marketing communication assignment pdf

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4.23: Assignment- Marketing Plan, Part I

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• Page ID 47975
• Lumen Learning

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Student Instructions: Complete the following information about the organization and products and/or services you will focus on as you develop a complete marketing plan throughout the course. You may need to do research to get answers to the questions below. Be sure the organization and offering you select will 1) remain interesting to you for the duration of the course, and 2) have sufficient information available for you to conduct research and make informed recommendations in your marketing plan.

Company Profile

• Company Name:
• Major products and/or services (names, types):
• Products and/or services your marketing plan will focus on:
• Target customers:
• Distribution channel(s):
• Headquarters (city, state, country):
• Year founded:
• Number of employees:
• Annual revenue (estimated)
• Key competitors:
• Link to Web site:
• Link to Yahoo! Finance information page (for public companies):

Market Segmentation and Targeting

• What problem does your product or service solve?
• Describe the total market for your solution: Who are potential customers?
• What are the key segments within this market?
• Identify and briefly describe 1–3 segments that this company serves.
• Which segment does this marketing plan focus on, and why? Why do you believe this segment will offer growth and profit opportunities?

Situation and Company Analysis

Economic environment.

Discuss factors that affect your consumers’ purchasing power and spending patterns. What is the economic environment that you are operating in? Is it a growth, recovery or recession? Will it be easy to find staff? What is the current interest rate i.e. is it increasing or decreasing? What is consumer confidence like?

Technical Environment

The technological environment changes rapidly. You need to make sure that you are aware of trends in your industry and other industries could affect your business. New technologies create new markets and can influence you consumers and competitors. Industry environment What are the trends in your industry? Are there new entrants in the market? Has a substitute product been introduced? Are there changes in industry practices or new benchmarks to use?

Competitive Environment

How many competitors do you have? Who are the key competitors? What are the key selling points or competitive advantages of each one. What is your advantage over competitors? Is the market large enough to support you and competitors?

Political Environment

Consider the political environment for the areas that your business will trade and operate in. Is there a stable political system? Are there any licenses and regulations that you should be aware of? Do you need to win support to be able to operate?

SWOT Analysis

Instruction: Complete the table below with descriptive responses and explanation as you answer the questions below.

• Does the organization have a strong brand presence?
• What resources are available for marketing activities?
• Does the the company have unique products or services that satisfy the needs of their target market?
• What makes the company’s products or services unique?
• What value is brought to customers?
• Does the organization have a weak brand presence?
• Are resources insufficient for marketing activities?
• Does the company lack distinctive products or services?
• Do current products or services fail to satisfy the needs of customers?
• Do current products or services fail to bring value to customers?

Opportunities

• What is the unique opportunity that the company is trying to take advantage of?
• Does the target market have any unfulfilled needs that the company can satisfy?
• Are there emerging target markets with needs that the company can satisfy?
• Are there ways the company and its competitors can benefit by working together?
• Are there opportunities for collaborating with customers to build brand presence?
• Describe and analyze if market demand is increasing?
• Are there changes in the government regulations that will affect the company?
• Describe any emerging global issues that will affect the company?
• What are the tactics that competitors use to pursue customers?
• What are the strengths of the company’s biggest and or emerging competitors?
• In what ways are the competitors’ products or services superior to the company’s offerings?
• How are competitors likely to respond to any changes in the way the company markets?
• Is the company behind in adopting new technologies for marketing?
• Describe any ways in which international competitors are taking away market share?
• What do customers dislike about the company?
• Describe and analyze if market demand is decreasing?

Mission, Objectives, and Goals

State the mission or business purpose: what the organization wants to achieve, in market-oriented terms. (Example: Disney’s mission could be, “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages.)

List 1–3 objectives that move the organization a step closer to achieving the mission. (Example: A Disney objective could be, “To be the most popular theme park for international visitors.”)

Convert objectives into specific marketing goals that are easy to measure and evaluate. (Example: Our goal is to increase market share of international theme park visitors by 10% in the next two years.”)

Sample Grading Rubric

Company profile grading rubric.

Total points possible for Company Profile Assignment: 10 pts.

Market Segmentation and Targeting Grading Rubric

Total points possible for Market Segmentation and Targeting Assignment: 10 pts.

