business plan definition in marketing

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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 look for performance marketing agency to 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. Complement your goals with website optimization tools (e.g., A/B testing speed with Nostra – check Nostra AI review to learn more) to further improve conversions.

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.

For B2C brands, you can target Facebook and Instagram. Gain Instagram likes to build trust for your brand’s profile and post engaging content on both platforms. Leverage AI social media tools to automate and scale your content plan..

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:

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What is a Business Plan? Definition, Tips, and Templates

Published: June 28, 2024

Years ago, I had an idea to launch a line of region-specific board games. I knew there was a market for games that celebrated local culture and heritage. I was so excited about the concept and couldn't wait to get started.

But my idea never took off. Why? Because I didn‘t have a plan. I lacked direction, missed opportunities, and ultimately, the venture never got off the ground.

And that’s exactly why a business plan is important. It cements your vision, gives you clarity, and outlines your next step.

In this post, I‘ll explain what a business plan is, the reasons why you’d need one, identify different types of business plans, and what you should include in yours.

Table of Contents

What is a business plan?

What is a business plan used for.

• Business Plan Template [Download Now]

Purposes of a Business Plan

What does a business plan need to include, types of business plans.

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A business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines a company's goals, strategies, and financial projections. It provides a detailed description of the business, including its products or services, target market, competitive landscape, and marketing and sales strategies. The plan also includes a financial section that forecasts revenue, expenses, and cash flow, as well as a funding request if the business is seeking investment.

The business plan is an undeniably critical component to getting any company off the ground. It's key to securing financing, documenting your business model, outlining your financial projections, and turning that nugget of a business idea into a reality.

The purpose of a business plan is three-fold: It summarizes the organization’s strategy in order to execute it long term, secures financing from investors, and helps forecast future business demands.

Business Plan Template [ Download Now ]

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What Is a Marketing Plan and How To Write One (+ Template)

Learn the key elements of a marketing plan, access templates to get started, and get tips on how to write an effective plan.

No matter how much you stick to a plan, things go wrong. As the famous quote by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower goes: “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

When it comes to ecommerce, consumer trends shift, circumstances change, and initial experiments don’t always go as planned. All of these things impact your marketing plan. 

Research shows that marketers who proactively write a marketing plan are 356% more likely to report success. So, what does a realistic ecommerce marketing plan look like? And how do you handle unexpected obstacles and overestimations that threaten your company’s marketing strategy? This guide shares the answers.

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is the strategy a business uses to get its products or services in front of its target customer. It includes who the target market is, the channels used to reach them, and the messaging that will help the business sell its products. 

The purpose of a marketing plan isn’t to create a step-by-step, never-fail manual. Rather, it’s a roadmap to help you accomplish the best-case scenario, while also maintaining realistic expectations for your marketing initiatives and establishing backup plans if something doesn’t work.

Marketing plan vs. business plan

A business plan paints a bigger picture of how you plan to run your business. It includes a mission statement, products you’ll launch, and market research. A marketing plan, on the other hand, is a specific document that details how you plan to achieve these wider goals through marketing . 

Marketing plan vs marketing strategy

An overarching marketing strategy details how marketing will drive business results. A marketing plan is the route you’ll use to get there. It’s more specific than a strategy and includes a practical roadmap on how you’ll put your marketing activities into play. 

Free marketing plan template to help you get started

Creating your own marketing plan is no small job. You put hours into customer and competitor research to find the channels likely to have the biggest impact on your marketing goals. You can check out marketing plan examples , but when it comes to creating your own, you can save time with a template.

Ditch the intimidating blank screen by building a marketing plan using Shopify’s free marketing plan template. Use it to guide your marketing strategy, tweaking the template to meet your business needs.

Download the template now

Types of marketing plans

Digital marketing plan.

A digital marketing plan is a specific type of marketing plan that revolves solely around online channels like social media, email, and search engines. It doesn’t include offline channels like billboards or radio ads.

Social media marketing plan

A social media marketing plan focuses specifically on how a business will use social media to reach its target market. It gives you a framework of which channels you’ll use, the types of content you’ll create, whether you’ll invest in social media ads, and how you’ll drive product sales. This can take place either through your online store or a social media storefront such as Facebook and Instagram Shops .

Content marketing plan 

A content marketing plan details how you’ll produce content that turns people into paying customers. This can span multiple formats, including an email newsletter, infographics, product documentation, and user-generated content (such as social media posts). 

Alongside the more traditional elements of a marketing plan, a content-marketing-specific strategy would include:

• Keywords you plan to target
• Who you’ll use to create the content (e.g., freelancers or in-house marketers)
• How you’ll promote and repurpose your content

Offline marketing plan

An offline marketing plan details how a business will reach its target market without using digital channels. This might include billboards, radio ads, direct mail, event sponsorships, and outdoor advertising. 

How to write a marketing plan

Detail your unique value proposition, outline your buyer personas, run a swot analysis, detail product features and benefits, set key performance indicators, outline your marketing funnel.

• Define your marketing channels

Decide on your content formats

• Plan your marketing resources

Create a measurement and optimization plan

A unique value proposition underlines your entire marketing plan. Regardless of the channels and formats you plan to use, consistency is key. Mixed messages on what you sell and what your brand stands for will only confuse potential customers.

A simple way to refine your messaging is to focus on your unique selling point. Costco, for example, is cheaper than its competitors. Harper Wilde’s products are comfier than any other bra retailer. Find the marketing channels each retailer uses and you’ll see messaging centered around its adjective.

Consult your customers if you’re unsure what your value proposition adjective should be. Research is the biggest part of any copywriting process . Survey people who’ve already bought from you, run an Instagram poll to discover why people follow your brand, and see where your competitors’ weaknesses lie. Look for adjectives that crop up frequently during the process.

What overarching goal are you trying to accomplish with the business? Why does it exist? Summarize it in one sentence, and you’ll have a mission statement to inform everything you do, which includes your marketing strategies .

Going overboard with assumptions is a common mistake among marketers. The end result is a marketing plan that doesn’t actually result in revenue.

While data won’t give you a foolproof plan, every assumption is one more bit of uncertainty you’re folding into your marketing goals . If an amazing plan has a 40% chance of holding up to real-world scenarios, one without much rigor—and lots of assumptions—might hold up 10% of the time.

Consult your customer segments and buyer personas to get as much information as you can about the person buying your products, such as: 

• Demographic data (location, age, and income level) 
• Interests, goals, and challenges 
• Channels they use to discover new products

Be careful not to confuse this with your target audience . Children would be the target audience of a toy brand; parents are the buyer persona. The latter is who you’ll be reaching out to with your marketing plan. 

A SWOT analysis helps uncover your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to your competitors. It’s useful to include one as part of your marketing plan because it can help anticipate problems you might encounter, make more data-driven decisions, and spot areas where you can get ahead of your competitors. 

Dive deep into the data you already have about your customer base by investigating marketing analytics , social media audiences, and customer surveys . It reiterates who you’re trying to reach—and more importantly, the triggers that would make them buy your product over a competitor’s.

Remind yourself of your unique selling proposition (USP) throughout this process. Tailor your marketing plan around key takeaways from these. 

Include any special features, competitive advantages, or customer favorites your marketing plan will lean on.

You could have the best mattress in the world—one made with 100 springs and cotton stitching, vigorously tested by sleep experts. But you’d struggle to market it if you lean too heavily on product features. A customer cares more about getting a peaceful night’s sleep than detailed product specifications.

“Every great marketing plan needs one thing first: a product that is 10 times better than the next,” says Nick Saltarelli, co-founder of Mid-Day Squares . “Once you have that, marketing is about deep human connections.”

Nick says, “It felt obvious that there was a sweet spot somewhere in between: people who wanted to follow along, and a true behind-the-scenes look into building a massive chocolate business from the ground up.”

As a result, the Mid-Day Squares marketing plan doesn’t prioritize product promotion. The brand instead “focuses on getting people to fall in love with us, the founders, to scale the human connection,” Nick says.

What are you trying to achieve with your marketing plan? Create both short- and long-term business goals that relate to financial metrics like revenue growth, retention , or new customers .

Most marketers measure success using return on investment (ROI) —the revenue you expect to generate after spending your marketing budget. It’s every marketer’s dream to get $100,000 in sales from $1,000 in marketing spend. While that isn’t the most realistic expectation, knowing your target ROI will prevent overspending. If your ROI is hurtling beyond your predictions, you can better allocate that budget to be spent elsewhere.

But there’s more to marketing measurement than dollar returns. Revenue isn’t always the end goal. Brand awareness, website traffic, and social media followers are short-term marketing objectives that aim to get new people into your marketing funnel. Nail them early on and you set your business up for success later down the road.

Not everyone will see your products and convert into a customer instantly. Most people progress through a sales funnel. Content that will make someone progress to the next stage depends on the one they’re currently in. 

If you were to use Facebook ads to sell your products to a generic audience modeled on your buyer persona, for example, you might not get the highest conversion rate. These people don’t know who you are, what you stand for, or why they should choose you over a competitor. 

But if you used Facebook ads to specifically target people at the bottom of your marketing funnel, you could use retargeting ads to show items someone had in their shopping cart. You’re bound to get a better return on your investment with this strategy because you’re only investing money into reaching people who just need a final nudge to convert. 

Let’s break down how you might outline your marketing funnel in a marketing plan. 

Top of the funnel (TOFU)

People at the top of your marketing funnel don’t understand who you are or what you sell. Social media, podcasts, and video content play huge roles here. Each channel is used by potential customers looking to learn or be inspired.

For this stage, prioritize metrics that give insight into how people are engaging with your top-funnel content, such as:

• Video views
• Website clicks
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Cost per click (CPC)

Middle of the funnel (MOFU)

People reach the middle of the funnel when they know they have a problem that needs to be solved. Look at the marketing channels and formats you’re using to target these people. Most often, it’s search engines and retargeted ads.

Google Analytics is your best bet here. While the dashboard can feel overwhelming for a lot of people, you don’t need to look at every report. Use the following metrics to see how people engage with your middle-funnel content:

• Bounce rate
• Pages per session 
• Users by traffic source
• Email subscriber conversion rate 

To track the data above, especially for advertising campaigns, add the Meta pixel to all pages of your store.

Bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

Going for the hard sell? For marketing messages where the only goal is to convert your audience into paying customers, consult the back end of your ecommerce store. It’s home to sales and product-related data that helps you understand whether your marketing plan is successful, such as:

• Added to cart conversion rate
• Average order value (AOV)
• Number of orders
• Reached checkout conversion rate
• Sales conversion rate

Post-funnel and retention

Planning to build a steady stream of paying customers off the back of your ecommerce marketing plan? It's easy to assume revenue growth comes from audience growth. But oftentimes, the easiest way to grow your revenue is by focusing on the people we forget about: existing customers.

Resist the temptation to focus on flashy metrics like social media followers and YouTube subscribers. Instead, involve existing customers in your marketing plan. Use them as a source of testimonials and word-of-mouth referrals.

“Happy customers have been powerful word-of-mouth catalysts for our brand, and it has made sense to keep them engaged,” says Chris Campbell, partner at The Charming Bench Company . “We’ve been getting a steady stream of five-star ratings on websites and social media, which we then share on our Facebook, X [formerly known as Twitter], Pinterest, and Instagram profiles. It’s a great alternative to pushing loud sales messages that don’t always work.”

Define your marketing channels 

Channels are the platforms you’ll use as part of your marketing plan. Go back to your market research and uncover the online and offline channels your target audience is using to shop and get entertained or inspired.

Some of the most popular channels for ecommerce businesses include:

• Social media . Social media is used by more than six out of 10 people . Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are free to use (on the whole) and help brands reach their target audience. 
• Search engines . Some 44% of online shoppers start their product research on search engines. By making search engine optimization (SEO) part of your marketing plan, you can generate new business by reaching people when they’re actively looking for your products or services.
• Email marketing  and  SMS marketing . Email and text message inboxes are two of the most sacred places for a marketer to reach. A phone number or email address gives you a direct line of communication with your target customers, if they opt in to hear from you.
• Podcasts . Record conversations you have with your team, customers, or experts in the industry and share them with your audience. By establishing yourself or your brand as a thought leader in your industry, you’ll inspire confidence that in turn builds trust in your products.
• Offline channels. While digital marketing is vital in today’s world, offline and in-person marketing efforts can be equally powerful. Get in front of people when they’re not online, using channels like word-of-mouth recommendations , radio, billboards and outdoor advertising , or TV marketing campaigns.

There’s a sweet spot to how many channels your marketing plan should include. Go too wide and you burn resources on channels with poor returns. But become too reliant on one channel and you’re at risk.

Algorithms power most digital marketing channels. They’re praised as the type of technology that delivers personalized experiences for their users, but any changes to an algorithm can make marketing plans utterly useless overnight.

“If you rely on SEO, then any algorithm updates could potentially cut your revenue for months before you recover,” explains Marquis Matson, VP of Growth at Sozy . “If you rely on paid ads, then any changes to privacy policies can cut your revenue. If you rely on email marketing, then any ESP  [email service provider]  policy changes can cut your revenue. Diversifying your acquisition is crucial in a fast-paced digital marketing world.”

Footwear brand Hippy Feet is one ecommerce brand that failed to diversify channels. “The original marketing plan was to drive traffic to our Shopify store through ads—relying heavily on paid Facebook and Instagram traffic,” says Sam Harper, Hippy Feet’s co-founder and CEO. “While this is still a major component of our marketing strategy, the decreasing effectiveness of these ads has forced us to expand our marketing efforts.

“A diverse media strategy is crucial to helping an ecommerce business survive in this highly-dynamic market. By driving traffic through SEO, email, and media coverage, we’re more resilient and less impacted by a single tech platform changing their algorithm.”

For each channel, define which content formats you’ll use to capture attention and drive website traffic. That could include:

• Audio. Reach podcast and radio listeners with audio content. 
• Images. Capture visual learners and shoppers on visually dominant social media sites with infographics, GIFs, and memes.
• Video. Get listed on YouTube , the world's second largest search engine, with explainer videos and product demonstrations. Many social media platforms— Instagram and TikTok included—are also evolving to prioritize video content. 
• Written content. Most search engine results retrieve links to optimized written content, such as blogs , transcripts, or landing pages .

Content marketing is a beast that constantly needs to be fed. Customers want newer, fresher, more exciting content on a regular basis. That’s demanding for a small business to keep up with.

If this sounds unsustainable, consider a content marketing strategy that collects user-generated content (UGC) from existing customers. The more they share their experiences with others, the more content you have to repurpose on each channel. It’s an effective route to scale your content marketing plan and stretch your editorial calendar if your marketing department has limited resources. Don’t have time to invest in promoting the content you create? Partner with popular influencers in your niche—those whose loyal audience overlaps with your target market .

Your marketing budget is the dollar amount you expect to spend executing your marketing plan. If you’re bootstrapped, you can run a marketing plan on a tight budget .

As part of your own marketing plan, state whether you intend to use each channel organically or boost it with advertising. Most channels allow businesses to run sponsored content, which is guaranteed to reach your target market across online and offline channels, like door-to-door sales , social media, TV, billboards, and radio.

“I apply for any competitions, press opportunities, and awards to get my small business out there at any given opportunity,” says Terri-Anne Turton, founder of The Tur-Shirt Company . 

The strategy has worked: The Tur-Shirt Company has won a Junior Design Award for best fashion newcomer and a shoutout from media entrepreneur Steven Bartlett after entering his #DeserveToBeFound competition with Facebook.

“I focus on those my target market knows of to build credibility,” says Terri-Anne. “Plus, most of the awards I enter are free or low-cost; they just need some time investment and creativity to take part. It proves my USP to my target market—that my kids’ clothing products are unique—without investing thousands into advertising.”

While you can run a strategy with little to no budget, this section of your marketing plan needs to account for more than any planned advertising spend. Time is a resource that needs to be managed and accounted for. Be sure to detail how much time you plan to spend executing your marketing strategy.

If you have a designated marketing team, it’s also worth noting who will be responsible for each element of your marketing plan. Who’s responsible for this marketing plan? Which team members are executing it? What experience do they have with marketing?

More importantly, detail what you expect from the resources you’re putting into your marketing plan. If you plan to spend $40,000 throughout the coming year, how much revenue will you get in return? If you’re producing a marketing plan for a large or public company, this is what stakeholders really want to see.

Go back to the KPIs (key performance indicators) you set in the earlier section of your marketing plan. How will you determine whether you’ve met these KPIs? What happens if you’re exceeding or falling short of your target? It’s good to have a plan of action for either case.

