How to Create the Perfect Marketing Plan
We have all felt overwhelmed at work. Maybe it was when you started a new job or caught up on a big project your boss asked you to lead. No matter the circumstances, this feeling of overwhelm can usually be resolved by creating a plan – knowing how and when you will complete your tasks.
Blueprints are particularly powerful tools for teams with tight deadlines. And that’s why they’re essential for marketing teams, because they’re always working toward a launch. Marketing programs and campaigns are often timed to coincide with other key business activities and to drive activity. Creating meaningful growth is a huge responsibility, which is why you need a plan to achieve it.
Yet many marketing teams are still working without a strategic plan. I know this because I’ve spoken to many marketing executives while our team at Aha! ready to launch our new marketing planning software. From these conversations, I can tell you that a lot of people are stuck in reaction mode – fighting against demands rather than thinking about why they’re doing all this work in the first place. Maybe you can understand.
The answer to this mindless running around mentality is to create a strategic marketing plan. This will align your team around real business goals and keep everyone on a schedule. Working on the plan will also help the team understand how activities are prioritized – clarifying exactly which tasks need to be done next (and which can wait until later).
So how do you build a plan that can have that kind of impact? Here are six steps to creating a strategic marketing plan:
1. Start with goals.
The first step is to understand the high-level marketing and business objectives. These should serve as the basis for your plan. You can then group the work according to the objective it supports. This will help the team see the strategy behind each of your activities, which will prevent teammates from getting bogged down in non-impactful tasks. Goals will also help you understand if the programs and campaigns you are launching are on track.
2. Make a timeline.
Marketing plans are useless without dates. Include key dates for major programs and campaigns. You can break down by work phases or by deliverables. Depending on the structure of the team and the complexity of your work, you can divide your schedule into days, weeks, fiscal quarters or semesters.
3. Define activities.
Within each of your programs and campaigns, you need to define the activities – all the work that will be required to make those programs and campaigns happen. Activities are highly dependent on the type of product or service you are marketing and can include things like blog posts, digital advertisements or email newsletters.
4. Identify your channels.
Where do you engage with customers and reach out to prospects? You need to identify these channels in your marketing plan. Your channels can include a variety of platforms, such as social media, ad networks, and affiliates. Breaking them down will help you see where the team is focusing their attention.
5. Set a budget.
It can be difficult to keep track of your program and campaign budgets. Rather than wade through dozens of spreadsheets, make budgets part of your marketing plan. As work progresses, you will be able to track actual results against projections. This way you can measure ROI and make informed decisions.
6. Identify dependencies.
The best marketing plans are holistic. Yours should include input from marketing teammates as well as cross-functional product, sales, and engineering colleagues. The ability to visualize how all activities fit together – and how delays in any of them affect future work – unites everyone under one master timeline.
Of course, every plan should be flexible. Even the best plans will need to be adjusted based on the performance of your programs and campaigns. No matter how you adjust your plan, the important thing is that you have a solid one in place.
What else should be in a marketing plan?
