setting up a business marketing plan

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• How to create a winning marketing plan, ...

How to create a winning marketing plan, with 3 examples from world-class teams

A marketing plan helps leaders clearly visualize marketing strategies across channels, so they can ensure every campaign drives pipeline and revenue. In this article you’ll learn eight steps to create a winning marketing plan that brings business-critical goals to life, with examples from word-class teams.

To be successful as a marketer, you have to deliver the pipeline and the revenue.”

In other words—they need a well-crafted marketing plan.

Level up your marketing plan to drive revenue in 2024

Learn how to create the right marketing plan to hit your revenue targets in 2024. Hear best practices from marketing experts, including how to confidently set and hit business goals, socialize marketing plans, and move faster with clearer resourcing.

7 steps to build a comprehensive marketing plan

How do you build the right marketing plan to hit your revenue goals? Follow these eight steps for success:

1. Define your plan

First you need to define each specific component of your plan to ensure stakeholders are aligned on goals, deliverables, resources, and more. Ironing out these details early on ensures your plan supports the right business objectives, and that you have sufficient resources and time to get the job done. 

Get started by asking yourself the following questions: 

What resources do I need? 

What is the vision?

What is the value?

What is the goal?

Who is my audience?

What are my channels?

What is the timeline?

For example, imagine you’re creating an annual marketing plan to improve customer adoption and retention in the next fiscal year. Here’s how you could go through the questions above to ensure you’re ready to move forward with your plan: 

I will need support from the content team, web team, and email team to create targeted content for existing customers. One person on each team will need to be dedicated full-time to this initiative. To achieve this, the marketing team will need an additional $100K in budget and one new headcount. 

What is the vision?  

To create a positive experience for existing customers, address new customer needs, and encourage them to upgrade. We’ll do this by serving them how-to content, new feature updates, information about deals and pricing, and troubleshooting guides. 

According to the Sales Benchmark Index (SBI) , CEOs and go-to-market leaders report that more than 60% of their net-new revenue will come from existing customers in 2023. By retaining and building on the customers we have, we can maintain revenue growth over time. 

To decrease the customer churn rate from 30% to 10%, and increase upgrades from 20% to 30% in the next fiscal year. 

All existing customers. 

The main channel will be email. Supporting marketing channels include the website, blog, YouTube, and social media. 

The first half of the next fiscal year. 

One of the most important things to do as you create your marketing strategy is to identify your target audience . As with all marketing, you need to know who you’re marketing to. If you’re having a hard time determining who exactly your target audience is, try the bullseye targeting framework . The bullseye makes it easy for you to determine who your target audience is by industry, geography, company size, psychographics, demographics, and more.

2. Identify key metrics for success 

Now it’s time to define what key marketing metrics you’ll use to measure success. Your key metrics will help you measure and track the performance of your marketing activities. They’ll also help you understand how your efforts tie back to larger business goals. 

Once you establish key metrics, use a goal-setting framework—like objectives and key results (OKRs) or SMART goals —to fully flush out your marketing objectives. This ensures your targets are as specific as possible, with no ambiguity about what should be accomplished by when. 

Example: If a goal of your marketing plan is to increase email subscriptions and you follow the SMART goal framework (ensuring your objective is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) your goal might look like this: Increase email subscription rate from 10% to 20% in H1 . 

3. Research your competition 

It’s easy to get caught up in your company’s world, but there’s a lot of value in understanding your competitors . Knowing how they market themselves will help you find opportunities to make your company stand out and capture more market share.

Make sure you’re not duplicating your competitors’ efforts. If you discover a competitor has already executed your idea, then it might be time to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm new ways to differentiate yourself.  By looking at your competitors, you might be surprised at the type of inspiration and opportunities you’ll find.

To stay ahead of market trends, conduct a SWOT analysis for your marketing plan. A SWOT analysis helps you improve your plan by identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. 

Example: If your competitor launches a social media campaign identical to what you had planned, go back to the drawing board and see how you can build off their campaign. Ask yourself: How can we differentiate our campaign while still getting our message across? What are the weaknesses of their campaign that we can capitalize on? What angles did they not approach?

4. Integrate your marketing efforts

Here’s where the fun comes in. Let’s dive into the different components that go into building a successful marketing plan. You’ll want to make sure your marketing plan includes multiple supporting activities that all add up into a powerful marketing machine. Some marketing plan components include: 

Lead generation

Social media

Product marketing

Public relations

Analyst relations

Customer marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Conversational marketing

Knowing where your consumer base spends the most time is significant for nailing this step. You need to have a solid understanding of your target audience before integrating your marketing efforts. 

Example: If your target audience is executives that spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, focus your social media strategy around placing branded content on LinkedIn. 

5. Differentiate with creative content

Forty-nine percent of marketers say visual images are hugely important to their content strategy. In other words, a clear brand and creative strategy is an essential component to every marketing plan. As you craft your own creative strategy, here are some tips to keep in mind: 

Speak to your audience: When defining your creative strategy, think about your audience—what you want them to feel, think, and do when they see your marketing. Will your audience find your creative work relevant? If your audience can’t relate to your creative work, they won’t feel connected to the story you’re trying to tell. 

Think outside the box: Find innovative ways to engage your audience, whether through video, animations, or interactive graphics. Know what screens your creative work will live on, whether desktop, mobile, or tablet, and make sure they display beautifully and load quickly across every type of device. 

Tie everything back to CTAs: It’s easy to get caught up in the creative process, so it’s important to never lose sight of your ultimate goal: Get your audience to take action. Always find the best way to display strong Calls to Action (CTAs) in your creative work. We live in a visual world—make sure your creative content counts.

Streamline creative production:   Once you’ve established a strong creative strategy, the next step is to bring your strategy to life in the production stage. It’s vital to set up a strong framework for your creative production process to eliminate any unnecessary back and forth and potential bottlenecks. Consider establishing creative request forms , streamlining feedback and approval processes, and taking advantage of integrations that might make your designers’ lives easier.

Example: If your brand is fun and approachable, make sure that shows in your creative efforts. Create designs and CTAs that spark joy, offer entertainment, and alleviate the pressure in choosing a partner.

6. Operationalize your marketing plan

Turn your plan into action by making goals, deliverables, and timelines clear for every stakeholder—so teams stay accountable for getting work done. The best way to do this is by centralizing all the details of your marketing plan in one platform , so teams can access the information they need and connect campaign work back to company goals.  

With the right work management tool , you can: 

Set goals for every marketing activity, and connect campaign work to overarching marketing and business objectives so teams focus on revenue-driving projects. 

Centralize deliverables for your entire marketing plan in one project or portfolio .

Mark major milestones and visualize your plan as a timeline, Gantt chart, calendar, list, or Kanban board—without doing any extra work. 

Quickly loop in stakeholders with status updates so they’re always up to date on progress. This is extremely important if you have a global team to ensure efforts aren’t being duplicated. 

Use automations to seamlessly hand off work between teams, streamlining processes like content creation and reviews. 

Create dashboards to report on work and make sure projects are properly staffed , so campaigns stay on track. 

With everything housed in one spot, you can easily visualize the status of your entire marketing plan and keep work on track. Building an effective marketing plan is one thing, but how you operationalize it can be your secret to standout marketing.

Example: If your strategy focuses on increasing page views, connect all campaign work to an overarching OKR—like “we will double page views as measured by the amount of organic traffic on our blog.” By making that goal visible to all stakeholders, you help teams prioritize the right work. 

See marketing planning in action

With Asana, marketing teams can connect work, standardize processes, and automate workflows—all in one place.

7. Measure performance

Nearly three in four CMOs use revenue growth to measure success, so it’s no surprise that measuring performance is necessary. You established your key metrics in step two, and now it’s time to track and report on them in step eight.

Periodically measure your marketing efforts to find areas of improvement so you can optimize in real-time. There are always lessons to be learned when looking at data. You can discover trends, detect which marketing initiatives performed well, and course-correct what isn’t performing well. And when your plan is complete, you can apply these learnings to your next initiative for improved results. 

Example: Say you discover that long-form content is consistently bringing in 400% more page views than short-form content. As a result, you’ll want to focus on producing more long-form content in your next marketing plan.

Marketing plan examples from world-class teams

The best brands in the world bring their marketing plans to life every day. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these examples from successful marketing teams.

Autodesk grows site traffic 30% three years in a row

When the Autodesk team launched Redshift, it was initially a small business blog. The editorial team executed a successful marketing plan to expand it into a premier owned-media site, making it a destination for stories and videos about the future of making. 

The team scaled content production to support seven additional languages. By standardizing their content production workflow and centralizing all content conversations in one place, the editorial team now publishes 2X more content monthly. Read the case study to learn more about how Autodesk runs a well-oiled content machine.

Sony Music boosts creative production capacity by 4X

In recent years the music industry has gone through a pivotal transition—shifting from album sales to a streaming business model. For marketing and creative teams at Sony Music, that meant adopting an “always on” campaign plan. 

The team successfully executed this campaign plan by centralizing creative production and approvals in one project. By standardizing processes, the team reduced campaign production time by 75%. Read the case study to learn more about how Sony Music successfully scaled their creative production process.

Trinny London perfects new customer acquisition 

In consumer industries, social media is crucial for building a community of people who feel an affinity with the brand—and Trinny London is no exception. As such, it was imperative that Trinny London’s ad spend was targeted to the correct audience. Using a work management tool, Trinny London was able to nail the process of creating, testing, and implementing ads on multiple social channels.

With the help of a centralized tool, Trinny London improved its ad spend and drove more likes and subscriptions on its YouTube page. Read the case study to learn more about how Trinny London capitalized on paid advertising and social media. 

Turn your marketing plan into marketing success 

A great marketing plan promotes clarity and accountability across teams—so every stakeholder knows what they’re responsible for, by when. Reading this article is the first step to achieving better team alignment, so you can ensure every marketing campaign contributes to your company’s bottom line. 

Use a free marketing plan template to get started

Once you’ve created your marketing strategy and are ready to operationalize your marketing plan, get started with one of our marketing templates . 

Our marketing templates can help you manage and track every aspect of your marketing plan, from creative requests to approval workflows. Centralize your entire marketing plan in one place, customize the roadmap, assign tasks, and build a timeline or calendar. 

Once you’ve operationalized your entire marketing plan with one of our templates, share it with your stakeholders so everyone can work together in the same tool. Your entire team will feel connected to the marketing plan, know what to prioritize, and see how their work contributes to your project objectives . Choose the best marketing template for your team:

Marketing project plan template

Marketing campaign plan template

Product marketing launch template

Editorial calendar template

Agency collaboration template

Creative requests template

Event planning template

GTM strategy template

Still have questions? We have answers. 

What is a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that outlines the different strategies your team will use to achieve organizational objectives. Rather than focusing solely on the end goal, a marketing plan maps every step you need to reach your destination—whether that’s driving pipeline for sales, nurturing your existing customer base, or something in-between. 

As a marketing leader, you know there’s never a shortage of great campaign and project ideas. A marketing plan gives you a framework to effectively prioritize work that aligns to overarching business goals—and then get that work done. Some elements of marketing plans include:

Current business plan

Mission statement  

Business goals

Target customers  

Competitive analysis 

Current marketing mix

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Marketing budget  

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

The purpose of a marketing plan is to grow your company’s consumer base and strengthen your brand, while aligning with your organization’s mission and vision . The plan should analyze the competitive landscape and industry trends, offer actionable insights to help you gain a competitive advantage, and document each step of your strategy—so you can see how your campaigns work together to drive overarching business goals. 

What is the difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy? 

A marketing plan contains many marketing strategies across different channels. In that way, marketing strategies contribute to your overall marketing plan, working together to reach your company’s overarching business goals.

For example, imagine you’re about to launch a new software product and the goal of your marketing plan is to drive downloads. Your marketing plan could include marketing strategies like creating top-of-funnel blog content and launching a social media campaign. 

What are different types of marketing plans? 

Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, what your timeline is, or which facet of marketing you’re driving, you’ll need to create a different type of marketing plan. Some different types of marketing plans include, but aren’t limited to:

General marketing plan: A general marketing plan is typically an annual or quarterly marketing plan that details the overarching marketing strategies for the period. This type of marketing plan outlines marketing goals, the company’s mission, buyer personas, unique selling propositions, and more. A general marketing plan lays the foundation for other, more specific marketing plans that an organization may employ. 

Product launch marketing plan: A product launch marketing plan is a step-by-step plan for marketing a new product or expanding into a new market. It helps you build awareness and interest by targeting the right audience, with the right messaging, in the right timeframe—so potential customers are ready to buy your new offering right away. Nailing your product launch marketing plan can reinforce your overall brand and fast-track sales. For a step-by-step framework to organize all the moving pieces of a launch, check out our product marketing launch template .

Paid marketing plan: This plan includes all the paid strategies in your marketing plan, like pay-per-click, paid social media advertising, native advertising, and display advertising. It’s especially important to do audience research prior to launching your paid marketing plan to ensure you’re maximizing ROI. Consult with content strategists to ensure your ads align with your buyer personas so you know you’re showing ads to the right people. 

Content marketing plan: A content marketing plan outlines the different content strategies and campaigns you’ll use to promote your product or service. When putting together a content marketing plan, start by identifying your audience. Then use market research tools to get the best insights into what topics your target audience is most interested in.

SEO marketing plan: Your SEO marketing plan should work directly alongside your content marketing plan as you chart content that’s designed to rank in search results. While your content marketing plan should include all types of content, your SEO marketing plan will cover the top-of-funnel content that drives new users to your site. Planning search engine-friendly content is only one step in your SEO marketing plan. You’ll also need to include link-building and technical aspects in order to ensure your site and content are as optimized as possible.

Social media marketing plan: This plan will highlight the marketing strategies you plan to accomplish on social media. Like in any general or digital marketing plan , your social media strategy should identify your ideal customer base and determine how they engage on different social media platforms. From there, you can cater your social media content to your target audience.  

Related resources

Smooth product launches are simpler than you think

How Asana uses work management for smoother creative production

Build a marketing operations strategy in 4 steps

How Asana uses work management for more impactful campaigns

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Blog Marketing What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

Written by: Sara McGuire Oct 26, 2023

A marketing plan is a blueprint that outlines your strategies to attract and convert your ideal customers as a part of your customer acquisition strategy . It’s a comprehensive document that details your:

• Target audience:  Who you’re trying to reach
• Marketing goals:  What you want to achieve
• Strategies and tactics:  How you’ll reach your goals
• Budget:  Resources you’ll allocate
• Metrics:  How you’ll measure success

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about creating a marketing plan . If you need a little extra help, there are professionally designed marketing plan templates that’ll make the process much easier. So, let’s ditch the confusion and get started!

Click to jump ahead:

What is a marketing plan?

How to write a marketing plan .

• Marketing plan v.s. business plan
• Types of marketing plans

9 marketing plan examples to inspire your growth strategy

Marketing plan faqs.

A marketing plan is a report that outlines your marketing strategy for your products or services, which could be applicable for the coming year, quarter or month.  

Watch this quick, 13-minute video for more details on what a marketing plan is and how to make one yourself:

Typically, a marketing plan includes:

• An overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals
• A description of your business’s current marketing position
• A timeline of when tasks within your strategy will be completed
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) you will be tracking
• A description of your business’s target market and customer needs
• A description of how you will measure the performance of the strategy

For example, this marketing plan template provides a high-level overview of the business and competitors before diving deep into specific goals, KPIs and tactics:

Learning how to write a marketing plan forces you to think through the important steps that lead to an effective marketing strategy . And a well-defined plan will help you stay focused on your high-level marketing goals.

With Venngage’s extensive catalog of marketing plan templates , creating your marketing plan isn’t going to be hard or tedious. In fact, Venngage has plenty of helpful communications and design resources for marketers. If you’re ready to get started, sign up for  Venngage for Marketers   now. It’s free to register and start designing.

Whether you’re a team trying to set smarter marketing goals, a consultant trying to set your client in the right direction, or a one-person team hustling it out, Venngage for Marketers helps you get things done.

As mentioned above, the scope of your marketing plan varies depending on its purpose or the type of organization it’s for.

For example, you could create a marketing plan that provides an overview of a company’s entire marketing strategy or simply focus on a specific channel like SEO, social media marketing, content marketing and more, like in this example:

A typical outline of a marketing plan includes:

• Executive summary
• Goals and objectives
• User personas
• Competitor analysis/SWOT analysis
• Baseline metrics
• Marketing strategy
• Tracking guidelines

Below you will see in details how to write each section as well as some examples of how you can design each section in a marketing plan.

Let’s look at how to create a successful marketing plan (click to jump ahead):

• Write a simple executive summary
• Set metric-driven marketing goals
• Outline your user personas
• Research all of your competitors
• Set accurate key baselines & metrics
• Create an actionable marketing strategy
• Set tracking or reporting guidelines

1. Write a simple executive summary

Starting your marketing plan off on the right foot is important. You want to pull people into your amazing plan for marketing domination. Not bore them to tears.

One of the best ways to get people excited to read your marketing plan is with a well-written executive summary. An executive summary introduces readers to your company goals, marketing triumphs, future plans, and other important contextual facts.

Basically, you can use the Executive Summary as a primer for the rest of your marketing plan.

Include things like:

• Simple marketing goals
• High-level metrics
• Important company milestones
• Facts about your brand
• Employee anecdotes
• Future goals & plans

Try to keep your executive summary rather brief and to the point. You aren’t writing a novel, so try to keep it under three to four paragraphs.

Take a look at the executive summary in the marketing plan example below:

The executive summary is only two paragraphs long — short but effective.

The executive summary tells readers about the company’s growth, and how they are about to overtake one of their competitors. But there’s no mention of specific metrics or figures. That will be highlighted in the next section of the marketing plan.

An effective executive summary should have enough information to pique the reader’s interest, but not bog them down with specifics yet. That’s what the rest of your marketing plan is for!

The executive summary also sets the tone for your marketing plan. Think about what tone will fit your brand ? Friendly and humorous? Professional and reliable? Inspiring and visionary?

2. Set metric-driven marketing goals

After you perfect your executive summary, it’s time to outline your marketing goals.

(If you’ve never set data-driven goals like this before, it would be worth reading this growth strategy guide ).

This is one of the most important parts of the entire marketing plan, so be sure to take your time and be as clear as possible. Moreover, optimizing your marketing funnel is key. Employing effective funnel software can simplify operations and provide valuable customer insights. It facilitates lead tracking, conversion rate analysis, and efficient marketing optimization .

As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible. The folks over at  VoyMedia  advise that you should set goals that impact website traffic, conversions, and customer success — and to use real numbers.

Avoid outlining vague goals like:

• Get more Twitter followers
• Write more articles
• Create more YouTube videos (like educational or Explainer videos )
• Increase retention rate
• Decrease bounce rate

Instead, identify  key performance metrics  (KPI) you want to impact and the percentage you want to increase them by.

Take a look at the goals page in the marketing plan example below:

They not only identify a specific metric in each of their goals, but they also set a timeline for when they will be increased.

The same vague goals listed earlier become much clearer when specific numbers and timelines are applied to them:

• Get 100 new Twitter followers per month
• Write 5 more articles per week
• Create 10 YouTube videos each year
• Increase retention rate by 15% by 2020
• Decrease bounce rate by 5% by Q1
• Create an online course  and get 1,000 new leads
• Focus more on local SEO strategies
• Conduct a monthly social media report to track progress

You can dive even deeper into your marketing goals if you want (generally, the more specific, the better). Here’s a marketing plan example that shows how to outline your growth goals:

3. Outline your user personas

Now, this may not seem like the most important part of your marketing plan, but I think it holds a ton of value.

Outlining your user personas is an important part of a marketing plan that should not be overlooked.

You should be asking not just how you can get the most visitors to your business, but how you can get the right visitors.

Who are your ideal customers? What are their goals? What are their biggest problems? How does your business solve customer problems?

Answering these questions will take lots of research, but it’s essential information to get.

Some ways to conduct user research are:

• Interviewing your users (either in person or on the phone)
• Conducting focus groups
• Researching other businesses in the same industry
• Surveying your audience

Then, you will need to compile your user data into a user persona  guide.

Take a look at how detailed this user persona template is below:

Taking the time to identify specific demographic traits, habits and goals will make it easier for you to cater your marketing plan to them.

Here’s how you can create a user persona guide:

The first thing you should add is a profile picture or icon for each user persona. It can help to put a face to your personas, so they seem more real.