Situation and Company Analysis Grading Rubric

Total points possible for Situation and Company Analysis Assignment: 50 pts.

Total points possible for Marketing Plan, Part 1 Assignment (Consists of Company Profile Assignment, Market Segmentation and Targeting Assignment, and Situation and Company Analysis Assignment combined): 100 pts.

Contributors and Attributions

• Assignment: Marketing Plan, Part I . Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• SWOT and Integrated Marketing Communications Templates. Authored by : Melissa Barker. License : CC BY: Attribution

Brought to you by:

Marketing Reading: Marketing Communications

By: Jill Avery, Thales S. Teixeira

Core Curriculum Readings in Marketing cover fundamental concepts, theories, and frameworks in marketing. For classroom use in higher education, this Reading is accompanied by a Teaching Note, test…

• Length: 48 page(s)
• Publication Date: Apr 21, 2016
• Discipline: Marketing
• Product #: 8186-PDF-ENG

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The latest revision (December 2019) features updated research findings, data, and discussion for media, including marketing opportunities and audience trends. Learn more: bit.ly/marketingcc-guide

Core Curriculum Readings in Marketing cover fundamental concepts, theories, and frameworks in marketing. For classroom use in higher education, this Reading is accompanied by a Teaching Note, test bank, and exhibit slides. This Reading begins with an overview of marketing communications strategy and then presents a framework for designing strategies to optimize consumer engagement. This framework offers managers three broad phases for developing a marketing communications plan: strategic intent, strategic execution, and strategic impact. Crafting such a plan ensures that coordinated and complementary messages are delivered in an integrated marketing communications plan across all consumer touch points. This Reading contains two Interactive Illustrations, "Budgeting for Marketing Communications," which illustrates the objective-and-task budgeting method with a hierarchy of effects perspective, and "Viral Effect of Marketing," which explores the likelihood that a shared YouTube video will "go viral." The Reading also contains links to two video clips, the Taco Bell "Routine Republic" advertisement, a classic example of a conflict-based story, and "Cracking the Code of Super Bowl Ad Effectiveness," which describes research linking viewers' brain activity to the emotional connection of effective ads. Please note: this Reading does not cover the complexity of digital marketing. Its influence on marketing communications is covered in greater depth in Core Reading: Digital Marketing (HBP No. 8224), which is a recommended pairing (assignment) with this Reading.

Learning Objectives

Understand the fundamentals for creation of an integrated marketing communications plan.

Formulate the strategic intent of marketing communications: setting objectives (mission) and defining audiences (market).

Carry out the strategic execution of marketing communications: creating the story (message) and defining where, when, and how the message is delivered (media).

Determine the strategic impact of marketing communications: budgeting (money) and calculating return on investment (ROI) (measurement).

Apr 21, 2016 (Revised: Dec 19, 2019)

Discipline:

Harvard Business Publishing

8186-PDF-ENG

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MKG 420 Integrated Marketing Communications

I. executive summary, ii. situation analysis, a. internal analysis, ii. situation analysis, b. external analysis, iii. target market analysis.

• Assignment 2
• American Marketing Association Citation Style
• Citing Business Sources in APA

Related Subject Guides

• Advertising & Public Relations
• SWOT Analysis
• Company and Industry Information

Use the resources below to find articles and reports related to your brand's performance.

• Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window Find trade publications and other sources to determine how your brand is doing. Articles and reports may also tell what your brand is and is not doing well with its promotion and IMC plan. You might start by simply doing a search to see what is being written about your brand and then narrowing your search to a specific problem once you have identified one. more... less... Description: Business Source Complete covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance, and more. Time Period: 1886 to present Sources: Indexes more than 6,700 journals and magazines plus thousands of reports and other sources. Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Business, Education, News, Social Sciences (Accounting, Finance, Management, Business Education, Banking, Economics, Marketing, Computer Science) Scholarly or Popular: Scholarly Primary Materials: Abstracts, Case Studies, Citations, Conference Papers, Journal Articles, Magazine Articles, News, Other, Report, Reviews, Trade Publications Information Included: Abstracts, Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: Yes Print Equivalent: None Publisher: EBSCO Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited
• Mintel Reports This link opens in a new window Search for information about your brand's consumers and for deeper insight into how they might be responding to your brand's IMC. Reports address topics such as what media they consume or the consumers values have. more... less... Description: Mintel Reports provides access to reports on market sizes, market shares and forecasts, and consumer trends. Users will find primary consumer research that helps unraveling key trends, behavior, and attitudes. Reports cover consumer markets in the CPG/FMCG, financial services, media, retail, leisure and industrial space. Reports are primarily on the U.S. and U.K., some European and Asia reports are included. The database also includes analyst insight and news. Time Period: Current Sources: Contains approximately 800 reports. Subject Headings: Business, Social Sciences (Consumer Behavior) Scholarly or Popular: Semi-scholarly Primary Materials: News, Reports, Statistics or Data Information Included: Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: No Print Equivalent: None Publisher: Mintel Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited

