A Guide to Filling Out Your Marketing Plan Template

A marketing plan is vital for every business since it ensures that your strategies work. Without it, you’ll just end up with new marketing channels that don’t pay off.

Talk about wasting your time and money.

That said, you need a marketing plan — and you need to create it now. You don’t have to hire an expert to do this, though, as you can accomplish this independently.

With a guide to filling out your marketing plan template just like this one, you can meet your SMART goals with ease.

Check out the steps below.

 

Step 1: Identify the Target in Your Marketing Plan

The first step is to identify your customer base and create buyer personas.
You should be as specific as possible, especially if you own a small business, because covering a big market can be quite costly.

As you work on your plan template, you should get started with these helpful questions:

  • Who is your ideal target audience?
  • What is your target market share?
  • Who are the most profitable clients?
  • Who are the new customers with whom you like to transact?

Should you find yourself clueless about who to target, you can always do market segmentation to categorize and niche down a vast market.
For example, you can set your sights on furry knee-high boots, a distinct subcategory of the boot market.

 

Step 2: Come Up with a Compelling Message

When creating a marketing plan, it’s essential to come up with an inviting message.

And for you to do so, you should set your sights on exploring your audience’s needs, wants, desires, and pain points. By recognizing these, you can focus on marketing tactics that are sure to catch their attention.

 

Step 3: Choose the Right Media that Fits Your Marketing Budget

There are many ways to reach out to your audience, like emails and social media posts, to name a couple. But you have to identify the channels you plan on using in your free marketing plan.

  • Your selection should jive with key performance indicators like:
  • Short-term vs. long-term marketing goals
  • Average transaction value
  • Break-even point
  • The amount of desired traffic per month
  • The number of visitors who could be converted to leads

For example, for your social media plan, you can use Google Analytics to explore these KPIs. That way, you can formulate a social media strategy that addresses such metrics.

 

Step 4: Create a Marketing Plan Outlining Multiple Lead Sources

While a social media marketing plan is important, it should not be the only way to promote your product or service.

You should explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) that belie your business, as these will help you come up with multiple lead sources.

For example, apart from social media, you can also capitalize on a content marketing strategy, as well as digital marketing, email marketing, and search engine optimization.

By engaging in a wide array of strategies, you’ll get your return on investment right away.

 

Step 5: Detail Your Marketing Strategy for Nurturing Leads

When you look at your marketing plan’s table of contents, you’ll see that lead nurturing is the most crucial process. After all, this can grow your business as it focuses on taking care of potential buyers.
As an important part of your marketing objectives, this section should explore building trust and sharing engaging and educating content and blog posts. It should also determine the frequency of communication and your way of selling at the right time.

 

Step 6: Outline the Sales Conversion Strategies for Your Marketing Team

Even if you have a unique selling proposition (USP), it doesn’t always mean you can sell your offer without a hitch. That’s why you have to include the sales process and pricing strategy in your plan.
It also pays to make an enticing package, like a unique guarantee or risk reversal offer.

 

Step 7: Create Your Marketing Plan to Impress Customers

An overall marketing plan includes tactics that will make the clients return to you repeatedly. After all, your business goals should focus on closing sales with your loyal customers.
When writing marketing plan templates, you should also include the business systems you plan on using. That way, you can map up a budget for these programs.

 

Step 8: Focus on Increasing Customer Lifetime Value

Your buyer’s journey doesn’t stop once you’ve sold something. You should go above and beyond so that your client re-purchases from you at a much higher amount.
That said, your executive summary should include all the tactics that will help you achieve such goals. Your content may delve into reactivation, subscription services, and even ascension plans.

 

Step 9: Plan a Marketing Strategy That Includes Referrals

This mission statement of marketing is attracting as many customers as you can. So, apart from accomplishing the strategies above, a high-level referral is another thing you should keep in mind.
With word of mouth, your content can reach more people.

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