Next, list demographic information like:

• Identifiers
• Activities/Hobbies

The user persona example above uses sliding scales to identify personality traits like introversion vs. extroversion and thinking vs. feeling. Identifying what type of personality your target users tend to have an influence on the messaging you use in your marketing content.

Meanwhile, this user persona guide identifies specific challenges the user faces each day:

But if you don’t want to go into such precise detail, you can stick to basic information, like in this marketing plan example:

Most businesses will have a few different types of target users. That’s why it’s pertinent to identify and create several different user personas . That way, you can better segment your marketing campaigns and set separate goals, if necessary.

Here’s a marketing plan example with a segmented user persona guide:

The important thing is for your team or client to have a clear picture of who their target user is and how they can appeal to their specific problems.

Start creating robust user personas using Venngage’s user persona guide .

4. Conduct an extensive competitor analysis

Next, on the marketing plan checklist, we have the competitor research section. This section will help you identify who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how you could carve yourself a place alongside them in your niche — and ideally, surpass them. It’s something you can learn to do with rank tracking software .

Competitor research is also incredibly important if you are starting a blog .

Typically, your competitor research should include:

• Who their marketing team is
• Who their leadership team is
• What their marketing strategy and strategic marketing plan are (this will probably revolve some reverse-engineering)
• What their sales strategy is (same deal)
• Social Media strategy (are they using discounting strategies such as coupon marketing to get conversions)
• Their market cap/financials
• Their yearly growth (you will probably need to use a marketing tool like Ahrefs to do this)
• The number of customers they have & their user personas

Also, take as deep a dive as you can into the strategies they use across their:

• Blog/Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• SEO Marketing
• Video marketing
• And any other marketing tactics they use

Research their strengths and weaknesses in all parts of their company, and you will find some great opportunities. Bookmark has a great guide to different marketing strategies for small businesses  if you need some more information there.

You can use this simple SWOT analysis worksheet to quickly work through all parts of their strategy as well:

Click the template above to create a SWOT chart . Customize the template to your liking — no design know-how needed.

Since you have already done all the research beforehand, adding this information to your marketing plan shouldn’t be that hard.

In this marketing plan example, some high-level research is outlined for 3 competing brands:

But you could take a deeper dive into different facets of your competitors’ strategies. This marketing plan example analyses a competitor’s content marketing strategy:

It can also be helpful to divide your competitors into Primary and Secondary groups. For example, Apple’s primary competitor may be Dell for computers, but its secondary competitor could be a company that makes tablets.

Your most dangerous competitors may not even be in the same industry as you. Like the CEO of Netflix said, “Sleep is our competition.”

5. Set accurate key baselines & metrics

It’s pretty hard to plan for the future if you don’t know where your business stands right now.

Before we do anything at Venngage, we find the baselines so we can compare future results to something. We do it so much it’s almost like second nature now!

Setting baselines will allow you to more accurately track your progress. You will also be able to better analyze what worked and what didn’t work, so you can build a stronger strategy. It will definitely help them clearly understand your goals and strategy as well.

Here’s a marketing plan example where the baselines are visualized:

Another way to include baselines in your plan is with a simple chart, like in the marketing plan example below:

Because data can be intimidating to a lot of people, visualizing your data using charts and infographics will help demystify the information.

6. Create an actionable marketing strategy

After pulling all the contextual information and relevant metrics into your marketing plan, it’s time to break down your marketing strategy.

Once again, it’s easier to communicate your information to your team or clients using visuals .

Mind maps are an effective way to show how a strategy with many moving parts ties together. For example, this mind map shows how the four main components of a marketing strategy interact together:

You can also use a flow chart to map out your strategy by objectives:

However you choose to visualize your strategy, your team should know exactly what they need to do. This is not the time to keep your cards close to your chest.

Your strategy section may need to take up a few pages to explain, like in the marketing plan example below:

With all of this information, even someone from the development team will understand what the marketing team is working on.

This minimalistic marketing plan example uses color blocks to make the different parts of the strategy easy to scan:

Breaking your strategy down into tasks will make it easier to tackle.

Another important way to visualize your marketing strategy is to create a project roadmap. A project roadmap visualizes the timeline of your product with individual tasks. Our roadmap maker can help you with this.

For example, this project roadmap shows how tasks on both the marketing and web design side run parallel to each other:

A simple timeline can also be used in your marketing plan:

Or a mind map, if you want to include a ton of information in a more organized way:

Even a simple “Next, Now, Later” chart can help visualize your strategy:

7. Set tracking or reporting guidelines

Close your marketing plan with a brief explanation of how you plan to track or measure your results. This will save you a lot of frustration down the line by standardizing how you track results across your team.

Like the other sections of your marketing plan, you can choose how in-depth you want to go. But there need to be some clear guidelines on how to measure the progress and results of your marketing plan.

At the bare minimum, your results tracking guidelines should specify:

• What you plan to track
• How you plan to track results
• How often you plan to measure

But you can more add tracking guidelines to your marketing plan if you see the need to. You may also want to include a template that your team or client can follow,  for  client reporting ,  ensure that the right metrics are being tracked.

The marketing plan example below dedicates a whole page to tracking criteria:

Use a task tracker to track tasks and marketing results, and a checklist maker to note down tasks, important life events, or tracking your daily life.

Similarly, the marketing plan example below talks about tracking content marketing instead:

Marketing plan vs. marketing strategy

Although often used interchangeably, the terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” do have some differences.

Simply speaking, a marketing strategy presents what the business will do in order to reach a certain goal. A marketing plan outlines the specific daily, weekly, monthly or yearly activities that the marketing strategy calls for. As a business, you can create a marketing proposal for the marketing strategies defined in your company’s marketing plan. There are various marketing proposal examples that you can look at to help with this.

A company’s extended marketing strategy can be like this:

Notice how it’s more general and doesn’t include the actual activities required to complete each strategy or the timeframe those marketing activities will take place. That kind of information is included in a marketing plan, like this marketing plan template which talks about the content strategy in detail:

Marketing plan v.s business plan

While both marketing plans and business plans are crucial documents for businesses, they serve distinct purposes and have different scopes. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines all aspects of your business, including:

• Mission and vision
• Products or services
• Target market
• Competition
• Management team
• Financial projections
• Marketing strategy (including a marketing plan)
• Operations plan

Marketing plan on the other hand, dives deep into the specific strategies and tactics related to your marketing efforts. It expands on the marketing section of a business plan by detailing:

• Specific marketing goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales)
• Target audience analysis (detailed understanding of their needs and behaviors)
• Product:  Features, benefits, positioning
• Price:  Pricing strategy, discounts
• Place:  Distribution channels (online, offline)
• Promotion:  Advertising, social media, content marketing, public relations
• Budget allocation for different marketing activities
• Metrics and measurement to track progress and success

In short, business plans paint the entire business picture, while marketing plans zoom in on the specific strategies used to reach your target audience and achieve marketing goals.

Types of marketing plans that can transform your business strategy

Let’s take a look at several types of marketing plans you can create, along with specific examples for each.

1. General marketing strategic plan / Annual marketing plan

This is a good example of a marketing plan that covers the overarching annual marketing strategy for a company:

Another good example would be this Starbucks marketing plan:

This one-page marketing plan example from coffee chain Starbucks has everything at a glance. The bold headers and subheadings make it easier to segment the sections so readers can focus on the area most relevant to them.

What we like about this example is how much it covers. From the ideal buyer persona to actional activities, as well as positioning and metrics, this marketing plan has it all.

Another marketing plan example that caught our eye is this one from Cengage. Although a bit text-heavy and traditional, it explains the various sections well. The clean layout makes this plan easy to read and absorb.

The last marketing plan example we would like to feature in this section is this one from Lush cosmetics.

It is a long one but it’s also very detailed. The plan outlines numerous areas, including the company mission, SWOT analysis , brand positioning, packaging, geographical criteria, and much more.

2. Content marketing plan

A content marketing plan highlights different strategies , campaigns or tactics you can use for your content to help your business reach its goals.

This one-page marketing plan example from Contently outlines a content strategy and workflow using simple colors and blocks. The bullet points detail more information but this plan can easily be understood at a glance, which makes it so effective.

For a more detailed content marketing plan example, take a look at this template which features an editorial calendar you can share with the whole team:

3. SEO marketing plan

Your SEO marketing plan highlights what you plan to do for your SEO marketing strategy . This could include tactics for website on-page optimization , off-page optimization using AI SEO , and link building using an SEO PowerSuite backlink API for quick backlink profile checks.

This SEO marketing plan example discusses in detail the target audience of the business and the SEO plan laid out in different stages:

4. Social media marketing plan

Your social media marketing plan presents what you’ll do to reach your marketing goal through social media. This could include tactics specific to each social media channel that you own, recommendations on developing a new channel, specific campaigns you want to run, and so on, like how B2B channels use Linkedin to generate leads with automation tools and expand their customer base; or like making use of Twitter walls that could display live Twitter feeds from Twitter in real-time on digital screens.

Edit this social media marketing plan example easily with Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor:

5. Demand generation marketing plan

This could cover your paid marketing strategy (which can include search ads, paid social media ads, traditional advertisements, etc.), email marketing strategy and more. Here’s an example:

1. Free marketing plan template

Here’s a free nonprofit marketing plan example that is ideal for organizations with a comprehensive vision to share. It’s a simple plan that is incredibly effective. Not only does the plan outline the core values of the company, it also shares the ideal buyer persona.

Note how the branding is consistent throughout this example so there is no doubt which company is presenting this plan. The content plan is an added incentive for anyone viewing the document to go ahead and give the team the green light.

2. Pastel social media marketing campaign template

Two-page marketing plan samples aren’t very common, but this free template proves how effective they are. There’s a dedicated section for business goals as well as for project planning .

The milestones for the marketing campaign are clearly laid out, which is a great way to show how organized this business strategy is.

3. Small business marketing strategy template

This marketing plan template is perfect for small businesses who set out to develop an overarching marketing strategy for the whole year:

Notice how this aligns pretty well with the marketing plan outline we discussed in previous sections.

In terms of specific tactics for the company’s marketing strategy, the template only discusses SEO strategy, but you can certainly expand on that section to discuss any other strategies — such as link building , that you would like to build out a complete marketing plan for.

4. Orange simple marketing proposal template

Marketing plans, like the sample below, are a great way to highlight what your business strategy and the proposal you wan to put forward to win potential customers.

5. One-page marketing fact sheet template

This one-page marketing plan example is great for showcasing marketing efforts in a persuasive presentation or to print out for an in-person meeting.

Note how the fact sheet breaks down the marketing budget as well as the key metrics for the organization. You can win over clients and partners with a plan like this.

6. Light company business fact sheet template

This one-page sample marketing plan clearly outlines the marketing objectives for the organization. It’s a simple but effective way to share a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

What really works with this example is that includes a mission statement, key contact information alongside all the key metrics.

7. Marketing media press kit template

This press kit marketing plan template is bright and unmistakable as belonging to the Cloud Nine marketing agency . The way the brand colors are used also helps diversify the layouts for each page, making the plan easier to read.

We like the way the marketing department has outlined the important facts about the organization. The bold and large numbers draw the eye and look impressive.

8. Professional marketing proposal template

Start your marketing campaign on a promising note with this marketing plan template. It’s short, sharp and to the point. The table of contents sets out the agenda, and there’s a page for the company overview and mission statement.

9. Social media marketing proposal template

A complete marketing plan example, like the one below, not only breaks down the business goals to be achieved but a whole lot more. Note how the terms and conditions and payment schedule are included, which makes this one of the most comprehensive marketing plans on our list.

What should marketing plans include?

Marketing plans should include:

• A detailed analysis of the target market and customer segments.
• Clear and achievable marketing objectives and goals.
• Strategies and tactics for product promotion and distribution.
• Budget allocation for various marketing activities.
• Timelines and milestones for the implementation of marketing strategies.
• Evaluation metrics and methods for tracking the success of the marketing plan.

What is an executive summary in a marketing plan and what is its main goal?

An executive summary in a marketing plan is a brief overview of the entire document, summarizing the key points, goals, and strategies. Its main goal is to provide readers with a quick understanding of the plan’s purpose and to entice them to read further.

What are the results when a marketing plan is effective?

When a marketing plan is effective, businesses can experience increased brand visibility, higher customer engagement, improved sales and revenue, and strengthened customer loyalty.

What is the first section of a marketing plan?

The first section of a marketing plan is typically the “Executive Summary,” which provides a concise overview of the entire plan, including the business’s goals and the strategies to achieve them.

Now that you have the basics for designing your own marketing plan, it’s time to get started:

More marketing design guides and templates:

• Marketing Infographics: The Definitive Guide [Includes Infographic Templates]
• 20+ Business Pitch Deck Templates to Win New Clients and Investors
• 20+ White Paper Examples [Design Guide + White Paper Templates]
• The Evolution of Marketing [Timeline Infographic]

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Home / Creating the Perfect Marketing Plan

Creating the Perfect Marketing Plan: Strategies, Templates, and In-Depth Guide

Learn how to create the perfect marketing plan with our guide packed with easy-to-follow templates and real-world examples.

Creating a marketing plan can be a baffling, confusing, and downright terrifying affair.

There you are, staring at a blank document or spreadsheet, wondering where to even begin.

That’s where marketing templates come in handy: they disperse the mist, help you organize your thoughts and goals, and give you a set of instructions to follow along the way.

In this article, we’re looking at how, more exactly, you can use marketing plan templates to build a solid strategy that’s

• Suitable for your business,
• Fully customized for your market, needs, and audience, and
• And carefully calculated to match your goals.

Keep reading to find out more!

What’s on this page

The importance of a marketing plan

• How to create a marketing plan tutorial

General marketing plan

Social media marketing plan.

• Content marketing plan template
• Competitor analysis template
• How to use templates for digital marketing

Innovative marketing plan ideas

Executing and monitoring your marketing plan.

• Maintain brand consistency
• Final words

Short answer

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a comprehensive document that details a company’s marketing strategy. It outlines the steps necessary to achieve specific business objectives, including targeting the right audience, choosing effective marketing channels, and allocating resources efficiently. This plan serves as a roadmap for implementing marketing activities that align with the company’s broader goals.

Doing marketing without a marketing plan is like walking blindly, on the edge of a cliff. Having a marketing plan, on the other hand, provides you a roadmap for your business reach and growth. It outlines your goals, target audience, and the strategies you will use to reach them.

Having a well-developed marketing plan is essential for any business, big or small. It not only helps you stay organized and on track with your marketing efforts but also allows you to measure your success and make adjustments as needed.

A properly made marketing plan will help you connect the dots between various marketing channels, ensuring your overall marketing strategy is cohesive, consistent, and effective. It also helps you allocate resources appropriately, making the most out of your budget and efforts.

Goal setting and strategic direction in marketing

Setting clear goals is foundational to any marketing plan, providing clear direction for your marketing efforts and benchmarks for success. A marketing plan defines these goals in the context of your business’s overall objectives, ensuring that each marketing activity is aligned with where you want your business to go.

Your marketing plan outline also guides you in selecting the right strategies and tactics, ensuring that your marketing efforts drive toward your business goals efficiently. This strategic alignment is crucial for maximizing return on investment and achieving sustainable growth.

Budgeting and resource allocation

A comprehensive marketing plan plays a pivotal role in budgeting and resource allocation by providing a structured overview of all planned marketing activities and their corresponding costs.

By clearly outlining expected expenses to goals, businesses can prioritize spending, allocate resources more efficiently, and avoid overspending. This strategic approach helps you make sure every dollar spent contributes directly to achieving targeted outcomes, enhancing overall financial management and marketing effectiveness.

Marketing plan structure: Key components and steps to building one

There are as many variations of a marketing strategy template as businesses out there. However, most of them have common key components that make up a complete marketing plan:

1. Business summary and executive summary

The business summary section of a marketing plan provides a brief overview of the business, including its mission statement, core values, and overarching goals. Meanwhile, the Executive Summary offers a concise summary of the entire marketing plan, highlighting its main points and overall strategy.

2. Market research

Market research in a marketing plan underpins strategic decision-making by offering critical insights into industry trends, target audience behaviors, and competitive landscapes. It provides businesses with the data they need to tailor their marketing strategies effectively, ensuring they resonate with the intended audience and stand out in the market.

3. Competitive research

Competitive research involves analyzing and understanding your competitors’ strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. It enables a business to identify market gaps and opportunities for differentiation, ensuring a competitive edge in its marketing efforts.

4. Target audience and buyer personas

Identifying and understanding your target audience is essential for crafting effective marketing strategies. It involves analyzing demographics, interests, and behaviors to create tailored messages that resonate deeply with potential customers.

On the other hand, buyer personas are a powerful tool for understanding your target audience and guiding your marketing efforts in the right direction. They represent a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer, incorporating real data and market research to create a detailed profile. This exercise helps you better understand their needs, motivations, and pain points, providing crucial insights for crafting relevant marketing messages.

You can collect all the information for your target audience documentation from various sources, like:

Google Analytics

Google Analytics provides invaluable insights into user behavior, including visitor demographics, how users find and interact with your site, and which content keeps them engaged.

Social media analytics

Social media analytics offer detailed data on audience engagement, preferences, and demographics, helping you understand who interacts with your brand and how they do so.

Customer feedback and surveys

Customer feedback and surveys are direct sources of insights into what your target audience thinks and feels about your brand, providing key data on customer satisfaction, preferences, and areas for improvement.

CRM and sales data

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and sales data provide extensive information on customer interactions, purchase history, and support queries, allowing for a detailed analysis of customer behavior and preferences.

5. Industry reports and market analyses

Industry reports and market analyses provide comprehensive insights into market trends, consumer preferences, and emerging opportunities, enabling businesses to strategically position their offerings to meet the demands of their target audience.

6. Competitor customer reviews and feedback forums

Competitor customer reviews sites and feedback forums offer critical insights into what consumers appreciate or dislike about rival offerings, guiding businesses to fine-tune their strategies for competitive advantage.

5. Unique selling proposition

Your unique selling proposition (USP) distills what makes your business stand out from competitors into a clear, compelling message. It’s the core of your brand identity, emphasizing the specific benefits your products or services offer to your target audience.

When writing your unique selling proposition, remember to:

• Highlight what makes you different from competitors
• Focus on the benefits your product or service provides to customers
• Be concise and memorable

6 . Business goals and market analysis

The business goals section lays out specific objectives the company aims to achieve through its marketing efforts, aligning with the company’s broader strategic goals. The market analysis, on the other hand, decomposes the industry landscape, identifying target markets and analyzing competitors to inform strategic direction.

To make sure your business goals and market analysis are correctly set, consider the following as well:

Conducting a SWOT analysis

Conducting a SWOT analysis helps businesses identify their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, providing crucial insights for defining precise business goals and thorough market analysis.

Competitive and target market analysis

Assessing your competitive landscape and understanding your target market allows you to better understand your business’ context, accurately define your business goals, and tailor your market analysis for strategic advantage.

7. Marketing initiatives

At this stage, you should decide on the specific marketing initiatives and activities you want to rely on. If your budget and manpower allow for it, you can focus on multiple main areas. Alternatively, you can focus on a single marketing tactic that aligns with your overall goals and budget.

Here are some examples of marketing initiatives you might want to concentrate on:

Promotions are targeted strategies designed to boost customer engagement, drive sales, and increase brand awareness through special offers, discounts, and events.

Partnerships and joint ventures

Forming strategic partnerships and engaging in joint ventures can significantly amplify a business’s market reach and resource base. These collaborations enable businesses to leverage complementary strengths, share risks, and capitalize on shared opportunities for growth and innovation.

Referral strategy

A referral strategy is designed to incentivize existing customers to recommend your products or services to new potential customers, effectively leveraging word-of-mouth. This approach not only expands your customer base, but also strengthens trust and loyalty among existing clients by rewarding them for their referrals.

8. Marketing plan channels

Choosing the right marketing channels is crucial for delivering your message to your target audience in the most effective way. These channels, whether digital (like social media, email, and search engines) or traditional (such as television, print ads, and direct mail), should align with where your audience spends their time and consumes information.

To make sure you choose the right channels for your business, we recommend that you:

• Analyze your target audience’s preferred communication methods.
• Understand which platforms and channels your competitors are utilizing.
• Determine the most cost-effective channels for reaching your target audience.
• Consider the effectiveness and reach of each channel in relation to your business goals.
• Evaluate the scalability of selected channels to grow with your business over time.
• Test and measure the performance of each channel to refine your marketing mix.
• Look into emerging channels and technologies to stay ahead of the curve.
• Ensure alignment between channel selection and your overall brand messaging for consistency.

