing director from the people who get the big bonus at the end of the year: actually making it happen.

A little head up- this is where most marketing plans go to die. They end up as beautifully formatted PDFs sitting in a google drive graveyard, never to be seen again. Let's make sure yours doesn't meet the same grisly fate.

Project Prioritization (Or: How to Not Lose Your Mind)

In my first director role, I tried to launch everything at once: new social media strategy, email automation overhaul, AND a website funnel redesign all within the first quarter. My team wanted to kill me and, wait for it- we didn’t hit our goals on time. Shocking, I know.

Here's how to not be like Past Me:

The Priority Matrix That Actually Works

Create a spreadsheet with these quadrants:

1. High Impact, Low Effort

   • Your quick wins

   • Process improvements

   • Example: "Setting up that Slack channel for brand approvals"

2. High Impact, High Effort

   • Your major initiatives

   • Resource-intensive projects

   • Example: "Rebuilding the entire email nurture sequence for coworking leads"

3. Low Impact, Low Effort

   • Nice-to-haves

   • Team morale boosters

   • Example: "Creating those cute Instagram story templates everyone's been asking for"

4. Low Impact, High Effort

   • The "Parking Lot" pile

   • Resource drains

   • Example: "Completely reorganizing our shared drive structure just because it bugs you" (I may or may not be speaking from experience here )

Pro tip: Always have something from Quadrant 1 in progress. It keeps the momentum going while you tackle the bigger projects.

The Timeline That Won't Make Your Team Quit

Remember when I mentioned my team's reaction to my overly ambitious plans? Here's how to create a timeline that won't make them update their LinkedIn profiles:

The Realistic Project Timeline Template

1. Week 1-2:

   • Launch ONE major initiative

   • Implement TWO quick wins

   • Set up project tracking systems

2. Week 3-4:

   • Begin second major initiative

   • Continue optimizing first initiative

   • Celebrate early wins (seriously, don't skip this part)

Example: When rolling out our new content approval process, we started with just our social media content. Once that was running smoothly, we expanded to email content, and finally to website updates. Baby steps = happy team = actual results.

KPI Setting (Without Making Everyone Hate Data)

Let me tell you about the time I created a 47-point KPI tracking dashboard that nobody ever looked at. Don't be like me.

The "People Will Actually Use This" KPI Framework:

1. Revenue Metrics (The Ones Your CEO Actually Cares About)

   • Lead generation numbers

   • Conversion rates

   • Revenue attributed to marketing

   • Cost per acquisition

2. Progress Metrics (The Ones Your Team Needs)

   • Project milestones

   • Task completion rates

   • Response times

   • Team capacity

3. Performance Metrics (The Ones That Show Impact)

   • Campaign results

   • Content engagement

   • Partner satisfaction scores

   • Customer feedback

Pro tip: Create different views for different stakeholders. Your CEO probably doesn't need to see every single Instagram story metric, but your social media manager does.

Team Responsibilities (Or: Who's Actually Doing All This Stuff?)

The fastest way to kill a great strategy is unclear responsibilities. Ask me how I know. 🙃

The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI on steroids):

For each project, clearly define:

• Who's Responsible (actually doing the work)

• Who's Accountable (their neck is on the line)

• Who needs to be Consulted (has important input)

• Who needs to be Informed (just needs updates)

• Who has Veto Power (yes, this is important)

• Who can Help if needed (your backup plan)

Example: In a content creation process for a Health & Wellness company, our Content Manager was Responsible, the Marketing Director was Accountable, Brand Partners were Consulted, the CEO is Informed, the lead Naturopathic Provider had Veto Power, and our freelance writer network could Help when needed.

