Example Marketing Plan Template

How to Build an Effective Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan is an essential piece of your business that serves multiple purposes. It's not just something you need at the start, during your business and product conception; your marketing plan will serve as a compass for your marketing department. It is the reference point that keeps your company or business on track in all their current and future marketing efforts, as well as any future product planning. It the resource you will use when presenting to your board of directors, and stakeholders.

Crucial especially in marketing for small business owners just starting out, your marketing plan contains everything that makes your business flow:

• Marketing initiatives

• Business goals

• Market research

• Budget

• Marketing channels

• Marketing objectives

• Prospective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

• Prospective political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors (PESTLE).

Components of a Marketing Plan

Creating a marketing plan can seem daunting, especially for small businesses who are just getting started, but it doesn't have to be scary! Your marketing plan will evolve and develop as your business does, but it all starts with an initial framework of bullet points. As you gain traction and experience you can change and deepen your answers for a more comprehensive overview, but all you need at the very beginning are the answers the key points.

We've outlined these in a downloadable PDF for your convenience. Download our free business and marketing plan template today and fill in each prompt with the relevant information:

 Executive Summary

This is the one-minute pitch of your entire marketing plan. Use this prompt to reinforce the main points.

• What are your business goals?
• What knowledge does your management team need to execute your marketing strategies? 

Company Profile

Outline your company's vision and business objectives.

• How would you define your company?
• What is your story?
• What is your brand identity? 

Situation Analysis

Situation analysis helps you forecast and prepare for any prospective difficulties your marketing strategies must overcome. 

• SWOT for your company's internal obstacles.
• PESTLE to examine possible external challenges your company might face.

Product/Service Details

What is the product or service that your marketing teams will advertise to your target audience? 

Target Audience

This market research is a crucial part of your marketing plan. Knowing your target audience and their patterns will help you define your marketing goals

• Who are your prospective customers and consumers?
• Try using buyer personas: fictional customer profiles compiled from trends in your market analytics.

Buyer personas generate the metrics you'll use to measure the effectiveness of your strategies. You can assign a particular buyer persona to each segment of your market to ensure your customers' needs are being met alongside your marketing objectives. 

Marketing Strategies

Your marketing plans should include strategies like the 7 Ps of marketing and/or the 7 Cs of marketing. Make use of multiple strategies to cover all your bases.

Marketing Channels

There are a few marketing channels that you can take advantage of or combine to strengthen your marketing strategy:

• Traditional marketing channels (such as print advertisements and telemarketing teams)
• Digital marketing channels (such as social media platforms)
• A combination of both? What are your marketing objectives

When deciding which marketing channels you will use, it's best to consider your marketing research:

• Which audiences are you aiming for?
• Which marketing efforts do they most commonly interact with, or best respond to?
• Which platform will give you the furthest reach?

Project Mapping, Assigned Roles, and Responsibilities

Clearly-defined roles ensure everyone in your marketing teams know exactly what they are doing. It may help to outline job titles and their objectives.

• What are the objectives of each department and position?

KPIs

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are the goals of your marketing campaign. The kinds of metrics you'll use to measure your KPI include: 

• Units sold per month
• Leads generated per month

Adapt your business objectives based on this information.

Budgeting

The money you invest in your business. Remember to consider costs such as promoting via paid posts on your preferred social media platform.  

• How much will it cost?
• Is this a hard or adjustable number?
• Do you already have investors?
• How much money do you hope to invest in each marketing initiative? 

Financial Analysis

Some of the metrics you'll use to measure the financial success of your business are:

• Gross margin
• Inventory turnover
• Revenue growth

Consult your financial reports and projections and consider the following:

• How stable is your business?
• Have you made a profit?
• What kinds of returns do you hope to see on your expenses?
• If you are seeking investors, what will they see in your business?

Justification

Why do you believe this marketing plan should be approved?

Download Our Free Marketing Plan Template PDF

Still unsure about how to make a marketing plan? No problem! We've outlined these sections for you in a handy downloadable PDF file so all you need to do is to import your information. Once you've completed the first draft, you can then review and edit your marketing plan until it's rock solid.

As with anything in business, successful marketing plans are ones that will serve you well for years, but that will strengthen over time with plenty of practice and experience. Give yourself plenty of time to think deeply about your business and marketing plan for the best possible answers, but don't get in your own head! Stay true to what your business set out to achieve and others will love it as much as you do!

Our free marketing plan template is versatile by design and can be easily applied to any plenty of other business ideas, too! Download it today and give it a try.

We wish you the best of luck!