9. Measurement and KPIs to intreduce in your marketing plan

Setting clear measurement practices and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is fundamental to tracking the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. These metrics enable businesses to quantify their success, adjust strategies as needed, and ensure alignment with overarching business goals.

Here are essential tips to keep in mind when setting your marketing metrics:

• Focus on measurable outcomes, such as conversions, leads, and revenue.
• Align your KPIs with your specific business goals.
• Choose a mix of leading (predictive) and lagging (historical) indicators for a comprehensive view of performance.
• Regularly review and adjust your metrics to reflect changes in the market or business environment.

10. Retention strategy

Including a retention (or repeat customer) strategy in your marketing plan is important for two main reasons. First of all, there’s only so many “new customers” you can acquire (so if your entire business strategy is based on acquisition and zero retention, you will grind your business to a halt, eventually).

Secondly, repeat customers tend to spend more than new ones, making them a valuable source of revenue for sustainable growth. They also tend to be more likely to recommend you to their peers. A retention strategy includes tactics for keeping existing customers engaged and loyal, such as loyalty programs or personalized communication.

11. Budget & expected ROI

The budget section outlines the financial resources allocated to implement the marketing plan, ensuring that all strategies and actions align with fiscal constraints. It is paired with an expected ROI (Return on Investment) analysis, which projects the financial benefits of the marketing activities in relation to their costs, guiding decision-makers in optimizing marketing investments for maximum profitability.

How to Create a Marketing Plan | Step-by-Step Guide

If you’re looking to ramp up your brand’s marketing strategy and start reaching a wider audience, you need to know how to create a marketing plan. visme.com made it easy for you with this step-by-step guide.

Marketing plan templates and examples

As a general rule, you want to build and/or adapt your marketing plan to your own business. However, if you are looking for some of the best marketing strategy templates to get inspired from, the following are more than worth your time:

This template provides a structured approach to crafting a comprehensive marketing plan, incorporating the key components as outlined in the article. Each section is designed to guide you through defining, planning, executing, and measuring the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Executive summary

• Brief overview of the marketing plan objectives and strategies.

Business overview

• Description of the business, including mission statement and core values.

Situational analysis

• SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).
• Competitive and target market analysis.

Marketing goals and objectives

• Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound (SMART) goals.
• Objectives aligned with business strategy and market opportunities.

Target audience

• Detailed profile of the target market segments.
• Insights into their behaviors, preferences, and needs.

Marketing strategies

• Overview of the chosen marketing initiatives (promotions, partnerships, referral strategy).
• Justification for strategy selection based on Situation Analysis.

Marketing channels

• Identification of primary marketing channels (digital and traditional).
• Rationale for channel selection tailored to target audience and marketing strategies.

Action plan

• Detailed plan for executing marketing initiatives, including timelines and responsible parties.
• Breakdown of activities by marketing channel.

Budget and expected ROI

• Comprehensive budget detailing costs associated with each marketing activity.
• Expected Return on Investment for each initiative and overall marketing plan.

Measurement and KPIs

• Key Performance Indicators for monitoring performance.
• Plan for regular review and adjustment based on KPI results.

Retention strategy

• Tactics for maintaining customer engagement and loyalty (e.g., loyalty points, email newsletter, exclusive offers, etc.)
• Plan for personalized communication and loyalty programs.
• Any additional information, such as market research data, historical performance metrics, etc.

Revision history

• Record of updates and changes made to the marketing plan.

This social media marketing plan is designed to outline your social media marketing goals , the tactics you will use to achieve them, and the metrics you will track to gauge your progress. It acts as a detailed roadmap for managing and optimizing your social media strategy to connect with your audience and enhance your brand’s online presence.

• Brief introduction to the social media marketing plan goals and expected outcomes.
• Clear, measurable objectives for what the social media efforts aim to achieve (e.g., increase brand awareness, improve engagement, drive website traffic).
• Detailed analysis of the target audience specific to social media platforms, including demographics, interests, and online behavior.

Competitive analysis

• Overview of competitors’ presence and performance on social media, identifying gaps and opportunities.

Channel strategy

• Selection of social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) based on the target audience and content strategy.
• Rationale for each platform chosen.

Content strategy

• Outline of the types of content to be shared (e.g., blog posts, videos, infographics), reflecting brand identity and audience interests.
• Content calendar with publishing schedule.

Engagement strategy

• Plan for active engagement with the community, including response to comments, messages, and user-generated content.

Influencer collaboration

• Strategy for partnering with influencers to expand reach and credibility.

Paid promotion

• Approach for utilizing paid social media advertising and sponsored content, including budget and targeting criteria.
• Key Performance Indicators to track the success of social media efforts (e.g., engagement rate, follower growth, website traffic from social media).

Tools and resources

• List of tools for scheduling posts, analytics, graphic design, and community management.

Risk management

• Plan to address potential challenges and reputation management on social media.
• Detailed budget allocation for each platform, including content creation, paid promotions, and influencer collaborations.
• Record of updates and changes made to the social media marketing plan.

Content marketing plan

This content marketing plan will strategically outline the creation, publication, and distribution of content to target audiences, aiming to attract, engage, and retain customers.

• Overview of goals and strategies for the content marketing efforts, emphasizing the plan’s alignment with overall marketing and business objectives.
• Define clear, measurable goals for the content marketing strategy, such as increasing organic traffic, enhancing brand awareness, and generating leads.
• In-depth analysis of the ideal customer profiles, including demographic information, interests, and pain points, to inform content creation.

Audit and analysis

• Assessment of current content assets and performance to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.

Content pillars and themes

• Establishment of core content pillars that reflect the brand’s authority within its industry, around which a variety of themes and topics will be developed.

Content formats

• Enumeration of content formats to be used, including blog posts, videos, infographics, e-books, and whitepapers, tailored to audience preferences and stages of the buyer’s journey.

Editorial calendar

• A detailed publishing schedule that outlines what content will be produced, when it will be published, and where it will be distributed.

Content creation process

• Description of the workflow for content production, from idea generation and research to writing, editing, and approval.

Distribution channels

• Strategically selected channels for content promotion, such as the company’s website, social media platforms, email newsletters, and third-party publications.

SEO strategy

• Integration of keyword research and SEO best practices into content creation to improve search engine rankings and visibility.
• Key performance indicators for evaluating the success of content marketing efforts, including traffic metrics, engagement rates, lead generation, and conversion rates.
• A comprehensive breakdown of the budget allocated for content creation, distribution, and promotion activities.
• Identification of potential risks and challenges in content marketing, with preemptive strategies for mitigation.
• Listing of tools and software that will support the content marketing strategy, from content management systems to analytics and SEO tools.
• Record updates and changes made to the content marketing plan, ensuring continuous improvement and adaptation to market changes.

Competitor analysis marketing plan template

This competitor analysis template will enable a systematic evaluation of your competitors’ strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning to identify opportunities for differentiation and growth.

• Brief overview of the competitive landscape and the purpose of the analysis.

Identifying competitors

• List of primary and secondary competitors in the market.
• Criteria for selection of these competitors (market share, product offerings, geographic presence).

Competitor company overview

• Basic information about each competitor (company size, location, history).
• Summary of the competitor’s mission, values, and market positioning.

Product/service analysis

• Detailed comparison of products/services offered by the company and its competitors.
• Analysis of features, quality, pricing, and warranties/guarantees.

Market share and growth

• Overview of each competitor’s market share and historical growth.
• Analysis of market trends and how competitors are positioned to take advantage of these trends.
• Evaluation of competitors’ marketing strategies, including online presence, advertising campaigns, social media strategy, and public relations efforts.
• SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for each major competitor.

Customer analysis

• Overview of competitors’ target customer segments and customer service strategies.
• Analysis of customer reviews and feedback for insights into strengths and weaknesses.

Sales channels and distribution

• Description of competitors’ distribution channels and sales strategies.
• Comparison with the company’s channels and potential areas for improvement or differentiation.

Financial overview

• Overview of competitors’ financial health, if available (revenue trends, profitability, investment in R&D).

Strategic moves

• Examination of recent strategic moves by competitors (partnerships, acquisitions, product launches).

Summary and recommendations

• Summary of key findings from the competitor analysis.
• Recommended strategies for competitive differentiation and opportunities for growth.
• Record of updates and changes made to the competitor analysis template.

How to use marketing plan templates for digital marketing

Creating a marketing plan is about a lot more than just filling out empty cells in a document. Here are some guidelines that will help you make the most of any marketing template:

• Start by personalizing the template to fit your specific business needs and goals.
• Clearly define your target audience before selecting strategies and channels included in the template (see our section about this, above).
• Regularly update and adjust your plan based on market changes, new initiatives, or unexpected results.
• Use the template as a guide, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box and add your own unique strategies and ideas.
• Continuously track and measure performance against KPIs set in the template, adjusting tactics as needed for optimal results.

You are free to go as in-depth as you want with your marketing plan. However, there are a couple of “golden rules” that will help you stay on top of everything (and communicate your plan with clarity):

• Maintain simplicity in your messaging and design to ensure ease of understanding for your target audience.
• Ensure brand consistency across all marketing channels to reinforce brand recognition and loyalty.
• Implement quality control measures for all marketing materials and content to maintain high standards.
• Integrate data across platforms for a unified view of customer interactions and marketing effectiveness.

Leveraging data in marketing strategy

Your marketing strategy should be data-driven and incorporate the use of analytics tools to track and measure success. These insights allow for ongoing optimization and informed decision-making in real time. Some of the key data points to track include:

Website traffic and conversion rates

Understanding your website’s traffic patterns and conversion rates is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of your online presence and marketing efforts.

Social media engagement and reach

Analyzing social media engagement and reach is essential for assessing how well your content resonates with your audience and spreads across platforms.

Email open and click-through rates

Monitoring email open and click-through rates are critical for determining the impact and effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

Advertising campaign performance

Evaluating the performance of advertising campaigns is key to understanding the return on investment and the overall success of the marketing strategies implemented.

Customer retention metrics

Tracking customer retention metrics, such as churn rate and customer lifetime value (CLV), is vital for assessing how effectively your business maintains customer relationships and maximizes revenue from existing clients.

Creating a marketing plan is one thing.

Presenting it to a board or investor is another.

When you build a marketing plan, you want to focus on getting things correctly: your data, your vision, the information you base your assumptions on, and so on. In short, you’re focusing on the “meat,” the core of your marketing strategy.

When you have to present your strategy, however, it all comes down to:

• Making sure everything is crystal clear, and
• Ensuring your message delivery is flawless from every perspective (including the aesthetic one).

To get there, you might want to consider creative ways of making your marketing plan stand out. For instance, here are some of the more innovative methods of presenting a marketing plan:

Tailor it to your audience

It’s one thing to present your marketing plan to your team and it’s an entirely different thing to present it to a board of investors or at a trade event. Each of these situations requires a different approach. Personalizing your marketing plan to fit the audience can help capture their attention and make the information more relevant and memorable for them.

Use multimedia

You shouldn’t be afraid to use multimedia elements in your marketing plan presentation to make it more engaging and memorable. This could include videos, animations, infographics, and interactive elements.

Create an interactive presentation

Creating an interactive presentation involves integrating elements that allow the audience to engage directly with the content, making the marketing plan more dynamic and engaging. Here are some examples if interactive bits you could include in your marketing plan:

• Quizzes or polls that allow the audience to provide feedback and gauge their own understanding of the material
• Interactive charts and graphs that can be manipulated in real-time
• Virtual reality experiences to showcase products or services in a unique way.

Incorporate storytelling

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can help engage audiences and make your marketing plan more memorable. Consider incorporating storytelling elements such as customer success stories, brand origin, or employee anecdotes to add a personal touch and emotional connection to your plan.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to making your marketing plan presentation creative and engaging. Just remember to:

• Stay clear (never sacrifice clear for clever)
• Keep it relevant to your audience
• Use high-quality visuals and multimedia elements
• Rely on solid, healthy data and assumptions
• Incorporate interactive experiences

Building a marketing plan is a more or less temporary task that takes weeks or months to complete. Executing a marketing plan, however, is an ongoing process of implementing and adjusting tactics to achieve desired results.

Here are some key steps for executing and monitoring your marketing plan:

Implement with precision

Once you have finalized your marketing plan, it’s time to put it into action. Make sure to adhere to the timelines and budgets outlined in your plan, and communicate any changes or delays with your team.

Monitor ongoing performance

Monitoring your marketing performance is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your tactics and making informed decisions for future campaigns. Use the data points mentioned earlier to track progress and adjust strategies as needed.

Regularly reassess and update

A successful marketing plan is not set in stone. As your business and the market evolves, it’s important to regularly reassess and update your plan to stay relevant and competitive. Continuously monitor industry trends, customer feedback, and competitor strategies to inform updates to your marketing plan.

Make use of technology and automation

In today’s digital age, there are numerous tools and technologies available to help streamline and automate various aspects of your marketing efforts. Utilize these resources to save time and effectively track and analyze data for more informed decision-making.

Stay data driven

The reason data driven marketing is so popular is because you need at least some sort of goalpost, or north star metric, to follow. Stay informed by continuously collecting and analyzing data relevant to your marketing strategies, and use this information to make informed decisions for ongoing optimization and success.

Seek feedback and adapt

It’s important to regularly seek feedback from customers, team members, and stakeholders to understand how your marketing efforts are being received and if any adjustments need to be made. Adaptability is key in executing a successful marketing plan.

It is important to remember no one will ever build a flawless marketing plan from the get go. Even if they do, it won’t be perfect for long. Sooner or later, fine-tuning must be made. 

Whether it’s business strategy changes, market changes, or inefficiencies you’ve spotted along the way, revisiting and adjusting your marketing plan is essential for long-term success. Keep an open mind, embrace change, and utilize the above strategies to continuously improve and execute a successful marketing plan.

Maintain brand consistency when creating a marketing plan

One element that frequently tends to slip away in marketing plan implementations is brand consistency . It’s easy to see why it happens: when your marketing plan is thick and demanding, and your team is lean and busy, some elements may be overlooked or unintentionally altered. Yet, maintaining brand consistency is crucial in maintaining a strong and recognizable brand identity that resonates with customers.

Thankfully, there are small things you can do to make things easier (for yourself and for the rest of the organization.) For instance, implementing a WiseStamp email signature can help ensure that all team members have a consistent, professional email signature that includes your company’s branding and messaging.

Marketing plans, no easy way

Many will promise marketing miracles encapsulated in a template. But few will actually tell you the truth that marketing plans are hard work – from collecting data, building a plan based on that data, refining your plan, and executing on that plan.

It’s also essential work. And brilliant work. And incredibly rewarding work. Which is why it’s vital for the success of your marketing efforts, combined.

Marketing plan templates can help you find your focus in what might seem like an ocean of questions, doubts, and potentialities. They won’t fix your marketing efforts, but they will help you get organized and stay on track.

By following the steps described in this article (and the tips we’ve sprinkled along the way), you’ll be able to define your marketing objectives, identify and understand your target audience, conduct thorough market research, outline your tactics and strategies, and execute and monitor your plan for ongoing success.

Remember to continuously adapt, seek feedback, and maintain brand consistency to stay ahead of the competition. With a well-crafted marketing plan in hand, you’re on your way to achieving your business

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Create a Detailed Marketing Plan With 6 Effective Templates

Want to make costly marketing errors and waste time and resources? Start without a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is not only an essential part of your business plan, but it is the roadmap that will provide your team focus and direction in all their marketing efforts.

A good marketing plan is backed by research and facts. Below, we’ve covered the steps you need to follow when creating a marketing plan that will help you attract potential customers to your product and services and convince them to buy.

Understand Your Current Market and Market Position

Set your smart marketing goals, outline your marketing processes, set a budget for your marketing activities.

• Marketing Strategies and Tactics

Advanced Strategies for Experienced Marketers

Ready to create your own marketing plan.

Pricing, promoting and creating brand messages , all depend on your current market and your position in it.

When understanding your current market position, there are a few things that you need to look into;

Understand Your Product

This is where you look into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with your product.

With your team and a SWOT analysis , this will take only a few hours. Once you understand your product in terms of these four areas, it’ll be easier to understand your market position.

To create a SWOT analysis template for Marketing Plan:

• Define your objective.
• Gather relevant information.
• Use a SWOT analysis template.
• Analyze strengths (internal factors).
• Evaluate weaknesses (internal factors).
• Identify opportunities (external factors).
• Assess threats (external factors).
• Analyze results and look for insights.
• Develop strategies based on findings.

Understand Your Customer

Everything – from what words you use to communicate your message to what marketing channels you use to promote your product – depends on who your customer is.

How old are they? Are they employed? What are their interests? While you need both quantitative and qualitative data on your customers, you can collect them via email surveys, direct interviews, questionnaires, and research.

Using the data you collect, create several user personas based on user segments. You can refer to these whenever you are developing a marketing strategy.

To create a buyer persona template for Marketing Plan:

• Research your target audience.
• Define key characteristics.
• Give the persona a name and image.
• Describe background and demographics.
• Detail goals and motivations.
• Outline challenges and pain points.
• Document preferred channels and information sources.
• Capture buying behavior and decision-making process.
• Add additional relevant details.
• Create a visual template for easy reference.
• Validate and update regularly.

Understand Your Competitors

This is where you identify your top competition, assess their strengths and weaknesses and analyze their marketing strategies in the market. The information you collect can be used to build effective strategies to improve your competitive advantage.

Once you conduct research, gather and analyze data on your competitors, you’d be able to understand whether you are a leader or a follower in the market.

To create a competitor analysis template for Marketing Plan:

• Identify key competitors.
• Determine evaluation criteria.
• Gather information.
• Create a table or spreadsheet.
• Analyze each competitor.
• Compare and contrast.
• Identify competitive advantages.
• Make strategic decisions.
• Update regularly.

Understand Your Brand Positioning

Your brand position is how you want your customers to perceive your brand. In order to determine this, you need to

• Know what your customer wants. The target market research you did earlier will help you with this.
• Understand what your brand’s capabilities are. Again refer to the SWOT analysis you did of your product.
• Understand how your competitors are positioning their brands in the market. You can figure this out with the help of the competitor analysis you did earlier.

Hence, your brand positioning should resonate with your consumers, can be delivered by you and should be different from that of your competitors. Keep these in mind when you are setting your marketing goals.

The Brand Asset Scorecard

Compare your brand with the average brands in the market by scoring each of the following five brand asset categories using a 20-point scale with a maximum possible score of 100. This way you can derive a score that indicates the relative strength of your brand against your competitors.

To create a brand asset scorecard template for Marketing Plan:

• Identify brand assets.
• Define evaluation criteria.
• Determine rating scales.
• Evaluate brand assets.
• Calculate scores and summarize.
• Identify improvement areas.
• Set action plans.
• Regularly review and update.

Now that you know where you stand in the market, it’s time to define your marketing goals. They are the only way to measure the success of the effort your marketing team is putting in.

Based on your current performance and your marketing objectives, your goals might change, but make sure that they align with the SMART goal criteria .

To create a SMART marketing goal template for Marketing Plan:

• Start with a specific objective.
• Make it measurable with clear metrics.
• Ensure it’s achievable with the allocated resources.
• Check if it’s relevant to business goals.
• Set a time-bound deadline.
• Document in a template.
• Review and track progress regularly

Once you know the goals you want to achieve, you can easily outline the steps that you need to take to accomplish them.

With a process map or flowchart , you can map the tasks you need to complete in order to achieve each of your goals. Once you’ve diagrammed your strategy, you can share it with your team and analyze whether the process needs to be improved or not.

Whether it is to run a social media campaign or to get an ad published in a newspaper, you need to spend money.

Now that you have identified the tasks/ steps you need to take, figure out how much money you’ll have to spend on each activity and where you’d take the money from. Having planned how you spend money earlier will help you keep track of your finances.

Before winding up, let’s also take a look at popular marketing strategies and tactics you can use and implement along with a marketing plan.

Different marketing strategies and tactics may be more effective depending on your industry, target market, and business goals. It’s important to regularly assess the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives, make any necessary adjustments, and monitor results. Here are some examples of marketing strategies and tactics commonly used by businesses.

• Target Market Segmentation

Based on demographics, psychographics, or other relevant factors, divide your overall market into smaller, more manageable categories. Customize your marketing messaging and strategies to engage and effectively reach each category.

Content Marketing

To attract and engage your target audience, produce and distribute relevant material, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, or whitepapers. Focus on delivering helpful information, resolving issues, and building your reputation as an industry expert.