These resources will help with internal analysis of section II of the assignment.

• Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window Look for articles which will tell you about your brand's products, distribution, and your brand's strengths and weaknesses. You will find a list of your company's brands in the Company Profile report. Hover your pointer over More and select Company Profile. Note: You may have to clear your web browser's cache to see the arrow. more... less... Description: Business Source Complete covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance, and more. Time Period: 1886 to present Sources: Indexes more than 6,700 journals and magazines plus thousands of reports and other sources. Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Business, Education, News, Social Sciences (Accounting, Finance, Management, Business Education, Banking, Economics, Marketing, Computer Science) Scholarly or Popular: Scholarly Primary Materials: Abstracts, Case Studies, Citations, Conference Papers, Journal Articles, Magazine Articles, News, Other, Report, Reviews, Trade Publications Information Included: Abstracts, Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: Yes Print Equivalent: None Publisher: EBSCO Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited
• Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window See the Company Dossier for, among other things, a list of the company's brands. Do a Company Dossier search by clicking on Menu near the top of the page and select Company Dossier. Enter your company name or ticker symbol and press Search. Select your company from the list and look for Brands under Company Information. more... less... Description: Nexis Uni provides access to newspaper articles, magazine articles, and transcripts. It is also a key database for business and legal research, containing company reports, law journals, and statutes and cases from all 50 states. Also contains legal resources for Canada and the EU. Time Period: 18th century to present Sources: Searches more than 15,000 sources. Subject Headings: Business, General, Law, News, Social Sciences Scholarly or Popular: Semi-scholarly Primary Materials: Abstracts, Citations, Journal Articles, Legal Materials, Magazine Articles, News, Reference Resources, Report, Transcripts Information Included: Abstracts, Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: No Print Equivalent: None Publisher: Lexis Nexis Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited
• Mintel Reports This link opens in a new window This database contains detailed reports with data and graphics related to products, brands and consumers. To find reports, enter your brand name or product type in the search box. See the Brand/ Company tab on the report to discover things like who the key players are, how consumers react to the brands, and what the preferred brands are. If you click on a report and do not see the Brand/ Company tab look for the Go to Report Summary link below the title within the report. more... less... Description: Mintel Reports provides access to reports on market sizes, market shares and forecasts, and consumer trends. Users will find primary consumer research that helps unraveling key trends, behavior, and attitudes. Reports cover consumer markets in the CPG/FMCG, financial services, media, retail, leisure and industrial space. Reports are primarily on the U.S. and U.K., some European and Asia reports are included. The database also includes analyst insight and news. Time Period: Current Sources: Contains approximately 800 reports. Subject Headings: Business, Social Sciences (Consumer Behavior) Scholarly or Popular: Semi-scholarly Primary Materials: News, Reports, Statistics or Data Information Included: Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: No Print Equivalent: None Publisher: Mintel Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited

Section II. a. asks you to provide context to your brand's current promotion efforts by looking at their past promotion efforts.  Articles from Business Source Complete may help with this (see link above).  For digital campaigns you can search the web and for articles about older campaigns the sources below can help.

These resources will help with the external analysis portion of the situation analysis.

