How to create a marketing plan

For any type of business, no matter the size, a marketing plan is one of the most instrumental tools you can use. Especially if you’re just starting out, a huge component of your success will be determined by how you market your business. That’s why it’s important to plan your strategy and determine where you want to go—and how you’ll get there—ahead of time.

What is a marketing plan?

Consider a marketing plan as your strategic roadmap that explains how you will reach your target audience and sell more products and services. It includes details about your desired outcomes and outlines the specific approaches you’ll use to achieve those goals—such as outreach campaigns, types of channels, the marketing budget and outcome projections. The purpose is to help keep you on track and measure results.

There are also different types of marketing plans you can implement depending on what you want to achieve, your needs and the timeline. It can outline your strategy for the quarter or even the full year. Examples include: 

• Product launch plans
• Social media advertising strategies
• Content marketing plans
• Annual marketing plans

What does “success” mean in a marketing plan?

An effective marketing plan is one that ultimately helps businesses achieve their desired results. You know your plan is a success if results lead to increased brand visibility, higher customer engagement, improved sales and earnings, as well as stronger customer loyalty.¹

Marketing strategy versus marketing plan

Oftentimes, the terms marketing strategy and marketing plan can be used interchangeably. But in fact, they are two different concepts and it’s important to understand the distinction. Let’s take a deeper look.

A marketing strategy answers what a company will achieve and lays the foundation for what is needed to connect with its target audience.²

A marketing plan answers how a company will achieve their desired goals or strategy and includes detailed steps. It will define the specific efforts and measure the success.²

What should a marketing plan include?

When it comes to a marketing plan, one size does not fit all. The scope of your plan will depend on your specific purpose and industry. It could provide an overview of your entire strategy, or focus in on a specific channel.

A marketing plan should include:

• A business summary – an overview of your business and your current situation
• Business goals – what key performance indicators (KPIs) will you be working towards reaching?
• Target market – who is your audience and what are their needs?
• Strategies – how do you plan to achieve these goals and in what timeframe?
• Assigned contributors – who is managing each part of the plan?
• Competition – who are the other key players in your industry and what are they doing?

How to create a marketing plan

Below we will walk you through the sections and components that should be included in your marketing plan.

1. Introduce your company in a business executive summary

One of the first things you want to do is get people excited to learn more about your initiatives. Set the stage with a well-written executive summary that introduces readers to your brand, background, goals, key milestones and future plans.

Be sure to keep this brief—ideally less than three or four paragraphs. This isn’t the time to get into specifics just yet. Only give enough of a flavor to pique interest. And lastly, use a tone that fits your brand.²

2. Align KPIs with business goals

Another important step in your marketing plan is to establish your key performance indicators, or KPIs. These are the metrics determining how well your company is performing at reaching your goals^.2 This will allow you to measure the true success of your initiatives and learn what’s effective and what’s not. These metrics will also help you see how your efforts align with your business goals.

Once these metrics are established, you can put together a goal-setting framework to fully build out your marketing objectives. This process is helpful because it allows you to get very specific and carve out a clear path forward.

How to get started:

Set realistic goals for the timeline in your marketing plan. Identify what you would like your business to accomplish and when. What obstacles are in your way, and what are the ways around them? Are there any goals that are a higher priority than others? What do your short-term goals look like compared to long-term goals?

When creating goals for your business, a SMART goals template may be a helpful format to keep in mind. You’ll want to make sure that the goals you set are:

• Specific – The goal should be narrow enough to maintain a clear focus, but specific enough so team members know how achieving that goal will help grow business.
• Measurable – It’s important to be able to evaluate how and where you're progressing.
• Attainable – You’ll want to make sure your goals are realistic. It’s okay if reaching them may be a challenge, but you don’t want to set yourself up for what is not possible.
• Relevant – do these goals make sense to your business or industry?
• Time-based – create a timeline with milestones that will keep you motivated towards reaching your goals.