Social Media Marketing

Use well-known social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn to promote your goods or services, build brand awareness, and interact with your audience. To achieve your marketing objectives, combine organic posts with sponsored adverts, influencer partnerships, and community engagement.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Increase the visibility of your website and online content by optimizing it. To increase your website’s visibility and organic traffic, conduct keyword research, provide high-quality content, optimize meta tags and descriptions, and develop quality backlinks.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

Run targeted internet advertising where you only pay when someone clicks on them on search engines (like Google advertising) or social media platforms (like Facebook Ads). For your campaigns to be as effective as possible, set specified budgets, target keywords, demographics, or interests, and keep an eye on them.

Email Marketing

Create an email list of prospective or current clients and send them targeted, customized emails. To cultivate leads, promote conversions, and increase customer loyalty, use email newsletters, promotional offers, product updates, or automated drip campaigns.

Influencer Marketing

To promote your business or products, collaborate with influential individuals or popular social media personalities in your industry. These influencers can create content, share reviews, or endorse your offerings, helping you reach their dedicated audience and increase brand awareness.

Referral Programs

You can encourage your current clients to recommend your company to their friends, relatives, or coworkers by providing rewards or incentives. Create referral programs that give discounts, exclusive access, or loyalty points to both the referrer and the new consumer.

Event Marketing

Participate in or organize trade exhibitions, conferences, events, or webinars that are relevant to your field. These events provide opportunities to network, showcase your products, share knowledge, and generate leads.

Personalization and Customer Segmentation

Tailor your marketing messages and offers to individual customers or specific customer segments based on their preferences, behavior, or purchase history. Deliver personalized experiences across numerous channels by utilizing customer data, analytics, and marketing automation tools.

Advanced strategies require a deep understanding of your target audience, extensive data analysis, and ongoing experimentation. To ensure optimal performance and maintain an edge over the competition, it’s critical to regularly assess the outcomes, iterate, and change your methods.

• Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Tailor personalized marketing campaigns to specific high-value accounts, using personalized content, targeted advertising, and outreach to engage and convert them.
• Marketing Automation: Streamline marketing processes with automation tools, automating tasks, nurturing leads through personalized workflows, and leveraging data and analytics to deliver targeted content and offers.
• Predictive Analytics: Use large datasets and machine learning to gain insights into future customer behavior, enabling data-driven decisions, anticipating needs, and personalizing marketing efforts effectively.
• Retention Marketing: Focus on retaining existing customers through personalized communication, loyalty programs, exclusive offers, proactive customer support, and targeted upselling or cross-selling campaigns.
• Omnichannel Marketing: Create a seamless customer experience across multiple channels, integrating online and offline marketing efforts for consistent messaging and customer interactions.
• Data-driven Personalization: Utilize customer data and advanced segmentation to deliver highly personalized experiences, tailoring marketing messages, recommendations, and offers based on individual behavior and demographics.
• Influencer Relationship Management: Build long-term relationships with influencers and thought leaders, collaborating beyond one-off campaigns for continuous brand exposure and audience engagement.
• Customer Advocacy Programs: Encourage satisfied customers to become brand advocates through incentives for sharing positive reviews, referrals, or user-generated content, leveraging their influence and social proof.
• Account-Based Retargeting: Combine ABM principles with retargeting strategies, using personalized ads and email campaigns to engage key accounts that have shown interest but have not converted.
• Experimental Marketing: Take calculated risks and experiment with innovative tactics, channels, or technologies to discover unique growth opportunities, such as virtual reality experiences, chatbots, voice search optimization, or emerging social media platforms.

A marketing plan doesn’t necessarily need to contain hundreds of pages. What is important is that it provides your marketing team the roadmap to get started.

Make use of the visualization techniques we looked at when discussing each step to make things clearer to your team.

And don’t forget to share your ideas on how to create a marketing plan with us.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

FAQs About Marketing Plans

• Provides direction: It helps align marketing activities with business goals, ensuring all efforts work cohesively towards achieving desired outcomes.
• Increases efficiency: By defining objectives, strategies, and tactics in advance, it helps prioritize tasks, allocate resources effectively, and minimize wasted efforts.
• Facilitates decision-making: A marketing plan provides a framework for evaluating different marketing opportunities, making informed decisions, and adjusting strategies based on market conditions.
• Enhances focus and accountability: It sets clear targets, timelines, and responsibilities, allowing team members to stay focused and accountable for executing the marketing plan.

While the components of a marketing plan can vary, here are some common key elements:

• Executive Summary
• Market Research and Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Objectives
• Implementation Timeline
• Budget Allocation
• Measurement and Tracking Metrics
• Risk Assessment and Contingency Plans

To measure and track the effectiveness of a marketing plan, consider the following approaches,

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Define relevant KPIs such as sales revenue, website traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, social media engagement, or email open rates.
• Analytics and Tracking Tools: Utilize web analytics tools, CRM systems, social media analytics, or email marketing software to gather data and insights on customer behavior, campaign performance, and ROI.
• Regular Reporting and Analysis: Review and analyze the collected data regularly to evaluate the success of marketing activities, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions for adjustments or optimizations.
• Limited Resources: Insufficient budgets, time, or manpower can hinder the execution of planned marketing activities.
• Competitive Landscape: Competitors' actions or market dynamics may require adjustments to the planned strategies.
• Changing Consumer Behavior: Shifts in consumer preferences, trends, or technologies may demand adaptability and flexibility in marketing approaches.
• Measurement and Analysis: Difficulties in accurately measuring and attributing the impact of marketing activities to business outcomes.
• Internal Alignment: Ensuring that the marketing plan is well-communicated and aligned with other departments within the organization.

Addressing these challenges requires flexibility, ongoing monitoring, agility, and effective communication within the marketing team and across the organization.

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

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How to Create a Digital Marketing Plan: 4 Steps

• 08 Feb 2024

Digital marketing is essential; it helps you connect with customers via online channels and enhance brand awareness. To ensure your campaigns succeed, you need an effective digital marketing plan and strategy.

Not all businesses understand strategic planning's importance. According to a Smart Insights report , only 17 percent clearly define their digital marketing strategies.

If you want to create a digital marketing plan, here’s an overview of what it needs and four steps to take.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is a Digital Marketing Plan & Why Is It Important?

Technology has revolutionized business, but that doesn’t mean traditional marketing tactics are obsolete.

“There are certain aspects of marketing that remain true no matter how technology changes,” says Harvard Business School Professor Sunil Gupta, who teaches the course Digital Marketing Strategy . “One of these aspects is the importance of developing a plan to effectively use your marketing resources.”

A digital marketing plan is a comprehensive strategy outlining how your company will use digital channels to promote its products and services. Unlike traditional marketing tactics, it focuses on identifying your target audience and connecting with consumers via online platforms and channels.

Your plan’s significance can’t be overstated. It provides a strategic focus while optimizing your marketing efforts and budget. More importantly, it ensures your company remains agile and responsive to market dynamics and maintains a competitive edge.

Adaptability is particularly crucial in times of uncertainty. According to HubSpot , 20 percent of marketers pivoted their established marketing plans last year due to the potential for a recession.

To help craft your digital marketing plan, here are four steps to ensuring it’s comprehensive and can weather market challenges.

4 Steps to Creating a Digital Marketing Plan

1. set goals & objectives.

The first step to creating your digital marketing plan is understanding what goals and objectives are essential to succeed.

“Companies often have multiple objectives, and you’ll need to prioritize and balance these goals,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy . “Often these goals are tied to the overall strategy of the company.”

For example, if you don’t work at a big-name company, you may want to focus on brand awareness. If you’re a market leader, you may want to expand your target audience by highlighting a new or revised product or service.

The best way to determine your company’s objectives is by identifying its challenges and opportunities throughout the customer journey , which has three stages:

• Awareness: Introducing customers to your brand or product to address a problem they have
• Consideration: Making customers aware of your brand or product while they evaluate alternatives
• Decision: Using information gathered during the previous stages to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions

“Which stage of the funnel you focus on and how you allocate your budget across different stages depends on the specific context of your brand and where you feel is the greatest barrier for your growth,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy .

Your company's strategic decisions hinge on which customer journey stage they pertain to. For example, to increase conversion rates at the consideration stage, you could allocate more resources to producing targeted, personalized content.

2. Identify Your Target Audience

Your digital marketing strategy is only effective if you know who you’re trying to attract. That’s why identifying your target audience —the consumers most likely interested in your products or services—is the next step to crafting your digital marketing plan.

To determine your target audience, collect data related to:

• Demographics: General information like age, gender, and occupation that help you make implicit assumptions about customers
• Customer behavior: Behavior patterns related to your products or services, such as purchasing history and website interactions
• Consumer motivations: Primary motivations when making purchases, such as convenience, value, or status

You can use your insights to employ tactics like segmentation —organizing your customers into groups.

“While you can try and market a product to everyone, consumers have different needs and preferences,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy . “What appeals to one group of consumers may not appeal to another.”

By segmenting your customers, you can provide personalized experiences—even when their needs or market conditions shift.

Related: 3 Most Common Types of Customer Needs to Be Aware Of

3. Define Your Value Proposition

Once you know who to target, you can communicate your value proposition .

“If you want to convince consumers to buy your product, you need to give them a compelling reason to purchase your brand instead of a competing brand,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy .

To start, you need to know your:

• Target audience
• Unique value
• Competitive set
• Justifications for brand value

You can then combine these components into a value positioning statement:

For [target market] , [Brand X] is the only brand that offers [unique value claim] among all [competitive set] because [reason to believe] .

According to Digital Marketing Strategy , you can analyze your value claim’s validity and potency using the three C’s of brand positioning:

• Consumer analysis: Understanding your target audience’s behaviors, needs, preferences, and motivations.
• Competitor analysis: Evaluating your competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and market position to enhance your strategy.
• Company analysis: Assessing your value proposition, capabilities, resources, and performance to identify areas for strategic improvement.

Effective brand positioning requires being faithful to your value claim and ensuring it’s feasible and favorable.

“As you work to create a value proposition, remember: A brand’s position is not just defined by the brand itself,” Gupta says in the course. “A brand co-creates its position with its consumers as they interact with each other and react to emerging cultural trends.”

4. Establish Metrics

Metrics are critical to your marketing plan. Without key performance indicators (KPIs) , it can be difficult to tell whether it’s effective.

Common marketing KPIs include:

• Impressions
• Click through rate
• Conversion rate

“At the simplest level, you need to measure what you set out to achieve with your marketing objectives,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy . “And certain metrics will be more relevant for specific stages of the funnel.”

For example, you can focus on metrics like impressions —the number of times your brand-specific content was displayed—to determine your strategy’s effectiveness at the awareness stage.

With a well-crafted digital marketing plan, you can use metrics to optimize your strategy as priorities shift throughout the customer journey.

Create Your Own Digital Marketing Plan

If you want to be a more strategic marketer, you need a digital marketing plan. With one, you can solidify your company’s position, enhance your digital marketing skills , and satisfy customers.

“Determining your marketing goals, who you’re reaching, understanding the uniqueness of what you have to offer them, and how you’ll measure the value of your marketing efforts isn’t always easy,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy . “However, as you clarify these components and create your plan, you’ll have a much clearer path ahead toward identifying, acquiring, and retaining customers.”

One of the most effective ways to learn how to craft a plan is by enrolling in an online marketing course, such as Digital Marketing Strategy . Through real-world case studies and interactive exercises, you can understand how to position your brand for success.

Do you want to create a digital marketing plan? Explore Digital Marketing Strategy to discover how. If you’re interested in exploring online education but aren’t sure where to start, download our free guide to online learning success .

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The Marketing Planning Process: Step-by-Step Breakdown

Erica Chappell

Managing Editor

September 7, 2023

Want to learn about the different steps that go into the marketing planning process? Managing a marketing project is a bit like managing a fast-food restaurant.

You have a very limited time to prepare the product (campaign). And you have to coordinate with staff members who are handling completely different duties. If it’s done right, you’ll be attracting a ton of loyal (and hungry) customers.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the strategic marketing plan process , how you can implement it in your business, and the best tool to help you with the entire process.

What Is a Marketing Plan?

Benefits of the marketing planning process, 1. document your business goals, 2. conduct a marketing audit and research, 3. define your buyer persona, 4. set a budget, 5. identify a marketing tactic, 6. schedule the marketing campaign , who benefits from using a marketing plan.

Order up! Let’s go.

A marketing plan is a document that showcases your company’s marketing strategy for the upcoming month, quarter, or year.

Here’s what a marketing action plan contains when you unbox it:

• Your current marketing activity and position
• A detailed overview of your marketing goal and business goal
• A description of customer needs
• The metrics you need to track (ROI, number of potential customers, etc.)

And what happens when you create an amazing marketing plan? You’ll be able to stay focused on your marketing goal and also create an equally amazing marketing strategy. Here’s how you can create a marketing campaign that can make even the pros jealous!

Marketing efforts, when done right, can result in significant positive effects that can kickstart your business’s success. Here are a few benefits of proactive marketing planning .

Learn about the top marketing tools for new businesses !

Provides benchmarks and accountability

Through the planning process, you will be able to set benchmarks and create a roadmap for your marketing strategy to reach business goals. Making this visible allows the entire team to be accountable for their actions and tasks. It will also ensure everything runs smoothly as everyone knows what’s happening and how they need to work together.

Encourages team collaboration

Because the marketing planning process will likely run across departments and need a fair bit of collaboration, it opens up cross-departmental communication and unifies the organization. Also, getting your team involved early allows you to be realistic with your planning.

Reduces risk

Now, you have a marketing strategy. By having a planning process in place, you now have a framework to gain an overview of the target market, competitive advantage, and market segmentation. This allows you to be better prepared for risk factors that you might not have foreseen.

Challenges your beliefs and assumptions

Since business is always changing, having a marketing planning process allows you to keep adapting more effective strategies. By continually honing your marketing efforts, you might run across new tools and techniques, incorporate new ideas from different team members, and challenge your standard operating procedures .

What Are the Steps in the Marketing Planning Process?

Creating a marketing plan for the first time might seem like a convoluted process, but it’s actually super simple. The planning process becomes 100x easier to deal with when you break it down into these six steps:

• Document your business goals
• Do market research
• Define your buyer/client persona
• Set a marketing budget
• Identify a marketing tactic
• Schedule the marketing campaign  

Let’s take a closer look at each step.

Before planning a marketing strategy, you and your marketing team should ask your senior management to highlight your corporate objectives. 

Ideally, every large-scale business goal and objective should span 18-24 months. This gives you enough time to develop marketing initiatives that align with these overall business objectives.

Let’s say you’re the marketing manager for Los Pollos Hermanos from Breaking Bad. The business owner, Gus Fring’s business goal might be to increase restaurant revenue to $3 million in the next year.

You’ll need to create a SMART marketing goal that can contribute to his business goals. For example: 

• Gain 20% more repeat customers
• Increase hot chicken sandwich sales by 35%
• Boost shipment and distribution revenue for other products 😉

Curious about SMART goals? Check out our guide for tips on how to create a great business goal.

After you’ve decided on the goal, marketing project management tools like ClickUp can help you document and track them. In ClickUp, Goals are high-level containers that can be broken into smaller objectives, known as  Targets. Targets can be measured by units like numbers, $$$, true/false, and task lists.

Bonus: Marketing Tools for Small Businesses

When you meet your Targets, you achieve your marketing goal too. ClickUp automatically updates the progress percentage as you meet Targets in real-time. This can motivate your sales and marketing teams as they see the numbers rising every day!

Want to monitor more marketing metrics? 

ClickUp is loaded with features that your teams need to manage your project or marketing program. Its Dashboards are the way to go. Each unique dashboard offers a lot of Custom Widgets that let you track marketing KPIs and every marketing objective.

Track sales, conversion rates, social media engagement, and more, with a Line Chart, Bar Chart, Pie Chart, Battery Chart, or however you best visualize data!

Want to get there faster? Use the ClickUp Content Management Template to easily track your content goals, budgets, and resources all within one space. Get this content branding template for free !

It’s time for a serious throwback. You need to take a look at all the marketing decisions and initiatives that you’ve taken in the past few years. Additionally, you’ll also have to go through old reports to see which marketing tactics worked and which didn’t.

With the help of a marketing audit, you’ll be able to avoid the issues your marketing department has faced in the past. Take it from Gus: ClickUp Docs let your team collaborate in real-time on your audit, marketing research , and annual marketing plan documents; it’s like Google Docs , but way better!

Not only can you embed lists, tables, images, and videos, but you can also assign actionable tasks directly within a ClickUp Doc. And to make your job even easier, ClickUp lets you save your work as a marketing plan template that you can use later!

After the audit, you’ll need to determine where you’re currently placed in the market and market trends. Ask your team:

• Are your customers price-sensitive?
• Have new competitors slowed down your business growth?
• Do you have a competitive advantage over other businesses?

But why just limit feedback to your company?  Your customers and clients’ opinion matter too. 

After all, they’ll be using your products or services. With the Form view , you can create detailed customer survey forms faster than you can say Heisenberg . 

Choose from different fields of text, labels, questions, and more. ClickUp allows you to publicly share these forms, and it then collects responses within the tool. This way, you can directly take action on their responses by including their inputs in the marketing plan.

How well do you know your customers, really? In this phase, you’ll need to embrace market segmentation. What’s that?

Essentially, you’ll need to identify the different kinds of customers in your target market. Then you’ll have to narrow your focus to a specific target audience. After that, you’ll have to create a buyer persona. These are fictional representations of your ideal customer in your target market. Ask your team:

• Who is this person?
• What are their needs and priorities?
• How do they make decisions?
• Where do they work?
• How much do they earn?
• What do they like, and what do they absolutely hate?
• What media do they consume?

You’ll need to really get into their minds, so you can tailor your marketing strategy that appeals best to them. For example, Los Pollos Hermanos settles on a buyer persona named Walt, who’s a middle-aged high-school chemistry teacher. 

Now that you have an idea of who he is, how he behaves, and what he wants, you can market to him better! But how do you come up with a buyer persona? Two words: Mind Maps .

Drawing Mind Maps in ClickUp can help your marketing team organize your thoughts and ideas when creating a persona . Just place a central idea and add relevant thoughts when they pop up. 

And remember the more detailed the persona Mind Map, the better. Knowing your customers well will allow you to create a personalized yet strategic marketing plan that connects to your target audience.

You might have tons of cool strategic marketing ideas, but if they don’t fall into your marketing budget, it would be almost impossible to execute them. And even if you do break the bank to work on them, there are no guarantees that you’ll be rolling in dough in the end.

So how much should you spend on your strategic marketing plan? Allocating 7-15% of your company’s income to your marketing department is ideal, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all rule. 

However, keep in mind that any initial marketing activity can be expensive. This includes getting a logo , branding , and creating a campaign from scratch. How do you track all your marketing expenses?

In ClickUp, every task can have additional details called Custom Fields . With these fields, you can record data like phone numbers, labels, checkboxes, and more.

In this case, you can track the budget, and cost of each marketing activity and task with the ‘Money’ field. What’s more is that with Column Calculations , you can automatically add up your spending to see whether it’s in line with your budget.

So no more half-measures when you’re creating your strategic marketing plan!

Bonus: Marketing calendar software !

Now that you know exactly what your customers are like, it’s time to choose the right distribution channels where they spend most of their time. After all, your target audience has to see your ad, right?

Let’s take a few platforms where you can implement your strategic plan , and the best tactics for each:

• Blogs: Content marketing + Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Facebook/Instagram : Social media marketing + Influencer marketing
• Google: SEO + Search Ads
• Newspapers: Print advertising 
• Television: Commercials + Sponsorships

Let’s look back at Walt’s persona. Since we determined that he gets all his news from TV, our marketing effort should focus on creating a wonderful commercial:

Remember that the message of your strategic marketing campaign should reflect customer needs. In this case, this commercial should reassure their target audience that their food is high-quality and fresh—99.99% fresh.

However, you don’t have to focus all your tactics on one single platform. A healthy marketing mix between offline and online media ensures everyone gets your message. Now, it’s up to your marketing team to decide which route they want to take.  For example, you can create and publish new content on your blog, host automated webinars , and at the same time promote offline content to convert your audience. With ClickUp’s Chat view , you can discuss tactics, and sales deals, attach images/videos, and assign tasks in your marketing mix.

Now we’ve finally reached the end of the strategic marketing planning process . After you’ve got the marketing plan locked down, it’s time to list all the tasks that need to be done in order to pull it off.

How do you do it?

With ClickUp’s Gantt Charts , you can create a dynamic timeline of your marketing campaign activities from start to finish. The Gantt view lets you visualize the start and end dates for each task, and any important milestones along the way.