• Mintel Reports This link opens in a new window Find reports to learn about consumers and consumer needs as well as what influences their purchasing decisions. Search for your brand or product type and combine with words to describe your consumer (e.g. Gen Z, low income, lower midscale, middle Americans). Consider using the suggested keywords the database provides as you enter your search terms. Once you locate a report, see the Consumer tab. Another option would be to click on Consumer Data under Analytics above the search box and then selecting a category that relates to your brand. more... less... Description: Mintel Reports provides access to reports on market sizes, market shares and forecasts, and consumer trends. Users will find primary consumer research that helps unraveling key trends, behavior, and attitudes. Reports cover consumer markets in the CPG/FMCG, financial services, media, retail, leisure and industrial space. Reports are primarily on the U.S. and U.K., some European and Asia reports are included. The database also includes analyst insight and news. Time Period: Current Sources: Contains approximately 800 reports. Subject Headings: Business, Social Sciences (Consumer Behavior) Scholarly or Popular: Semi-scholarly Primary Materials: News, Reports, Statistics or Data Information Included: Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: No Print Equivalent: None Publisher: Mintel Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited
• Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window Search for articles about your brand, its consumers, and the product type, as well as demographic, economic, political, and social-cultural trends that may effect your brand. Combine your brand or company with words like consumer, customer, or marketing. You might also search using terms to describe types of consumers. Examples of useful search terms could include, millennials, green consumers, and demographic change. This database also contains market research reports. Search for your brand or product type and select Market Research Reports under Source Types in left column of the results list. Also use the Company Profile to find a list of competitors which you can then research. more... less... Description: Business Source Complete covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance, and more. Time Period: 1886 to present Sources: Indexes more than 6,700 journals and magazines plus thousands of reports and other sources. Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Business, Education, News, Social Sciences (Accounting, Finance, Management, Business Education, Banking, Economics, Marketing, Computer Science) Scholarly or Popular: Scholarly Primary Materials: Abstracts, Case Studies, Citations, Conference Papers, Journal Articles, Magazine Articles, News, Other, Report, Reviews, Trade Publications Information Included: Abstracts, Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: Yes Print Equivalent: None Publisher: EBSCO Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited
• Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window Use the Company Dossier to find a list of the competitors. Do a Company Dossier search by clicking on Menu near the top of the page and select Company Dossier. Enter your company name or ticker symbol and press Search. Select your company from the list and look for Competitors under Company Information. more... less... Description: Nexis Uni provides access to newspaper articles, magazine articles, and transcripts. It is also a key database for business and legal research, containing company reports, law journals, and statutes and cases from all 50 states. Also contains legal resources for Canada and the EU. Time Period: 18th century to present Sources: Searches more than 15,000 sources. Subject Headings: Business, General, Law, News, Social Sciences Scholarly or Popular: Semi-scholarly Primary Materials: Abstracts, Citations, Journal Articles, Legal Materials, Magazine Articles, News, Reference Resources, Report, Transcripts Information Included: Abstracts, Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: No Print Equivalent: None Publisher: Lexis Nexis Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited
• Market Share Reporter See what share of the market a product has along with its competitors. Click on the link above and then scroll down below the search box and select Market Share Reporter, you can then Search Within Series search box in the upper right corner. Research their competitors too.
• Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window Search for articles about your brand's target market strategy and segments. more... less... Description: Business Source Complete covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance, and more. Time Period: 1886 to present Sources: Indexes more than 6,700 journals and magazines plus thousands of reports and other sources. Subject Headings: Art & Architecture, Business, Education, News, Social Sciences (Accounting, Finance, Management, Business Education, Banking, Economics, Marketing, Computer Science) Scholarly or Popular: Scholarly Primary Materials: Abstracts, Case Studies, Citations, Conference Papers, Journal Articles, Magazine Articles, News, Other, Report, Reviews, Trade Publications Information Included: Abstracts, Full Text, Citations FindIt@BALL STATE: Yes Print Equivalent: None Publisher: EBSCO Updates: Daily Number of Simultaneous Users: Unlimited
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• Last Updated: Jan 24, 2024 8:13 AM
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5 Steps to Create an Outstanding Marketing Plan [Free Templates]

Published: January 04, 2024

Do you take a good, hard look at your team's marketing strategy every year?

You should. Without an annual marketing plan, things can get messy — and it's nearly impossible to put a number on your budget for the projects, hiring, and outsourcing over the course of a year if you don't have a plan.

To make your plan's creation easier, we've put together a list of what to include in your plan and a few different planning templates where you can easily fill in the blanks.

To start, let's dive into how to create a marketing plan and then take a look at what a high-level marketing plan has inside.

