The 90-Day Marketing Sprint: How to See Real Results by April

If you started the year with big marketing intentions but that plan looks overwhelming and you're not sure where to actually start, this episode is exactly what you need.

Most business owners create year-long marketing plans in January that they abandon by March. Why? Because twelve months feels impossible to sustain, the goals are too vague, and there's no urgency to keep you moving. But what if instead of a year-long plan, you committed to just 90 focused days?

In this episode, I'm breaking down the 90-day marketing sprint—a strategic approach to getting real, measurable results by April. Not a vague annual plan you'll abandon, but a concentrated quarter where you focus on the essential activities that will actually move your business forward.

Three months of focused execution beats twelve months of scattered effort every single time. This episode shows you exactly how to make it happen.

Links mentioned: 

• Marketing Momentum Membership
• The AI Powered Lead Magnet Guide (free)
• MailerLite

Transcript

Hey. Welcome to the New School of Marketing podcast. I'm Bianca McKenzie and this is the place where we break down marketing strategies that actually work without the overwhelm.

Before we dive into this episode, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land I live and work on, the Palawa people of Lutruwita. I pay my respects to elders past and present and acknowledge the deep connection they have to this land, culture and community.

Now let's dive in and make marketing work for you.

If you're listening to this in January, you probably started the year with big marketing intentions, maybe even created a plan.

But if you're like most business owners, that plan might feel a little bit overwhelming and you're not sure where to actually start.

And you might lose some motivation by the time February rolls around.

Today I'm going to be talking about a 90 day marketing sprint.

A focused, strategic approach to get real results that you can actually measure by April.

Not a vague like year long plan that you might abandon, but really a concentrated 90 days where you focus on the essential activities that are going to move your business forward.

Because here's the truth.

Three months of focused execution is going to beat 12 months of scattered effort every single time.

Before we dive into what to do, let's talk about why 90 days is the magic number for marketing results.

Marketing isn't like flipping a switch.

You need time for people to discover you, to consume your content, to build trust, and to decide to buy.

And 90 days gives you that Runway.

Most marketing tactics need at least 60 days to show you whether they're working.

So by 90 days you've got solid data to actually make decisions with.

Also, a year long plan sounds great in January, but but sometimes it feels impossible to stick with. By March, 90 days is manageable.

You can stay focused on one clear goal for three months.

And when you know you only have to sustain this intensity for 90 days, it's easier to commit fully instead of half heartedly spreading the effort over the year.

Also, 90 days creates urgency without panic. It's enough time that you don't have to scramble, but but short enough that you can't actually procrastinate.

It's like a natural tension that keeps you moving and there's momentum.

By the end of 90 days, if you've been consistent, you'll have systems in place, content working for you, and momentum that is going to carry you into the next quarter.

So when I say 90 day sprint, I mean a focus, so strategic quarter where you're all in on specific marketing activities that will generate measurable business results.

All right, let's talk about goal setting. The first mistake people make with quarterly planning is setting vague goals like, you know, grow my business or get more visible.

That's not a goal, that's a wish.

Your 90 day goal needs to be specific and measurable.

So I'm going to give you some examples.

So, for example, you can have a revenue focused goal.

You can say, I want to generate $15,000 in core sales by the end of March, or sign five new coaching clients at $2,000 each, or launch a membership and get 50 founding members, or increase your monthly revenue to $5,000. Whatever it is, it needs to be specific and it needs to be measurable.

You can also have, for example, audience building goals.

So you can say, I want to grow my email list from 200 to 1,000 subscribers in the next 90 days or reach 500 engaged followers on LinkedIn or get 10,000 downloads on a new podcast or build, you know, an email list of 500 qualified leads.

They need to be specific and measurable. This is where you need to put numbers on it.

You can set system building goals.

So you can set a goal of creating and launching a complete email funnel. This can be measured like it doesn't matter that you don't have. You haven't specified how many emails and that kind of thing.

But your goal is to create and launch the funnel.

For example, build an evergreen webinar that converts at 10%.

This can take you a little bit longer than 90 days to actually get, you know, the webinar right, and, you know, figure out what it's going to actually convert, but it's measurable.

Another one is like, establish a sustainable content system that requires five hours a week.

So you are going to go all in in setting up a system that is going to work for you and you can measure what you've actually achieved.

So you can see that there's something in common. They are all specific, they're measurable, and they can be achieved in 90 days if you put in really focused effort.

Those sprints, they're like gold.

So your action step right now is to pause.

You can pause this episode.