With Task Dependencies , you can indicate the sequence in which you want to complete your tasks. All you have to do is draw a line between two tasks, and you’re done!

Now, your marketing team won’t be able to work on a dependent task until they’ve cleared the preceding task. Need to work on a digital marketing calendar ? You can schedule all your marketing activities through ClickUp’s Calendar view .

It’s super easy to schedule posts or tasks, and adjust due dates—all you have to do is drag and drop.

Note: Since the strategic marketing process requires your team to be quick on their feet, ClickUp offers marketing plan templates for your content calendar , SEO management , campaign tracking , promotional calendar , A/B testing , and graphic design processes . 

Just apply the marketing plan template, and you’re ready to start planning in seconds! However, note that ClickUp isn’t just built for the strategic planning process ; it can help with every marketing process from execution to monitoring. 

So, ClickUp has more features ? Here’s what ClickUp has to offer:

• Flexible views : visualize your tasks in a to-do list , Kanban board , or a Calendar
• Assigned comments : change a comment into an actionable task and assign it to a team member
• Collaboration Detection : know when your coworker is working on the same task or Doc as you
• Pulse : see what your team is doing in real-time; great for remote teams
• Agile Dashboards : monitor Agile and Scrum metrics with diagrams like Velocity Charts , Burndown Charts , Burn-up Charts , etc.
• Team Reporting : track and monitor your team’s performance and progress
• Automations : speed up your strategic marketing process by automating repetitive tasks and marketing workflows
• Integrations : allows you to connect with other important work software like Slack, Google Drive , and Outlook
• Mobile Apps : dynamic iOS and Android apps to help you manage projects on the run
• Restaurant Marketing Plan
• Starting a Business Marketing Plan
• Bookkeeping Marketing Plan
• Service Business Marketing Plan
• Creative Agency Marketing Plan
• Marketing Agency Marketing Plan
• Design Agency Marketing Plan
• Advertising Agency Marketing Plan

Get Planning on Your Marketing Strategy With ClickUp

So what’s the secret behind running a great strategic planning session? All you need to do is figure out what your customers want, set a time and resource budget, brainstorm the best way to serve your customers, and that’s it. We told you, it’s just like the restaurant business. 😁 

And as most restaurants have sophisticated equipment to help you out, you’ll need a dedicated marketing automation software and project tool like ClickUp to help you out too! From Goal Trackers to Dashboards and Timelines , it’s got everything you need you to get started with your marketing plans.

Get ClickUp for free today, and cook up the perfect marketing campaigns!

Want more tips? Read our expert roundup to get more marketing management ideas .

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How to Create a Complete Marketing Strategy in 2024 [Data + Expert Tips]

Updated: March 29, 2024

Published: October 26, 2023

Creating a marketing strategy is essential to effectively nurture your customers, improve your business’s bottom line, and increase the ROI of your efforts.

A marketing strategy is especially critical if you want to use the highest ROI trends for 2024 : short-form video and social media. To get powerful results, you must carefully weave both emerging trends and proven strategies into your plan.

Let’s dive into the critical components of a complete marketing strategy in 2024, followed by some examples for inspiration.

Table of Contents

• What is a marketing strategy?

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

Marketing strategy components, why is a marketing strategy important, marketing strategy process, recommended resources, examples of successful marketing strategies, what to expect after following your marketing process steps, marketing strategy.

A marketing strategy covers a company’s overall approach for promoting its brand to a target audience. The process involves research, goal-setting, and positioning.

A completed marketing strategy typically includes brand objectives, target audience personas, marketing channels, key performance indicators, and more.

A marketing strategy will:

• Align your team to specific goals.
• Help you tie your efforts to business objectives.
• Allow you to identify and test what resonates with your target audience.
• Empower you to capitalize on emerging trends.

The last one is especially important. Keeping up with marketing trends is important for your strategy, but it could be a full-time job.

Why? Because almost 80% of marketers say this industry changed more in the last three years than it has in the past five decades.

Add to that the fact that 50% of marketers believe their marketing strategy in 2023 was only *somewhat effective,* which means there’s plenty of room for improvement.

In short, what worked for your marketing strategy in the past might not fly today.

A marketing strategy outlines the long-term goals and overall approach, while a marketing plan covers the specific actions and tactics to achieve those goals.

Phrased another way, marketing strategy guides the overall marketing efforts of a business. It includes goal-setting, market and competitor research, as well as messaging and positioning for a brand.

For example, say you’re creating a marketing strategy for a new fashion brand. Your strategy might target young urban professionals and position the brand as trendy and affordable.

But a marketing plan is a detailed tactical roadmap. It outlines the specific actions and tactics that should achieve the marketing strategy’s goals.

For example, the marketing plan for the fashion brand mentioned above might include:

• Targeted social media campaigns.
• Influencer partnerships.
• Online advertising timeline.

Both a marketing strategy and a marketing plan are essential for a business’s success.

To succeed in the fast-paced marketing world — and maintain a sense of relevance with your audience — it’s vital to stay ahead of the curve.

To help ease some of that uncertainty, we’re going to show you step-by-step how to create a comprehensive marketing strategy. But first, let’s go over the individual components that make up a strong marketing strategy.

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

• Pre-Sectioned Template
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You're all set!

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• Marketing Mix (4 Ps of Marketing)
• Marketing Objectives
• Marketing Budget
• Competitive Analysis
• Segmentation, Targeting, & Positioning
• Content Creation (Including Trending Content)
• Metrics & Key Performance Indicators

1. Marketing Mix

6. Content Creation

• Conduct market research.
• Define your goals.
• Identify your target audience and create buyer personas.
• Conduct competitive analysis.
• Develop key messaging.
• Choose your marketing channels.
• Create, track, and analyze KPIs.
• Present your marketing strategy.

1. Conduct market research.

Before you can begin creating your marketing strategy, you need to gather useful data for making informed decisions. Market research is like playing detective, but instead of solving crimes, you’re uncovering juicy details about your customers.

Market research will help your businesses make data-driven decisions for your marketing strategy. It also makes it easier to understand your target market, find gaps, and make the most of your resources.

This process is essential for understanding your customers and adapting to changing trends. If you’re new to this process, this complete market research guide and template can help.

Once you have the data you need, you’ll be ready to set some marketing goals.

2. Define your goals.

What do you want to achieve through your marketing efforts?

Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or diversifying your customer base, well-defined goals will guide your marketing strategy.

Your marketing strategy goals should reflect your business goals. They should also offer clear direction for marketing efforts.

For example, say one of your business goals is to increase market share by 20% within a year. Your goal as a marketer could include expanding into new target markets, updating your brand, or driving customer acquisition.

Other marketing goals might be to increase brand awareness or generate high-quality leads. You might also want to grow or maintain thought leadership in your industry or increase customer value.

Defining clear goals provides direction and clarity, guiding marketing efforts toward desired outcomes. It helps with resource allocation, decision-making, and measuring the success of marketing initiatives.

This SMART goal guide can help you with more effective goal-setting.

3. Identify your target audience and create buyer personas.

To create an effective marketing strategy, you need to understand who your ideal customers are. Take a look at your market research to understand your target audience and market landscape. Accurate customer data is especially important for this step.

But it’s not enough to know who your audience is. Once you’ve figured out who they are, you need to understand what they want. This isn’t just their needs and pain points. It’s how your product or service can solve their problems.

So, if you can’t define who your audience is in one sentence, now’s your chance to do it. Create a buyer persona that’s a snapshot of your ideal customer.

For example, a store like Macy’s could define a buyer persona as Budgeting Belinda, a stylish working-class woman in her 30s living in a suburb, looking to fill her closet with designer deals at low prices.

With this description, Macy’s Marketing department can picture Budgeting Belinda and work with a clear definition in mind.

Buyer personas have critical demographic and psychographic information, including age, job title, income, location, interests, and challenges. Notice how Belinda has all those attributes in her description.

For B2B SaaS companies, keep in mind that buyer personas don’t apply solely to the end user. When you’re selling a product to another business, you also have to address the decision-maker, the financial buyer, and the technical advisor, among other roles, says Head of Marketing at Entrapeer, Hillary Lyons .

“You need to be able to tailor your message to each of these unique personas even though most of them will never actually use the product,” says Lyons. “You have to sell each of them on the unparalleled benefit you provide without muddling your [overall] message.”

You don’t have to create your buyer persona with a pen and paper. In fact, HubSpot offers a free template you can use to make your own (and it’s really fun).

You can also use a platform like Versium , which helps you identify, understand, and reach your target audience through data and artificial intelligence.

Buyer personas should be at the core of your strategy.

4. Conduct competitive analysis.

Now that you have an understanding of your customers, it’s time to see who you’re competing with to get their attention.

To begin your competitive analysis, start with your top competitors. Reviewing their websites, content, ads, and pricing can help you understand how to differentiate your brand. It’s also a useful way to find opportunities for growth.

But how do you know which competitors are most important? This competitive analysis kit with templates will walk you through the process. It will help you choose and evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of your competitors.

This process will help you find market gaps, spot trends, and figure out which marketing tactics will be most effective. Competitive analysis can also offer valuable insights into pricing, positioning, and marketing channels.

5. Develop key messaging.

You’ve figured out who you’re talking to, what they’ve already heard, and what they want to hear. Now, it’s time to share your brand’s unique value proposition .

In this step, you’ll craft key messaging that shows the benefits of your product or service and resonates with your target audience. This process should show off the research and work you have done up to this point. It should also incorporate your creativity, inventiveness, and willingness to experiment.

Well-crafted key messaging:

• Sets businesses apart from the competition.
• Resonates with the target audience.
• Is flexible enough to be consistent across all marketing channels.
• Builds brand credibility.
• Creates an emotional connection with customers.
• Influences buying decisions.

The key messaging in your marketing strategy is critical to driving engagement, loyalty, and business growth. These value proposition templates can help if you’re not sure how to draft this important messaging.

6. Choose your marketing channels.

You know what you have to say. Now, decide on the best marketing channels for your message. Your top goal for this stage of your strategy is to align your channel choices with your target persona’s media consumption habits.

Start with media channels you’re already using. Then, consider a mix of traditional and digital channels such as social media, TV, email marketing, podcast ads, SEO, content marketing, and influencer partnerships.

To streamline this process, think of your assets in three categories — paid, owned, and earned media.

To decide which marketing channels are best for your marketing strategy, look carefully at each channel. Think about which channels are best for reaching your audience, staying within budget, and meeting your goals.

For example, a business targeting a younger demographic might consider using TikTok or Reddit to reach its audience.

Don’t forget to take a look at emerging platforms and trends as you complete this review. You may also want to look at the content you’ve already created. Gather your materials in each media type in one location. Then, look at your content as a whole to get a clear vision of how you can integrate them into your strategy.

For example, say you already have a blog that’s rolling out weekly content in your niche (owned media). You might consider promoting your blog posts on Threads (owned media), which customers might then repost (earned media). Ultimately, that will help you create a better, more well-rounded marketing strategy.

If you have resources that don’t fit into your goals, nix them. This is also a great time to clean house and find gaps in your materials.

7. Create, track, and analyze KPIs.

Once you have a clear outline of your marketing strategy, you’ll need to think about how you’ll measure whether it’s working.

At this stage, you’ll shift from marketing detective to numbers nerd. With a little planning and prep, your analytics can unveil the mysteries of marketing performance and unlock super insights.

Review your strategy and choose measurable KPIs to track the effectiveness of your strategy. Create a system that works for your team to collect and measure your data.

Then, plan to check and analyze the performance of your strategy over time. This can help you refine your approach based on results and feedback.

Lexi Boese , an ecommerce growth strategist and co-founder of The Digital Opportunists, recommends making data a priority when building your marketing strategy this year.

“The more data you can use, the easier you can track your success,” she says. “This could be as simple as understanding which channels convert the highest amount of customers (to determine how your team should prioritize ad spend), or assessing whether you have a higher amount of first-time or returning customers to [determine] if you should focus on internal or external marketing.”

Analyzing KPIs helps businesses stay agile, refine their strategies, and adapt to evolving customer needs.

8. Present your marketing strategy.

A finished marketing strategy will pull together the sections and components above. It may also include:

Executive Summary

A concise overview that outlines the marketing goals, target audience, and key marketing tactics.

Brand Identity

You may want to create a brand identity as part of your strategy. Brand positioning, voice, and visual identity may also be helpful additions to your marketing strategy.

Marketing Plan and Tactics

Your marketing plan is the specific actions you’ll take to achieve the goals in your marketing strategy. Your plan may cover campaigns, channel-specific tactics, and more.

Not sure where to start? This free marketing plan template can help.

Don't forget to share this post!

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MARKETING PLAN GENERATOR

This high-level template will help you outline your annual marketing strategy, identify your most important initiatives, and track the right metrics all year long. Tell us a little about your marketing goals and you’ll receive a 12-month plan in less than 10 minutes.

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We'll be diving into some questions about your company, what you do there, and what your team's goals are for this year. These questions will help us customize your plan to fit your company's exact needs. If you're not 100% sure how to answer a question, that's okay. Just put in a quick answer for now — you can always go back in and edit your answers later.

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Sounds like a great place to be . What exactly do you do at your company ?

74% of marketers say that converting leads into customers is their company's top priority over the next 12 months.

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What's your team's main focus this year?

What key objectives do you want to achieve? Remember: You can always come back and change this answer later.

Select up to 3 initiatives your team should prioritize this year to help carry out that focus:

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• Build Brand Awareness
• Close Deals
• Create a High-Quality Pipeline
• Create Content
• Create Paid Advertisement Program
• Decrease Churn
• Decrease Customer Acquisition Cost
• Define or Update Personas
• Differentiate Brand From Competitors
• Diversify Promotion Efforts
• Grow Event Attendance
• Grow International Brand
• Grow Paid Users
• Grow Revenue
• Grow Social Media Reach
• Improve Customer NPS
• Improve Lead Quality
• Improve Sales Rep Productivity
• Increase Clickthrough Rate
• Increase Conversion Rate
• Increase Leads
• Increase Product Adoption
• Increase Traffic
• Introduce New Product/Service
• Optimize Sales Cycle
• Recruit Top Talent
• Scale Company Culture
• Shorten Sales Cycle
• Unify Products/Services

What are your goals for these initiatives?

Example: Grow lead generation by 1,000 leads per month

( Enter options on previous slide to view content )

Which initiatives would you consider for a future year?

Now that you have your top priorities in place, it’s time to select 1-3 initiatives that, while valuable, will only distract you from achieving this year’s goals. These could be considered later on, but for now, you don’t have the resources in place to focus on them.

Well, would you look at that! You're almost finished. That wasn't so hard, was it?

One final thing: How do we get in touch to discuss your goals for next year?

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What is in the Marketing Plan Template?

HubSpot's marketing plan generator offers a template displaying your company's mission, strategy, and initiatives following the information entered in the tool while also identifying future opportunities. The project planner tool delivers a 12-month marketing plan template dividing actions for your team into initiatives, measurement metrics, and goals. This free resource for your business can be downloaded as a CSV file and shared with your team.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the marketing plan template generator do.

The Marketing Plan Generator uses the information you provide about your marketing goals to create a personalized 12-month plan that will help your business reach new heights of success.

How Does the Marketing Plan Template Generator Work?

As a marketing plan software, it uses the answers you provide in the assessment to generate your company marketing priorities for the year to come. It identifies relevant initiatives to prioritize following the goals entered and delivers a practical template.

Why is a Marketing Plan Important?

Developing a marketing plan is crucial as it allows you to determine what to focus on by setting clear objectives. It also helps in managing resources better and maximize the impact of every marketing action. This is in a nutshell why you need a marketing plan.

When Do You Need to Use a Marketing Plan?

When your product is ready to be marketed, which is most likely right now as you are reading these lines! Instead of an example, why not spend some time taking our MPTG assessment and discover what you can do today to improve your marketing?

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How To Create The Perfect Marketing Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide. 

Marketing planning: understanding its importance and benefits.

In the ever-evolving world of business, the creation of a robust marketing plan is not just a necessity but a blueprint for success. It’s the strategic foundation upon which businesses build their marketing efforts to navigate the competitive landscape effectively. But what exactly makes a marketing plan so vital?

A well-crafted marketing plan serves as a detailed map, guiding businesses through the complexities of market trends, consumer behaviors , and competitive dynamics. 

It’s a tool that aligns marketing goals with business objectives, ensuring that every marketing activity contributes to the broader mission of the company. From small startups to large corporations, a marketing plan acts as a compass, providing direction and focus, and helping allocate resources efficiently.

In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the step-by-step process of creating a marketing plan that encapsulates best practices and strategic insights. 

Whether you’re looking to launch a new product, expand your market reach, or strengthen your brand’s position, this guide will equip you with the knowledge to develop a plan that’s not only effective but also adaptable to the changing tides of the market.

Table of Contents

Setting clear objectives: defining your business goals and target audience.

In my experience the first and perhaps most crucial step in crafting your marketing plan is setting clear, measurable objectives. These objectives should be closely tied to the broader goals of your business. 

Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or entering new markets, each goal should be specific, realistic, and aligned with your overall business strategy.

For me the next key step is identifying your target audience is equally important. A deep understanding of your audience — their needs, preferences, and behaviors — allows for more effective and targeted marketing strategies. 

Are you focusing on a B2B audience , or are you targeting end consumers? What are their demographics, interests, and purchasing habits? Answering these questions will give you a clearer picture of whom you’re communicating with and how best to reach them.

Remember, the specificity of your objectives and the clarity of your target audience will not only guide your marketing efforts but also enable you to measure the effectiveness of your strategies more accurately.

Market Research: Gathering Data to Inform Your Strategy

Remember, knowledge is power. Market research is the compass that guides your marketing ship through the vast seas of consumer preferences and market trends. This step involves gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data about the market, including potential customers and competitors.

Here’s how to effectively conduct market research:

• Identify Your Research Goals: Clearly define what you want to learn from your research, such as customer preferences, market size, or competitor strategies.
• Choose Your Research Methods: Utilize both primary (surveys, interviews) and secondary research (industry reports, academic papers) methods.
• Analyze Your Competitors: Understand their strengths, weaknesses, and market position.
• Understand Customer Needs and Trends: Use surveys, social media listening, and trend analysis to get a pulse on what your customers want and expect.
• Gather Demographic and Psychographic Data: This will help in creating targeted marketing strategies.
• Interpret and Apply the Findings: Use the insights gained to inform your marketing strategies and decisions. This research phase is not a one-time task but an ongoing process that adapts to new insights and market changes.

Competitor Analysis: Understanding Your Market Position

I have found that a critical component of any marketing plan is understanding your competition.  Competitor analysis  allows you to identify and understand your rivals, their strengths and weaknesses, and how you can differentiate yourself in the market. Here’s how to conduct an effective competitor analysis:

• Identify Your Competitors: Include both direct and indirect competitors in your analysis.
• Analyze Their Strategies: Look at their marketing efforts, product offerings, pricing, and distribution methods.
• Evaluate Their Strengths and Weaknesses: Understand what they do well and where they fall short.
• Assess Their Market Positioning: How do they position themselves in the market? What is their unique selling proposition (USP)?
• Learn From Their Customer Reviews and Feedback: Customer reviews can provide insights into what customers value or dislike about your competitors.
• Monitor Their Online Presence: Analyze their website, social media activity, and online customer engagement.

This analysis will not only help you find your unique position in the market but also inspire innovative ways to surpass your competition.

Developing a Marketing Strategy: Choosing the Right Channels and Tactics

Developing a marketing strategy in my experience, is about choosing the right channels and tactics that align with your business goals and resonate with your target audience. Here are key steps to consider:

• Select the Right Marketing Channels: Based on your market research and audience, decide whether to focus on digital channels, traditional media, or a combination of both.
• Define Your Messaging: Craft a clear, compelling message that speaks to your audience’s needs and preferences.
• Choose Marketing Tactics: Depending on your objectives, tactics might include content marketing, email campaigns, social media marketing, SEO, or paid advertising.
• Plan for  Content Creation : Determine the types of content (blogs, videos, infographics) that will engage your audience.
• Leverage Technology and Tools: Utilize marketing automation tools, analytics, and  CRM systems  to streamline your efforts and measure results.
• Create a Timeline: Develop a detailed plan with timelines for each campaign or tactic.
• Stay Flexible: Be ready to adapt your strategy in response to market feedback and changes.

This strategic approach ensures that your marketing efforts are focused, coherent, and likely to yield the best results.