Let’s put that into practice and say you expected to increase sales by 20% through your social media marketing plan. Detail exactly how you’d measure this, for example, you could say, “we’ll look at our Shopify sales report once per month and analyze which channel is meeting this KPI. If a channel falls behind, we’ll evaluate why and either adjust our marketing plan or deprioritize it in favor of more effective channels.” 

The best marketers approach their plans with an open mind. The hypothesis you started with might be proven wrong. Don’t take that as a negative. You just got closer to finding what will work. 

Tips for creating your marketing plan

Set conservative expectations.

While it’s good to approach your marketing goals with confidence, high expectations often lead to disappointment when we fail to meet them. That disappointment is magnified in a marketing plan, as stakeholders or founders will have already bought into unrealistic predictions and business objectives.

Start small

Don’t overwhelm yourself and your team by trying to generate results with all marketing tactics at once: running Facebook ads, tweeting like crazy, writing daily blog posts for SEO, and making constant changes to site and content strategy to improve your conversion rate.

If you’re very lucky, one of these tactics will bring you consistent traffic and sales. But more often than not, trying everything at once will make you extremely busy without anything to show for it.

Take it from Jameela Ghann, owner of Alora : “When we first started Alora, 10 years ago, our marketing plan was unrealistic. We were just a couple of people making plans that were good on paper but almost impossible to execute with a small team.” 

Originally, Jameela’s team planned to invest in several marketing channels—online and offline advertising, PR, trade shows, influencer marketing, and blogging included. However, the team changed its marketing plan. They went deep on one channel instead of spreading resources too thin by trying to be everywhere at once.

“We stuck to one course of action that was where our customers were, and ready to buy, and easiest for us to see a good ROI,” Jameela says. “What really worked for us was focusing on a handful of channels that we knew we could do well.”

Go back to your audience research and identify three channels your target audience uses most often. Put most of your energy into perfecting those before overcomplicating things with a more comprehensive marketing plan.

Use historical data as a guide

Past performance can help you temper your expectations for your marketing plan. If you know your click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads is 0.1%, don’t stray too far from that baseline with your social media marketing .

The same goes for website content optimized for search : If you’re currently getting 10,000 visitors per month from Google, scaling your traffic up to a million is a tough battle. Instead, 50,000 visitors is a more achievable goal.

Allow for flexibility

The purpose of a marketing plan isn’t to create a never-fail manual. Whether your marketing team has fallen victim to completion bias or focused too heavily on one channel, sticking rigidly to your original plan can be a big mistake.

Imine Martinez, assistant manager at Rainbowly , says: “Our regular campaigns targeting mainly birthday celebrations and anniversaries offered poor return on ad spend and inconsistent results over the months.

“That said, during festive seasons, such as Christmas or New Year’s, our targeted campaigns were particularly profitable, achieving five times return on ad spend with much cheaper cost per click and impression.”

Continuing with the same marketing strategies despite this data would only have resulted in heartbreak. Rainbowly would be pouring money down the drain on ads that wouldn’t perform, just because its marketing plan said to do so.

Creating a marketing plan is the first step

A lot of hard work goes into a successful marketing plan. To create an attainable one, you’ll need to spend hours diving into competitive research, audience data, and channels your target market consults when researching new products.

Most importantly, know that marketing is unpredictable. There are thousands of scenarios that fundamentally change the marketing strategy that’s best for your business. Global pandemics, PR crises, and the emergence of new social media platforms are unpredictable.

Treat your marketing plan like the best-case scenario. Plan SMART goals and strategies but remember to be flexible to give your marketing the best chance of success.

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Marketing plan FAQ

How much does a marketing plan cost, how often should a marketing plan be reviewed, what are the 4 steps of a marketing plan.

• Conduct market research
• Outline your marketing channels and formats
• Create goals and measure performance

Why is marketing plan important?

What are some marketing plan mistakes.

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What is a Marketing Plan & How To Write One? [Easy Guide]

What is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic guide that helps businesses map out their advertising and promotional strategies to attract prospective customers and connect with their intended audience. It offers clear and detailed direction on how to achieve business objectives through targeted marketing efforts. 

Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan

Understanding the distinction between a marketing plan and a business plan is crucial for any organization aiming to navigate the complexities of strategic planning and resource allocation.

• Marketing Plan: This is a focused document dedicated to the marketing segment of an organization’s strategy. It meticulously outlines the marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics that will be employed to achieve the desired market presence and customer engagement. 
• Business Plan: A business plan has a broader scope, encompassing every facet of the company’s operations. While it includes marketing, it also delves into finance, operations, human resources, and more, providing a comprehensive overview of the entire business. 

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

Differentiating between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan is essential for implementing effective marketing operations within a business. These two elements, while closely related, serve distinct functions in the marketing process.

• Marketing Strategy: This aspect defines the overarching approach and long-term vision for a company’s engagement in the market. Each element of the marketing strategy is designed to align with the company’s top-level goals and contribute to realizing its vision statement. In essence, the marketing strategy answers the “what” and “why” behind a company’s marketing efforts, outlining what the company aims to achieve and why those goals are important.
• Marketing Plan: In contrast, the marketing plan focuses on the “how” of reaching strategic objectives. It is a practical document that outlines specific actions, timelines, and resources required to execute the marketing strategy. It details the campaigns, channels, tools, and tactics that will be used to achieve the strategic goals outlined in the marketing strategy. 

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Types of Marketing Plans

Marketing plans vary depending on their focus, scope, and objectives. Understanding the different types of plans is crucial for businesses aiming to target their marketing efforts and resources effectively. Here are some of the key types:

• Go-to-market/Product Launch: This plan is specifically designed to introduce a new product. It outlines the target audience, market entry strategy, and advertising tactics to be employed.
• Social Media : A social media plan is tailored to the unique dynamics of social media platforms. It details the advertising strategies to be used on these platforms, focusing on engaging with users and leveraging specific features to maximize reach and impact.
• General Marketing Strategic Plan / Annual Marketing Plan: This comprehensive plan covers a company’s overall marketing activities for the entire year. It encompasses various marketing efforts and campaigns, outlining a cohesive strategy that supports the company’s annual goals.
• Content Marketing Plan : Focused on content creation and distribution, this plan outlines the strategies, campaigns, and tactics for using content to achieve business objectives. It details how different types of content (blog posts, videos, infographics) will be used to attract and engage the target audience.
• SEO Marketing Plan: Dedicated to search engine optimization, this plan outlines the strategies and actions to improve a website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It focuses on keyword research, content optimization, link building, and other tactics to drive organic traffic to the website.

Benefits of a Marketing Plan

Having a structured plan is invaluable. It acts as a strategic roadmap, guiding businesses toward achieving their goals through well-organized and monitored marketing activities. 

Here are five important benefits of creating a marketing plan:

• Goal Setting: It allows your business to define clear marketing objectives and set measurable targets. This facilitates focused efforts toward lead generation, sales increase, market share expansion, brand awareness, and customer acquisition.
• Strategic Direction: The plan provides a detailed outline of your promotional strategy, helping identify the target audience, their preferences, and the best methods to reach and engage them effectively.
• Competitive Advantage: A plan helps you articulate and leverage your unique selling proposition (USP), ensuring you stand out in the market and secure a competitive edge.
• Consistency and Integration: The plan fosters consistency and integration in marketing efforts, ensuring a unified brand message and customer experience across all marketing channels and touchpoints,
• Long-term Sustainability: A comprehensive plan not only focuses on immediate goals but also lays the groundwork for sustained growth and adaptability to market evolution, customer demands, and emerging trends.

How To Write a Marketing Plan

• Create a mission statement

The foundation of any effective marketing plan begins with a clear and concise mission statement. This crucial step sets the stage for all subsequent planning by articulating the core purpose and direction of your company’s marketing efforts. A mission statement serves as a compass, guiding your marketing strategies and ensuring they align with your organization’s broader goals.

Developing a mission statement is more than just a formality; it’s a strategic exercise that clarifies your marketing vision and sets a purposeful path for your team. With a compelling mission statement in place, you can craft a plan that resonates with your audience and drives your business toward its long-term objectives.

• Set your goals/KPIs

Establishing clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) is a pivotal step in crafting a marketing plan that aligns with your company’s value proposition and ensures measurable success. This stage involves setting financial and non-financial objectives to guide your marketing efforts and evaluate their effectiveness.

Marketers who set specific goals are significantly more likely to report success. By defining financial and non-financial objectives, you create a comprehensive framework for guiding your marketing strategies. This dual focus not only drives economic value but also fosters qualitative improvements in your marketing efforts, ensuring a balanced approach to achieving your company’s vision.

• Identify Your Target Market

Pinpointing your target market is a crucial step in any marketing plan. Understanding who your product or service is for and why forms the backbone of your marketing efforts and influences decisions on marketing channels, content creation, and overall outreach strategies.

A key outcome of market research is the development of buyer personas. These semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers are crafted based on real data and insights about your existing clientele. Buyer personas detail your target market’s characteristics, needs, and motivations, offering a detailed profile that guides your marketing strategies.

• Conduct Competitive Analysis

Conducting a competitive analysis is integral to crafting a robust marketing plan. This process involves identifying your main competitors, understanding their strategies, and evaluating how your business can establish a distinctive and superior position in your niche. Through this analysis, you’ll gain insights into the competitive landscape, helping you to leverage your own strengths and identify areas for improvement.

Understanding both the internal and external factors that influence your market positioning is crucial. They include:

• Internal factors: Examine what could impact your competitive advantage, such as your team’s expertise, proprietary technology, or customer service practices.
• External factors: Look beyond your immediate competitive environment to broader market conditions that could affect your position. This includes economic trends, regulatory changes, and technological advancements.
• Economic considerations: Assess how the current economic climate might influence consumer purchasing behavior and, consequently, your market strategy.
• Sociological trends: Understand shifting societal values, lifestyles, and consumer behaviors and how they offer new market opportunities.
• Industry trends: Keep an eye on overarching trends within your industry, including emerging technologies, shifts in consumer preferences, and new regulatory frameworks.
• Set Your Budget

Your marketing budget is the planned amount of money you’ll spend to achieve your marketing goal. Knowing the financial resources you have available for marketing activities allows you to craft a plan that maximizes impact while maintaining fiscal responsibility. This financial foresight prevents overspending and ensures that every dollar spent contributes to achieving your marketing objectives.

This overview should include all sources of funding and any constraints or stipulations attached to them. Having a comprehensive understanding of your financial resources sets the groundwork for all subsequent planning and decision-making.

• Execute your Plan

Execution involves the detailed scheduling of marketing activities, assigning responsibilities to team members, and setting deadlines that align with the marketing plan’s timelines. It’s about bringing the plan to life through a series of coordinated efforts, from launching advertising campaigns to engaging with customers on social media platforms. This phase is where the theoretical aspects of the plan, such as target audience engagement and brand messaging, are put into practice through concrete actions like content creation, digital marketing, and promotional events.

In conclusion, a well-crafted marketing plan is the linchpin of successful marketing efforts, offering a strategic blueprint that guides businesses through the intricate landscape of market engagement and customer interaction. From the initial stages of understanding the marketing plan’s scope and its relationship with the overarching business strategy to the detailed planning and execution of marketing activities, each step is vital in steering an organization toward its desired market position.

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Marketing Plan

A document that lays out the marketing efforts of a business in an upcoming period

What is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a document that lays out the marketing efforts of a business in an upcoming period, which is usually a year. It outlines the marketing strategy, promotional, and advertising activities planned for the period.

Elements of a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan will typically include the following elements:

Marketing objectives of the business : The objectives should be attainable and measurable – two goals associated with SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Current business marketing positioning : An analysis of the current state of the organization concerning its marketing positioning.

Market research : Detailed research about current market trends, customer needs, industry sales volumes, and expected direction.

Outline of the business target market : Business target market demographics.

Marketing activities : A list of any actions concerning marketing goals that are scheduled for the period and the indicated timelines.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) to be tracked

Marketing mix : A combination of factors that may influence customers to purchase products. It should be appropriate for the organization and will largely be centered on the 4Ps of marketing – i.e., product, price, promotion, and place.

Competition : Identify the organization’s competitors and their strategies, along with ways to counter competition and gain market share .

Marketing strategies : The development of marketing strategies to be employed in the coming period. These strategies will include promotional strategies, advertising, and other marketing tools at the disposal of the organization.

Marketing budget : A detailed outline of the organization’s allocation of financial resources to marketing activities. The activities will need to be carried out within the marketing budget .

Monitoring and performance mechanism : A plan should be in place to identify if the marketing tools in place are bearing fruit or need to be revised based on the past, current, and expected future state of the organization, industry, and the overall business environment.

A marketing plan should observe the 80:20 rule – i.e., for maximum impact, it should focus on the 20% of products and services that account for 80% of volumes and the 20% of customers that bring in 80% of revenue.

Purpose of a Marketing Plan

The purpose of a marketing plan includes the following:

• To clearly define the marketing objectives of the business that align with the corporate mission and vision of the organization. The marketing objectives indicate where the organization wishes to be at any specific period in the future.
• The marketing plan usually assists in the growth of the business by stating appropriate marketing strategies, such as plans for increasing the customer base.
• State and review the marketing mix in terms of the 8Ps of marketing – Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical Evidence, and Performance.
• Strategies to increase market share, enter new niche markets, and increase brand awareness are also encompassed within the marketing plan.
• The marketing plan will contain a detailed budget for the funds and resources required to carry out activities indicated in the marketing plan.
• The assignment of tasks and responsibilities of marketing activities is well enunciated in the marketing plan.
• The identification of business opportunities and any strategies crafted to exploit them is important.
• A marketing plan fosters the review and analysis of the marketing environment, which entails market research, customer needs assessment, competitor analysis, PEST analysis , studying new business trends, and continuous environmental scanning.
• A marketing plan integrates business functions to operate with consistency – notably sales, production, finance, human resources, and marketing.

Structure of a Marketing Plan

The structure of a marketing plan can include the following sections:

Marketing Plan Objectives

This section outlines the expected outcome of the marketing plan with clear, concise, realistic, and attainable objectives. It contains specific targets and time frames.

Metrics, such as target market share, the target number of customers to be attained, penetration rate, usage rate, sales volumes targeted, etc. should be used.

Market Research – Market Analysis/Consumer Analysis

Market analysis includes topics such as market definition, market size, industry structure, market share and trends, and competitor analysis. Consumer analysis includes the target market demographics and what influences their buying decisions – e.g., loyalty, motivation, and expectations.

Target Market

This defines the target customers by their demographic profile, such as gender, race, age, and psychographic profile, such as their interests. This will assist in the correct marketing mix for the target market segments.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis will look at the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis includes the following:

• Strengths are the organization’s competitive advantages that are not easily duplicated. They represent the skills, expertise, and efficiencies that an organization possesses over its competitors.
• Weaknesses are impediments found in the operations of an organization, and they stifle growth. These can include outdated machinery, inadequate working capital, and inefficient production methods.
• Opportunities are prospects for growth in the business through the adoption of ways to take advantage of the chances. They could include entry into new markets, adopting digital marketing strategies, or following new trends.
• Threats are external factors that can affect the business negatively, such as a new powerful competitor, legislative changes, natural disasters, or political situations.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy section covers actual strategies to be included according to the marketing mix. The strategy centers on the 8Ps of marketing. However, firms are also at liberty to use the traditional 4 P’s of marketing – product, price, place, and promotion. The 8 P’s are illustrated below.

The correct marketing mix is determined by the target market. The most expensive options are advertising, sales promotions, and PR campaigns. Networking and referrals are less costly.

Marketers also need to pay attention to digital marketing strategies that make use of technology to reach a wider market and have also proven to be cost-effective.

Digital marketing channels, which became popular in the early 21 st century, may eventually overtake traditional marketing methods. Digital marketing encompasses trending methods, such as the use of social media for business.

Other strategies within the marketing strategy include pricing and positioning strategy, distribution strategy, conversion strategy, and retention strategy.

Marketing Budget

The marketing budget or projection outlines the budgeted expenditure for the marketing activities documented in the marketing plan. The marketing budget consists of revenues and costs stated in the marketing plan in one document.

It balances expenditures on marketing activities and what the organization can afford. It’s a financial plan of marketing activities to be carried out – e.g., promotional activities, cost of marketing materials and advertising, and so on. Other considerations include expected product volume and price, production and delivery costs, and operating and financing costs.

The effectiveness of the marketing plan depends on the budget allocated for marketing expenditure. The cost of marketing should be able to make the company break even and make profits.