In this article, we're going to discuss:

• What a High-Level Marketing Plan Includes

How to Create a Marketing Plan

• Marketing Plan Templates You Can Use
• Simplified Marketing Plan Template
• Plus — Social Media Plan Templates

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

• Pre-Sectioned Template
• Completely Customizable
• Example Prompts
• Professionally Designed

Fill out this form to access a free marketing plan template.

Marketing plan outline.

Download This Marketing Plan Outline for Free

The above marketing plan outline will help you create an effective plan that easily generates buy-in from stakeholders and effectively guides your marketing efforts.

Marketing plans can get quite granular to reflect the industry you're in, whether you're selling to consumers (B2C) or other businesses (B2B), and how big your digital presence is. Nonetheless, here are the elements every effective marketing plan includes:

1. Business Summary

In a marketing plan, your business summary is exactly what it sounds like: a summary of the organization. It's essential to include this information so that all stakeholders, including your direct reports, learn about your company in detail before delving into the more strategic components of your plan.

Even if you’re presenting this plan to people who’ve been in the company for a while, it doesn’t hurt to get everyone on the same page.

Most business summaries include:

The company name

Where it's headquartered

Its mission statement

Our marketing plan outline also includes information on marketing leadership, which is especially helpful for companies with large marketing teams.

2. SWOT Analysis

Your marketing plan's business summary also includes a SWOT analysis , which covers your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s essential to include this information so you can create targeted strategies that help you capitalize on your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses.

In my experience, you need a lot of patience when doing a SWOT analysis; it requires market research and competitive analysis to become truly accurate. I tend to revisit this section periodically, adjusting it as I discover more information about my own business and competition.

3. Business Initiatives

The business initiatives element of a marketing plan helps you segment the various goals of your department. Be careful not to include big-picture company initiatives, which you'd normally find in a business plan. This section should outline the projects that are specific to marketing. You'll also describe the goals of those projects and how those goals will be measured.

Every initiative should follow the SMART method for goal-making . They should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, a broad goal might be something like, "Increase my Facebook following." But a SMART-ified version of this goal could be, "Increase my Facebook following by 30% by June." See the difference?

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

4. Customer Analysis

In this part of the marketing plan outline, you get plenty of space to share all the data you collected during your market research . If your company has already done a thorough market research study, this section of your marketing plan might be easier to put together. Either way, try to do your research before synthesizing it in a shareable document like this one.

Ultimately, this element of your marketing plan will help you describe the industry you're selling to and your buyer persona . A buyer persona is a semi-fictional description of your ideal customer, focusing on traits like:

Personal challenges

Triggering event

5. Competitor Analysis

Positioning

Market share

Our marketing plan template includes space to list out the specific products you compete with, as well as other facets of the other company’s strategy, such as their blogging efforts or customer service reputation. Keep this part of your plan simple — your full competitive analysis should be done separately. Here are a few competitive analysis templates to get started.

6. Market Strategy

Your market strategy uses the information included in the above sections to describe how your company should approach the market. 

For instance, when I'm filling out this section, I always pull insights from my SWOT analysis, my competitive analysis, and my general market research. This helps me write targeted, effective descriptions of my strategies.

Here's an example: if you found that one of your competitors employs stronger social media marketing strategies , you might add "We'll post 3 times per week on our social media profiles" under "Promotion."

In our full-length marketing plan outline, the market strategy section contains the "seven Ps of marketing" (or the “ extended marketing mix ”):

Physical Evidence

(You'll learn more about these seven sub-components inside our free marketing plan template, which you can download below.)

When I created my first marketing plan, I made the mistake of confusing the marketing budget section of my plan with my product's price and other financials.

Here's a better way to think of this section: it should describe how much money the business has allotted the marketing team to pursue the initiatives and goals outlined in the elements above.

Depending on how many individual expenses you have, you should consider itemizing this budget by what specifically you'll spend your budget on. Example marketing expenses include:

Outsourcing costs to a marketing agency and/or other providers

Marketing software

Paid promotions

Events (those you'll host and/or attend)

Knowing the budget and doing analysis on the marketing channels you want to invest in, you should be able to come up with a plan for how much budget to invest in which tactics based on expected ROI. From there, you'll be able to come up with financial projections for the year. These won't be 100% accurate but can help with executive planning.