Budgeting and Resource Allocation: Making Cost-Effective Decisions

A critical aspect of your marketing plan is determining how to allocate your budget and resources effectively. This step is about making strategic decisions to maximize your return on investment (ROI). Here’s how to approach it:

• Determine Your Marketing Budget : Based on your overall business budget, decide how much you can allocate to marketing.
• Allocate Resources Wisely: Divide your budget across various channels and tactics in alignment with their potential impact.
• Prioritize High-ROI Activities: Focus on marketing activities that offer the best return, such as digital marketing for many modern businesses.
• Consider Both Fixed and Variable Costs: Account for consistent expenses like staff salaries and variable costs like ad spend.
• Keep Track of Spending: Regularly monitor your budget and adjust your spending as necessary.
• Measure and  Analyze ROI : Use analytics to track the performance of your marketing efforts against the costs.

Effective budgeting and resource allocation ensure that every dollar spent on marketing contributes towards achieving your business goals.

Implementation and Execution: Turning Plans into Actions

After meticulous planning, we then shift  the focus  to implementing and executing the marketing strategy. This phase is about bringing your plans to life and ensuring they operate smoothly. Here’s how to approach it:

• Develop an Action Plan: Break down your strategy into actionable steps and assign responsibilities.
• Coordinate with Your Team: Ensure that everyone involved understands their roles and the overall objectives.
• Leverage Marketing Automation: Use automation tools for efficient execution of repetitive tasks like email marketing and social media posts.
• Monitor Progress Regularly: Keep track of the execution process and ensure that activities are in line with your plan.
• Be Prepared to Adjust: Be flexible and ready to make changes in response to unforeseen challenges or opportunities.
• Communicate Effectively: Maintain clear, consistent communication both within your team and with your audience.

Effective implementation and execution turn your well-laid plans into tangible results, moving you closer to achieving your marketing goals.

Monitoring and Evaluation: Measuring Success and Making Adjustments

The final step in your marketing plan is to  monitor its performance  and evaluate its success against your set objectives. This phase is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your strategies and making necessary adjustments. Here’s how to approach it:

• Use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Identify metrics that best represent the success of your objectives, like website traffic, conversion rates, or social media engagement.
• Regularly Review Analytics: Use tools to track and analyze these KPIs regularly.
• Gather Feedback:  Collect feedback from customers  and team members to gain insights beyond numbers.
• Conduct a ROI Analysis: Assess the financial returns of your marketing activities in comparison to the investment made.
• Identify Areas for Improvement: Look for patterns in the data to identify what’s working and what’s not.
• Make Data-Driven Decisions: Use these insights to refine your marketing strategy, optimize campaigns, and plan future initiatives.

By continually monitoring and evaluating your marketing plan, you can ensure that it remains effective, efficient, and aligned with your business goals.

In my experience, crafting the ultimate marketing plan is a journey that involves meticulous planning, strategic execution, and continuous adaptation. 

From setting clear objectives and conducting thorough market research to implementing innovative strategies and rigorously monitoring their effectiveness, each step is crucial in shaping a successful marketing narrative.

Remember, the power of a marketing plan lies in its ability to align with your business goals, resonate with your target audience, and adapt to the ever-changing market landscape. 

By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create a marketing plan that not only reaches your desired audience but also drives meaningful results for your business.

Marketing Plan FAQs

What is a marketing plan .

A marketing plan is a comprehensive document that outlines a company’s marketing strategy, including its goals, target audience, marketing initiatives, and budget for a specific period.

Why is a marketing plan important? 

A marketing plan is crucial because it provides a roadmap for achieving marketing objectives, helps allocate resources efficiently, and enables the tracking of progress and effectiveness of marketing efforts.

How do I start creating a marketing plan? 

Begin by setting clear marketing goals, conducting market research to understand your target audience and competition, and defining your unique selling proposition (USP).

What should be included in a marketing plan? 

A marketing plan should include an executive summary, market analysis, marketing goals, target audience, marketing strategies, budget, and a timeline for implementation.

How do I set marketing goals? 

Marketing goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). They should align with the overall business objectives.

How do I choose the right marketing strategies? 

Select marketing strategies based on your target audience, budget, and marketing goals. Consider a mix of digital and traditional marketing tactics that will effectively reach your audience.

How do I measure the success of my marketing plan? 

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success of your marketing activities. Regularly review and adjust your plan based on the performance data.

How often should I update my marketing plan? 

Review and update your marketing plan at least annually or more frequently if there are significant changes in the market or your business objectives.

About The Author:

David is a creative director and marketing professional with a wealth of expertise in marketing strategy, branding strategy and growing businesses. He is a founding partner of a branding and marketing agency based in New York and  has a Bachelors Degree in Communication from  UWE .

Over David’s 25+ year career in the the world of branding and marketing, he has worked on strategy projects for companies like  Coca-Cola , Intercontinental Hotels, AMC Theaters, LEGO, Intuit and The American Cancer Society. 

David has also published over 250 articles on topics related to marketing strategy, branding Identity, entrepreneurship and business management. You can follow David’s writing over at medium.com:  medium.com/@dplayer

• X (Twitter)

David is a Creative Director and Marketing Professional with a wealth of expertise in marketing strategy, branding strategy and growing businesses. He is a founding partner of a branding and marketing agency based in New York. Over his 25+ year career in the the world of Branding and Marketing, he has worked on branding and marketing strategy projects for companies like Coca-Cola, Intercontinental Hotels, AMC Theaters, LEGO, Intuit, American and Cancer Society. He has also published over 250 articles on topics related to marketing strategy, branding Identity, entrepreneurship and business management. You can follow his writing over at medium.com: medium.com/@dplayer View themarketinghustle.com Authors Page

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Marketing | How To

How to Create a Small Business Marketing Plan (+ Free Template)

Published February 19, 2024

Published Feb 19, 2024

WRITTEN BY: Michael DeVault

• 1 What’s in a Small Business Marketing Plan
• 2 How to Create a Marketing Plan in 6 Steps
• 3 Why You Should Invest in Marketing Your Small Business
• 5 Bottom Line

Whenever I’m tasked with launching a new small business or helping an existing business increase sales, I sit down with the owner to develop a small business marketing plan. You might be surprised how many small businesses overlook the importance of creating a marketing plan, opting instead to thrust blindly into one advertising medium or another.

Taking a few moments to familiarize yourself with the components of a small business marketing plan will help you navigate the process. It’ll also set you up to maximize your brand presence .

What’s in a Small Business Marketing Plan (+ Free Marketing Plan Template)

When assembling a plan for marketing and advertising your small business, you’ll be pulling together several diverse components from across your small business and the industry in which you’re operating. The parts of your plan may vary slightly, but overall they should include:

• Customer personas: If you can’t identify your core customers, how do you plan to talk to them? Customer personas help you accomplish this.
• Marketing and advertising goals: Without setting goals, how do you know what’s working? Setting trackable and achievable goals will guide your planning.
• Unique value proposition: What sets your business apart from the competition? This is your unique value proposition, which is what drives customers to buy your product.
• Types of marketing: Where will you market and advertise your products or services? Whether it’s on a small business website or in the local newspaper, you should consider all your options.
• Marketing budget: How much can you afford to spend on marketing and advertising your company? Setting a realistic budget and sticking to it is key to a successful campaign.

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Marketing Plan Template

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To get expert advice and guidance with your marketing plan, get a free consultation from Straight North. Branding and marketing experts will outline effective strategies to build and grow your business without the hassle of running your own marketing plan.

How to Create a Marketing Plan for a Small Business in 6 Steps

Creating a plan to launch and manage your marketing campaign is straightforward. You can create an effective plan in just six steps. See the steps below to learn more about what you’ll need to do.

Step 1: Identify Your Target Customers

You can’t do a good job talking about your product or service without knowing who you’re talking to. And you certainly don’t want to waste time and money talking to people who aren’t potential customers for what you’re selling. Think about it: If you own a landscaping company, you don’t want to advertise to people living in a condo, right? That’s where identifying your customers comes into play.

The first thing you’ll do is make a list of attributes you think your core customers share. These attributes include age, demographic information, geographic location, and general interests. You can even divvy up customers by age bracket—known as generational marketing . Here are a few key details you should identify about your customers:

• Service area: Where do your customers live and work? Without knowing this, you won’t be able to adequately target ads to them.
• Demographics: Are your customers predominately one gender? Maybe they fit into an age bracket. Understanding the demographics of your customers allows you to tailor a message to them.
• Economic factors: Will customers be able to afford your products or services? You’ll need to consider the income level of potential customers and weigh that against how many people meet those criteria.

This is a good start. But gathering information about potential customers is just a start. You can go a step further with customer personas. A customer persona is a fictional “perfect customer” you create from the information you’ve gathered. The goal is to have a specific individual you’re crafting each marketing message for. Creating a customer persona is easy, especially once you’ve identified some key details about your customer.

Step 2: Set the Right Goals for Your Campaign

It may seem like a given—the notion that you should set goals for your campaign. However, many businesses fail to set proper goals in their marketing plan and, as a result, fail miserably. So what makes the “right” kind of goal? Goals for your campaign should meet four criteria:

• Be achievable: Your goals should be reasonably achievable with the marketing tools and resources available to your business.
• Be specific: Each goal you set should have a specific target attached to it. It’s not good enough to say the goal is to “increase sales.” Instead, specify your program will “increase sales by 20%.”
• Be quantifiable: Even if you set a specific target, you need to be able to measure it. Your goals should be based on things you measure, such as per-ticket sales or new customer counts.
• Be justifiable: You might set a goal to double your sales, but if doubling your sales costs more in marketing budget than profits generated, you’ve missed the mark. The finish line should justify the effort.

Step 3: Differentiate Yourself From the Competition

With millions of small businesses operating in thousands of industries, it’s a crowded marketplace. How you stand out will greatly affect how your marketing impacts people who may be looking for what you are selling. Ask yourself this question: What makes my product different and better than my competitors?

The answer to this question is your unique value proposition (UVP). Also known as a unique selling position (USP), this differentiating factor drives customers away from your competitors and to you. For example, for a catering company, a unique selling proposition might be “the best vegan food in town.”

The point of a unique value proposition is to set yourself apart from literally everyone else. This question could well be the most important question to ask yourself before opening a small business. Every business should have a unique selling position. After all, if you’re not bringing something unique to the table, why would customers choose you? Ultimately, your unique selling proposition will drive a large part of a startup marketing strategy .

Researching Your Competitors

It probably goes without saying, but in order to differentiate yourself from your competition, you’ll need to learn a little bit about the companies you’ll be competing with. That means spending time on their websites, social media profiles, and the web to understand their positions in the market, how they’re reaching customers, and their value propositions.

Competitor research provides you with insights on pricing and buyers as well as details you can use to create customer personas or help plan your advertising campaign.

Step 4: Choose the Types of Marketing You’ll Do

Armed with your customer personas, a list of achievable goals, and a unique selling position, you’re now ready to pick the kinds of marketing you’ll want to do. Since the ultimate goal is to reach as many potential buyers as possible, you’ll want to focus your efforts where you can reach the most of them.

Generally speaking, there are four types of marketing to consider. Each type of marketing requires different resources and impacts customers in unique ways. Here is a broad overview of each of the four areas:

Internal Marketing

You’ve already done some thinking about internal marketing. Internal marketing includes that unique value proposition, which is part of your brand identity . Additional components of internal marketing include:

• Mission statement
• Vision statement
• Core values statement

Internal marketing shapes everything you’ll say in the rest of your marketing efforts. Start with your internal marketing positions and you’ll have a strong message to share with customers.

Online Marketing

Online marketing includes literally every activity your business undertakes online. Over the years, online marketing has become an increasingly important part of a small business digital marketing plan. This includes:

• A well-designed website
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Online advertising through Google, Bing, and more
• Social media marketing on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and more
• Email marketing
• Press releases
• Online reviews and ratings

Each of these types of marketing requires attention and planning of its own. Consider how you’ll establish a website for your small business. Will you pay someone to create a website for you? Or will you do as many small business owners do and choose to do it yourself with the help of a drag-and-drop website builder ?

Online marketing through social media, SEO, email, and a small business website requires specialized tools. These tools include data tracking and analytics, design, and more. They make up part of your marketing technology—or MarTech—stack. Learn more about how to build a MarTech stack with our how-to guide.

Offline Marketing

Not all marketing happens on the interwebs. Depending on the type of business you own and the market you’re in, you’ll probably need to invest in some offline marketing as well. Offline marketing includes those “traditional” types of advertising like newspaper and print ads, as well as some of the newer practices, like vehicle wraps.

While it’s true offline marketing plays a lesser role than it has in the past, it’s nevertheless important to consider what resources you want to devote to this medium. Billboards and direct mail continue to be remarkably effective and affordable ways to reach clients who aren’t at a computer, with the cost-per-impression (CPI) of billboards ranging from $2 to $9.

Offline marketing also includes materials and activities you might not think of as marketing. Business cards, flyers, and brochures are just some of the kinds of marketing materials at your disposal.

Broadcast Marketing

Broadcast marketing is the most familiar form of advertising and marketing. It’s also among the most expensive. Broadcast media includes television, radio, and most recently, podcasting and streaming.

For some small businesses, broadcast will play a role in getting your message out. However, many small businesses find tremendous success without ever investing a dime in broadcast advertising. Only you can determine what forms of advertising are right for your business.

Step 5: Craft a Marketing Budget & Calendar

Now that you’ve got a handle on what you want to say, who you want to say it to, and where, you’re ready to book your ads. Unless your budget is unlimited, it’s not as simple as just picking up the phone and placing orders. You need to decide how much money you can spend and where you can get the most bang for your buck.

That’s where a marketing calendar comes in. Working with local ad representatives, you can determine how much offline advertising will cost you. You can also get a reasonable idea of how much you’ll spend on pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google and Facebook. To help maximize your budget, spread out your ad spend over the course of each month with a media calendar.

Below is a link to our local marketing media calendar template. You can use this template to map out your advertising efforts.

Marketing Calendar Template

Step 6: Track Progress & Update Your Campaigns

With your advertising and marketing efforts now up and running, you’ll want to keep tabs on three core metrics: how much you’re spending, how many people are seeing your ads, and how much your sales are increasing. Measuring each of these relies on different tools, and in many cases, you’ll have to rely on specific tools for individual types of advertising.

For example, if you’re measuring the reach of your Google Ads placements, you’ll spend time in the Google Ads control panel, tracking how many clicks each ad receives—as well as how much each click is costing you. For broadcast advertising, your ad reps will provide you with the estimated number of impressions each ad gets.

Fine-tuning Your Advertising & Marketing

The most important metric to track will be your revenues. You’re advertising to gain business, right? It only makes sense to track how much business you’re receiving. While you can take a top-line view and assume your ads are driving increased revenues, you can and should try to determine which ads are producing the best results and which ones are falling short.

Online advertising makes this easy because you’ll receive reports from Google and Facebook about how many clicks they’ve sent your website. Your website is also a powerful tool to track where customers are coming from. Email marketing is another easily trackable advertising form, as email marketing platforms provide ample data to quantify how well your message is landing.

For offline marketing, it can be more challenging to measure the effectiveness of a campaign. However, it’s not impossible. Offering pricing specials or coupons can help you measure where customers are hearing about you. Also, many broadcast outlets provide tools to help track the success of your program.

Why You Should Invest in Marketing Your Small Business

Now that you’ve developed a marketing plan, you’re ready to get started growing your business. However, you may still be wondering why you should invest the time and money into marketing efforts that may or may not work. The answer is simple: Marketing is the only way customers have to find out about your business and what you’re offering.

Put another way, everything you do to spread the word to potential customers that you can fill their needs—from television ads to handing out business cards at a trade show—is all marketing. Plan well and your efforts will bear fruit.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a written strategy outlining target customers, sales and revenue goals, the kinds of marketing you’ll use, and when you’ll run the ads based on that plan. Marketing plans control everything from billboards to Facebook ads. With an effective marketing plan, you can control expenses, grow your customer base, and drive sales.

How do you create a marketing plan?

To create a marketing plan, you must identify your target audience, set goals for your marketing campaign, and differentiate yourself from your competition. Then, you’ll choose the kinds of marketing and advertising you want to use, such as running ads on television or launching a website. Set a budget you can afford—a good rule of thumb is 10% of gross revenues—and track the progress of your marketing efforts, updating your plan as you go.

Do I have to make a marketing plan for my small business?

While no one is forcing you to create a marketing plan, it’s still a good idea to make one. A marketing plan guides the message you create and provides a framework for sharing that message to potential customers. It also gives you the ability to control expenses, maximize return on investment (ROI), and modify marketing plans that aren’t working.

Bottom Line

Creating a marketing plan for your small business doesn’t have to be a challenge. In fact, it’s really quite simple. Identify your customers, craft your message, and decide where you should share that message. Once your marketing plan is up and running, remember to take some time to make sure it’s producing the results you want, and make adjustments to help maximize return on your investment.

About the Author

Find Michael On LinkedIn

Michael DeVault

Michael DeVault is a career journalist with more than 20 years in media and marketing. He has an extensive background in franchise marketing, having worked with some of the biggest names in franchising, including iconic names like SONIC, Captain D’s, and Fantastic Sam’s.

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How to Create a Successful Marketing Plan: 5 Steps If you're planning to revamp or create a marketing plan for your business, keep reading for the five steps you need to make it happen.

By The Staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

When it comes to your business, you should have a vision and a plan to support that vision. A business plan is vital to ensuring you have the proper financials and roadmap to achieve success.

A key aspect of that roadmap should be a marketing plan. Whether you wear two hats as a business owner and marketing manager or have a whole marketing team, these five steps can set you up for success.

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

No matter your industry, there is so much competition nowadays. You need a way to stand out from the crowd. You need to build a name for your business and show people what you can do.

Marketing plans allow your company to:

Build brand awareness

• Boost consumer engagement
• Build authenticity and trust
• Promote earned media
• Offer sales support

Related: The Importance of An Effective Marketing Strategy in Reaching Your Business Goals

Marketing plan: 5 steps to set you up for success

There are so many different types of marketing plans, but one of the most all-encompassing, successful strategies is full-funnel marketing.

Full-funnel marketing is what it sounds like — capturing the widest audience and moving them through the funnel until the end goal of making a purchase.

This article will walk you through the full-funnel process and more.

1. Examine your current situation and create goals

Before you can begin your marketing efforts, it's important to self-reflect on your current situation through an executive summary.

Reflecting is a method to help you take a closer look at your business, its mission statement and ways to grow in that mission. In the marketing world, this is commonly called a SWOT analysis.

SWOT stands for:

• Opportunities

SWOT is a handy acronym to help you keep track of the areas you need to identify when building your new marketing plan.

Related: Start 2022 With a SWOT Analysis

Take a look at these eight essential questions to consider when completing a SWOT analysis :

• Are you a new small business starting from scratch?
• Are you an established business that's ready for a revamp?
• What type of buyer do you want to attract?
• What are your company's strengths?
• How are those strengths a competitive advantage?
• What are your company's weaknesses?
• What are your company's opportunities for growth?
• How can you distinguish your product from what your competitors are offering?

Before you can genuinely begin an effective marketing plan, consider completing a thorough SWOT analysis. It can help you understand where you are, assist in your strategy development, and build a roadmap for where you are going.

Create Goals

Another big piece of your roadmap is the marketing goals you set for your business. You can also set goals for each marketing campaign. Marketing is meant to help you grow your business, so you should know how you want that growth to look.

What do you want your marketing plan to achieve? What is your marketing budget? For example, are you hoping for a 20 percent increase in sales of your new product per quarter?

Write down a short list of goals — and make them measurable, so you'll know when you've achieved them.

If you need help creating your business goals, here is a primer to get you thinking:

• Specificity. You have a better chance of achieving a goal if it's specific. A goal like "I want to raise capital" is not clear enough. However, a goal like "I want to raise capital to $10,000 by July 1" is a goal that you can truly measure.
• Optimism . Be positive when you set your goals. Use uplifting words and positive phrasing. Setting a goal saying, "I want to avoid being in the red this quarter," is not a positive goal. On the other hand, a goal saying, "I want this business to be in the green by the end of this quarter," is a much more positive spin that serves as an encouraging way to stay fired up.
• Realism. Although you should set goals that challenge your business, they should still be attainable. If you establish a goal to earn $100,000 a month when you've never made that much in even a year , that goal is unrealistic. Begin with small steps, such as increasing monthly income by 25 percent. Once your first goal is met, you can reach for larger ones.
• Short and long term. Short-term goals are attainable in a period of weeks to a year. Long-term goals can be for five, 10, or even 20 years; they should be substantially greater than short-term goals but should still be realistic.