Performance Analysis

Performance analysis aims to look at the variances of metrics or components documented in the marketing plan.  These include:

Revenue variance analysis : An analysis of positive or negative variance of revenue. A negative variance is worrisome, and reasons should be available to explain the cause of deviations.

Market share analysis : An analysis of whether the organization attained its target market share. Sales may be increasing whilst the organization’s share of the market is decreasing; hence, it is paramount to track this metric.

Expense analysis : An analysis of marketing expense to sales ratio . This ratio needs to be compared to industry standards to make informed comparisons.

The ratio enables the organization to track actual expenditures versus the budget. It is also compared to other metrics, such as revenue analysis and market share analysis. It can be dissected into individual expenditures to sales to get a clearer picture.

Administration of a Marketing Plan

The marketing plan should be revised and adapted to changes in the environment periodically. The use of metrics, budgets, and schedules to measure progress towards the goals set in the marketing plan is a continuous process by marketing personnel.

There should be a continuous assessment to verify that the goals of the marketing plan are being achieved. The marketing manager should be able to review if the strategies documented are being effective, given the operating environment.

It is irrational for the marketing manager to notice anomalies and wait to review at year-end when the situation might have already deteriorated.

Changes in the environment may necessitate a review of plans, projections, strategies, and targets. Therefore, a formal periodical review – such as monthly or quarterly – may need to be in place. This may mean preparing an annual marketing plan but reviewing the plan quarterly to keep targets and plans aligned closely to environmental changes. It goes without saying that plans are as good as their feasibility to succeed in the given environment.

More Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Marketing Plan. To keep learning and advancing your career, the additional CFI resources below will be useful:

• 4 P’s of Marketing
• Market Research
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
• Competitive Advantage
• See all management & strategy resources
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How to create a marketing plan in 2024

7 steps to creating an effective marketing plan for businesses of all sizes

A marketing plan is a bit like a job description for your company. Everyone should have one, but they’re often not fit for purpose, out of date, and reviewed infrequently...

Research has shown that businesses with plans succeed, outperform competitors, and retain staff, more than those with no plan.

Without a plan there’s no direction for the company or its employees, decisions can be uninformed, opportunities can be missed and threats can damage or destroy the business.

Whether you are looking at creating a traditional marketing plan or a multichannel digital marketing plan, we've got resources to help you.

Free marketing plan template aimed at small businesses

In this article, Annmarie Hanlon recommends 7 simple steps for structuring a classic marketing plan. But for an SME or SMB, you need a little more detail about prioritizing your investment of time and money in your communications channels as we've mentioned.

Our Free marketing plan template download , by our co-founder Dr. Dave Chaffey who developed the RACE Planning Framework, provides a little more detail needed for a 'real-world' plan to grow a business.

Free marketing plan template download

Use our simple three-page Microsoft Word template if you work for a small business who needs to create a simple, practical marketing plan quickly. It's structured in three sections of steps using the acclaimed RACE Growth System for improving marketing results

Access the Free marketing plan template

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is your place to document the process of defining and implementing your marketing strategy and creating a roadmap for future growth and business development. A marketing plan should be customer-centred, focused on your target audience and the value propositions you will deliver to them.

The key element of marketing strategy within the plan that you need to compete effectively is the Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning strategy for your brand, known as STP for short. These stages in target marketing strategy development that should be central in your marketing plan are summarized in Figure 4.10 in Digital Marketing: Strategy, Development and Planning created by Dave Chaffey of Smart Insights.

Your plan must reference Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning as essential sections you must cover in a classic marketing plan for a large business. However, for smaller businesses, you also need more practical strategies for how you will reach and engage your audiences using the key digital marketing channels today including search, social media and email marketing and then how you will persuade and convert your audience on a website or on your social pages. So, for a small or medium business (SME or SMB depending on where you are reading) your marketing plan must also include communications strategies to help you achieve your goals. That's why Smart Insights created the RACE planning framework to give guidance on how to best plan and action best practices for these channels.

How to create and structure a marketing plan

To structure your marketing plan, we recommend utilizing the Smart Insights RACE Growth System, an easy-to-use strategic marketing framework that helps you identify opportunities, strategies, and actions to help you drive growth, at each stage of your marketing funnel.

As the visual shows, our OSA process, of which you can see examples in different sectors in our editable Word plan templates, is structured in three parts:

• Opportunity : Situation review including marketplace analysis (customers, competitors and channel partners), performance analysis and Vision and SMART Objective setting based on forecasting (spreadsheet tools available in our templates)
• Strategy : Segmentation, Targeting and Positoning (STP) and the tactics forming the 7Ps of the marketing mix.
• Action : Budget, resourcing including team and tools and marketing technology (Martech) and 90-day action plans.

As a marketer, every activity will fall into either an opportunity, strategy, or action. With a strong marketing plan in place, you will be able to measure each of these elements, and more importantly, ensure all marketing activities remain integrated.

Some marketing plans, such as this Chartered Institute of Marketing recommendation on How to write a marketing plan define more stages, but particularly for smaller businesses we believe the simpler  Opportunity > Strategy > Action enables you to communicate your plan better!

Identify marketing opportunities

Let's now look at what you need to include in your plan, starting with your opportunities. A marketing plan is not just a list of activities to work on! To identify the opportunities to prioritize and challenges to overcome. You need to start with internal audits, external analysis, and goal setting - to give your marketing a purpose. We recommend summarizing your key issues based on a TOWs analysis which is a powerful form of SWOT analysis explained in our post giving SWOT analysis template examples .

Through our RACE Planning Framework, you can access tools and templates designed to help you optimize across 25 opportunities, integrated across each stage of RACE, which you can see in the infographic below:

Starting with these holistic approaches, you will quickly identify opportunities for growth and can plan strategies and actions that help you achieve your vision for your business. That's why opportunities are the first step in our OSA cycle.

Identify marketing strategies

Now you know what you want to do, strategy is working out how to achieve your goals in an efficient and effective manner. To do so, you'll likely lean on guides, templates, and models to inform your strategy.

Making good business decisions to inform your budgets, investment priorities, and key metrics are all elements of a successful marketing strategy.

Marketing plan actions

Of course, the final stage of any marketing strategy is putting it all into place!

To help you manage your time and marketing outputs, our RACE Growth System is structured around short 90-day planning cycles. This means you will see quarterly growth, as well as setting longer-term annual goals.

Quarterly measurement and reporting allow marketers and business owners to spot trends and make optimizations in a shorter timeframe too, to keep cycling customers through your dedicated marketing funnel experience.

Example marketing plan structure

It can be daunting to develop a marketing plan for the first time, so let's walk through the basics together. If you're looking for a practical, simple, data-driven marketing plan, these 7 factors will help you create and action your plan with success.

Step 1. Customer analysis (Opportunity)

A good plan starts by asking 'Where are we now?'. Gain an overview via your customers, but don’t forget to ask the right questions. One of my pet hates is the ‘hypothetical question’ e.g. A hotel asking “if you would stay here again?” It’s possible you would stay there again, but if it’s been a one-off visit it’s very unlikely it will actually happen. Removing hypothetical questions ensures you capture facts, not fiction.

If you’ve got a start-up business or are looking at a marketing plan for a totally new area, many other research resources are available including online reports, insights via trends and conferences. This informs your business decision and ensures the plan is fundamentally sound.

Step 2. Marketing audit (Opportunity)

After you’ve captured customer insights, the next step is a comprehensive review or audit of the business. Most countries publish statistical data on businesses in their region. This can tell you the number of businesses in specific sectors, average numbers of employees, average earnings, average income per household and more. This valuable information highlights market values, market potential and opportunities. This enables you to understand where your business sits in its market sector and the market share available.

A key element of the audit is the SWOT and whilst you and many marketers are familiar with the SWOT analysis, you may be less familiar with the McKinsey 7S framework of business. Taking a holistic look at the business, thinking about Strategy, Structure, Systems, Staff, Style, Skills and Shared values forms a base for your SWOT. Business members can access a 7S and SWOT template in the smart insigths Business marketing plan guide .

Part of a marketing audit is competitor benchmarking. Really understanding what the competitors offer. The more you understand how they work, the more likely you are to be able to predict their next move. You won’t be one of these companies that says “we never saw it coming”. Tools such as Google Alerts help you embed this as an automatic ongoing process.

One of my clients ensured they always got the early news on their key competitor by buying some of their shares! It meant they had access to latest reports, and newsletters and could attend annual meetings to hear what other shareholders thought. This was all for an investment of £150.

Step 3. Create sustainable objectives: Where do we want to go? (Opportunity)

It’s easy to create general objectives; it’s harder to develop SMART objectives.

Taking this one stage further, businesses that use numbers alone often miss key values inside the business. It’s easy to become numbers-driven; it’s harder to create ‘softer’ objectives. In Emarketing Excellence (2022), Dave Chaffey and PR Smith developed the 5s model, initially as a mechanism for reviewing websites. I’ve used this for many years to develop business objectives. It tends to challenge the thinking within a business and gets the owners and managers considering the business as a whole, rather than sales alone.

Look at your business. Do you have SMART objectives for:

• The sales forecast; sales figures, number of new clients wanted?
• Customer service; how can you improve the service to customers?
• Communication (speak) providing information to clients?
• Saving time, increasing your business efficiency and reducing costs?
• The wow factor! Adding sizzle to make your business stand out from the crowd?

Step 4. Segment your customer base (Strategy)

Key strategic initiatives for your business will include one or more of these options:

• Enter new markets
• Develop new products
• Improve the competitive position of the business
• Maintain the competitive position
• Harvest part of the business
• Exit the business

When you know the strategic initiatives the business is taking, it’s easier to segment your customer base, whether you’re B2B, B2C or a blend of both. You can use the mnemonic SUPERB to identify your customer segments:

• Size – Is the market large enough to justify segmenting?
• Unique – Do measurable differences exist between segments?
• Profits – Do anticipated profits exceed the costs of additional marketing plans and other changes?
• Easy Access – Is each segment easily accessible to your team?
• Reaction – Is the market able to react to your communications?
• Benefits – Will the different segments need different benefits?

Step 5. Target new customers and position your business (Strategy)

Growing a business always involves finding new customers, this may be different segments or markets and may encourage your business to look at product development.

What opportunities are there in your business to:

• Sell more of your existing products or services to your existing customer base? (Market Penetration Strategy)
• Introduce your existing product range to a new customer group? (Market Development Strategy)
• Augment or improve the existing product offer? (Product Development Strategy)
• Move into a new market with a new product offer using the skills within the business? (Diversification Strategies)

Pricing is a critical area in any business. Kotler (1988) described nine marketing mix strategies on price quality, which we look at in detail in the Business marketing plan guide for Business members, to support your pricing strategy development.

A pricing matrix is a really useful tool for product marketers or managers because it helps you identify opportunities within your product and pricing strategies. Don't forget to research which of these strategies are your main competitors using too and make sure to use key messages to help differentiate yourself.

Step 6. Create your marketing action plan (Action)

The key to making it happen is to create a detailed marketing action plan. If you don’t have time to conduct each step yourself, you can explore other options and contract out specific tasks to an external consultant or agency.

I have found that an Action Plan that includes more detail, nominates someone to do the work and sets dates by when it should be completed, is more likely to get done than a loose set of instructions. A good action plan becomes ’work instructions’ for different people.

Busy marketing managers may enlist support from the admin team who often relish the opportunity to carry out new tasks, as long as they have a detailed brief. Or for more specialized work, marketing managers may wish to enlist an Agency.

Step 7. Monitor, manage and improve (Action)

The final step is about monitoring action, managing the process and measuring results. The 7 steps to make your plan happen are:

• It is essential to maintain the impetus, start the plan today, not tomorrow.
• Appoint one person to monitor the entire plan and give them the authority to do so.
• Regular meetings should be held to review the plan. These could be 20-minute meetings at the start of the week.
• If you don’t do it today, your competitors will start tomorrow.
• If one item is difficult to start, move on to the next area.
• At the end of each quarter, review what has taken place and where more help is needed.
• The most successful businesses stick to the plan and make it happen – whilst still getting on with the day job.

Other types of marketing plan

As the world of digital marketing continues to develop, many find that particular functions within marketing require their own planning document. See examples of where this may be useful below:

• New product marketing plan: Launching a new product requires its own planning, this process can be make or break for your product. Find out about the product launch plan that generated $1 billion in 60 days .
• Content strategy: 98% of marketers believe 'having or following' a content strategy is 'important for marketing success'.
• Nich marketing strategy: Niche marketing considers the narrow category into which your business falls and targets specific subsets of customers accordingly.

But, remember, it is recommended to define one flagship plan for the whole team, for governance and accountability, before branching out into secondary planning.

One final tip; set a start and an end date for creating and launching the marketing plan , if not, the audit stage could continue indefinitely! Download your free guide and get started today.

Use our simple three-page Microsoft Word template if you work for a small business who needs to quickly create a simple, practical marketing plan quickly. It's structured in three sections of steps using the acclaimed RACE Growth System for improving marketing results

By Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon PhD is an academic and practitioner in strategic digital marketing and the application of social media for business. Dr Hanlon has expertise in the strategic application of social media for business and the move from digitization, to digitalization and digital transformation for business. Her expertise spans consumer touch points, online customer service, the use of reviews, the role of influencers, online engagement and digital content. You can follow her update on Twitter https://twitter.com/annmariehanlon

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Marketing Plan

Aug 28, 2023 | Business & Strategy , glossary

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For a marketing agency, a marketing plan is an invaluable tool for helping clients reach their goals. It can provide a roadmap for the agency to follow, ensuring that all marketing efforts are focused on the right objectives. It can also help the agency identify potential opportunities and develop strategies to capitalize on them. By creating a comprehensive marketing plan, a marketing agency can ensure that its clients are getting the most out of their marketing efforts.

Table of Contents

Introduction to marketing plans, identifying goals and objectives, developing strategies and tactics, implementing the plan.

• Measuring Results

Key Takeaways

• Understand the purpose of a marketing plan and its components
• Identify goals and objectives for the plan
• Develop strategies and tactics to achieve the goals
• Implement the plan and measure the results

A marketing plan is a critical component of any successful marketing strategy . It provides a clear roadmap for the agency to follow, ensuring that all marketing efforts are focused on the right objectives. It also helps the agency identify potential opportunities and develop strategies to capitalize on them.

When creating a marketing plan, there are several key elements to consider. These include:

• Defining the target audience : Identifying the target audience is essential for any marketing plan. It helps the agency determine which strategies and tactics will be most effective in reaching the desired audience.
• Setting objectives : Establishing clear objectives is essential for any marketing plan. It helps the agency focus its efforts on the right goals and measure progress towards them.
• Developing strategies : Once the target audience and objectives have been identified, the agency can develop strategies to reach them. This includes selecting the right channels, creating content, and developing campaigns.
• Tracking progress : Tracking progress is essential for any marketing plan. It helps the agency measure the success of its efforts and make adjustments as needed.

By creating a comprehensive marketing plan, a marketing agency can ensure that its clients are getting the most out of their marketing efforts. It can provide a roadmap for the agency to follow, ensuring that all marketing efforts are focused on the right objectives. It can also help the agency identify potential opportunities and develop strategies to capitalize on them.

Once the target audience and objectives have been identified, the next step is to develop strategies to reach them. This includes selecting the right channels, creating content, and developing campaigns. It is important to ensure that the strategies are aligned with the objectives and target audience. This will help the agency maximize its efforts and ensure that the desired results are achieved.

When developing strategies, the agency should consider the following:

• Budget: Establishing a budget is essential for any marketing plan. It helps the agency determine how much it can spend on each strategy and ensure that it is within the client’s budget.
• Timing: Timing is key when it comes to marketing. The agency should consider when the best time is to launch a campaign or create content.
• Channels: Selecting the right channels is essential for any marketing plan. The agency should consider which channels are most effective for reaching the target audience.
• Content: Creating content that resonates with the target audience is essential for any marketing plan. The agency should consider what type of content will be most effective in reaching the desired audience.
• Measurement: Measuring the success of the strategies is essential for any marketing plan. The agency should consider which metrics to track and how to measure progress.

By identifying goals and objectives, and developing strategies to reach them, a marketing agency can ensure that its clients are getting the most out of their marketing efforts. It can provide a roadmap for the agency to follow, ensuring that all marketing efforts are focused on the right objectives. It can also help the agency identify potential opportunities and develop strategies to capitalize on them.

