“The Mint Marketing” Template

For Any Business Launch

Supplemental Action Guide

1. File > “Make a copy” ©

🚀
2. Use this Action Guide to apply the same concepts to YOUR

🤠
business launch.
3. Good luck.

Table of Contents

Part I: Quant-Based Marketing

Part II: 12 Week Launch Marketing Template

Week 0: Set Goals (3 Months Before Launch)
Week 1: Make a List of Targeted Users
Week 2: Set Up Landing Page
Week 3: Locate Your Users
Week 4: Track Everything
Week 5: Test Your Messaging
Week 6: SEO
Week 7: Content Strategy
Week 8: SEM
Week 9: Advertise & Social Media
Week 10: Launch Timeline
Week 11: PR & Media Coverage + Email Marketing
Week 12: Form a Community Distribution
Part I: Quant-Based Marketing
5 Steps To Quant-Based Marketing
1. Establish specific goals
2. Make your target list prior to launch
3. Find where your users hang out online
4. Test your messaging
5. Track everything

I updated my original spreadsheet for you to use. Here’s the Quant-Based Marketing
Spreadsheet.

Part II: 12 Week Launch Marketing Template

Week 0: Set Goals (3 Months Before Launch)

Set Goals
● Goal 1:
● Goal 2:

Launch Date:

Week 1: Make a List of Targeted Users

List 8 groups of potential users who could use your product:

Who are your users? What are their needs? Why do they want your
Ex: Recent college grads Ex: easy way to track product? How does it solve
finances their most painful problem?
 Week 2: Set Up Landing Page
Write your own story:
● Why did you start your company? What solution do you want to provide with your
product or service?
● Write out your story in first person
○ “I..”

List your 3 benefits:

1.
2.
3.

List 3 specific ways to let users test drive your product:

1.
2.
3.

Contact 10 customers and pick the strongest three quotes to feature.

1. Customer - Quote
2. Customer - Quote
3. Customer - Quote

Easy Registration
● What are the basic pieces of information you need from a new user?
● What is the process after they enter that information? (hint: minimize the steps)?
● How can you get them immediately engaged with the product?
● Which features will you highlight after they’ve converted?
● What are your customers’ fears (refer to your survey results)? How can you alleviate
them?

Email Collection
● How do you currently [solve the problem your product solves]?
● What would you like in a [product description]?
● Would you like to be able to [benefit] while [avoiding a negative outcome]?

✅
Week 2 Checklist

✅
First person story

✅
3 benefits

✅
3 ways customers can test drive product

✅
10 customer quotes
Easy registration questions
✅Email collection
✅Landing page is set up!
Week 3: Locate Your Users
Top Five Most Popular for Each:
● YouTube videos
● Popular blogs
● Popular Twitter accounts or tweets
● Popular groups

✅
Week 3 Checklist

✅
Find and list popular blogs/content/influencers

✅
Set Up Google Alerts

✅
Add blogs and forums to Targeted Blogs Sheet

✅
Input traffic information to Targeted Blogs Sheet
Repeat for influencers and relevant groups

Week 4: Track Everything

Step 1: Set up and track where users are clicking
Step 2: Track user adoption using Google Analytics
Step 3: Track homegrown metrics

Metric How to monitor or test?

Referrals

Time on site

Homepage conversion

✅
Week 4 Checklist

✅
Install Google Analytics

✅
Choose 3 to 5 metrics to track

✅
Set up Quant-based Marketing Spreadsheet to track for each marketing channel

✅
Call 5 customers for feedback

✅
Email 10 customers for product feedback
Watch 3 customers actually use your product
 Week 5: Test Your Messaging
Step 1: Make a list of features you want feedback about.

Step 2: Survey your target users

● Key Question Categories:
○ Demographics:
○ Customer Profile:
○ Problems/Needs:
○ Current Solutions:
○ Buying Behavior
○ Information Sources:

Step 3: Figure out their needs and segment if appropriate

● Two or more groups? Describe them below:
○ Group 1:
○ Group 2:

Step 4: Identify a unique solution your product or service provides

● List 5 unique solutions:
○ Solution 1:
○ Solution 2:
○ Solution 3:
○ Solution 4:
○ Solution 5:

Step 5: Define a benefit-driven brand promise

● Template Guide
○ We’ll help you [specific accomplishment] in [specific time period]
○ Make sure [bad action] never happens again
○ Do [positive benefit] in [short amount of time that’s appealing and only possible
with your product]
○ We are the [positive adjectives] to do [some desirable action]

● Noah’s examples for Mint brand promises:

○ Mint will save you 20% in the next 90 days
○ Mint will save you $500/month in the first 30 days
○ Never pay late fees again
○ Track everything in 5 minutes or less

● Write out 3 brand promises

○ Brand Promise 1
○ Brand Promise 2
○ Brand Promise 3
✅
Week 5 Checklist

✅
Make list of features you want feedback on

✅
Put together a survey (10 questions or less)

✅
Segment user groups based on survey responses

✅
Identify unique differentiators for your product

✅
Write your 3 brand promises
Start establishing relationships with reporters (see PR section)

Week 6: SEO

✅
Week 6 Checklist

✅
Read Guide to SEO (if you have questions about SEO)

✅
Ensure your site is SEO-friendly (tags, xml sitemap, etc.)