Not if you're driving. Well, you can't write down if you're driving anyway. You can pause the episode. Write down your 90 day goal. Is it going to be a revenue goal?

Is it going to be an audience building goal?

Are you still at those beginning stages or. You might need to put in some effort to actually have some system building goals.

But I want you to focus on one goal.

Make it specific, make it measurable, and make it matter to your business.

It's a little bit tricky though, because you obviously need to have some things in place. Like you can't, say, generate, you know, $15,000 in core sales if you haven't actually got the course.

Well, you can if you pre sell the course, but you might need to build that funnel first before you can actually sell it. So be realistic.

You obviously need to have some offers to be able to have your revenue goals.

So your first one might be that you actually create the offer before you start selling it.

Okay, so now that you've got your goal, let's talk about the framework for actually achieving it in the next 90 days.

And the framework has four phases.

The first phase is your foundation.

It's where you set up the systems and the clarity that you need to execute all of the bits and pieces.

Phase number two is momentum.

So this is where you have consistent execution of your marketing activities.

And so phase number one is usually the first week to the first two weeks.

Phase number two is usually week three to eight, then you go into week three. So phase three, which is optimisation, generally around the nine to 11 weeks.

And that's where you double down on what's working and you kind of tweak what isn't.

And then you got your phase four, which is your evaluation, and that's in the last week, so 12 weeks.

And that's where you measure your results and you plan your next 90 days.

So let's look at each phase in detail.

So the first phase is your foundation, and that is your first one to two weeks.

These weeks are about getting your ducks in a row so that you can execute everything else effectively for the next 10 weeks.

So your first week is your clarity and your strategy. Really, the first few days I want you to focus on who exactly are you trying to reach in the next 90 days.

And not everyone. You need to, you know, be specific about your ideal customer.

So write down their specific situation, their main problem, what they've already tried, what they actually need.

Then the next few days. So day three to four, you need to clarify your offer. What are you selling during these 90 days.

Don't try to sell everything. Pick your primary offer.

So write down, what is it, who's it for, what problem does it solve, what result does it deliver, and why is it different?

Then day five to seven, I want you to map your customer journey. So how will someone go from never hearing of you to buying your offer?

So I want you to sketch out the steps.

Discovery, that's the first step. Then there's interest, consideration, decision, and purchase. So I want you to really map out all of the steps and the pieces involved with that. Like, they could discover you from you putting in a lot of effort on social media, or they could discover you from you going on podcasts as a podcast guest.

So think about, you know, all of these steps.

Then we're going to go into week two, systems and setup.

So day eight and nine, you are going to choose your primary traffic source.

Where will you focus your effort to get discovered? And I want you to just pick one for this Sprint. So if you're going to pick Facebook or you're going to pick Instagram, go all in on that.

Don't worry about the other platforms.

So you can go all in on social media platform, you can, you can go all on like SEO and blogging, podcast, YouTube, partnerships, maybe paid ads. If you've got like a really good lead magnet and you think, okay, well, I'm going to just put in some money into paid ads, get people on your list, all of those things.

So choose your primary traffic Source.

Then day 10 and 11, I want you to create or update your lead magnet.

So you really need something valuable to offer in exchange for someone's email address.

So you can create a PDF guide, a template, a checklist, video training, a quiz.

You need to create something that solves a problem.

I will pop my link to my lead magnet guide in the show notes if you want to have a look at that in terms of creating a lead magnet, you know that's going to convert.

Then day 14, you need to set up your tracking system, set up just a simple spreadsheet to track.

You need to track your new email subscribers, where they come from, so the lead sources any sales and revenue on that day.

So by the end of week two, you should have a clear strategy, a functioning lead magnet, an email sequence, a tracking system, and a chosen primary platform.

So then we're going to move into phase two, which is momentum.

And this is where the real work happens.

This is six weeks of consistent execution.

And your weekly rhythm for the next six weeks is going to be content Creation.

So about three to four hours each week, I want you to create content on your primary platform, posting three to five times a week. And this could be on LinkedIn, Instagram, blog posts, videos, whatever fits your chosen platform.

And I want you to focus 40% of this on educational content, so actually teaching something useful.

30% on authority, so you sharing your perspective and your approach.

20% on promotional and that is talking about your offer.

And it doesn't have to be in a way where you kind of go, hey, I've got this, buy this, that kind of thing.

You can talk about your offer in terms of why you created it and then, you know, give them a subtle hint or a link to buy it. Or you can share a testimonial and that's how people can find out about it.