Once the strategies have been developed, the next step is to develop tactics to implement them. Tactics are the specific actions that the agency will take to reach the target audience and achieve the desired objectives. Tactics should be tailored to the specific strategies and objectives.

When developing tactics, the agency should consider the following:

• Advertising: Advertising is a great way to reach a large audience. The agency should consider which platforms and channels are best for reaching the target audience.
• Social Media: Social media is a powerful tool for reaching a target audience. The agency should consider which platforms are best for reaching the target audience and creating content that resonates with them.
• Events: Events can be a great way to reach a target audience. The agency should consider which events are best for reaching the target audience and creating content that resonates with them.
• Public Relations: Public relations can be a great way to reach a target audience. The agency should consider which channels are best for reaching the target audience and creating content that resonates with them.
• Content Marketing : Content marketing is a great way to reach a target audience. The agency should consider which platforms are best for reaching the target audience and creating content that resonates with them.

By developing strategies and tactics, a marketing agency can ensure that its clients are getting the most out of their marketing efforts. It can provide a roadmap for the agency to follow, ensuring that all marketing efforts are focused on the right objectives. It can also help the agency identify potential opportunities and develop strategies to capitalize on them.

Once the strategies and tactics have been developed, the next step is to implement them. This involves taking the necessary steps to ensure that the strategies and tactics are executed effectively. The agency should consider the following when implementing the plan:

• Timing: Timing is key when implementing a plan. The agency should consider when the best time is to launch the plan and ensure that all elements are in place.
• Resources: The agency should consider the resources that are needed to implement the plan. This includes personnel, budget, and other resources.
• Measurement: The agency should consider how it will measure the success of the plan. This includes setting key performance indicators and tracking progress.
• Communication: The agency should consider how it will communicate the plan to the target audience. This includes developing a communication plan and ensuring that all stakeholders are informed.

By taking the necessary steps to implement the plan, the agency can ensure that the strategies and tactics are executed effectively. This will help the agency achieve its desired objectives and ensure that the client is getting the most out of their marketing efforts.

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

The purpose of a marketing plan is to outline the strategies and tactics that will be used to reach a company”s marketing goals and objectives. It is a document that outlines the steps that need to be taken in order to achieve the desired results.

What are the components of a marketing plan?

The components of a marketing plan typically include an introduction, identifying goals and objectives, developing strategies and tactics, implementing the plan, measuring results, and a conclusion.

How often should a marketing plan be updated?

A marketing plan should be updated regularly, as the market and the company”s goals and objectives may change over time. It is important to review the plan regularly to ensure that it is still relevant and effective.

What are the benefits of having a marketing plan?

Having a marketing plan can help a company to focus its efforts and resources on the most effective strategies and tactics. It can also help to ensure that the company is working towards its goals and objectives in an organized and efficient manner.

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What Is a Marketing Plan and How Do You Make One?

Renowned management consultant and educator Peter Drucker once said that businesses exist to create customers, which means a business enterprise has two, and only two, core functions: innovation and marketing.

Drucker also adds : “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

These quotes make for great soundbites, but the data also confirms just how important marketing is to the success of a business. 

The Wall Street Journal , citing research from Deloitte’s CMO Survey, notes that marketing is responsible for driving revenue growth among 38.4 percent of companies. These companies also spend more money on marketing (roughly 14.5 percent of their overall budgets) than businesses that don’t see marketing as a primary revenue driver. 

At its most basic, marketing is how you get people to learn about your business so they can pay for your products and services. Without marketing, your customers wouldn’t know your business exists. Without customers, your business has no purpose. So clearly, marketing is good, right? 

Yes, but there’s a catch: marketing can create a business, but only if it’s done right. 

What often happens is that your average small business will try a few marketing tactics and ‘wing it,’ only to see minor to moderate success. Others might be lucky enough to score big but eventually find themselves unable to scale their marketing strategies as the enterprise grows and product demand increases.

To prevent this from happening, businesses need a roadmap—a blueprint that guides their marketing efforts to focus on clear goals, objectives, and tactics.

That’s where a marketing plan comes in. But first, let’s define what a marketing plan is.

What is a marketing plan?

According to marketing professors and authors Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller , a marketing plan documents how a business’s strategic objectives can be achieved through specific marketing activities, with the customer being the focal point.

It’s essentially a document that outlines your organization’s marketing strategy and tactics, ideally throughout a specific time frame—usually by month, quarter, or year. 

Creating a marketing plan seems intimidating, but it’s usually nothing more than a straightforward Word document that the business owner can use as a marketing playbook. If you want to make it fancier or work on a progress report for your plan, sign up for a free account on Piktochart . Graphic design experience is not needed, and you can easily create a report , presentation , or infographic by starting out with a design template .

Let’s say you’re considering investing in radio advertising. Does a sizable portion of your target audience even listen to the radio? If yes, is the cost of radio advertising worth the increase in revenue—in other words, is it cost-effective? 

Your marketing plan, and the research that goes into creating it, will help you answer these questions. 

Every marketer knows that there’s no shortage of fantastic ideas and things to try out when it comes to marketing. A marketing plan helps you prioritize ideas and activities relevant to your goals, allowing you to be effective and efficient with your work. 

Marketing plan vs. marketing strategy

You’ll often hear the terms ‘marketing plan’ and ‘marketing strategy’ used interchangeably, but they mean two different things.

• Marketing strategy : A marketing strategy explains the goals and objectives behind your marketing efforts. Your strategy and business goals go hand-in-hand, a relationship that explains the “What” and “Why” of your marketing activities.
• Marketing plan : A marketing plan explains how you will use your marketing activities to achieve your business goals. It documents the application of your strategy and how specific marketing tactics can bring you from Point A to Point B. 

Here’s a practical example of a marketing plan and marketing strategy:

• Business goal: To grow sales by 20 percent year-over-year
• Marketing strategy: Break into the previously untapped 18 to 25 market segment.
• Marketing plan: Create a marketing campaign that focuses on reaching out to young customers on their preferred social media platforms. 

While the difference between a marketing plan and marketing strategy can seem arbitrary, failing to understand the two concepts is where many business owners and marketers make mistakes.

The issue is that people proceed to the “how” of marketing without first understanding the “what” and “why,” which often leads to a disjointed marketing effort that wastes both time and money.

Components of a marketing plan

While different marketers will have their own take on how to make a marketing plan, most of them will agree that a basic marketing plan checklist should include the following elements:

• An overview of your company’s business goals and marketing goals
• An overview of your marketing position in your niche/industry
• A timeline for executing your marketing activities
• Key performance indicators to measure your marketing efforts’ success
• An overview of your business’s target audience
• A description of your current marketing capabilities and infrastructure 

Your plan’s scope will ultimately depend on your specific business and marketing goals, as well as the nature of your organization. 

How to make a crystal clear marketing plan

Finally, it’s time to dive into creating a plan. 

Whether you’re doing it for your business, for a client, or for an academic paper, learning how to make a marketing plan forces you to slow down and think strategically. 

It helps you see great marketing as the product of a fine-tuned machine, one with specific parts working in conjunction with one another, which we’ll cover below. 

You can jump straight to each section by clicking on the links. 

• Define your goals
• Select key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Create buyer personas
• Research your competition
• Nail your positioning
• Key baseline and metrics
• Identify clear processes and tactics
• Track your results

1. Define your goals

The process of marketing an enterprise and its offerings begins by identifying why there’s a need to market them in the first place. 

As mentioned earlier, any marketing goal you wish to achieve must be aligned with your overall business goals. 

Perhaps the simplest way to go about setting marketing goals is to ask yourself questions such as:

• “How do we want our customers to feel about our brand?”
• “What do our buyers really want to know about our product?”
• “How can marketing activities integrate with our business initiatives?” 
• “Do we really understand what motivates our customers?”
• “Where does the business currently stand in the industry?”

Remember, any goal you choose for your marketing efforts must be realistic . You can use a framework like the SMART system to plan and achieve practical marketing goals.

Consider this example of a non-SMART goal:

• “I want to increase my company’s social media following.”

Sure, it’s a good goal, but it leaves many questions unanswered.

What kind of increase are we talking about? Which social media platforms will be involved? How long do we expect this effort to take place? 

In contrast, the SMART version of this goal could look like this:

• I want to increase my Facebook followers by at least 1,000 users over the next three months. To do this, I am going to run a promotion on my Facebook page that incentivizes Likes

To break this goal down:

• It identifies a Specific end-result of increasing the number of Facebook followers
• The goal of 1,000 users means we can Measure this goal 
• It identifies an Actionable tactic of running a promotion that incentivizes Likes
• We can assume it’s a Relevant goal if Facebook is an important marketing platform for the business (this depends on your situation)
• Its specific time frame of three months makes it Time-bound

Bottom line? Well-defined SMART goals are crucial to guide your marketing activities. If you are clear about the results you want to achieve, it will be easier to make a marketing plan that gets you there.

2. Choose your KPIs

Now that you have a good idea about your goals, it’s time to define what key performance indicators (KPIs) you’ll be using to measure the success of your marketing efforts. 

Your core KPIs will help you understand the performance of your marketing activities, telling you whether things are going according to your plan or going awry. 

Another reason to set SMART goals is the ease of connecting measurable goals with relevant KPIs. 

Going back to the goal of increasing your Facebook Likes, we can easily tack on Facebook Likes, Audience Growth, and Visits as relevant KPIs. Your SMART goal also sets an appropriate timeline for reaching your target KPI growth—in the earlier example, we want to generate 1,000 Likes in three months.

Just remember that when choosing KPIs for your plan, focus on the metrics within your control. 

KPIs like bounce rate, which Google refers to as the “percentage of all sessions on your site in which users viewed only a single page and triggered only a single request to the Analytics server,” seem bad but aren’t necessarily so, if you think about it. 

For example, a user can visit your site, find the information they’re looking for, and leave right after. There’s nothing wrong with that, which is why tracking your bounce rate can sometimes be an exercise in futility. 

Alternatively, you could also consider using the OKR framework .

3. Create buyer personas

As Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller explained, any marketing plan must begin with the customer. 

They receive your marketing messages, so it’s important that whatever information you communicate is actually relevant to them. 

The issue here is that many business owners rely on guesswork when identifying their audience. Some marketers will make an educated guess based on interactions with existing customers, while others simply go by who they think their customers are.

Either way, no marketing plan outline should be based on conjecture, not when you can use research to create buyer personas.

According to Hubspot , “A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”

A persona provides marketers with a reference for who they are marketing to, ensuring that any message and activity is targeted towards a group of people who match your ideal customer profile. A buyer persona will provide information such as:

• Who your ideal customers are (demographics and location)
• What kind of challenges do they face (work, education, industry)
• Where they like to hang out online (social media, websites perused)
• What their media consumption habits are (TV, radio, print, Internet browsing habits)
• What their unmet needs are 
• How your business can solve their problems

The simplest way to get this information is to just talk to your customers, either in person, chat or over the phone. 

You can take things a notch higher by hosting focus group discussions or running audience surveys. You can also research other businesses in your industry to understand who their audience is. 

Note that your target audience is not a monolith. If you have multiple product lines, for example, you may be looking at a particular market segment for each category. This means that you can and should create personas for different customers. 

When complete, a buyer persona should look like this.

Read more about creating personas in our user persona research guide . 

4. Research your competition

Too often, marketers get caught up in their organization and see it as the center of the world. It’s important to detach yourself from the company every once in a while and visit your competitors to conduct competitive analysis.

According to Entrepreneur , competitor analysis helps you establish what makes your product and service unique, which, in turn, shows you which attributes you can market to attract your audience. 

The idea isn’t to mimic your competitors’ actions but rather to understand how rival businesses are marketing themselves. This will help you identify opportunities to market your own brand in new ways.

There are different ways to do this. McKinsey, for example, recommends using a competitor-insight loop to get into your competitors’ mindset. 

Of course, any competitive analysis must begin with data gathering. While tools and platforms like SimilarWeb, BuzzSumo, and Alexa can provide all kinds of information on your competitors for a relatively small fee, you can always take the hands-on (and free) approach to research your competition. 

Simply assume the role of a customer and check out what marketing activities businesses in the same niche are doing. You can do this by:

• Reading their latest blog entries
• Keeping tabs on them on social media
• Subscribe to their newsletter
• Adding a product to the cart on their site and monitor the follow-up emails you get
• You can even purchase a product to evaluate your customer experience

Whatever the case, be sure to document your findings, taking detailed notes on the tactics you see. What kind of engagement do they get on social media? What kind of content are they producing, and which ones receive the highest engagement? What kind of promotions do they push through email? How do they respond to shopping cart abandonment? 

Using these insights, you can then include a detailed overview of your competition in your plan. 

5. Nail your positioning

Product positioning is the process of determining how to communicate your products to your target audience based on customer needs, your market position, relevant communication channels, and targeted messages. 

Strategic product positioning is crucial to any marketing plan because it can be the foundation of your overarching marketing strategy plan. By understanding who your audience is and what their needs are, you can align your product with these factors in new and creative ways.

In fact, the research you perform on your audience, combined with an understanding of your product’s benefits, can reveal new market segments that you may not have even considered relevant before. 

This is a strategy that Old Spice used in their advertising campaign “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” whose inaugural TV spot , starring Isaiah Mustafa, has now racked up over 56 million views on YouTube.

The campaign was the product of new product positioning, one that focused on women instead of men.

In an interview with the LA Times , James Moorhead, Old Spice’s former brand manager, said, “In recent memory, we haven’t targeted women directly. So our goal was to find a way to reach out to them. We wanted an ad that men and women would enjoy together.”

Old Spice’s targeting of women was in direct contrast with Unilever’s Axe brand, whose risqué ads told men that women would literally come running after them if they used their body spray. 

Again, the key takeaway here is to understand your product, your current market position, and your customers’ needs. While larger companies have the budgets for extensive market research, small businesses can do their own research simply by talking to their customers and asking questions such as:

• What do you like about our product?
• Would you recommend our product to your family and friends? Which features would you highlight?
• What would you like to see in our product/product line in the near future?

This research can uncover a goldmine of insights to guide your future product positioning strategies. You may even discover new markets you can pivot to.

6. Key baseline and metrics

Maya Angelou once said that “If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.”

It seems ridiculous to use a revered poet’s words for marketing, but it’s actually more relevant than you think. For starters, you can’t make a marketing plan that steers you towards specific results without first knowing where your brand currently stands. 

It’s for this reason that every marketing plan must be based on a clearly defined baseline for you to measure the incremental value of your marketing activities.

A baseline is simply the starting point of the value your current marketing activities are generating. When expressed in numerical form, this value is presented as a metric. 

An example of an important marketing metric is customer engagement, which describes how your customers interact with your marketing messages. Customer engagement is a top metric because engaged people are more likely to pay for your offering. 

By knowing your current engagement levels (perhaps on social media, for example), you can identify a baseline to measure your progress accurately and see what’s working (or what’s not).

For example, instead of just saying, “Our engagement rate on Facebook increased by 25 percent last quarter,” you can say, “Our Facebook engagement rate increased by 25 percent last quarter and 18 percent is attributable to our infographics posted during that period.”

7. Identify clear processes and tactics

Now it’s time to get specific. It’s at this stage where many marketing teams have been known to drop the ball, creating well-thought-out strategies that never come to fruition because they don’t come with clear steps and processes to get the wheels turning. 

One way to ensure your marketing plan includes a series of actionable steps and tactics is to use a framework that demands them. One such framework is the SOSTAC® Planning System , developed by PR Smith.

The SOSTAC system is especially effective because it details not only your marketing tactics but also the actions behind these tactics, including: 

• Responsibilities and structures
• Marketing processes and systems
• Internal resources
• Required skills
• External agencies/talent, if necessary
• Resource allocation

Paired with your SMART goals, the SOSTAC system should give you a clear roadmap of marketing activities driven by clear timelines and specific objectives. 

8. Track your results

Finally, your marketing plan should also include a system for measuring your plan’s success. This will help you understand your marketing activities’ effectiveness (or lack thereof) and determine the ROI of your marketing campaigns.

How you measure your marketing plan depends on your chosen KPIs and baseline metrics. At the very least, they should help you answer questions such as:

• What KPIs and metrics should I be tracking? 
• What tools and platforms will I use to track results?
• How often will I measure my marketing activities?

Your answers to these questions can help you detect trends that may yield more value. For example, if you discover that video posts on Facebook generate more engagement, you’ll want to focus on creating more videos in your next marketing plan. 

Marketing plan examples

1. fedex marketing plan.

This presentation offers a marketing plan in response to threats determined during the researchers’ SWOT analysis of FedEx.