The Review and Adjustment Protocol (Because Things Will Go Wrong)

Listen, no matter how perfect your plan is, something will go sideways. Here's how to handle it without losing your mind:

The "Everything Is Fine" Adjustment Framework:

1. Weekly Check-ins

   • 15-minute stand-ups

   • Quick wins celebration

   • Blockers identification

   • Course corrections

2. Bi-weekly Deep Dives

   • Progress against goals

   • Resource adjustments

   • Team feedback

   • Strategy alignment check

3. Monthly Reviews

   • KPI tracking

   • Major milestone check

   • Strategy adjustments

   • Stakeholder updates

Pro tip: Create a "Changes Log" in your strategy document. It helps you track adjustments and explain why you made them. Future you will thank you when someone asks "why did we change direction on that project?" three months from now.

Your 90-Day Emergency Kit

Keep these handy for when things inevitably get weird:

1. A list of quick wins you can implement

2. A "emergency response" template for when projects go off track

3. A collection of early successes you can reference

4. Contact info for reliable freelancers/contractors

5. Your favorite stress relief gif (mine is the dancing Carlton)

Remember, perfect execution doesn't mean nothing goes wrong - it means you handle problems like a boss when they do.

Now that you’ve got your plan, it’s time to turn your attention to what happens after your first 90 days. But for now, focus on turning that beautiful strategy into reality, one step at a time.

And remember to breathe. You've got this. 👊

Putting It All Together: Your 90-Day Marketing Leadership Journey

Remember that CEO who asked about your plan? By now, you're not just ready to answer their question - you're ready to blow their minds with a well-researched, strategic, and actually executable plan.

Let's recap what you've learned (and hopefully avoided some of my past mistakes along the way):

The Journey From Chaos to Clarity

Days 1-30: Your Detective Phase

• You didn't just dive in and start "fixing" things

• You took the time to understand the ecosystem

• You documented everything (because future you will thank you)

• You built relationships with your team and stakeholders

• You found those hidden gems (like that small but mighty email segment)

Days 31-60: Your Strategy Phase

• You created objectives that actually tie to revenue (no more awkward CEO moments)

• You got real about resources and what's actually possible

• You identified quick wins to build credibility

• You planned for the long game while keeping short-term results flowing

• You got buy-in before charging ahead (goodbye, resistance)

Days 61-90: Your Execution Phase

• You prioritized like a boss (no more trying to juggle while riding unicycles)

• You created timelines that won't make your team quit

• You set up KPIs people will actually look at

• You made responsibilities crystal clear

• You prepared for when things inevitably get weird

What Success Looks Like Now

By the end of your first 90 days, you should have:

• A clear understanding of your marketing ecosystem

• A documented strategy that ties to business outcomes

• Quick wins under your belt

• A team that trusts your leadership

• Systems and processes that actually work

• Stakeholders who understand and support your vision

• Data to back up your decisions

• A realistic plan for what's next

The Most Important Lessons

1. Start With Understanding

   • The urge to take immediate action is strong

   • The patience to understand first pays off big time

   • Your team has valuable insights - listen to them

2. Make the Business Connection

   • Every marketing objective needs to tie to revenue

   • Your CEO doesn't care about vanity metrics

   • Data without context is just numbers

3. Build Your Support System

   • Your team's buy-in is crucial

   • Stakeholder support makes everything easier

   • Document everything (seriously, everything)

What Comes Next?

Now that you've got your foundation built, you can start thinking bigger. But remember - this isn't the end of the journey. It's just the end of the beginning.

Keep these tools handy:

• Your audit documentation

• Your strategy document

• Your KPI dashboards

• Your emergency kit (especially your signature gif)

One Last Thing

Remember when you were staring at that blank document titled "90-Day Marketing Strategy" feeling overwhelmed? Look how far you've come. You've got this, and now you've got a roadmap to prove it.

The best part? Every time you start a new marketing leadership role (because let's be real, this probably won't be your last), you can use this same framework to hit the ground running.

Now go forth and market like a boss. Carlton and I believe in you.

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About the Author

Rosemary Watson has been switching hats as a business owner trying to get her marketing shit together, a Freelance Marketer, and a Marketing Director at companies herding all those marketing cats since 2006. Now she spends all her tiny slivers time on the internet helping teams put those puzzle pieces together and make marketing meetings fun again.