Related: Goal Setting - Entrepreneur Small Business Encyclopedia

Remember to check in on your goals. It doesn't work to set them and forget them. Keep them somewhere visible to remind you of your purpose every day.

Set aside time each week, month, or quarter to check in on your marketing objectives and see how you're doing with them based on metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Your goals don't have to be set in stone, so don't be afraid to adjust accordingly

2. Identify your audience and build brand awareness

To build brand awareness, you should first identify your target market . You can cast a wide net at the beginning of your full-funnel marketing approach. However, that does not mean you won't still have some direction in mind.

Business to consumer

If your business operates B2C, then you may need to make a profile of your ideal customer. This profile should include prospect demographics, including:

• Family composition
• Geographic location

Conduct market research that answers questions about the buyer persona: Are my customers conservative or innovative? Leaders or followers? Timid or aggressive? Traditional or modern? Introverted or extroverted? How often do they purchase what I offer? In what quantity?

Business to business

If your business operates B2B, you should make a profile but use slightly different categories. For B2B marketing, focus on customer segments like:

• Type of business
• Size of business
• Any other characteristics that make that business a possible prospect

Regardless of your target audience, be sure to narrowly define them in this step because it can be your guide as you plan your content strategy.

Once you have identified your target customers, you should build brand awareness through your marketing strategy. Marketing has evolved over the years, so you'll need to research trends that might resonate with your target audience in your marketing mix.

Consider attraction marketing and digital marketing activities and strategies like:

• Blog posts and editorial content
• Gift guides and catalogs
• Social media posts
• Brand ambassadors
• Videos and podcasts
• Webinars and live content
• Pop-up events and workshops

The quality content marketing you put forth on these platforms can help boost your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and grow your overall online presence. Once you capture an audience's attention, you can move on to the next step.

Related: Building A Social Media Strategy That Can Bolster Your Brand's Online Presence: The How-To

3. Drive customer interest

Now that you've cast a wide net, it's time to narrow the funnel. At this stage, your consumer is aware of your brand, so it's time to drive their interest toward a specific product or a service.

One thing that may always remain true in marketing is that stories sell . Stories build brand awareness because people love them. They are a way to build relationships, find common ground, and show the consumer what your brand is all about.

When you are developing your marketing tactics with whichever methods you choose, create a narrative that shows existing and new customers why your product differs from your competitors.

Create stories that show how your product can solve a problem or fill a void. Emphasize how your company can meet customer needs and improve something in their life.

Related: How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy in 20 23

4. Convert interest to purchases

Once you have the interest of your customer base, the biggest challenge comes in: conversion. Conversion is getting your customer further down the funnel from simply being interested into making a purchase.

In eCommerce, part of your marketing strategy comes from your website. When potential customers visit your online store, their shopping experience should be as smooth as possible.

To facilitate this, ensure your site is aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, and fully optimized. Your website should include product pages with detailed descriptions and visuals, an easy-to-use click-to-cart process, and customer service options.

5. Foster relationships to promote retention

This is the final step of the full-funnel approach, which hinges on keeping your consumer inside the funnel. While it might not sound like it, customer experience is a marketing tool.

Marketing is about getting yourself noticed and the relationship you nurture with the customer once you've pulled them in. To promote consumer retention, keep them engaged with your brand.

You can build loyalty by offering incentives through email marketing and other platforms. In addition, continue to tell stories that make sense for your brand and connect with your customer.

Finally, maintain a strong customer service department so that when it's time for your customer to make a repeat purchase, they have another smooth experience.

Related: 10 Simple Ways to Improve Customer Retention Rates

How you can build a successful marketing plan

You've got the tools to create a successful marketing plan. Stick to the five steps, and you can make it happen.

• Examine Your Current Situation and Create Goals
• Identify Your Audience and Build Brand Awareness
• Drive Customer Interest
• Convert Interest to Purchase
• Foster Relationships to Promote Retention

Remember, the purpose of a content marketing plan is more than just putting out ads and social posts. It's creating stories connecting with your customers and fostering lasting relationships.

Related: 10 Social Media Marketing Plans for Companies

If you're interested in more marketing tips and strategies, explore Entrepreneur's other professional marketing resources here.

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How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated May 7, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

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How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

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Free Marketing Plan Examples: Real-World Samples & Templates

By Joe Weller | April 27, 2024

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A  marketing plan  is a comprehensive document that outlines a company’s marketing strategy and tactics, and ensures that its marketing goals align with its overall objectives. Effective marketing plans include detailed analysis of the market along with roadmaps for upcoming campaigns. Inside this article, you’ll find the  elements of a marketing plan , 10 real-world examples of marketing plans with commentary from experienced marketing professionals, free marketing plan templates and samples , and a  chart to help you determine which template suits your needs .

Marketing Plan Elements

Typical marketing plans begin with an executive summary and include audience demographics, company objectives, situational analysis of the business, and marketing strategies and tactics. Market research and analysis provide campaign direction, and the budget and timeline offer practical parameters. A marketing plan can provide an overview of all strategies and campaigns to be executed in a certain time frame, or it can focus on a specific product, channel, or strategy. The level of detail and the sections included might vary, depending on the organization’s needs. The nine main elements of a marketing plan are:  

Executive Summary and Mission Statement:  A concise, high-level summary conveys the purpose of your marketing plan, introduces key strategies and research insights, and highlights the most important takeaways for stakeholders. For example, an executive summary might outline your brand’s identity, its place within the competitive landscape, and the major opportunities that upcoming marketing campaigns will target. Longer plans might include a separate mission statement or vision statement to align marketing efforts with your company’s larger goals. Discover more  examples of executive summaries with templates to help you write one effectively.  

Situational Analysis:  One of the most crucial elements of your marketing plan, a situational analysis is an assessment of the internal and external factors affecting a business’s performance. It should include research-based insights into market trends and dynamics, customer demographics and pain points, and internal resources.  A strong situational analysis often includes a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, which provides a foundation for an effective marketing strategy. Learn more about  how to perform a SWOT analysis .  

Competitive Analysis:  Understanding the competition is key to developing a compelling marketing plan. This analysis should consider recent marketing campaigns from similar brands to identify successful ways to reach a shared target audience. Being aware of the competitive landscape can also help your business develop a unique selling proposition and stand out in the market. The competitive analysis might be included in the larger situational analysis, or it might be a stand-alone section. For example, a marketing plan could include data on how competitors rank on keywords, or it could evaluate the performance of competitors’ recent social media campaigns. One common framework for understanding market dynamics is a Porter’s five forces analysis, which identifies the forces that contribute to industry rivals. Learn how to evaluate the competitive landscape with  free industry analysis templates .  

Target Audience: In order to implement marketing strategies that engage consumers and drive conversions, businesses need to know who their audience is, what they want, and how they behave. A marketing plan should define a specific, segmented target audience with demographic, geographical, psychographic, and behavioral data.  This section often includes customer profiles or buyer personas — fictionalized representations of ideal customers or audience segments — which help marketers typify consumer behaviors. These profiles should include media habits and most-used platforms to ensure that your marketing plan selects the right channels for each campaign. Learn how to analyze your target market with  free customer profile templates .  

Goals and Objectives:  Marketing plans typically include both long-term goals, which provide broad direction for the company’s marketing strategy, and short-term objectives, which focus on more immediate tactics and campaigns. Goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) and include corresponding key performance indicators (KPIs).  The goals and objectives in a marketing plan often focus on conversions, market share, brand awareness, or engagement. Clearly defined goals ensure strategically aligned marketing initiatives with measurable results. Take a look at  real-world examples of SMART goals for more insights.  

Marketing Strategy:  This section of a marketing plan details the business’s unique value proposition and the channels that will communicate it. A robust marketing strategy addresses the touchpoints in a consumer’s buying cycle and breaks down the 4 Ps (product, price, place, promotion) of the marketing mix. Channels might include digital marketing, advertisements, social media, and influencer partnerships. To develop an overarching marketing strategy, consider using a  marketing strategy template . To learn more about the 4 Ps, read this  product marketing guide .  

Tactics and Action Plan:  A marketing plan is not an abstract strategy document, but a concrete roadmap for executing specific campaigns with specific tactics. Your plan should detail the messaging for each campaign and the corresponding methods for communication — such as email newsletters, social content, targeted ads, and public relations.  This section provides KPIs and actionable steps such as resource allocation, deliverables, and distribution plans. It might also include the expected outcome for each campaign. To plan individual campaigns, consider using a  marketing project plan template .  

Budget:  Marketing expenses might include the cost of advertising, content creation, website maintenance, or promotional materials; no marketing plan is complete without a budget that breaks down the costs of such initiatives. A clear, comprehensive budget ensures that marketing efforts are financially feasible and resources can be allocated for maximum impact. The budget also enables the marketing team to track the return on investment (ROI) of each campaign. To create a comprehensive budget, try our  free marketing budget templates .    

Timeline:  Finally, a marketing plan includes a clear schedule for implementing its initiatives and tactics. This timeline details the start and end dates of each campaign, deadlines for deliverables, and key events or milestones. It keeps the marketing team aligned and initiatives on track, ensuring that marketing objectives can be achieved within the set time frame. Organize dates and deadlines with the help of a  marketing timeline template .  

Marketing Plan Examples

Real-world marketing plans show how businesses utilize effective planning documents. These 10 examples from various industries exhibit unique strengths and weaknesses. With insightful commentary from marketing experts, these plans offer practical takeaways any marketer can use.  

Delmarva and the Ground for Change This  in-depth marketing plan for a documentary produced by the USDA Northeast Climate Hub includes audience profiles, competitive analysis, and a distribution plan. Along with a detailed breakdown of its digital marketing strategy, it considers how different tactics will affect the viewer’s content journey.   

John Dinsmore , a marketing consultant and professor at Wright State University, praises this plan for its attractive design and thoughtful, thorough content: “They do a nice job of extrapolating on who the target market is and tying their tactics to achieving specific goals.”  He appreciates the inclusion of a SWOT analysis, but feels it could be done more effectively. “‘Opportunities’ is not a place for business ideas. It’s a place to identify external, positive trends that can help your initiative. In this context, an opportunity could be ‘Rising concern for and awareness of climate issues.’ Similarly, ‘threats’ is not a place to list things that are difficult. It’s for negative external trends such as ‘Increased skepticism over ability to combat climate change.’” 

Dekker Fraser , former Global Marketing Manager at Sony PlayStation, adds that this plan includes a strong focus on collaborations with media and influencers: “Many marketing plans place too much emphasis on target customers and not enough on target collaborators.”  

Minnesota Tourism This  marketing plan by Explore Minnesota , the state’s Department of Tourism, showcases Minnesota’s beauty with vivid imagery. It uses a variety of demographic information to identify priority audience segments and includes well-designed infographics that analyze audience and competition. As a result, the campaigns are clearly targeted at specific audiences and objectives. 

John Rarrick , Head of Marketing at Movius Corp., admires the strength of the message behind the strategy. “This plan has a very well-developed ‘why,’” he says. “You’ll see that often when the plan is to repair or save something that has undergone a time of great loss — such as a loss of revenue or reputation. The audience personas, goals, tactics, and budget are all detailed and measurable.” 

Gold Coast Transit District  

A  short, high-level marketing plan for Gold Coast Transit highlights key campaigns and includes the most important details, such as timelines, budgets, and tactics. It begins with a bulleted overview of the most important takeaways and takes into account general marketing efforts that don’t fit under a specific campaign umbrella. Fraser notes that this plan includes year-round marketing initiatives, with an effective “emphasis on strong offers, such as youth-free fares.” However, he points out that its brand awareness goals could be more specific. “Instead, use context-specific awareness goals such as ‘When commuting to work, residents first think of Gold Coast Transit’ or ‘When coming home from the library at night, I think of taking the bus,’” he says. “In other words, peg awareness to specific category-entry points.”  

University of Arizona College of Engineering This  marketing, branding, and communications plan for the University of Arizona College of Engineering sets out a long-term vision, high-level goals, and strategies for achieving these goals. It has a section for methodology — including promotional videos and email newsletters — and segments its audience to align with its strategies. This plan “demonstrates a clearly defined audience,” according to Rarrick. That said, not every section of the plan includes the same level of specificity. “The KPIs are vague,” he adds. “I would expect to see something more measurable, rather than ‘increase’ or ‘improve.’” 

Timberland Regional Library This  library's two-year marketing plan sets initiatives in motion with a clear schedule for action. It includes both promotional and production calendars for effective planning, which is especially important for campaigns pegged to external events.  Dinsmore cites this plan’s “professional and elegant graphic design” as a strength. It also offers a roadmap for tackling several marketing campaigns on different timelines. However, he suggests that the plan needs more measurable goals and defined strategies. “There’s no overarching strategy that ties all of these tactics and initiatives together,” he says. “It’s just a laundry list of dates and actions.” 

Safe Haven Family Shelter Nonprofit organizations need creative marketing strategies to reach their targets and use funds efficiently. With specific objectives and actionable steps, this  marketing plan for Safe Haven Family Shelter delineates high-level goals and details the path to achieving them. It identifies the roles and responsibilities of individual team members to ensure alignment. Rarrick commends this plan for its “clearly defined audience and very clearly defined goals.” The plan showcases the differences between strategic business goals and measurable marketing objectives.  

Visit Myrtle Beach This  destination marketing plan by the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Chamber of Commerce  incorporates detailed information about target markets, audience personas, and key behaviors. It includes an infographic that illuminates the touchpoints in a traveler’s journey and shows the marketing team how each tactic contributes to conversions.  Overall, Dinsmore praises this plan as a “very smart and thoughtful presentation.” It outlines a distinct media mix for each target audience, defines its objectives clearly, and ties these objectives to success metrics. He continues, “I want to thank the Myrtle Beach folks for planning to measure their efforts. Measurement is often anathema to marketing people, but if you’re not measuring, you don’t know how to improve.”  With so much information to cover, the plan would benefit from an executive summary to introduce key takeaways. “The bigger the scope, the harder it is to make everything feel connected, and that’s a bit of an issue with this plan,” Dinsmore adds.  

Tropical Avocados This  example of a no-frills plan was commissioned by the nonprofit Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC) to help brand and launch tropical avocados in the U.S. market. It shows the importance of making branding decisions backed by market and consumer research. A detailed SWOT analysis and competitive analysis provide essential insights that enable the company to determine the best unique selling proposition.  A key strength of this plan is its detailed research into its audience. Fraser cites its “excellent identification of consumer objections — e.g., concern over how natural the avocado size is — and consumer behavior.” As a result, the brand can adopt effective messaging in its marketing campaigns. As with USDA Northeast Climate Hub’s Delmarva and the Ground for Change documentary, “target collaborators — e.g., food writers, organizations, and chefs — are included in the target audience. Collaborators are often more critical to the marketing plan than the consumers themselves,” Fraser adds.  

Rochelle Community Hospital This  case study of Rochelle Community Hospital in Rochelle, Illinois, shows how a targeted marketing plan can be used to achieve significant results. The report by Legato Healthcare Marketing showcases the importance of reevaluating an existing marketing strategy — in this case, shifting the emphasis from print to digital. External marketing agencies often have more tools at their disposal, particularly if the business has not had a strong digital presence. With targeted ads and website updates, the agency employed tactics with direct metrics in order to track its impact.   

Visit Concord This  example from the Concord Tourism Improvement District marketing plan is concise and includes streamlined insights on the audience and market. It details each marketing channel with specific tactics and measurable KPIs.  The overall strategy, according to Fraser, offers “an excellent emphasis on social proof and word-of-mouth marketing,” as well as a “good balance of awareness and activation marketing.” In order to improve, he suggests, “the plan should factor in the following critical quantitative factors to help drive the media strategy: reach, frequency, and the total-addressable market.” 

Marketing Plan Templates

Using a template takes the guesswork out of organizing a marketing plan document. These customizable templates include essential elements and options for specific industries or marketing channels, and they range from one-page plans to comprehensive, presentation-ready reports.

Microsoft Word Simple Marketing Plan Template

Download the Simple Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Simple Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word

This example of a simple, customizable plan focuses on key strategies and prioritizes readability. This one-page marketing plan template includes space to summarize marketing strategy and overarching business objectives, along with an action plan to highlight responsibilities and deadlines.

Microsoft Word Annual Marketing Plan Template

Download the Annual Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Annual Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word  

This comprehensive marketing plan template includes a number of key sections — such as goals, target market, marketing channels, and performance standards — that can be customized to suit a variety of businesses. In the situational analysis, you can find space for both a 5C (company, collaborators, customers, competitors, climate) analysis and a SWOT analysis. The blank template begins with a table of contents, a business summary, and a mission statement to allow for easy readability. The sample focuses on marketing strategies for one fiscal year, but you can modify this plan for any time period. 

Microsoft Word Small Business Marketing Plan Template

Download the Small Business Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Small Business Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word

A strong marketing plan is essential for small businesses looking to stand out from larger competitors. This small business marketing plan template provides an outline for a detailed marketing strategy, including a unique selling proposition, the 4Ps marketing mix, and marketing channels. It builds its strategy on situational analysis and identification of the business’s core capabilities. Find  more marketing plan templates  for different industries.

Microsoft Word Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template

Download the Nonprofit Marketing Plan Example Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template for Microsoft Word

This example marketing plan for a nonprofit incorporates information on the funding climate into its situational analysis, as well as a detailed organizational summary. With sections for short- and long-term goals, marketing strategies and channels, and stakeholder profiles, the template is comprehensive and customizable. Find  more nonprofit marketing plan templates here .

Excel Product Marketing Plan Template

Download the Product Marketing Plan Example Template for Excel Download the Blank Product Marketing Plan Template for Excel

When integrating a new product into existing marketing strategies, it’s important to take into account all the elements of the marketing mix. This product marketing plan template is organized by product, price, place, promotion, process, people, and physical evidence. In these sections, you can find space to consider market research, consumer behaviors, and marketing channels.

Excel Social Media Marketing Plan Template

Download the Social Media Marketing Plan Example Template for Excel Download the Blank Social Media Marketing Plan Template for Excel

For planning specific campaigns, this social media marketing action plan template begins with the campaign goal, highlights important promo dates, and separates actions by platform. It’s useful for executing targeted social media campaigns within a larger marketing strategy. Find  more marketing action plan templates here .

Excel Digital Marketing Plan Template

Download the Digital Marketing Plan Example Template for Excel Download the Blank Digital Marketing Plan Template for Excel

Focusing on digital marketing channels is an effective way to organize strategies into a streamlined and actionable plan. This strategic digital marketing template highlights important audience behaviors and access channels to ensure messaging reaches consumers. Customizable for a variety of digital marketing projects, the template includes space for keywords, goals, and tasks. Find  more digital marketing plan templates here .

Which Marketing Plan Format Is Right for You?

To choose the right marketing plan format for your needs, consider the plan’s role in your marketing strategy. Do you need a comprehensive plan to provide an overview of tactics that will take place over a long period of time? Or are you looking for a plan to focus on specific channels, campaigns, or product launches? 

Each template in this article offers space to detail market research, strategies, and access channels. The longer plans include more sections for in-depth situational analysis and audience demographics, while the shorter plans focus on the marketing mix and action plan. This chart highlights the key elements of each marketing plan:  

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How to create a marketing plan [free template].

What is a Marketing Plan?

What is a marketing plan template, use workamajig’s free marketing plan templates, how to write a marketing plan that works, build & execute your marketing plan with workamajig, browse more blogs.

As the famous Benjamin Franklin quote says, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This rings especially true in highly competitive industries, and even more so with the rise of social media and the vast array of options for selling products and services.

It can be easy to get lost among all the options available, which means you need a framework for quickly and successfully launching and supporting your brand, product, or service in the market.

This is where a marketing plan comes in.

A marketing plan outlines a company’s overall marketing strategy, including the research and data that support it. Key information that comprise a marketing plan include:

• Company information : highlighting its relevance to the strategy in place
• Company, market, and competitor research: isolating and informing high-value marketing opportunities
• Concrete marketing plans: outlining goals, activities, and resources for enabling success

Marketing plans are typically laid out over a year but can change depending on the team’s objectives—the more frequently you need to create one, the more valuable it becomes to do it efficiently. This is where a marketing plan template comes in handy.

A marketing plan template is a tool used to build a comprehensive marketing strategy. It mainly eliminates the manual work of identifying and structuring the key information we outlined above. This allows you to focus on the actual task of building your marketing strategy, from setting goals and conducting research to identifying activities and resources essential to your campaigns. Our template is designed to cover these essentials while also leaving room for you to tailor content and sections to your specific needs.