Visually, one of the strengths of this marketing plan example is its use of the FedEx logo as a backdrop for the presentation. The visual repetition enhances brand awareness.

2. Lush marketing plan

Lush Marketing Plan

Publish at Calameo

This marketing plan example is presented as a magazine and analyzes cosmetics retailer Lush’s market. Apart from market segmentation and marketing mix, it discusses the packaging and the retail experience – two essential drivers of Lush’s brand image.

It also offers a value matrix that maps out the brand’s mission, vision, and values against their appeal to a consumer’s mind, heart, and spirit.

3. Coca-Cola marketing plan

This marketing plan is a stellar example by one of the world’s most recognizable brands.

Released in 2011, the Coca-Cola Content 2020 Initiative video presented the company’s emerging content marketing strategy, along with how they planned to achieve their goals and evaluate their actions. The gist is to focus on storytelling and creating conversations about the brand.

Do watch the entire video – it’s worth your 18 minutes. Apart from learning about a major brand’s content marketing strategy plan, you’ll get a visual surprise at the end.

4. Uber marketing plan

This marketing plan example dives into the 4 Ps of marketing – product, price, place (here called distribution), and promotion (specifically, marketing communications) – as they relate to Uber.

It also presents a monthly action plan, a budget, and controls. One example of controls is how to quickly respond to the failure of Uber kiosks, which the researchers propose to set up in high-traffic urban areas so that people without smartphones can still book a ride.

Notice how the presentation mimics the minimalist Uber branding aesthetics.

5. Naperville Park District strategic marketing plan

This is the most comprehensive marketing plan example on the list and spans four years. But as the organization notes in its conclusion, this plan is “a living document that will be updated as the District moves forward on implementing the goals as defined in the 5-year Strategic Plan.”

Their statement gives two important points about a marketing plan. One is that it can be adjusted as you implement and evaluate it. The other is that it should be based on a strategy that points towards a longer-term vision.

You can read the entire 79-page plan here .

6. Heavenly Pies marketing plan

In this hypothetical marketing plan example for a pie business, the University of Tennessee cautions business owners against getting “so involved in details that they lose sight of their goals” when writing a marketing plan.

Their antidote? Keep paragraphs simple.

One way they achieve simplicity is by using bullet points and lists. You can see these in their introduction, analyses, and advertising plan.

They also present an easy-to-read budget on page six and a marketing plan checklist at the end.

7. Stericycle marketing plan

This marketing plan example comes from the Marketing-Based Management book by Roger Best. It’s split into three sections: the situation analysis, marketing strategy, and performance plan.

One of the strengths of this marketing plan example is its extensive use of data as a foundation for its analyses and strategies. Data and processes are presented in diagrams so readers can digest them more easily.

Marketing plan templates to help you along the way

Sometimes, you may need to present only a part of your marketing plan. We’ve got you covered with our marketing strategy and customer acquisition templates. Sign up for a free Piktochart account to access our online presentation maker .

Marketing Strategy template

This marketing strategy plan template presents your overarching strategy for driving customers down the acquisition funnel.

When you use this marketing strategy template , you begin with an overview of the funnel stages:

You then explain your strategy for acquiring customers in each step, from awareness all the way down to referral.

Customer Acquisition Funnel

This template is similar to the marketing strategy presentation above, except that it focuses on the channels you’ll use throughout the customer acquisition funnel.

It’s ideal to use this funnel template when explaining a digital marketing strategy and plan, as it emphasizes online channels and user experience.

Now you have the tools to make beautiful and effective marketing plan presentations . Try them out to create your own visually attractive marketing plans.

Bringing it all together

So, there you have it: eight basic components you will find in most marketing plans today. While it may seem that creating a marketing plan is the end goal, it’s important to see it as a living document—one that should be revisited from time to time to assess its effectiveness and relevance to your current circumstances.

Like a business plan, marketing plans must evolve and scale alongside your organization, especially as you serve more customers, release more products, and change with the times. A plan that worked last year, or even last quarter, may no longer work today. 

Once you’re ready to develop a marketing plan of your own, get started with Piktochart’s visual templates. Sign up or log in to Piktochart to make our sample marketing plan templates your own.  

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What Is a Marketing Strategy?

• How It Works
• Marketing Strategies vs. Plans
• Creating a Marketing Strategy

The Bottom Line

• Marketing Essentials

Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Create One

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A marketing strategy refers to a business’s overall plan to convince customers to buy its products or services. A marketing strategy determines how to reach prospective consumers and turn them into customers. It contains the company’s value proposition , key brand messaging, data on target customer  demographics, and other high-level elements.

A thorough marketing strategy covers the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Key Takeaways

• A marketing strategy is a business’s plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services.
• Marketing strategies should revolve around a company’s value proposition and make use of unique brand messaging.
• The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies.
• A marketing strategy is a big-picture idea that informs smaller, short-term marketing plans.

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A clear marketing strategy should revolve around the company’s value proposition. This communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves the customers' business. A well-constructed value proposition provides marketing teams with a template that should inform their initiatives across all of the company’s products and services.

The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies. To do this, a business must understand the needs and wants of its customers. Whether it’s a print ad design, mass customization , or a social media campaign, a marketing asset should effectively communicate a company’s core value proposition .

For example, Walmart ( WMT ) is widely known as a discount retailer with “everyday low prices.” Low prices are its value proposition, so all its business operations and marketing efforts are rooted in that idea, which appeals to its core consumer base. Its marketing strategies may be found on TV, in print, or on the accounts of social media influencers, but they all emphasize the same value proposition of low prices on everyday products.

Many companies use market research to identify what is most important to consumers and how to differentiate their products or services from those of competitors. This information can be used to identify untapped audiences and develop a plan for reaching them, which will increase sales and improve a company's bottom line.

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The marketing strategy is outlined in the marketing plan . This is a document that details the specific types of marketing activities a company will conduct in a given timeframe. It contains important information such as what the current and near-future marketing initiatives will be, how they will be conducted, what their goals are, and the timetables for enacting them. A company may have separate marketing initiatives for each of its products or services; it may also have multiple marketing initiatives for the same product or service that are implemented at different times or on different platforms.

Marketing strategies inform a business's marketing across many verticals and over a longer period of time. These strategies should ideally have longer life spans than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company’s brand, which generally hold constant over the long haul.

Marketing strategies cover big-picture messaging, while marketing plans delineate the logistical details of specific campaigns.

For example, a marketing strategy might say that a company aims to increase authority in niche circles where their clients visit. The marketing plan puts that into action by commissioning thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn.

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

Creating a thoughtful and effective marketing strategy requires several steps.

Identify Goals

While sales are the ultimate goal for every company, a marketing strategy can also include short-term goals such as:

• Establishing authority
• Increasing customer engagement
• Generating leads

These smaller goals offer measurable benchmarks for the progress of your marketing plan. Think of strategy as the high-level ideology and planning as how you accomplish your goals.

Create a Customer Profile

Every product or service has an ideal customer, and you should have a profile outlining what you know about yours. It can include:

• Who they are
• What they are most interested in
• What problems they want to solve
• What is holding them back from solving those problems
• What solutions your competitors offer them
• What types of media are ideal for reaching them

If you sell power tools, for example, you’ll choose marketing channels where general contractors may see your messaging. This could be TV ads, or it might be social media accounts focused on home renovation and DIY.

Develop a Message

Now that you know your goals and who you’re pitching to, it’s time to create your message. Your clients have a problem that needs to be solved and something that is standing in the way of that solution. Your marketing message needs to communicate how your product or service will solve their problem and improve their lives.

This is also when you differentiate your solution from the one provided by your competitors and show how it's the best option for your customers.

Define Your Budget

How you disperse your messaging may depend on how much you can afford. Will you be purchasing advertising? Working with thought leaders or influencers? Hoping for a viral moment on social media organically? Sending out press releases to the media to try to gain coverage?

Your budget will dictate what you can afford to do.

Select Your Channels

Even the best message won't work unless it is communicated through the appropriate medium. Selecting the best channel for your marketing efforts will depend on who your customers are, who they trust, what types of media they consume, and what budget you have to work with.

Some companies may find the most value in creating blog posts for their website. Others may find success with paid ads on social media channels. Find the most appropriate venue for your content.

Track Measurable Benchmarks

To target your marketing, you need to know whether it is reaching its audience. Determine your metrics and how you’ll judge the success of your marketing efforts. Make sure these are clearly defined and measurable. For example, you may decide to track:

• Customer signups
• Sales of an individual product
• Social media followers
• Customer retention
• New accounts opened

Which metrics you track will depend on the goals of your marketing campaign and the type of business you are running.

What Do the Four Ps Mean in a Marketing Strategy?

The four Ps are product, price, promotion, and place. These are the key factors that are involved in the marketing of a good or service . The four Ps can be used when planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer, or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. They also can be used to test a current marketing strategy on a new audience.

What Does a Marketing Strategy Look Like?

A marketing strategy will detail the advertising, outreach, and public relations campaigns to be carried out by a firm, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives. The functions and components of a marketing plan include market research, tailored messaging  that targets certain demographics and geographic areas, platform selection, and metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines.

Is a Marketing Strategy the Same as a Marketing Plan?

The terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year.

Companies need to sell their products and services to generate revenue and put them on the path of being a successful business. To sell their products or services, they have to let consumers know of them. They must also convince consumers to buy them as well as convert consumers from competitors. Having a marketing strategy that outlines this process and more is a crucial step in converting consumers into customers.

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What is a Marketing Plan? Definition and Examples

If you want to be sure that your company will grow, you should have a marketing plan, i.e., a marketing strategy for your products or services for the next year, half year, or quarter.

A marketing plan is an outline or document in which all your marketing and advertising efforts for a given period are laid out in detail.

Your marketing plan should contain an overview of the marketing and advertising goals of your company. It compares your current marketing position with where you would like to be at a given time in future. It also details how you plan to get there.

Marketing Plan – Timeline

A six-month or twelve-month marketing plan, for example, contains a timeline which shows when certain tasks will be carried out.

At various points during that period, you should include a description of how you will measure the success of your actions.

According to the Corporate Finance Institute :

“A marketing plan is a document that lays out the marketing efforts of a business in an upcoming period, which is usually a year. It outlines the marketing strategy, promotional, and advertising activities planned for the period.”

The Marketplace, Rivals, and Market Research

Your marketing plan can help you and other employees gain a better understanding of the marketplace and and the behavior of your main rivals. It shows you which way to move forward, i.e., which direction to take for future tasks.

Before creating your plan, you will need to gather and analyze vital information, which market research can provide .

Marketing Plan Includes Your Goals and Objectives

You must specify what your goals are , such as boosting market share from 10% to 15%, plus how you plan to get there.

How you plan to get there, i.e., what you will do each month, are your objectives . The ultimate aim – to reach 15% market share – is your goal. Hence the term, goals and objectives.

Marketing Budget

It is not possible to have a six- or twelve-month plan without working out how much it will all cost. Make sure you include a detailed outline of your company’s allocation of financial resources for marketing activities, i.e., you need to have a marketing budget.

It is also important to keep within the stated budget – don’t overspend.

A good marketing plan can help your business grow solidly. It can help you reach your goals, and will give you a clearer view of not only what needs to be done, but also why.

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What Is a Business Plan? Definition and Planning Essentials Explained

Posted august 1, 2024 by kody wirth.

What is a business plan? It’s the roadmap for your business. The outline of your goals, objectives, and the steps you’ll take to get there. It describes the structure of your organization, how it operates, as well as the financial expectations and actual performance. 

A business plan can help you explore ideas, successfully start a business, manage operations, and pursue growth. In short, a business plan is a lot of different things. It’s more than just a stack of paper and can be one of your most effective tools as a business owner. 

Let’s explore the basics of business planning, the structure of a traditional plan, your planning options, and how you can use your plan to succeed. 

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document that explains how your business operates. It summarizes your business structure, objectives, milestones, and financial performance. Again, it’s a guide that helps you, and anyone else, better understand how your business will succeed.  

Why do you need a business plan?

The primary purpose of a business plan is to help you understand the direction of your business and the steps it will take to get there. Having a solid business plan can help you grow up to 30% faster , and according to our own 2021 Small Business research working on a business plan increases confidence regarding business health—even in the midst of a crisis. 

These benefits are directly connected to how writing a business plan makes you more informed and better prepares you for entrepreneurship. It helps you reduce risk and avoid pursuing potentially poor ideas. You’ll also be able to more easily uncover your business’s potential. 

The biggest mistake you can make is not writing a business plan, and the second is never updating it. By regularly reviewing your plan, you can understand what parts of your strategy are working and those that are not.

That just scratches the surface of why having a plan is valuable. Check out our full write-up for fifteen more reasons why you need a business plan .  

What can you do with your plan?

So what can you do with a business plan once you’ve created it? It can be all too easy to write a plan and just let it be. Here are just a few ways you can leverage your plan to benefit your business.

Test an idea

Writing a plan isn’t just for those who are ready to start a business. It’s just as valuable for those who have an idea and want to determine whether it’s actually possible. By writing a plan to explore the validity of an idea, you are working through the process of understanding what it would take to be successful. 

Market and competitive research alone can tell you a lot about your idea. 

• Is the marketplace too crowded?
• Is the solution you have in mind not really needed? 

Add in the exploration of milestones, potential expenses, and the sales needed to attain profitability, and you can paint a pretty clear picture of your business’s potential.

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Document your strategy and goals

Understanding where you’re going and how you’re going to get there is vital for those starting or managing a business. Writing your plan helps you do that. It ensures that you consider all aspects of your business, know what milestones you need to hit, and can effectively make adjustments if that doesn’t happen. 

With a plan in place, you’ll know where you want your business to go and how you’ve performed in the past. This alone prepares you to take on challenges, review what you’ve done before, and make the right adjustments.

Pursue funding

Even if you do not intend to pursue funding right away, having a business plan will prepare you for it. It will ensure that you have all of the information necessary to submit a loan application and pitch to investors. 

So, rather than scrambling to gather documentation and write a cohesive plan once it’s relevant, you can keep it up-to-date and attempt to attain funding. Just add a use of funds report to your financial plan and you’ll be ready to go.

The benefits of having a plan don’t stop there. You can then use your business plan to help you manage the funding you receive. You’ll not only be able to easily track and forecast how you’ll use your funds but also easily report on how it’s been used. 

Better manage your business

A solid business plan isn’t meant to be something you do once and forget about. Instead, it should be a useful tool that you can regularly use to analyze performance, make strategic decisions, and anticipate future scenarios. It’s a document that you should regularly update and adjust as you go to better fit the actual state of your business.

Doing so makes it easier to understand what’s working and what’s not. It helps you understand if you’re truly reaching your goals or if you need to make further adjustments. Having your plan in place makes that process quicker, more informative, and leaves you with far more time to actually spend running your business.

What should your business plan include?

The content and structure of your business plan should include anything that will help you use it effectively. That being said, there are some key elements that you should cover and that investors will expect to see. 

Executive summary

The executive summary is a simple overview of your business and your overall plan. It should serve as a standalone document that provides enough detail for anyone—including yourself, team members, or investors—to fully understand your business strategy. Make sure to cover:

• The problem you’re solving
• A description of your product or service
• Your target market
• Organizational structure
• A financial summary
• Necessary funding requirements.

This will be the first part of your plan, but it’s easiest to write it after you’ve created your full plan.

Products & Services

When describing your products or services, you need to start by outlining the problem you’re solving and why what you offer is valuable. This is where you’ll also address current competition in the market and any competitive advantages your products or services bring to the table. 

Lastly, outline the steps or milestones you’ll need to hit to launch your business successfully. If you’ve already achieved some initial milestones, like taking pre-orders or early funding, be sure to include them here to further prove your business’s validity. 

Market analysis

A market analysis is a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the current market you’re entering or competing in. It helps you understand the industry’s overall state and potential, who your ideal customers are, the positioning of your competition, and how you intend to position your own business.

This helps you better explore the market’s long-term trends, what challenges to expect, and how you will need to introduce and even price your products or services.

Check out our full guide for how to conduct a market analysis in just four easy steps.  

Marketing & sales

Here you detail how you intend to reach your target market. This includes your sales activities, general pricing plan, and the beginnings of your marketing strategy. If you have any branding elements, sample marketing campaigns, or messaging available—this is the place to add them. 

Additionally, it may be wise to include a SWOT analysis that demonstrates your business or specific product/service position. This will showcase how you intend to leverage sales and marketing channels to deal with competitive threats and take advantage of any opportunities.