3. Identify your target audience

Defining your target audience is key to determining how to bring them to your business. By outlining a buyer persona, you can identify who the right customers are based on specific segments. It’s not only about increasing the amount of visitors but appealing to the ones who need and want your service or product. Be sure to ask these questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What are their goals?
• What challenges do they face and how can we provide solutions?

Some helpful information to also seek out when creating a buyer persona can be:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Income
• Industry
• Education level
• Relationship/parental status
• Hobbies
• Interests
• Challenges

To find this information, you will need to research and understand not only your product or service, but your industry. Conducting surveys or focus groups may help with discovering additional details.¹

4. Analyze your current situation and competitors

You’ll want your marketing plan to be backed by plenty of data and research. The numbers can help guide you towards where you want to go.

Take a look at where you stand in terms of the metrics that are relevant to your business. A SWOT analysis can be a good jumping off point to help you identify:

• Strengths – What is your business currently doing well, what are you doing that distinguishes you from your competitors, and how can you maintain this level of excellence?
• Weaknesses – What is your business struggling with, and what do you need to do in order to overcome these obstacles?
• Opportunities – Are there any new developments that can lead to positive outcomes? This can be as small as utilizing a new tool to improve workflow, or as big as creating an entirely new product that will bring new customers. What can your business do to seize new opportunities?
• Threats – Are there any internal or external factors that can be a detriment to your business? Types of threats may include a lack of resources, a slow market or even a new competitor.

It is also beneficial to perform a competitive analysis to get a better understanding of where you stand against your competition. Browse websites and social media channels. Getting to know how others market themselves could help you find new opportunities to make your business stand out. It’s a great way to learn and inspire unique ideas. Remember though, you shouldn’t be duplicating your competitors’ efforts. If you do see the same or similarly executed idea, take this opportunity to regroup with your team and go back to the drawing board.²

Start by creating a list of direct competitors and note what they are doing. Where are they positioned in the market? What is it that customers are buying from them or why do they return? What do their reviews say? What is the experience using their website? You can use this type of analysis to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and find room to grow your business value.

5. Brainstorm marketing tactics

The next step in your marketing plan involves outlining actionable tactics that will bring customers to your business. Tactics can include anything from hosting contests or promotions, to creating valuable content, or engaging with users on social media – the possibilities are endless.

What’s important is to make sure your plan includes a variety of tactics so you can reach your target audience and make a powerful impact. These can include:

• Events
• Public relations
• Video content
• Emails
• Print and online ads
• Conversational marketing
• Product marketing

Your tactics should follow the goals you set in the beginning of the process, as well as target the buyer personas you’ve identified. Find out where your consumers spend most of their time (e.g., social media, community spots, private organizations). These locations will then determine where you should implement your strategy to help generate the best results—you want to be where your audience is. For example, if your target audience is business leaders who are active on LinkedIn, you could place branded and engaging content on your LinkedIn page and stay engaged in the LinkedIn groups they follow.

6. Set your budget

Once you have a draft of your marketing plans and tactics, you’ll need to create a realistic budget for funding your plans. Does the potential ROI justify what your proposed cost will be?

7. Assign roles and responsibilities on your team

Once you have all the details of your plan laid out, it’s time to divide up the responsibilities. After all, this is a team approach, and it will be helpful to delegate specific tasks to certain team members and leaders. This can be divided up into content types, channels, and more. It’s important to work together and use any available resources that will help you take the first steps to reaching your milestones.³

8. Track and measure the results against the goals

When you have set all your plans in motion, be sure to consistently measure the success along the way so you can adjust your strategies, budgets, goals or audiences.

There’s so much to gain and learn from the data. You’ll discover trends, determine which initiatives performed well and optimize efforts that may have fallen short. No matter the outcome, there is always something to learn you can apply to your next initiative to further improve results.

Grow your business with more resources

Following these steps when creating a marketing plan can help guide your business towards using the right tools to engage with your customers, and in turn, grow your business. By visiting the Nationwide Business Solutions Center, you can find resources to help you build your business each step of the way.