So that's promotional and then 10% personal because people want that connection. So share some behind the scenes, share the brand, share the person, that kind of thing.

And I want you to focus on daily engagement. So every day, 20 to 30 minutes, I want you to respond to every comment on your content. I want you to engage with other people's content, start conversations in DMs, not in a cringe way, but I want you to build relationships and not just broadcast your stuff.

Every week I want you to email your list. So send at least one valuable email per week and mix educational content with personal stories and then, you know, weave in promotional offers.

I also want you to focus on lead generation. And this is always like the whole way through, always.

So mention your lead magnet in your content at least two to three times a week.

Make it easy for people to download it. Just tell them how they can get it. Whether that is with a word in the comments and you send it out with the bot, whether that is sending them to a page, just make it easy for them to download it.

And then every day I want you to track your numbers. So look at how many new email subscribers you got, where they came from.

Track your sales and note which content performs best.

The key during these six weeks is consistency over perfection.

Show up every day, even when you don't feel like it. And you need to trust the process.

This is really important.

So what you should start seeing by week eight is a growing email list. Even if it's like five to 10 new subscribers per week, it's going to compound, it's going to add up, increased engagement on your content, people starting to recognise you.

You might start seeing early sales or a strong interest in your offer and you're going to See clear data on what content resonates.

Then we're going to move into phase three, which is your optimisation phase. So weeks nine to 11, so you've been executing consistently for six weeks.

Now it's time to optimise based on what you've learned.

So week nine, I want you to analyse your data, pull out your tracking spreadsheet, and start looking for patterns.

Which content got the most engagement? Which pieces drove actual email signups?

Where are your subscribers coming from?

What's your email open rate?

And if you made sales, where did those buyers come from?

Start connecting the dots and look at whether or not there are patterns. If you talk about a specific topic, do you see an increase in email subscriptions, whether or sales or things like that?

In week 10, I want you to double down on what's working. So based on your analysis, I want you to identify your top two to three winning activities, and I want you to do more of those.

So if carousel posts on Instagram are driving signups, create more carousels.

If your Thursday emails get the highest open rate, have a look at what makes them different.

If partnership posts brought in actual qualified leads, look at how you can get more partnerships.

And I also want you to stop doing the things that are not working.

So if video content gets crickets while written posts perform really well, stop forcing video.

Okay? And in week 11, I want you to do a strategic push. This is your final push towards your goal.

Use everything you've learned.

So create your best content from the Sprint.

Send more emails than usual, but, you know, still valuable, not spammy.

I want you to reach out directly to engaged followers and make a clear offer with urgency. So if you have an offer, say you know, enrolments are closing or bonuses expiry or something like that, and follow up with anyone who showed interest but didn't buy.

This is like that last final push.

Then phase four is your evaluation. This is week 12.

The final week is about measuring results and actually learning for your next sprint.

So your day 85 to 86, measure your results.

So did you hit your actual goal?

And get specific.

What was your goal? Did you have a revenue goal?

Did you actually generate that revenue during the sprint? Did you have a list growth goal?

Did you actually hit that goal? And I'm talking about, you know, what was the starting size of your email list and what was the ending of your size of your email list.

What about engagement metrics? How did they change?

Did you get sales? Did you get signups? What about your systems? Look at your goal and look at Whether or not you achieved it, then day 87 to 88, I want you to identify your wins, what worked better than expected and what content did best, what traffic source delivered best, and also what felt sustainable and enjoyable. Because, you know, if some of the things felt like a drain and they did really do really well, it's hard to push. It's hard to push something that you actually don't enjoy because then it's not going to be sustainable. So look at that as well.

Document your wins and they are going to inform your next 90 days.

Day 89, look at your lessons. What didn't work, what took too much time for too little result.

What would you stop doing?

What are you going to do differently?

Write these down and be honest about it because, you know,

lessons are as valuable as wins.

If we don't learn from things, then, you know, what's the point?

So write down all your lessons and then day 90, you get to plan your next sprint based on everything you learned. What should your focus be for the next 90 days? And it might be to continue, but you don't have to.

Like, maybe you actually do continue and you build momentum. Like, you know, same focus and refine your approach.

Maybe you're going to scale what worked so you can invest more in the winning strategies, or maybe you're going to pivot to a new goal. Like you've built a foundation. Now you might work to a different outcome. It's entirely up to you.

But 90 day sprints really help because you have that focus, you have momentum.

It's not like long enough so that you get overwhelmed.

But I do see people making mistakes with this. So let me save you from the mistakes I see people making the first one.

Mistake number one is setting multiple goals.