Check out our full write-up to learn how to create a cohesive marketing strategy for your business. 

Organization & management

This section addresses the legal structure of your business, your current team, and any gaps that need to be filled. Depending on your business type and longevity, you’ll also need to include your location, ownership information, and business history.

Basically, add any information that helps explain your organizational structure and how you operate. This section is particularly important for pitching to investors but should be included even if attempted funding is not in your immediate future.

Financial projections

Possibly the most important piece of your plan, your financials section is vital for showcasing your business’s viability. It also helps you establish a baseline to measure against and makes it easier to make ongoing strategic decisions as your business grows. This may seem complex, but it can be far easier than you think. 

Focus on building solid forecasts, keep your categories simple, and lean on assumptions. You can always return to this section to add more details and refine your financial statements as you operate. 

Here are the statements you should include in your financial plan:

• Sales and revenue projections
• Profit and loss statement
• Cash flow statement
• Balance sheet

The appendix is where you add additional detail, documentation, or extended notes that support the other sections of your plan. Don’t worry about adding this section at first; only add documentation that you think will benefit anyone reading your plan.

Types of business plans explained

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function depend on how you intend to use your business plan . So, to get the most out of your plan, it’s best to find a format that suits your needs. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering. 

Traditional business plan

The tried-and-true traditional business plan (sometimes called a detailed business plan ) is a formal document meant for external purposes. It is typically required when applying for a business loan or pitching to investors. 

It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual. 

A traditional 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. We recommend only starting with this business plan format if you plan to immediately pursue funding and already have a solid handle on your business information. 

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. 

The structure ditches a linear structure in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It’s faster to write out and update and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations. 

The business model canvas is really best for those exploring their business idea for the first time, but keep in mind that it can be difficult to actually validate your idea this way as well as adapt it into a full plan.

One-page business plan

The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan . Sometimes referred to as a lean plan, this format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. It basically serves as a beefed-up pitch document and can be finished as quickly as the business model canvas.

By starting with a one-page plan, you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan. 

A one-page business plan is 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.

Growth plan

Now, the option that we here at LivePlan recommend is a growth plan . However, growth planning 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 holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27-minutes . 

However, it’s even easier to convert into a more detailed business plan thanks to how heavily it’s tied to your financials. The overall goal of growth planning isn’t to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the growth planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and stable through times of crisis.

It’s faster, concise, more focused on financial performance, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

How can you write your own business plan?

Now that you know the definition of a business plan, it’s time to write your own.

Get started by downloading our free business plan template or try a business plan builder like LivePlan for a fully guided experience and an AI-powered Assistant to help you write, generate ideas, and analyze your business performance.

No matter which option you choose, writing a business plan will set you up for success. You can use it to test an idea, figure out how you’ll start, and pursue funding.  And if you review and revise your plan regularly, it can turn into your best business management tool.

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Marketing91

What Is a Marketing Plan? Types and How to Write One

July 10, 2024 | By Hitesh Bhasin | Filed Under: Marketing

A marketing plan is an important document that outlines strategies, techniques, and goals to help a business remain competitive and flourish. A successful marketing strategy may improve success rates, optimize budget allocation, and maximize the impact of marketing initiatives.

It also helps companies discover and implement effective marketing initiatives that target clients, accomplish marketing objectives , and increase sales . Furthermore, it allows you to track the success rate and correctly assess the impact of each promotional action.

Table of Contents

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is an organized approach businesses use to identify, develop, and track their business objectives over a set period. With a detailed strategy , businesses can implement and track their marketing plans to attain desired outcomes. A strategic roadmap is an effective way to achieve this goal.

An organized marketing plan is crucial for businesses to reach their desired target market and generate leads. This operational document outlines a clear advertising strategy with various outreach and PR campaigns and how the company will measure its success in achieving these goals. Multiple teams within the organization and marketing department can collaborate strategically to achieve one unified business goal.

Key Insights

• The document describes the company’s marketing plan for promoting its items to customers.
• It describes the target consumer base, the brand ’s or product ’s unique selling characteristics, the marketing initiatives that will be implemented, and the criteria used to assess marketing success.
• Regular revisions to the marketing plan are essential, guided by metrics that identify effective and unproductive marketing initiatives.
• In contrast to TV advertising , which requires extensive exposure to have a substantial market influence, digital marketing delivers practically immediate feedback on performance.
• A business plan incorporates the marketing plan by defining the enterprise’s important components, such as its objectives, fundamental values, mission , budget, and overall strategy.

Types of Marketing Plans

To guarantee your marketing strategies are successful and effective, it’s crucial to devise a well-detailed plan that is tailored to the goals you seek. When deciding on the ideal marketing plan for you, please consider these various options:

1. New Product Launch  

This guide will outline the strategies and tactics you’ll use to successfully promote a new product. Crafting an effective marketing strategy for your new product requires understanding who your target audience is, setting achievable goals and objectives, establishing a budget that works best for you, and devising unique marketing campaigns .

2. Content 

With this plan, you can showcase various methods, marketing tools , and initiatives that leverage content to promote your business or product. For example, you can focus on creating top-notch content that resonates with your target audience, optimizing existing content for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, and creating a content calendar to stay organized.

3. Social Media 

A detailed game plan for your social media channels, tactics, and campaigns is essential for success. Specifically, targeting the paid marketing subtype allows you to concentrate on strategies like native advertising, PPC, or promoting your content with paid social media advertisements. Utilizing this focused approach can be invaluable in driving growth through targeted results-oriented planning .

By leveraging experimentation and data, growth marketing plans can achieve amazing results. For example, with crucial metrics to measure progress, you can modify your campaigns to attain maximum return on investment. Such a strategy is designed to construct an audience over the long term by running numerous campaigns simultaneously and crunching the figures.

5. Time-Based (Quarterly or Annual Marketing Plans)

Crafting marketing plans based on the time of year, canny business analysis , and effective strategies are key to successful quarterly or annual campaigns. This strategy ensures optimal success and efficiency in budgeting, resource allocation , campaign creation, and progress tracking.

Elements of a Marketing Plan

Developing an efficient marketing plan necessitates careful consideration of various factors. Here are the fundamental components of a strong marketing strategy:

1. Business Marketing Objectives: Develop precise, realizable, and quantifiable objectives that follow the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) formula.

2. Present Marketing Stance: Evaluate the organization’s current marketing context and market position.

3. Market Research : Conduct extensive research to understand the current market dynamics, customer preferences, industry sales performance, and projected market trajectory.

4. Target Market Demographics: Describe the business’s target audience in terms of demographics.

5. Marketing Efforts: Create a calendar of marketing-related activities for the intended term, including specific deadlines.

6. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Determine which KPIs should be monitored to assess the performance of marketing initiatives.

7. Marketing combination: Create a combination of elements that may influence a customer’s decision-making process. This balance should be linked with the organizational environment, focusing on the four Ps – product, price, promotion, and place.

8. Market Competition : Identify your competitors, study their marketing strategies, and devise strategies to reduce competition and increase market presence.

9. Marketing Approaches: Develop effective marketing strategies for the foreseeable time, including promotional methods, advertising schemes, and other marketing resources available to the organization.

10. Marketing Budget : Create a thorough plan for allocating funds to marketing initiatives.

11. Monitoring and Performance Tracking: Develop a method for determining the efficacy of marketing initiatives and making appropriate changes based on past, current, and future organizational and market trends.

Additionally, the marketing strategy should adhere to the 80:20 guideline. This suggests that focusing on the top 20% of products/services that account for 80% of sales and the 20% of clients that create 80% of revenue can have a considerable influence.

Purpose of a Marketing Plan

In today’s continuously changing business landscape, developing and implementing a marketing strategy is critical for steering businesses to success.

• Objective Setting: A marketing plan is a road map, including specific goals aligning with a company’s overall mission and vision . These objectives serve as beacons, guiding the organization to its goals at various stages.
• Business Growth : A well-crafted plan describes tactics for expanding the client base, which, in turn, drives the company’s growth. Whether through novel client engagement methods or researching unexplored market areas, the plan shows the path to broadening company opportunities.
• Marketing Mix Examination: The plan delves deeply into the 8Ps of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, people, process, physical evidence , and performance. This holistic approach ensures that all aspects of marketing are in sync and efficiently used.
• Strategic initiatives: It articulates focused tactics for increasing market share , entering new niches, and elevating the brand’s visibility in consumers’ minds. Each technique works to strengthen the brand’s market position.
• Budget Allocation: A well-prepared budget is an essential plan component. It defines the financial and resource allocation for marketing initiatives, ensuring a solid foundation for the plans to succeed.
• Role Distribution : Assigning tasks and responsibilities promotes a well-organized effort to achieve marketing objectives. Additionally, identifying and strategically leveraging business opportunities is crucial. The plan details how to capitalize on these opportunities for the company’s benefit.
• Environmental Analysis: The plan allows for in-depth investigation and continuous monitoring of the marketing environment . This includes market research, evaluating client needs, analyzing the competitive landscape, and scanning for future business trends and possibilities to stay ahead of the competition.
• Functional integration: Furthermore, a marketing plan guarantees that all corporate functions—sales, production, finance, human resources, and, of course, marketing—work together seamlessly. This connection is critical for ensuring uniformity and efficiency across the board.

How to Write a Marketing Plan?

If you’d like to craft a comprehensive and impactful marketing plan, use the following steps as your guide –

1. Define Mission and Value Proposition

Define your brand’s mission statement and how your product or service stands for it. Subsequently, craft a succinct value proposition that summarizes your offer’s core benefits. By doing so, you’ll be able to stay focused on the task ahead while guaranteeing all marketing tactics are consistent with your overall objectives.

2. Know your competition

Businesses need to conduct competitor research to gain insights into their rivals and how they dominate the market. By using market share and understanding where their opponents’ weaknesses lie, companies can strategize on effectively competing with existing products and services while ensuring that theirs is differentially positioned but not excessively priced. Competitor research allows savvy businesses to stay abreast of industry trends and developments.

3. Run a SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis provides an overview of a company’s capabilities and potential growth opportunities by assessing its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and any external Threats.

By understanding these four factors better, organizations can gain valuable insights into their current state that will help them make informed decisions for the future. Additionally, it can help devise goals and objectives that align with the company’s mission.

4. Identify Your Target Market & Develop Buyer Personas

To be successful , companies must understand their target customers. That’s why creating buyer personas is so important; it allows businesses to define who they’re reaching out to by providing a comprehensive bio that outlines the qualities and traits of the ideal customer.

This qualitative data helps explain why someone would purchase what you offer – allowing you to market more efficiently without wasting resources targeting an uninterested larger audience.

Buyer personas are incredibly useful for understanding a company’s customer base . To create an accurate buyer persona , one should ask the following questions:

• Who are this business’s potential or current customers?
• What needs do they have, and what can our organization do to fulfill them?
• Where and how often do they shop?
• What demographic factors (age, location) influence their decision-making process?
• And finally, which social media platforms does the target audience use most frequently, allowing us to optimize our marketing efforts to reach out and engage with them effectively?

5. Set budget parameters

Businesses must carefully analyze and distribute funds for specific strategies to maximize their ROI. Budgets set the parameters of how much money marketers put into each plan, ultimately determining which channels are incorporated into an effective strategy.

Businesses need to allocate a portion of their budget toward integrating both traditional and digital marketing strategies, including print advertisements and TV spots, SEO optimization, social media promotion, and content creation.

6. Establish KPIs and goals

Developing relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and objectives before launching any marketing campaign is essential to ensure that campaigns meet the company’s desired expectations. By collecting data on KPIs throughout a campaign, organizations can detect when changes need to be made to reach their targeted goals and maintain successful results.

7. Determine the buying cycle patterns

Understanding buying patterns is key for marketers, as they provide invaluable insight into the customer’s journey through the sales funnel . Recognizing these purchase trends can help to refine your overall marketing strategy and improve conversion rates.

8. Identify the unique selling proposition (USP)

To comprehend the preferences of our ideal customer, we must take advantage of market research . Moreover, it is imperative that we precisely explain how our company satisfies a need not met by other competitors.

To back up this claim and illustrate what makes us unique from others regarding value proposition and competitive advantages , let’s list the expertise held by staff at our organization.

9. Determine marketing channels and best practices

The analysis above helps us identify the most effective marketing channels and best practices for a marketing mix that delivers expected results. Understanding our customers’ needs allows us to create strategies tailored to them, such as social media marketing. We must analyze each channel carefully to determine how to leverage it for maximum effect.

10. Create an outline

Crafting the perfect marketing plan is key to success. To ensure you have all that you need, consider including these elements:

• Comprehensive business info
• Analysis of competitors and your own strengths/weaknesses
• Target buyer demographics
• Buying cycle patterns unique to your business or product offering
• A USP to set yourself apart from rivals
• An established brand identity
• Website considerations such as SEO optimization and KPIs
• Strategies for implementation of tactics across various marketing channels

11. Strategy and Execution

Your marketing plan will strategically assess the rationale for your decisions and focus on developing a timeline and ideal placement of planned campaigns. Additionally, it is essential to include metrics to track success rates to ensure positive outcomes from all your marketing materials and tactics.

For instance, should you invest in radio or social media advertisements? If radio ads are selected when would be an appropriate time frame to air them? These crucial factors must be considered before any final plans are implemented.

12. Track measurements through KPIs & Adjust Your Plan

As we determine the success of our marketing strategies, we must remain agile and pivot when necessary. If digital ads are more successful than anticipated, then budget modifications should be made to fund higher-performing platforms or initiate new campaigns.

The key challenge here is finding a balance between allocating enough time to measure results while still being able to make quick adjustments whenever needed.

Marketing Plan Examples

1. Marketing plan for launching a new product

Suppose you’re aspiring to introduce a revolutionary product. In that case, your marketing plan should include-

• An efficient pricing strategy
• Identification and segmentation of your target market
• Comprehensive competitive analysis with allocated budgeting for necessary resources utilized in the communications strategy, etc

2. Marketing plan for increasing brand awareness

If your mission is to boost brand awareness and recognition, you should consider drafting a plan that encompasses-

• Examining existing brand awareness
• Determining target audiences and positioning strategies,
• Allocating funds and creating an actionable timeline for campaigns

Moreover, crafting persuasive messaging techniques plus content strategy and assessing effectiveness are also essential considerations. Furthermore, don’t forget to explore influencer marketing opportunities!

3. Marketing plan for expanding into a new market

If you are eager to penetrate a new market , your strategy could incorporate an array of elements such as

• Delving into the target market and performing thorough research
• Pinpointing potential source markets for products or services that maximize value propositions
• Formulating a localized approach to cater products or services according to specific customer needs and preferences
• Setting pricing strategies relative to competition in addition to packaging plans that optimize the user experience journey
• Furthermore, outlining sales tactics designed towards engaging prospective customers while also monitoring performance metrics is paramount

Sample Marketing Plan

Now, let’s construct a comprehensive plan together, one step at a time

1. Establish Marketing Objectives

“Our entire marketing plan is designed to facilitate a 10% rise in sales within the upcoming six months.”

2. Analyze Competitors & Your Strengths/Weaknesses

We proudly stand out among our competitors ABC Corp and XYZ Inc. with our dedicated customer service and unique product offerings. That said, we understand that being limited in terms of budget for marketing, lack of market research capabilities, and the size of our team can be seen as areas for improvement.

3. Identify Target Buyers & create buyer personas

We must define and hone in on a precise audience to maximize our campaign’s reach. Our goal should be to focus on small to mid-sized companies in the region and individual contractors by using customer segments and creating buyer personas with particular attributes and tastes.

To achieve this, consider utilizing these categories: age, gender, profession/background, interests/values/goals, and pain points they may have experienced previously—all while considering their social media platforms of choice along with what streaming services they favor most!

4. Determine Buying Cycles

As our customers usually acquire items every three months, we must consider this cycle when devising marketing strategies.

5. Create A Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

We guarantee satisfaction with all our products with complete assurance – this sets us apart!

6. Develop An Identity

We will combine vibrant hues and assertive fonts to craft an up-to-date, daring look for our branding .

7. Build Your Website & Ensure SEO Optimization

For optimal visibility, our website should be intuitive to navigate and optimized for search engine performance. Additionally, we should feature a dedicated FAQ section with product information and contact details available directly from the page.

8. Identify Marketing Channels

We’ll employ a mixture of SEO, email marketing, social media campaigns, and PPC advertising to reach our desired audience.

9. Determine KPIs

We will closely monitor various metrics to ensure our success, including website visits, click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per lead.