Remember: Your marketing plan only includes a summary of the costs. We recommend keeping a separate document or Excel sheet to help you calculate your budget much more effectively. Here’s a marketing budget template to get started .

8. Marketing Channels

Your marketing plan should also include a list of your marketing channels. While your company might promote the product itself using certain ad space, your marketing channels are where you'll publish the content that educates your buyers, generates leads, and spreads awareness of your brand.

If you publish (or intend to publish) on social media, this is the place to talk about it. Use the Marketing Channels section of your marketing plan to map out which social networks you want to launch a business page on, what you'll use this social network for, and how you'll measure your success on this network.

Part of this section's purpose is to prove to your superiors, both inside and outside the marketing department, that these channels will serve to grow the business.

Businesses with extensive social media presences might even consider elaborating on their social strategy in a separate social media plan template.

9. Marketing Technology

Last, but certainly not least, your marketing plan should include an overview of the tools you'll include in your marketing technology (MarTech) stack . These are the tools that will help you achieve the goals you outlined in the previous sections. Since all types of marketing software usually need a generous investment from your company’s leadership, it’s essential to connect them to a potential ROI for your business.

For each tool, describe what exactly you’ll use it for, and be sure that it’s a strategy that you’ve mentioned elsewhere. For instance, we wouldn't recommend listing an advertising management tool if you didn’t list “ PPC Advertising ” under “Marketing Channels.” As for marketing analytics software , make sure to specify what metrics you’ll track with it, why, and how it will benefit your overall marketing strategy.  

• Conduct a situation analysis.
• Define your target audience.
• Write SMART goals.
• Analyze your tactics.
• Set your budget.

1. Conduct a situation analysis.

The first step I take when creating a marketing plan is conducting a SWOT analysis. It helps me uncover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing my business.

Additionally, I need a good picture of the current market. How do I compare to my competitors? Doing a competitor analysis can help.

In doing so, I can identify the gaps (and opportunities) in a competitor's approach. What are they missing? What can I offer that'll give me a competitive advantage?

Answering questions like this should help you figure out what your customer wants, which brings us to step number two.

2. Define your target audience.

If your company already has buyer personas , this step might just mean you have to refine your current personas.

But if you don't have a buyer persona, you should create one. To do this, you might have to conduct market research.

Your buyer persona should include demographic information such as age, gender, and income. However, it will also include psychographic information such as pain points and goals. What drives your audience? What problems do they have that your product or service can fix?

Once you have this information written out, it'll help you define your goals, which brings us to step number three.

3. Write SMART goals.

My mother always used to tell me, "You can't go somewhere unless you have a road map." Now, for me, someone who's geographically challenged, that was literal advice.

However, it can also be applied metaphorically to marketing. You can't improve your ROI unless you know what your goals are.

After you've figured out your current situation and know your audience, you can begin to define your SMART goals .

SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. This means that all your goals should be specific and include a time frame for which you want to complete them.

For example, your goal could be to increase your Instagram followers by 15% in three months. Depending on your overall marketing goals, this should be relevant and attainable. Additionally, this goal is specific, measurable, and time-bound.

Before you start any tactic, you should write out your goals. Then, you can begin to analyze which tactics will help you achieve that goal. That brings us to step number four.

4. Analyze your tactics.

At this point, you've written down your goals based on your target audience and current situation.

Now, you have to figure out what tactics will help you achieve your goals. Plus, what are the right channels and action items to focus on?

For example, if your goal is to increase your Instagram followers by 15% in three months, your tactics might include hosting a giveaway, responding to every comment, and posting three times on Instagram per week.

Once you know your goals, brainstorming several tactics to achieve them should be easy. That said, you may not be able to pursue every tactic on your list (unless you have an unlimited budget, which, if so, jealous ) — which brings us to step number five.

5. Set your budget.

Before you can begin implementing any of the ideas that you've come up with in the steps above, you have to know your budget.

For example, your tactics might include social media advertising. However, if you don't have the budget for that, then you might not be able to achieve your goals.

While you're writing out your tactics, be sure to note an estimated budget. You can include the time it'll take to complete each tactic in addition to the assets you might need to purchase, such as ad space.

