How To Create A Simple Marketing Plan

Over the years I’ve seen dozens of marketing plans. I am convicted there is NO SUCH THING as THE perfect marketing plan template. There is so much nuance in marketing that it is impossible to have a one size fits all solution.

Now, let me be clear. I am NOT saying, there are not proven marketing strategies that work to scale your business. What I am saying is, often marketing teams get hung up on the difference between strategy and plans.

Strategy ≠ plan

Marketing Strategy

Creating your marketing strategy is likely more straightforward than you realize.

You will need to know the answers to questions like

1. What makes your product/service unique?
2. Why should a customer buy from you vs. a competitor?
3. What cornered resource do you posses that others do not?
4. Are you competing on price, time savings, expense savings, or revenue generation?

From there you have a couple decisions to make

1. Are you going to be a product-led org?
2. Are you going to be a sales-led org?
3. Are you going to be a marketing-channel led org?

There are pros/cons of each and you will need to understand each strategy and the common tactics that go with each.

Marketing teams can wrap their heads around the high-level strategy. That is to say, they will understand “okay we are a product-led company”, now what.

Take Your Strategy Into A Plan

This is where the rubber meets the road. Now that you are clear on your strategy it’s time to create a plan. What makes a good plan?

The answer varies but I believe (in my experience) there are some common elements that make a plan

1. Clear
2. Actionable
3. Repeatable

Here is a template I have used over the years (with tweaks & modifications over time)

My goal in sharing it with you today is that you can save time taking something that has worked and morph it to your needs.