10. Develop Marketing Strategies & tactics

To achieve optimal marketing success , we must take a multifaceted approach that includes inventive campaigns, attention-grabbing marketing and content strategy, and well-targeted ads on all platforms. Additionally, monitoring customer interaction and tailoring our material for maximum reachability is pivotal.

With a marketing plan that features timelines, budget divisions, and performance objectives in place, we can guarantee our marketing initiatives are effective and precise and will result in success.

We should carefully track website visits, CTRs (click-through rates), conversion rates, and cost per lead to ensure our success. If any KPIs need to meet their targets or objectives, then urgent corrections to the plan and budget are necessary.

Adopting an effective approach and constructing a plan can help your business accomplish its aspirations while meaningfully connecting with potential customers .

Example of Marketing Plan

Let us create an example marketing plan for a hypothetical eco-friendly, smart gardening system called “GreenGrow.” This cutting-edge innovation enables city people to efficiently cultivate their vegetables and herbs at home.

Executive Summary

• Product: GreenGrow is a compact, smart gardening system for urban households that optimizes plant development with hydroponics and artificial intelligence.
• Target Market: The target market is urban inhabitants aged 25-45 interested in sustainability , technology, and home cooking.
• Goal: Establish GreenGrow as the premier smart gardening solution in urban markets, with a sales growth of 40% in the first year.

Situation Analysis

• Market Need: Urban populations with limited space continue to value the benefits of gardening, such as fresh produce and the satisfaction of growing their own food.
• Competition: Several low-tech and high-tech gardening options are available, but none provide the same level of integration, ease of use, and eco- friendliness as GreenGrow.
• SWOT Analysis:
• Strengths include innovative technologies and a strong commitment to sustainability.
• Weaknesses: High pricing , reliance on tech-savvy customers.
• Opportunities include increased interest in sustainability and home cooking.
• Threats include potential technology concerns and competitors developing identical products.
• Marketing Strategy
• Product Strategy : Highlight the environmentally friendly materials, energy efficiency, and superior AI that simplifies gardening.
• Pricing Strategy : A premium pricing model with simple financing alternatives and a compelling value offer emphasizing long-term savings and advantages.
• Place/Distribution Strategy: We sell online through our website, use internet marketplaces, and form relationships with eco-friendly and home design merchants.
• Promotional Strategy:
• Content Marketing: Launch a blog and YouTube channel with gardening ideas , recipes, and GreenGrow tutorials.
• Social Media Campaigns: Collaborate with environmentally concerned influencers and use channels such as Instagram and Pinterest to highlight the beauty and utility of GreenGrow systems in urban homes.
• Email Marketing: Send gardening tips, exclusive discounts, and community tales to subscribers.
• Sustainable Initiatives: Get involved in urban greening projects and support events that promote sustainability and gardening technologies.

Action Plan

• Finalize product development and packaging with eco-friendly materials.
• Build inventory and establish fulfillment processes.
• Launch the website and social media profiles.
• Begin content marketing and influencer partnerships.
• Attend and sponsor relevant expos and green initiatives.
• Start online advertising focusing on targeted demographics.
• Evaluate the performance of marketing strategies and adjust as necessary.
• Expand retailer partnerships.
• Launch a community challenge that encourages users to share their GreenGrow gardens.
• Review year-end sales and marketing performance.
• Plan for product line expansion based on customer feedback .
• Develop a loyalty program for repeat customers.
• A precise budget plan that allocates funding to product development, marketing initiatives, collaborations, and operational expenses.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Create metrics and KPIs to monitor sales, internet traffic, social media participation, and customer happiness.
• Monthly evaluations are used to alter plans and budget allocation as needed.

This marketing plan includes a thorough strategy for launching and growing the GreenGrow brand, emphasizing its unique value proposition, using digital marketing tactics, and developing a community around gardening sustainability and technology.

What Is a Marketing Plan Template?

Developing a marketing plan can seem overwhelming, but with the help of a template, it’s easy! The ready-made document offers all the necessary pieces and language for your company. Simply fill in the blank sections with relevant information about your business to create an effective and tailored marketing plan – it’s that simple! To create your marketing plan, you may find a free marketing plan template at different online portals .

What Is an Executive Summary in a Marketing Plan?

The executive summary of the marketing plan should present a concise and comprehensive synopsis of all that is included in the document. This segment will encompass data from market research, objectives for the company, goals for marketing endeavors, an overview of relevant trends within this sector, descriptions of products/services being marketed to customers as well as insight on who exactly these items are intended for while also accounting any financial considerations needed to move forward with this strategy.

How Much Does a Marketing Plan Cost?

The cost of a well-crafted marketing plan can vary widely, depending on the size and complexity of the business and the extent of the strategy. A comprehensive plan could set you back anywhere from $10K to $40K.

Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan

A business plan is a comprehensive guide that outlines how the company will be operated and provides detailed information about its goals and objectives. It highlights mission statements , core values, financials, and strategies to ensure success in both short-term operations and long-term growth. This roadmap serves as an invaluable tool for navigating your venture and achieving all of your intended goals!

A well-crafted business plan should include, at minimum, an executive summary of the company’s objectives and services; a marketing plan with strategies to increase visibility; a marketing budget; financial projections for tracking progress and meeting goals; and a budget to ensure resources are allocated adequately.

On the other hand, an effective marketing plan is an essential part of a business plan. It encompasses everything from increasing brand recognition , targeting specific audiences and customers, collaborating with key stakeholders or influencers, creating dedicated marketing strategies, leveraging digital resources, and producing content campaigns while adhering to predetermined timelines with consistent checkpoints for optimal performance.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

A marketing strategy is an essential part of any business, outlining the specific pathways and tactics used to fulfill a particular marketing mission. A marketing strategy outlines which campaigns, content pieces, channels, tracking, and software tools will be implemented to reach the desired result.

For example, while higher-level plans or teams might be in charge of social media marketing, you can still utilize a more personal approach by creating your individualized marketing strategy on LinkedIn .

An effective marketing plan is constructed to achieve tangible business goals . It should consist of one or more well-defined marketing strategies that guide your marketing team ’s focus, in their efforts to promote and optimize key objectives, forming a comprehensive framework for each initiative within the larger scope of operations and objectives.

If your organization launches a new product, the marketing team must create effective strategies to introduce it to its target market and increase signups. This marketing plan presentation needs to be designed carefully so that customers have an incentive to invest their time and money into this groundbreaking release.

Remember that while distinct, a marketing strategy and marketing plan are deeply interconnected—the plan brings the strategy to life. Conclusion! Ultimately, the fundamentals of a solid marketing plan are the following:

• A marketing plan is essential for any business, outlining the strategic steps necessary to reach its desired objectives and goals.
• It serves as the blueprint for how companies communicate, engage, and interact with customers.
• Careful thought should be given to the target customer, as well as budget needs, how closely current market trends align with your goals, and the competitive landscape.
• To ensure that marketing plans are effective, reviewing and revising them frequently is essential.

Marketing plan FAQs

What should marketing plans include?

Marketing plans need the following:

• A thorough review of the people we want to sell to and different customer groups .
• Easy-to-understand and realistic sales and marketing targets.
• A game plan on how to broadcast and get our product to customers.
• A budget plan for different sales and marketing activities.
• A schedule with important dates for our sales and marketing tasks.
• Ways to judge if our marketing plan is successful.

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

An executive summary is a short introduction to a marketing plan that explains the plan’s main ideas, aims, and methods. Its main job is to give people a quick insight into the plan and encourage them to read more.

What are the results when a marketing plan is effective?

When a marketing plan works well, businesses can see more people noticing their brand, more customers getting involved, better sales and income, and stronger customer loyalty .

What is the first section of a marketing plan?

The first part of a marketing plan is usually called the “Executive Summary.” It briefly summarizes the whole plan, discussing the company’s goals and how to achieve them.

Liked this post? Check out the complete series on Marketing

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About Hitesh Bhasin

Hitesh Bhasin is the CEO of Marketing91 and has over a decade of experience in the marketing field. He is an accomplished author of thousands of insightful articles, including in-depth analyses of brands and companies. Holding an MBA in Marketing, Hitesh manages several offline ventures, where he applies all the concepts of Marketing that he writes about.

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Marketing Plan

Example of a marketing plan, how to make a marketing plan, what are some common challenges in creating a marketing plan, .css-uphcpb{position:absolute;left:0;top:-87px;} what is a marketing plan, definition of a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a document that defines a marketing strategy for a company in order to reach their targeted audience and to track their marketing strategies over a period of time.

As stated above, the overall purpose of a marketing plan is to generate leads and reach your targeted audience. For this, you will need to set realistic goals and implement a solid strategy to accomplish said goals.

Leveraging Product Strategy

What does that look like? For each company, a marketing plan will look different. Depending on your goal, your plan will be different. Regardless of the goal and the plan, however, you should always be focused on what’s best for the company.

A good example of a marketing strategy could include a content plan. This should include:

An editorial calendar

Competitive research

Keyword analysis

Desired tone of voice

And much more

Again, depending on your marketing plan’s goal, this will look different. This is merely an example of what yours could look like.

Even though each company will have a different goal and a different marketing plan, the structure for the marketing plan is the same:

State your mission

The first step should always be to state your mission. This is a marketing-specific plan, but it should mirror the company’s mission overall.

Determine your KPIs

KPIs are important in any project, and creating a marketing plan is no exception. Determining your KPIs upfront will help you stay focused.

Define your target audience

Each company attracts certain buyers . Knowing these people, what they expect of you, and how to attract them in larger quantities is a very important step in any marketing plan.

Create a content strategy

We touched on this above, but it is a very important part of any marketing plan. Without content, you won’t have a way to attract new customers organically.

Research what others are doing

Your competition is likely doing this same thing as we speak. In any circumstance, it helps to know what the competition is doing, how they’re doing it, and how it’s working out for them.

Determine budget

Hidden costs can sneak up on you in the midst of your marketing endeavors. Defining the budget upfront will help you identify what’s essential and what isn’t as necessary. 

Assign roles

Every stakeholder has a role in the marketing plan. In order to avoid chaos, assigning roles and sticking to those roles will help keep things organized, and the plan will go much more smoothly.

Overall, there will be 3 main challenges in creating a marketing plan. Other than potential changes, this is what you can expect to challenge you:

Identifying your customers

Ideally, you already know who your customers are. But in a marketing plan, you need to identify them specifically. The reason this can prove to be a challenge is that it can require a lot of work. You may have to invent an entire user persona profile for multiple different kinds of customers.

Determining the budget

As this is an essential part of creating a marketing plan, this is a challenge that everyone will have to go through. Not everyone has a massive budget, so depending on the final numbers, the budget can make or break the entire plan.

Setting goals

A marketing plan should involve everyone in the marketing team. Agreeing on goals, and determining what’s realistic and what isn’t can prove to be a challenge. The plan absolutely will not work smoothly if everyone is not on the same page.

General FAQ

Glossary categories.

Feedback Management

Prioritization

Product Management

Product Strategy

Roadmapping

Create an effective product strategy

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Marketing Plan

The part of the business plan outlining the marketing strategy for a product or service.

Information

The marketing plan includes information such as the product or service offered, pricing, target market, competitors, marketing budget and promotional mix.

Luckily, marketers do not have to start from scratch. Off-the-shelf software exists to guide entrepreneurs through the format of a business plan. Some sites also offer sample business plans for added guidance.

see also: Digital Marketing Tools

Related Terms

view all terms in the  Business and eBusiness glossary  or all terms in the  Digital Marketing glossary

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12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)

Starting and running a successful business requires proper planning and execution of effective business tactics and strategies .

You need to prepare many essential business documents when starting a business for maximum success; the business plan is one such document.

When creating a business, you want to achieve business objectives and financial goals like productivity, profitability, and business growth. You need an effective business plan to help you get to your desired business destination.

Even if you are already running a business, the proper understanding and review of the key elements of a business plan help you navigate potential crises and obstacles.

This article will teach you why the business document is at the core of any successful business and its key elements you can not avoid.

Let’s get started.

Why Are Business Plans Important?

Business plans are practical steps or guidelines that usually outline what companies need to do to reach their goals. They are essential documents for any business wanting to grow and thrive in a highly-competitive business environment .

1. Proves Your Business Viability

A business plan gives companies an idea of how viable they are and what actions they need to take to grow and reach their financial targets. With a well-written and clearly defined business plan, your business is better positioned to meet its goals.

2. Guides You Throughout the Business Cycle

A business plan is not just important at the start of a business. As a business owner, you must draw up a business plan to remain relevant throughout the business cycle .

During the starting phase of your business, a business plan helps bring your ideas into reality. A solid business plan can secure funding from lenders and investors.

After successfully setting up your business, the next phase is management. Your business plan still has a role to play in this phase, as it assists in communicating your business vision to employees and external partners.

Essentially, your business plan needs to be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the needs of your business.

3. Helps You Make Better Business Decisions

As a business owner, you are involved in an endless decision-making cycle. Your business plan helps you find answers to your most crucial business decisions.

A robust business plan helps you settle your major business components before you launch your product, such as your marketing and sales strategy and competitive advantage.

4. Eliminates Big Mistakes

Many small businesses fail within their first five years for several reasons: lack of financing, stiff competition, low market need, inadequate teams, and inefficient pricing strategy.

Creating an effective plan helps you eliminate these big mistakes that lead to businesses' decline. Every business plan element is crucial for helping you avoid potential mistakes before they happen.

5. Secures Financing and Attracts Top Talents

Having an effective plan increases your chances of securing business loans. One of the essential requirements many lenders ask for to grant your loan request is your business plan.

A business plan helps investors feel confident that your business can attract a significant return on investments ( ROI ).

You can attract and retain top-quality talents with a clear business plan. It inspires your employees and keeps them aligned to achieve your strategic business goals.

Key Elements of Business Plan

Starting and running a successful business requires well-laid actions and supporting documents that better position a company to achieve its business goals and maximize success.

A business plan is a written document with relevant information detailing business objectives and how it intends to achieve its goals.

With an effective business plan, investors, lenders, and potential partners understand your organizational structure and goals, usually around profitability, productivity, and growth.

Every successful business plan is made up of key components that help solidify the efficacy of the business plan in delivering on what it was created to do.

Here are some of the components of an effective business plan.

1. Executive Summary

One of the key elements of a business plan is the executive summary. Write the executive summary as part of the concluding topics in the business plan. Creating an executive summary with all the facts and information available is easier.

In the overall business plan document, the executive summary should be at the forefront of the business plan. It helps set the tone for readers on what to expect from the business plan.

A well-written executive summary includes all vital information about the organization's operations, making it easy for a reader to understand.

The key points that need to be acted upon are highlighted in the executive summary. They should be well spelled out to make decisions easy for the management team.

A good and compelling executive summary points out a company's mission statement and a brief description of its products and services.

An executive summary summarizes a business's expected value proposition to distinct customer segments. It highlights the other key elements to be discussed during the rest of the business plan.

Including your prior experiences as an entrepreneur is a good idea in drawing up an executive summary for your business. A brief but detailed explanation of why you decided to start the business in the first place is essential.

Adding your company's mission statement in your executive summary cannot be overemphasized. It creates a culture that defines how employees and all individuals associated with your company abide when carrying out its related processes and operations.

Your executive summary should be brief and detailed to catch readers' attention and encourage them to learn more about your company.

Components of an Executive Summary

Here are some of the information that makes up an executive summary:

• The name and location of your company
• Products and services offered by your company
• Mission and vision statements
• Success factors of your business plan

2. Business Description

Your business description needs to be exciting and captivating as it is the formal introduction a reader gets about your company.

What your company aims to provide, its products and services, goals and objectives, target audience , and potential customers it plans to serve need to be highlighted in your business description.

A company description helps point out notable qualities that make your company stand out from other businesses in the industry. It details its unique strengths and the competitive advantages that give it an edge to succeed over its direct and indirect competitors.

Spell out how your business aims to deliver on the particular needs and wants of identified customers in your company description, as well as the particular industry and target market of the particular focus of the company.

Include trends and significant competitors within your particular industry in your company description. Your business description should contain what sets your company apart from other businesses and provides it with the needed competitive advantage.

In essence, if there is any area in your business plan where you need to brag about your business, your company description provides that unique opportunity as readers look to get a high-level overview.

Components of a Business Description

Your business description needs to contain these categories of information.

• Business location
• The legal structure of your business
• Summary of your business’s short and long-term goals

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section should be solely based on analytical research as it details trends particular to the market you want to penetrate.