✅
Find 30 keywords using Google Keyword Planner

✅
FInd 15 keywords using Google and Google Trends
Test keyword competition using Google Google Keyword Planner (or more resources here)

Week 7: Content Strategy

✅
Week 7 Checklist

✅
List top bloggers for specific areas in your niche

✅
Find top 10 blog posts (of all time) in your niche

✅
Build content strategy that includes at least 2 regular series you will run

✅
Reach out to 5 bloggers for guest posts and distribution content
Write 10 to 20 blog posts based on popular keywords

Week 8: SEM

✅
Week 8 Checklist

✅
Determine effective keywords for competitors

✅
List 10 successful keywords per competitor

✅
Determine if customer profiles are similar for you and your competition

✅
Build landing pages to test the messaging
Start spending small amounts on ads to test messaging & positioning with customer
segments
 Week 9: Advertise & Social Media

✅
Week 9 Checklist

✅
Choose 5 to 10 bloggers you like and would be interested in sponsoring

✅
Email each one of them about sponsorship

✅
Create banner or badge to place on blogger’s site

✅
Create Facebook page

✅
Create Twitter profile

✅
Use Twitter search to find conversations about your product or niche

✅
Engage in conversations around your topic
Build relationships with social influencers by interacting with them on social media channels

Week 10: Launch Timeline

(Day 0)
● Add email collection to homepage with prompt (Sumo is free and easy to use)
○ Examples:

Alpha Launch Strategy (Days 1- 16)

● Satisfaction Survey - numeric questionnaire for all people testing the product. Must
return 90% or higher.
● Survey should ask, “How likely are you to recommend this to a friend?”
 ● Launch to all investors, family, and selected friends
● Metrics Dashboard
● Make it easy see A/B test results and make updates
● Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
○ Reference one of these SEO checklist audit pages from Ahrefs or Backlinko
○ Focus on just the basics of SEO (meta descriptions, titles, link structure, etc.)
● Contract with specific bloggers different verticals of information to have library of content
indexed for SEO and to provide good resources for users
● Initiate contact with celebrity endorsers
● Collect 1 to 2 user testimonials to feature on the site during public launch

Beta Launch Strategy (Days 17- 28)

● Satisfaction survey that is numeric and must return greater than 90% of reviews
● Survey should ask, “How likely are you to recommend this to a friend?”
● Invite key bloggers to participate and provide feedback
● Decide which exclusive publication will receive first press of the product
● Consider an exclusive video for certain outlets
● Leak to top websites details of the project to generate some buzz
● Provide link for feedback and bug submissions
● Collect 1 to 2 user testimonials from people using the product to put on the site during
public launch
● Advertise on partner sites

Public Launch Strategy (Day 30)

● Provide the tool/product without a referral fee for people to invite friends – focus on
referrals
● Allow people to sign up for a monthly newsletter
● Find online groups to create a community
● Display content of preferred partners who list us as elite partners on their site
● Spend at least 4 hours doing guerilla marketing for the target market (Facebook Groups,
Reddit, craigslist, etc.)

Post Public Launch Strategy (Days 31 - 60)

● Evaluate launching a referral fee at this point
● Message people in online community groups/forums
● Review traffic logs to see where referrals are coming from, what people are doing on the
site and optimize site based on feedback
● If there are significant statistics (e.g. savings or users), release a press release to the
media
● Consider exclusive partnerships on specific things (e.g. Wells Fargo for Banking or
T-Mobile for cell phones).
Email Template

Subject: Exclusive early access to [product]

Hey [blogger]

I’m launching [product] that solves [pain points, or talk benefits here]. I’ve been a loyal
reader of [blog] for years now, and thought you might be interested in becoming one of
the first users of a product I’ve been working on for [time] now.

It’s completely free of charge, as I’m only looking for expert feedback and thoughts on
how to improve. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks,
[info]

✅
Checklist

✅
Launch timeline

✅
Determine what marketing resources will be conducted with each launch date

✅
Confirm your marketing channels

✅
List (in order) most desirable bloggers to get as beta users

✅
Send email (use template above) asking about interest
Satisfaction survey when bloggers use the product

Week 11: PR & Media Coverage + Email Marketing

Get Media Attention Without Hiring a PR Firm:
● Choose 3 dream media outlets to get mentioned in
● Find a writer at each source that covers your niche
● Get their name, email and phone number
● Contact them before you need them — help them first by sending relevant articles or
new perspective on a topic they cover
● Reach out to them (email template below) for an article when the time is right

Email Template

Subject: Exclusive for [outlet]: Launching [product], [quick description]

Hey [name],

We’re launching [product], tomorrow at noon EST and [outlet] gets free reign on an
exclusive before then. [1 sentence about your product and why it’s important].

Video demo: [link]

 Live demo site: [link]
Feature overview: [link]
My contact information: [link]

[closing]

Set Up Automated Drip Marketing Campaigns

● Use a free or low-cost tool like SendFox.com

Draft a list of 12 topics to use each month for newsletters

● Month 1: Topic
● Month 2: Topic

✅
Week 11 Checklist

✅
Sign up for SendFox

✅
Start collecting emails on your site and blog

✅
Brainstorm topics for monthly newsletter

✅
Draft email content for each month

✅
Write email content for each month
Schedule email sending for once a month

Week 12: Form a Community Distribution

✅
Week 12 Checklist

✅
List potential distribution channels

✅
Run conversion numbers to see which platforms would be worth it from a growth perspective
Reach out to potential distribution partners