You know, I guess this is where the whole year planning comes from, where you're like, oh, I want to go eat my email list and I want to launch a course and I want to start a podcast.

And absolutely don't do this because this is where overwhelm comes from.

One primary goal for 90 days. Everything that you should do that 90 days is to support one goal.

If you have too many goals, you're gonna just st get stuck in analysis paralysis. You're not gonna move forward because it's too overwhelming.

This is why we need to do the 90 day sprints and only have one thing to focus on.

Okay, mistake number two, not being specific enough.

Get more clients.

That's not specific.

Sign five coaching clients at $3,000 each.

That is specific.

So vague goals are Going to lead to vague effort. So be specific in your goals.

Mistake number three is giving up at week four.

Week four is when most people quit. You're tired, you haven't seen massive results yet, and the initial excitement has worn off.

Push through week four because results compound in week six to 12.

I know, it's like you've been doing this for a month.

It's, you know, one of those things where you're like, oh, I'm not. It's. I'm not seeing anything. I'm going to change. But if you keep doing that every four weeks, you're never going to see any results. So push through week four.

Mistake number four is not tracking anything.

If you're not measuring, how are you going to know what's working?

You're just hoping and you're guessing. And this is where a lot of people go wrong. Like they're not making any sales. It's. But it's because they're not tracking, they're not making any sales because maybe they're not getting enough leads or their open rates are not high enough.

Or like, you know, you gotta know what's happening in your funnel to figure out where the leaks are or the, you know, things are. Track your numbers every week at a minimum.

Mistake number five is trying to do everything yourself.

If you know if design is your weakness, use templates or get someone to help you. If writing emails drains you, use AI to draft them and then refine them.

Get help with your weakness area so you can focus on your strengths.

You don't have to do everything yourself. If strategy is your weakness, hire someone to get the strategy right and then you focus on the execution. If accountability is the problem, find an accountability buddy.

Get some help.

Okay? Mistake number six is to change strategy mid Sprint.

And this happens a lot because we're all prone to scrolling and seeing what other people are doing. And so you are seeing someone having success with a different approach. And then you pivot and you change.

Don't.

I want you to commit to your strategy for the full 90 days. You can change it after, but you need to give it a fair chance.

If you keep chopping and changing, nothing is actually going to change because you're not giving anything long enough to work.

Mistake number seven is not scheduling your marketing time.

If marketing only happens when you find time, it won't happen consistently.

So you need to schedule in your content creation, your engagement, your email time, and you need to schedule them in, like, client appointments.

So many businesses treat marketing as a. When I have time and then when they finally do, it's too late because that's when the pipeline of clients has dried up and they go, oh no.

And then, then they have to scramble.

You want your pipeline of clients or potential clients to constantly be coming in. This is why you need to focus on marketing.

All right, now let me give you some specific examples of what a 90 day sprint might look like for different goals.

The first example is growing your email list as a course creator. So the goal is to grow the email list from 250 to 1,000 subscribers by the end of the month.

The strategy is the primary platform is Instagram, the lead magnet is a five day email challenge on their course topic and the content focus is educational posts that drive to the challenge sign up every week.

The weekly activities for this person are to commit to five Instagram posts per week, 30 minutes of daily engagement, one email per week to their existing lists, and then stories three to four times a week mentioning the challenge.

The expected results by April are more than 750 new subscribers, a validated course topic and an engaged audience ready for the launch.

It doesn't sound hard, does it? Like it's a 90 day sprint.

It's doable. This is really doable. And there is focus.

And with focus you create momentum.

Another example is a service provider booking clients.

So the goal for this person is to book six new $5,000 consulting clients by the end of March.

So like if you started in January, that's you know, two a month.

Their strategy is their primary platform is LinkedIn, their lead magnet is a business audit template, and their content focus is authority building post showcasing their expertise.

What they're going to do on a weekly basis is three LinkedIn posts really focusing on thought leadership.

They're going to spend 30 minutes daily to engage with Ideal clients content.

They're going to send two emails to their list each week and set up five connection requests to ideal clients every day.

So reaching out to connect with ideal clients on LinkedIn and then they're going to follow up on engage connections through DMs.

The expected result by April is to have six or more new clients booked and a strong pipeline for quarter two, and to be recognised as an expert on LinkedIn.

So in each of these examples there is one clear goal, there is one primary platform, there is consistent weekly activity and a strategic use of the lead magnet.

So now I want you to focus on your 90 day sprint.

So if you can grab something to write with, the first step is your specific 90 day goal.