Graphs, spreadsheets, and histograms are handy data and statistical tools you need to utilize in your market analysis. They make it easy to understand the relationship between your current ideas and the future goals you have for the business.

All details about the target customers you plan to sell products or services should be in the market analysis section. It helps readers with a helpful overview of the market.

In your market analysis, you provide the needed data and statistics about industry and market share, the identified strengths in your company description, and compare them against other businesses in the same industry.

The market analysis section aims to define your target audience and estimate how your product or service would fare with these identified audiences.

Market analysis helps visualize a target market by researching and identifying the primary target audience of your company and detailing steps and plans based on your audience location.

Obtaining this information through market research is essential as it helps shape how your business achieves its short-term and long-term goals.

Market Analysis Factors

Here are some of the factors to be included in your market analysis.

• The geographical location of your target market
• Needs of your target market and how your products and services can meet those needs
• Demographics of your target audience

Components of the Market Analysis Section

Here is some of the information to be included in your market analysis.

• Industry description and statistics
• Demographics and profile of target customers
• Marketing data for your products and services
• Detailed evaluation of your competitors

4. Marketing Plan

A marketing plan defines how your business aims to reach its target customers, generate sales leads, and, ultimately, make sales.

Promotion is at the center of any successful marketing plan. It is a series of steps to pitch a product or service to a larger audience to generate engagement. Note that the marketing strategy for a business should not be stagnant and must evolve depending on its outcome.

Include the budgetary requirement for successfully implementing your marketing plan in this section to make it easy for readers to measure your marketing plan's impact in terms of numbers.

The information to include in your marketing plan includes marketing and promotion strategies, pricing plans and strategies , and sales proposals. You need to include how you intend to get customers to return and make repeat purchases in your business plan.

5. Sales Strategy

Sales strategy defines how you intend to get your product or service to your target customers and works hand in hand with your business marketing strategy.

Your sales strategy approach should not be complex. Break it down into simple and understandable steps to promote your product or service to target customers.

Apart from the steps to promote your product or service, define the budget you need to implement your sales strategies and the number of sales reps needed to help the business assist in direct sales.

Your sales strategy should be specific on what you need and how you intend to deliver on your sales targets, where numbers are reflected to make it easier for readers to understand and relate better.

6. Competitive Analysis

Providing transparent and honest information, even with direct and indirect competitors, defines a good business plan. Provide the reader with a clear picture of your rank against major competitors.

Identifying your competitors' weaknesses and strengths is useful in drawing up a market analysis. It is one information investors look out for when assessing business plans.

The competitive analysis section clearly defines the notable differences between your company and your competitors as measured against their strengths and weaknesses.

This section should define the following:

• Your competitors' identified advantages in the market
• How do you plan to set up your company to challenge your competitors’ advantage and gain grounds from them?
• The standout qualities that distinguish you from other companies
• Potential bottlenecks you have identified that have plagued competitors in the same industry and how you intend to overcome these bottlenecks

In your business plan, you need to prove your industry knowledge to anyone who reads your business plan. The competitive analysis section is designed for that purpose.

7. Management and Organization

Management and organization are key components of a business plan. They define its structure and how it is positioned to run.

Whether you intend to run a sole proprietorship, general or limited partnership, or corporation, the legal structure of your business needs to be clearly defined in your business plan.

Use an organizational chart that illustrates the hierarchy of operations of your company and spells out separate departments and their roles and functions in this business plan section.

The management and organization section includes profiles of advisors, board of directors, and executive team members and their roles and responsibilities in guaranteeing the company's success.

Apparent factors that influence your company's corporate culture, such as human resources requirements and legal structure, should be well defined in the management and organization section.

Defining the business's chain of command if you are not a sole proprietor is necessary. It leaves room for little or no confusion about who is in charge or responsible during business operations.

This section provides relevant information on how the management team intends to help employees maximize their strengths and address their identified weaknesses to help all quarters improve for the business's success.

8. Products and Services

This business plan section describes what a company has to offer regarding products and services to the maximum benefit and satisfaction of its target market.

Boldly spell out pending patents or copyright products and intellectual property in this section alongside costs, expected sales revenue, research and development, and competitors' advantage as an overview.

At this stage of your business plan, the reader needs to know what your business plans to produce and sell and the benefits these products offer in meeting customers' needs.

The supply network of your business product, production costs, and how you intend to sell the products are crucial components of the products and services section.

Investors are always keen on this information to help them reach a balanced assessment of if investing in your business is risky or offer benefits to them.

You need to create a link in this section on how your products or services are designed to meet the market's needs and how you intend to keep those customers and carve out a market share for your company.

Repeat purchases are the backing that a successful business relies on and measure how much customers are into what your company is offering.

This section is more like an expansion of the executive summary section. You need to analyze each product or service under the business.

9. Operating Plan

An operations plan describes how you plan to carry out your business operations and processes.

The operating plan for your business should include:

• Information about how your company plans to carry out its operations.
• The base location from which your company intends to operate.
• The number of employees to be utilized and other information about your company's operations.
• Key business processes.

This section should highlight how your organization is set up to run. You can also introduce your company's management team in this section, alongside their skills, roles, and responsibilities in the company.

The best way to introduce the company team is by drawing up an organizational chart that effectively maps out an organization's rank and chain of command.

What should be spelled out to readers when they come across this business plan section is how the business plans to operate day-in and day-out successfully.

10. Financial Projections and Assumptions

Bringing your great business ideas into reality is why business plans are important. They help create a sustainable and viable business.

The financial section of your business plan offers significant value. A business uses a financial plan to solve all its financial concerns, which usually involves startup costs, labor expenses, financial projections, and funding and investor pitches.

All key assumptions about the business finances need to be listed alongside the business financial projection, and changes to be made on the assumptions side until it balances with the projection for the business.

The financial plan should also include how the business plans to generate income and the capital expenditure budgets that tend to eat into the budget to arrive at an accurate cash flow projection for the business.

Base your financial goals and expectations on extensive market research backed with relevant financial statements for the relevant period.

Examples of financial statements you can include in the financial projections and assumptions section of your business plan include:

• Projected income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Balance sheets
• Income statements

Revealing the financial goals and potentials of the business is what the financial projection and assumption section of your business plan is all about. It needs to be purely based on facts that can be measurable and attainable.

11. Request For Funding

The request for funding section focuses on the amount of money needed to set up your business and underlying plans for raising the money required. This section includes plans for utilizing the funds for your business's operational and manufacturing processes.

When seeking funding, a reasonable timeline is required alongside it. If the need arises for additional funding to complete other business-related projects, you are not left scampering and desperate for funds.

If you do not have the funds to start up your business, then you should devote a whole section of your business plan to explaining the amount of money you need and how you plan to utilize every penny of the funds. You need to explain it in detail for a future funding request.

When an investor picks up your business plan to analyze it, with all your plans for the funds well spelled out, they are motivated to invest as they have gotten a backing guarantee from your funding request section.

Include timelines and plans for how you intend to repay the loans received in your funding request section. This addition keeps investors assured that they could recoup their investment in the business.

12. Exhibits and Appendices

Exhibits and appendices comprise the final section of your business plan and contain all supporting documents for other sections of the business plan.

Some of the documents that comprise the exhibits and appendices section includes:

• Legal documents
• Licenses and permits
• Credit histories
• Customer lists

The choice of what additional document to include in your business plan to support your statements depends mainly on the intended audience of your business plan. Hence, it is better to play it safe and not leave anything out when drawing up the appendix and exhibit section.

Supporting documentation is particularly helpful when you need funding or support for your business. This section provides investors with a clearer understanding of the research that backs the claims made in your business plan.

There are key points to include in the appendix and exhibits section of your business plan.

• The management team and other stakeholders resume
• Marketing research
• Permits and relevant legal documents
• Financial documents

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

Social Media Marketing Strategy Tips For 2024

Published: Aug 15, 2024, 8:25am

Table of Contents

What is social media marketing, why social media marketing is important, 11 tips to build your social media marketing strategy, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Social media marketing was born in the mid-2000s with the rise of platforms such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, but did not start hitting its stride until Facebook introduced “Facebook Flyers Pro” in 2007. Since then, it has revolutionized the marketing landscape by allowing companies to reach an unprecedented amount of potential customers worldwide.

But how exactly do businesses harness the power of the 5 billion-plus people using social media? In this article, we will dive into what exactly social media marketing is, why it is important and provide tips for you to up your social media marketing strategy in 2024.

Social media marketing is all about using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok to chat with your audience, get your brand recognized and increase sales. It involves creating posts, images and videos that your audience will love, interact with and share. This method capitalizes on the interactive nature of social media to foster engagement, allow businesses to showcase their products and build a community around their brand. Creating an effective social media marketing campaign requires setting clear objectives, choosing the right social media platform or platforms, using analytics tools to track performance and adjusting strategies accordingly.

Traditional marketing methods such as print ads, television commercials and billboards often hoped to grab interested customers from a broad reach. The digital age of social media marketing has ushered in an era of personalization and precision targeting. Social media allows businesses to gather insights into user behavior, preferences, disinterests and online activities. Marketers can then create social media campaigns that target the direct audience that they want to attract. This new level of personalization has transformed the way businesses interact with their audiences.

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Social media marketing is a game-changer for businesses because it allows you to reach so many people around the world in real time. It is no wonder why so many businesses have ditched old-school marketing strategies such as billboards or radio spots in exchange for comprehensive social media campaigns. Some of the biggest advantages of social media marketing include:

• Increase brand awareness: You can expand your brand’s awareness by consistently posting on social media sites. This is especially useful for small or new businesses to be able to introduce themselves and their business personality to a new audience.
• Drive traffic: Creating intriguing content with compelling calls to action can drive followers to visit your website. You can funnel users directly from your social media platform to your website by including tailored links in your posts, stories or reels. For example, promoting a new blog post on X with a “Read Now” button can bring followers onto your site.
• Generate leads: Social media platforms provide tools for lead generation such as Instagram’s “Swipe Up” feature or LinkedIn’s lead-generation forms. Let’s say you’ve launched a new e-book. You can gather new leads to expand your email list by advertising the e-book on Facebook and attaching a direct download link in exchange for an email address.
• Real-time discovery of industry trends: Social media serves as a live feed for market patterns and trends. You can capitalize on viral topics by watching trending hashtags or popular discussion points within your industry.
• Cost-effective: In comparison to traditional marketing channels such as print or TV ads, social media marketing offers ways to publicize your product without spending a fortune. Social media marketing can be completely free if you do not have a marketing budget. You can, however, leverage your reach through sponsored content or ads on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
• Humanize your brand: Consumers appreciate brands with authentic personalities. You can create a relatable brand by sharing “behind-the-scenes” content or telling your company’s story through posts or stories. For example, Patagonia regularly shares posts highlighting its commitment to environmental conservation, which strongly resonates with its customer base.

At first glance, social media marketing might appear straightforward, but to truly make an impact it requires more than just a few posts online every now and again. Along with any successful marketing strategy, it involves meticulous planning, consistent content creation, thorough analysis and strategic adjustments. Here are 12 tips on building a comprehensive social media marketing strategy to help you harness the full potential of social media for your business.

• Set S.M.A.R.T., relevant goals: Before starting your social media marketing strategy, make sure to set S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Begin by outlining clear, actionable goals using this criterion. For instance, instead of vaguely aiming to “increase sales,” strive to “increase sales by 15% over the next quarter through social media referral traffic.” This will provide a precise path for your strategy.In addition, set goals that are relevant to your business. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Do you want to increase your social media footprint? Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Reach, impressions and engagement rate are among the 13 essential social media metrics to measure in 2024 . Make sure the goals you set are relevant to your business’s objectives.
• Identify target audience: Before you begin, it is important to know who you are talking to. Create a sketch of your ideal customer. Describe their demographic traits including age, location and gender as well as psychographic traits such as interests, problems and values. If you deal in luxury watches, your audience likely consists of older, affluent individuals with an interest in style and status. Or if you have a boutique yoga studio, your ideal audience is probably a woman between 25 and 50 who prioritizes health and wellness.
• Choose the right platforms: The big seven social media platforms are Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Each platform attracts a different type of audience. Analyze where your core audience spends the most time online and target those platforms. For example, if your brand caters to professionals or B2B clients, LinkedIn may prove more beneficial than TikTok.
• Create valuable content: Never publish content just to post something. Always create content that your audience will find beneficial. Aim to inform, engage or inspire. For a fitness brand, this might include workout tips, healthy recipes or motivational posts. In addition, it is a good idea to occasionally incorporate interactive elements such as Q&As, polls or challenges to engage your audience actively and foster a sense of community.
• Consistent branding: Maintain uniform design elements such as logo and brand colors and voice, whether it is formal or casual across platforms. This consistency will help with brand recognition.
• Use visual content: As the old saying goes, a picture is with a thousand words. Make use of visuals—photos, infographics or videos—to increase engagement. Leverage visual storytelling in order to convey your brand’s personality. For example, a bakery might post mouthwatering photos of its cupcakes or a step-by-step video tutorial on dough kneading. Additionally, incorporating user-generated content such as customer photos or reviews can add authenticity to your feed.
• Automate scheduling: Use social media management tools to schedule posts in advance. Not only will this help you save time, it will also ensure your content is delivered on a consistent basis. A regular posting schedule helps keep your brand’s presence fresh in the minds of your audience. Buffer, Hootsuite and Zoho Social are three of the best social media management software platforms on the market.
• Engage actively: Join conversations and reply promptly to comments. Don’t be afraid to show a human side to your interactions. Chipotle, for instance, has more than 30 million followers on social media. The company is renowned for its witty, engaging responses in its social media interactions.
• Collaborate with influencers: Partner with relevant influencers to get your brand in front of new eyes. Collaborating with these partners can help you tap into specific communities and boost your credibility by leveraging the trust they’ve established with their followers. A children’s clothing brand might collaborate with parenting bloggers while a new restaurant might collaborate with a local food blogger.
• Analyze and adapt: Use analytics tools to track your performance. If Instagram Stories drive more engagement than regular posts, for instance, shift your focus accordingly. This data-driven approach allows you to understand your audience better so you can tailor your strategy for maximum impact.
• Monitor trends: Social media trends evolve rapidly. Keeping up to date can unlock new avenues—be it new features such as Instagram Reels or trends such as the sustainability movement—to align your strategy with broader user behavior. Adapting to the latest trend helps keep you relevant and can even open doors to innovative methods of customer engagement and user-generated content.

Since its inception in the early 2000s, social media has revolutionized the marketing landscape by offering businesses an unprecedented ability to reach audiences, prioritize personalization and build real-time connections between brands and consumers. It helps businesses ramp up brand visibility, drives traffic, pulls in potential leads and catches the wave of trending topics—all while being budget-friendly. If your business wants to ride the social media wave, you should focus on creating clear and achievable goals, targeting your ideal audience and creating valuable content. Mix in some smart scheduling tools, actively engage with your followers and use analytics to continually fine-tune your strategies and you can significantly amplify your brand’s online impact.

What are the five Ps of social media marketing?

The five Ps of marketing—Product, Price, Promotion, Place and People—form the cornerstone of marketing strategies. “Product” refers to what a company sells, whether it is tangible goods or intangible services. “Price” is the cost consumers are willing to pay. “Promotion” is all communicative tactics used including advertising, PR or social media engagement. “Place” is the channels or physical locations where the product or service is sold. “People” refers to everyone involved in the business including customers, employees, vendors and partners.

What are the seven Cs of social media marketing?

The seven Cs of social media marketing are the guiding principles for building a robust social media marketing plan. They include “Community,” referring to the group of people your brand brings together, while “Collaboration” and “Communication” refer to the value of working alongside users and other brands to collaborate and share valuable insights. “Constraints” acknowledge the limitations that social media platforms can present to marketers. “Connectivity” and “Channels” focus on establishing a seamless link between social media platforms and choosing the right mediums to reach your target audience. “Content” is central to attracting an audience through relevant, engaging and high-quality content.

What is the golden rule of social media marketing?

The golden rule of social media marketing is to foster genuine interactions that build trust and community. Crafting content that initiates conversations enables brands to spark conversations and build a community. This strategy emphasizes authentic connection with the audience to help brands achieve enduring marketing success through active participation.

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Jennifer Simonson draws on two decades as a journalist covering everything from local economic developement to small business marketing. Beyond writing, she tested entrepreneurial waters by launching a mobile massage service, a content marketing firm and an e-commerce venture. These experiences enriched her understanding of small business management and marketing strategies. Today, she channels this first-hand knowledge into her articles for Forbes Advisor.