Why Are These Important?

Alignment and efficiency are the overarching themes when creating a marketing plan and building an easy marketing plan template. For starters, a marketing plan helps establish a clear set of goals and objectives, which allows teams to optimize their efforts toward the same outcome. It also qualifies as an effective risk management tool when done right by clearly outlining stakeholders and their responsibilities for minimal overlap, as well as budget allocations and projections to ensure that planned activities are equipped to succeed.

When you create a marketing template, you achieve even more efficiency. This allows for more seamless creation of new marketing plans to fit new requirements and continuous learning from using and evaluating an established format.

The difference between a marketing plan and an effective one is subtle yet critical to your success. A basic marketing plan template should be:

•   Simple: by following a straightforward approach, using terms and a structure that’s easy to digest, both for the one creating it as well as those reading it,
• Interesting: with expertly designed layouts or formats that synergize well with the outline/structure and
• Versatile: allowing you to freely and easily add, remove, or rearrange sections and information to make sense of your strategy.

Below, we’ve created two free marketing plan templates that are designed around the above principles.

The Google Slides template is designed for more flexible layouts and more images.

The Google Docs template offers a more straightforward approach.

To begin using either template, click the matching link above and select File > Make a copy.

While you’re free to start populating the template however you like, there are ways to optimize this activity further. Below, we’ve reorganized the various sections in our template so you can populate them in an order that makes sense; these are grouped into five phases: Introduction, Research, two Strategy phases, and Polish. By following this section like a step-by-step guide, you would prioritize sections that inform other parts of the document so that you can complete each part almost in one go.

Introduction

First, fill in your Title Page before navigating to the Company Overview. This is like the ‘About Us’ section of a website and will help stakeholders learn about your business by filling in the following:

• Your Company Name
• Where your company is located (Headquarters)
• Your market category and a summary of the products or services you provide (Category, Products & Services)
• Your Mission Statement

It’s important to create a mission statement if you don’t have one yet—this gives both you and your audience a vivid impression of what your company is about and what it’s trying to achieve, which would be an important piece to understanding why your whole marketing plan can be expected to work. Your goal here is to write a mission statement that is clear and easy to understand.

An option to include information about your team or other specific individuals within the company is included. This would make sense if a specific group of individuals in your company is involved; the alternative implies that the plan may involve efforts from across the entire organization.

After wrapping up your introductory sections, it’s time to collect data to inform your marketing strategy. In this phase, we’ll be looking at your company, your customers, and your competitors and using that to identify your ideal client.

Start with the SWOT Analysis. This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Here is a quick rundown and some guide questions for identifying each section:

• Strengths refer to internal advantages that your company might have over your competition. For example, do you have a strong brand reputation? Do you have a tried-and-tested pipeline and track record for launching successful marketing campaigns? Do you have a sizable budget? How about highly skilled employees?
• Weaknesses outline the opposite—these are factors that might put you at a disadvantage against competitors. These are often related to either a limited budget or a lack of skills or experience.
• Opportunities serve to highlight external factors that you might be able to use to your advantage. Consider this: are there relevant changes to market trends or consumer behavior? Have new market segments emerged? Are there new business models you can utilize in your strategy?
• Threats, on the other hand, are external factors that could negatively affect your business. Look into the following: Have new competitors emerged, or have existing competitors experienced substantial growth or change? Has the economy taken a turn for the worse? Are your customers’ preferences seemingly changing? Are there notable changes in technology or the environment to worry about?

Next, move to Customer Analysis. This is the process of evaluating and understanding different aspects of your consumer base, including their preferences and habits. This is fundamental to your overall strategy, as customer satisfaction almost always directly correlates to greater returns. A customer analysis is mainly broken down into demographics, which relate to their biological, educational, professional, and marital information, and psychographics, which relate to their behaviors, thought processes, and preferences. This also includes exploring various external factors that might influence their purchasing decisions, such as events and the offerings of competitors.

Once that’s finished, navigate to your Competitor Analysis section. This is the process of analyzing competitors who offer similar products or services or operate within the same industry or market as your company. This includes inspecting their overall strategy, including branding, operations, and promotion, identifying strengths and what resonates with their market or yours, and looking into areas where they might be lacking. This helps inform opportunities for your plan to stand out and succeed.

Finally, you can jump back to the Buyer Persona. A buyer persona is a detailed description of your target audience or customer built on the market research you conducted above; this includes existing data on your customers—this would include demographic information, motivations, and behavior, among other details. This helps businesses build a deeper understanding of their audience and is used to anchor marketing, sales, communication, and product development strategies to satisfy a given persona’s needs and preferences. Creating an effective buyer persona now will help build strategy for meaningful engagement.

Strategy-Building (Part 1)

Completing the previous sections should result in a clear picture of your position in the market. You can now use that to build the marketing plan's meat thoroughly. For starters, you will want to find the Goals section—our guide on SMART goals has everything we believe you will need to fill in this part of the plan.

Next, we will be tackling the Marketing Mix in two parts.

Product. In this section, discuss the products and/or services you intend to release or market as part of this strategy. This means outlining various features, design elements, or variants that will be available to customers.

Pricing. This is where you’ll be outlining amounts—how much will each of the products you included previously cost? When determining these, it’s critical that you consider your buyer persona, as well as competitor pricing and any promotions or discounts that might be part of your strategy. This will further increase your products’ perceived value among customers, especially your target market. Tables are a great formatting tool here; you can also link to an external spreadsheet, where you have more room to create a detailed pricing scheme.

Place. This section discusses how you would make products or services available to customers. It includes the method by which sales are generated (e.g., retail, online, direct), as well as strategies for storing, housing, and distributing inventory. Your main consideration here is making sure that your products and services are as convenient and efficient to access as possible in order to sufficiently meet customer demand.

The second part of the marketing mix covers both the Promotion and Marketing Channels sections. This is done so you can cross-reference between the two sections, ensuring that they are updated to synergize with one another.

The Promotion section primarily focuses on how you will help customers understand the value of your products and services, including tools and techniques for providing support across the customer journey (before, during, and after a sale.) A critical consideration here is ensuring the methods align with your goals while respecting your brand identity.

Marketing Channels then focus on the what or where of your promotion plan, which is typically broken down into traditional, digital, retail, and event marketing channels. Building this section relies heaviest on your buyer persona and the specific products and services you’re looking to promote—understanding where you can best reach your existing market or attract new eyes is important here.

Working on these sections first allows you to transition seamlessly to your Unique Value Proposition. Use this section to talk about how or why your products/services are a better choice than the competition. Your customer and competitor analysis would feed a lot of information here.

Strategy-Building (Part 2)

The second phase of your strategy will move between the template's Performance Management and Budget sections.

Under Performance Management , it’s time to identify your Key Metrics. Also known as key performance indicators (KPI) are quantifiable measures that determine your campaign or strategy’s progress or success. To assist with this, look back at your Goals section to see what factors can be represented by numbers and data—for some of these, you may need to derive them from computations of other factors. Common key metrics include total conversions, conversion rate, click-through rate, and social media engagements.

At this point, you can freely work on two sections simultaneously: Monitoring & Evaluation Methods and  Projected Expenses.

Monitoring & Evaluation Methods answers the question of how you will collect the metrics listed. Include relevant tools and data collection methods to be used here.

Projected Expenses refer to an itemized list of unique costs required to execute the strategy. This includes hardware and software needs, resources needed to run online or in-person events and promotions, travel and other logistics, and even compensation for in-house or outsourced manpower. A table is a great way to format information here.

Once all of that is ready, you can begin working on Projected Returns . In this section, you want to outline how this strategy is expected to generate value beyond just the immediate sale of whatever products or services are being offered and how much each of these sources is expected to contribute. From here, you can define your expected return on investment (ROI) by subtracting the total earnings from the costs in your Projected Expenses section.

You will notice that only one section remains—jump back to the early part of the template to work on your Executive Summary. This section combines all of the sections into a big-picture pitch. Your highest priorities here are summarizing your Goals, Marketing Mix, Unique Value Proposition, and Projected Returns sections.

Now that you’ve filled in all template sections double-check everything for errors or omissions.

A marketing plan serves as the blueprint for your success over time. A marketing plan template ensures that you can quickly and expertly craft a strategy while allowing for continuous improvement.

With Workamajig, the premier agency management software , you have an all-in-one solution for planning, organizing, and delegating these efforts and easily transitioning between the phases of every project. Easily adjust your schedule or modify task requirements and assignees to ensure efficiency, and use native reporting tools to measure your progress and identify and address roadblocks along the way.

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Starting a Business

When starting a new business, there are many important decisions to make and many rules and procedures that must be addressed. While there is no single source for all filing requirements, the following steps have been developed to assist you in starting your business.

It is helpful to begin with a business plan. A business plan is a blueprint of every aspect of your business. Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Promotion and Location are just some of the categories to consider when creating a plan. Go to the U.S. Small Business Administration website to find a tutorial on how to create a business plan.

If you would like help deciding on a location for your business, contact the California Business Investment Services unit of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GO-Biz) . The California Business Investment Services unit provides tailored site selection services for businesses, real–estate executives, and site selection consultants.

Choose a business structure. A brief overview of the following types of legal business structures available in California can be found on our Entity Types website:

• Corporation
• Limited Liability Company
• Limited Partnership
• General Partnership
• Limited Liability Partnership
• Sole Proprietorship

Your next step will be to file your tax and employer identification documents .

Most businesses require licenses or permits in order to operate. Please click on each of the resources below to determine if your business requires any licenses or permits.

• CalGOLD (The Gold Standard For Permit Assistance)
• Department of Consumer Affairs

Additional Resources

For additional resources on how to start a business, visit  Starting a Business Checklist webpage and click on the Starting a New Business in California (PDF) brochure.

Resources for People with Disabilities

Department of Rehabilitation Business Enterprises Program Self Employment Program Assistive Technology

California Department of General Services California Commission on Disability Access

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy Self-Employment & Entrepreneurship

Social Security Administration Ticket to Work Welcome to the Ticket to Work Program!  Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS)

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Entrepreneurship Resources for People with Disabilities Starting & Managing

Go-Biz How to Start-Up a Small Business in California

USAGov Start Your Own Business

Resources for Veterans

California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) Veteran Business Ownership and Resources Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) Program Get Certified as a DVBE (Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise)

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Veteran-Owned Businesses Veteran Assistance Programs Office of Veterans Business Development

US Department of Veteran Affairs Get support for your Veteran-Owned Small Business Veteran Entrepreneur Portal VetBiz

Resources for Women and Minority Groups

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Women-Owned Businesses Women's Business Centers

California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls Programs

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Minority-Owned Businesses Business Guide

California Office of the Small Business Advocate Community Partner Resources

California Public Utilities Commission Certification 

US Department of Commerce  Minority Business Development Agency

Disclaimer: The information and links to various websites, including various non–governmental sites, are provided for your convenience. The information on this website is constantly updated; however, there may be omissions or additional requirements not represented here. This is unintentional and does not exempt any individual or institution from complying with the laws and regulations of the State of California and the federal government. Inclusion of links to other websites is not an endorsement of those sites by the California Secretary of State, the State of California or the federal government.

Related Links

• Legislation
• California Codes
• California Regulations
• Private Service Companies

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How to Write a Property Management Business Plan (Free Template)

If you’re looking to start a property management business, you’ve come to the right place. The success of property management companies—or any companies, for that matter—absolutely depends on first creating a well-researched and thorough business plan .

Luckily, this guide aims to help you do just that. First, we’ll explain what a property management business plan encompasses, why you need one, and tips for going about it the right way. Then, we’ll walk you through the recommended business plan outline step-by-step and share details of what to include in each section.

Finally, we’ll send you off with a free template you can download and update with your business’s own information. Creating a business plan was never so easy!

Let’s dive in.

Don’t see the form to download our free property management business plan template? Click here .

What is a property management business plan?

A property management business plan is a document that summarizes your property management business: its current operations, goals for the future, strategies for achieving those goals, and other supporting details.

While you’ll want to create your business plan before launching your businesses, it’s not a one-and-done document. Instead, you should update it yearly and after major company and industry changes.

Why do you need a property management company business plan?

Whether you’re looking to start a new property management company or grow your existing one, you’re probably eager to get started. But while it can feel productive to hit the ground running, a business plan is crucial to drive your strategy and decision-making . It will serve as a roadmap you can refer back to as you get started and grow your business.

Moreover, business plans are also crucial as tools to help sell your property management agency to potential partners, investors, and banks . There’s no point in asking for their support if you can’t show you know what you’re doing, and business plans are one of the best ways to do that.

Finally, beyond mere financial gains, a thorough property management business plan enables you to measure your success accurately and pinpoint areas for improvement . It empowers you to zero in on critical indicators like your budget, local market insights, and expansion opportunities.

How do you write a property management business plan?

Do your research first.

It’s easy to spot the differences between a well-researched business plan and one that was written haphazardly. And those differences will be just as easy to mark in the results your business sees once it’s up and running.

Tailor it to your type of property management business

Chances are, you’re going to start your business plan from a standard template. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s recommended, and we provide a free property management business plan template at the end of this article, if you’re still looking for one.

However, as you fill in your information, be sure to tailor your plan to your specific business. For example, what type of properties does your business manage? Common types of property management include:

• Residential rental property management , including both single-family and multifamily residences
• HOA property management , which typically involves working directly with homeowners’ associations
• Commercial property management , including office, retail, and industrial buildings
• Vacation rental property management , involving managing vacation rentals such as Airbnbs for their owners

Remember your goals

You might wonder whether you really need to include this much detail in your business plan, but remember what you’re hoping to achieve. And we don’t just mean a successful property management agency, but the specific things you’ll use your business plan for.

For example, if you’re hoping to find a partner for your business, your prospects will certainly appreciate a high level of detail in your operations plan. Similarly, potential investors will want to see solid financials.

Use a property management business plan template

Finally, don’t make it harder for yourself than you have to! You’re already going to have to do a significant amount of research, calculations, and brainstorming. Make it easier for yourself by starting with a template you can input specifics to, like the one pictured below:

Don’t have a template already? Scroll to the bottom of the article to download ours!

What is the outline of a property management plan?

Business plans, whether for property management or other industries, tend to follow this standard format:

Executive summary

Company overview, market analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial plan, growth opportunities.

Keep reading for more information on what to include in each section. Or scroll to the bottom of the page to download our business plan template for property management and get started.

What to include in a business plan for property management

Your business plan should begin with an executive summary. This section serves as an introduction to both your business plan and your business , and should include information such as:

• The type of property management you plan to do
• How far along your business is
• Your target market
• Your strategy for achieving these goals

Depending on how thorough you want to be, you could even include a brief overview of every section of your business plan. Your goal should be to give a snapshot of your business that compels your readers—whether they be potential partners, investors, or banks—to finish reading your plan.

Pro tip: Because your executive summary needs to sum up your overall business plan, it’s often easiest to write it last. That way, you’ll have all the details ironed out and won’t forget to include anything.

In this section, you’ll give an overview and analysis of your property management company itself.

To start, explain how your company got started and which of the property management niches we explained above you fit into. You’ll also want to share your legal business structure (for example, sole proprietorship, LLC, C corporation, or S corporation).

The majority of this section, however, should be devoted to your competitive differentiators. What core competencies are you bringing to the market?

A market analysis isn’t only an important addition to your business plan. It’s also absolutely essential that you understand your market inside and out before you even consider launching a property management agency.

To be as thorough as possible, make sure that your market analysis includes specific analyses of your industry, target customers, and competitors.

Industry analysis

Provide an overview of your specific niche of the property management industry. Include as much detail as you can to help you become an expert in your industry, such as:

• Market size (in dollars)
• History of the industry
• Prospected growth

Customer analysis

Who are your target customers? Start with your property management niche, and then get even more specific:

• Residential rental property management → Will you target single-family or multifamily residences? Apartment buildings or individual homes? Affordable housing or high-end residences?
• HOA property management → Do you have specific HOAs in mind?
• Commercial property management → Will you manage office, retail, or industrial buildings?
• Vacation rental property management → Do you want to work with a specific type of vacation rental property or owner?

Be sure to include your target customers’ specific needs, goals, and any other information you can find to build a robust profile. The more detailed you can be, the easier it will be to target them with your services!

Competitive analysis

This is where you analyze your competitors, both direct and indirect:

• Your direct competitors include other property management companies in the same niche as you. These companies will likely be located nearby as well.
• Your indirect competitors include other options your customers have outside of property management agencies. This might include property owners who decide to manage their properties themselves, in-house managers, and even automated tools that claim to take the place of property managers.

After identifying the competition, you’ll want to provide additional information about your direct competitors. Who are their target customers? What services do they offer, and how much do they charge?

Gather as much information as you can, and then perform a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis to identify potential competitive advantages. Your goal is to determine how you’ll outperform your competitors—whether via superior or additional services, lower prices, greater efficiency, or something else.

Remember: If you can’t identify any clear competitive advantages, your customers won’t be able to, either.

So, you have superior property management services at competitive rates. But how do you plan on getting in front of your target customers?

This is where your marketing plan comes in. Think about what marketing channels you’ll use, prioritizing those which will best reach your target customers. Consider both online and offline marketing, including the following options:

• Business cards
• Advertising in local newspapers and relevant magazines
• SEO marketing
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Paid advertising

Creating your business plan has forced you to set some specific goals. How do you plan on meeting them?

This is exactly what your operations plan sets out to cover, with details on both short- and long-term processes.

Your short-term processes will include everything involved in the day-to-day running of your property management business . Again, these tasks will vary drastically depending on your property management niche. However, the following questions are a good starting point:

• Who will be in charge of running the business?
• Do you need to hire any additional staff? If so, how many people and for which roles?
• How will you structure your team?
• What are your service standards?
• Which manuals will you need to develop?
• What property management software will you use?

Once you’ve defined your daily operations, take a step back and think long-term. At any point in your business’s trajectory, do you plan to:

• Hire additional employees?
• Reach a certain sales figure?
• Grow your portfolio?
• Expand to a new location?

Having these long-term goals documented will not only show potential partners and investors that you’re thinking about the future. It will also give you something to refer back to in order to measure your progress.

Your property management business will only be as strong as the team leading it. So, once you’ve assembled the dream team, you’ll want to highlight its strengths in your business plan, paying specific attention to each member’s background, skills, and relevant experience.

If no one on your management team has property management or real estate experience, or your team is lacking in any way, it might be worthwhile to put together an advisory board. This board consists of a handful of mentors who have the experience necessary to guide your business in the right direction (and reassure any potential investors).

And now for everyone’s favorite part: the financial plan.

Specifically, your financial plan should consist of a five-year financial statement. The first year of your financial statement should include monthly and quarterly projections, with the remaining years including annual figures.

What goes in a financial statement? Let’s break it down:

• Profit and loss statement: Also referred to as an income statement, a profit and loss statement subtracts your costs from your revenue to find your profit. As you can imagine, you’re going to be making a lot of calculated assumptions at this point. Try to be as accurate as possible when predicting your costs and revenue. Otherwise, your profit and loss statement won’t paint a very accurate picture.
• Balance sheet: A balance sheet details your business’s assets (what you own) and liabilities (what you owe) in order to provide a snapshot of its finances. Your assets might include office space or software solutions, whereas liabilities would include any loans you’ve taken out to start your business.
• Cash flow statement: A cash flow statement shows how changes in your income and balance sheet affect your cash flow—and your ability to operate in the short- and long-term. Its goal is to show how much money you need to run your business so that you don’t run out of cash.

If you’re just getting started, it may feel too soon to consider growth opportunities. But thinking about your business’s long-term goals and plans is essential to set yourself up for success. After all, you don’t only want to succeed now. You want to make sure you have what’s necessary to succeed for years to come.

On that note, analyze the property management and real estate market in your area to identify growth opportunities for your business over the next five to 10 years, such as:

• Upgrades to your tech stack
• Strategic partnerships
• Expansion plans
• Opportunities to take advantage of new market trends

If you have any supporting documentation that could strengthen your business plan, such as buyer personas for your target customers or more complete financial projections, feel free to attach them in the appendix. That way, the additional information is there for anyone who wants to see it, but it doesn’t clutter up your business plan.

Property management business plan example

Curious about what a business plan for property management looks like? We’re including a property management business plan sample (the company overview, specifically) below to give you an idea:

Want a customizable version? Scroll to the bottom of the article to download our free template!

Download our free property management business plan template

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