So step number one, write down your 90 day goal.

It needs to be specific, so include numbers and make it measurable.

Step number two is to choose your primary platform.

Where are you going to focus your efforts? And I want you to pick one. Even if you pick Facebook or Instagram and they cross post to one another, I want you to only create for one specific platform.

And I'm saying this because for some people, I see some of my clients, they use both.

But the strategy for each platform needs to be very different.

I work with a local brand that has multiple facets to their business. They have like an a venue, they sell products.

Instagram lends itself really well for their products, but Facebook lends itself really well for their venue and they have to really adopt a different strategy for each platform.

So choose one platform. Even if you're going to cross post, only create with the one platform in mind.

Step number three is I want you to define your lead magnet. So what valuable thing will you offer to grow your email list?

And again, I will pop my lead magnet guide in the show notes.

Step number four is to map your weekly rhythm.

How often are you going to post, when will you engage and when will you email? So sit down with your calendar and go, I'm going to write my emails on that day and I'm going to send it on that day.

I'm going to spend, you know, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at the end of my day engaging, that kind of thing.

Step number five is set your tracking metrics.

What numbers are you gonna track weekly to know if you're on track? So look at your goal, what do you need to track? And a lot of it is email, subscriber growth, email open rates, new sales, where do people come from?

If your goal is about engagement, track your engagement, those kind of things.

Step number six is I want you to schedule your marketing time.

Now that you know what you're doing, block actual time in your calendar for the next 12 weeks.

Literally block it out in between client calls. Or maybe you have a dedicated marketing day. I don't really care how you do it.

Block time in your calendar for the next 12 weeks.

Step number seven, identify your support needs.

Where will you need help? Do you need tools? Do you need templates? Do you need accountability?

Look at where you actually need help, what do you need help with and how can that problem be solved?

Step number eight, I want you to set your week four and your week eight. Check in dates, put in calendar reminders to review your progress and then you can adjust if needed.

Because otherwise you just keep going, you keep going, you keep going and you actually, actually don't stop to look at what is happening. So do put in a little, you know, check in date.

Okay, there you have it. Your 90 day marketing sprint framework to see real measurable results by April.

Not a vague year long plan, but really a focused quarter where you commit fully to specific activities that will move your business forward.

And depending on when you listen to these, I know maybe you feel like, oh, I'm already late.

Do 90 days anyway. Create your own 90 days.

I don't work 12 months of the year.

I focus on my own 90 day sprints but within the time frame that I set.

So if you are going to take holidays, factor that in and just it doesn't have to be a quarter.

It doesn't have to be like, you know, January to the end of March. You can go February to the end of April.

Work within that.

Anyway, here's your action step for today.

Create your 90 day sprint plan using the framework that I shared.

Write it down, be specific and then take the first action this week.

Even if it's just creating your lead magnet or scheduling your content time. Or maybe you have a lead magnet and you need to review it.

Do that if you want support and accountability and expert guidance as you go through your 90 day sprint.

My marketing Momentum membership is open inside you're going to get templates, frameworks to actually do all of this. You get monthly group coaching where you can get unstuck.

There's a community of business owners that have their own 90 day sprints and accountability so you can actually finish what you start.

It's designed specifically for business owners who are tired of scattered marketing and who are ready for focused execution that's going to give you real results.

And if you found this episode helpful, I have two favors to ask. First, make sure that you're subscribed to the new School of Marketing podcast. I'm here every week throughout your 90 day sprint with practical, actionable marketing strategies.

Second, if this episode helped you get clear on your 90 days, would you leave a review for me? Please tell me what your sprint goal is.

I read every review and I am genuinely excited to hear what you're committing to.

And because I love getting your feedback, I want to say thank you.

If you leave a review and send me a screenshot via email or DM on Instagram, I will send you my Marketing Momentum playbook for free.

It's the perfect companion for your 90 day sprint. You'll get clear on your goal on your customers. All of the bits and pieces.

It's really everything that you need to execute your sprint successfully.

So just take a screenshot of your review, send it to me at hello@biancamckenzie.com or you can DM me on Instagram Bianca_McKenzie, and I'll get the playbook over to you straight away.

Remember, 90 days of focused execution beats 12 months of scattered effort.

Choose your goal, make your plan execute consistently, and I'll see you in April to celebrate your results.

All right, thanks so much for tuning in to the new School of Marketing podcast. Remember, three months is enough time to transform your marketing if you're focused and consistent. I'm Bianca McKenzie and I'll catch you next week.

Until then, keep making marketing work for you.