Now that you know how to create your marketing plan, let's dive into creating a marketing campaign outline that will help you reach the goals outlined plan.

Marketing Plan Timeline

Rolling out a new marketing plan is a big lift. To make sure things are running smoothly with all of your projects, you'll want to create a timeline that maps out when each project is happening.

A marketing plan timeline allows your team to view all projects, campaigns, events, and other related tasks in one place — along with their deadlines. This ensures everyone on your team knows what’s due, when it’s due, and what’s up next in the pipeline. Typically these plans cover marketing efforts for the entire year, but some companies may operate on a bi-annual or quarterly basis.

Once you’ve completed your analysis, research, and set goals, it’s time to set deadlines for your assignments. From new blog posts and content initiatives to product launches, everything will need a deadline. Take into account any holidays or events taking place over the course of the year.

While setting deadlines for the entire year may seem daunting, start by estimating how long you think each task will take and set a deadline accordingly. Track the time it actually takes for you to complete similar types of projects. Once you’ve completed a few of them, you’ll have a better idea of how long each takes and will be able to set more accurate deadlines.

For each project, you’ll want to build in time for:

• Brainstorming : This is the first phase where your idea comes to life in a project outline. Decide what you want to achieve and which stakeholders need to be involved to meet your goal. Set a due date and set up any necessary meetings.
• Planning : This can include determining the project’s scope, figuring out how much budget will be allocated for it, finalizing deadlines and who is working on each task. Map out any campaigns needed for each project (social media, PR, sales promotions, landing pages, events, etc.).
• Execution : This third phase is all about your project launch. Decide on a date to launch and monitor the progress of the project. Set up a system for tracking metrics and KPIs.
• Analysis : In this final phase you will analyze all of your performance data to see whether or not your marketing efforts paid off. Did you meet your goals? Did you complete your projects on time and within budget?

All projects and their deadlines should be in a central location where your team can access them whether that’s a calendar like HubSpot's tool , shared document, or project management tool.

One-Page Marketing Plan Template

As demonstrated above, a marketing plan can be a long document. When you want to share information with stakeholders or simply want an overview of your plan for quick reference, having a shorter version on hand can be helpful. A one-page marketing plan can be the solution, and we’ll discuss its elements below.

Include your company name, list the names of individuals responsible for enacting the different stages of your plan, and a brief mission statement.

2. Business Initiatives

3. Target Market

Outline your target audience(s) that your efforts will reach. You can include a brief overview of your industry and buyer personas.

This is an overview of the money you’ll spend to help you meet your marketing goals. Create a good estimate of how much you'll spend on each facet of your marketing program.

5. Marketing Channels

List the channels you’ll use to achieve your marketing goals. Describe why you're using each channel and what you want to accomplish so everyone is on the same page.

Free Marketing Plan Template [Word]

Now that you know what to include in your marketing plan, it's time to grab your marketing plan template and see how best to organize the six elements explained above. The following marketing plan template opens directly in Microsoft Word, so you can edit each section as you see fit:

Download your marketing plan template here .

Marketing campaign template.

Your marketing plan is a high-level view of the different marketing strategies you’ll use to meet your business objectives. A marketing campaign template is a focused plan that will help achieve those marketing goals.

A marketing campaign template should include the following key components:

• Goals and KPIs: Identify the end goal for each of the individual campaigns you’ll run and the metrics you will use to measure the results of your campaign when it ends. For example, conversion rates, sales, sign-ups, etc.
• Channels: Identify the different channels you’ll use to enact your marketing campaign to reach your audience. Maybe you run a social media campaign on Twitter to raise brand awareness or a direct mail campaign to notify your audience of upcoming sales.
• Budget : Identify the budget you’ll need to run your campaign and how it will be distributed, like the amount you’ll spend on creating content or ad placements in different areas. Having these numbers also helps you later on when you quantify the success of your campaign, like ROI.
• Content: Identify the type of content you’ll create and distribute during your campaigns—for example, blog posts , video ads, email newsletters, etc.
• Teams and DRIs: Identify the teams and people that will be part of enacting your marketing plan from start to finish, like those responsible for creating your marketing assets, budgets, or analyzing metrics once campaigns are complete.
• Design: Identify what your marketing campaigns will look like and how you’ll use design elements to attract your audience. It’s important to note that your design should directly relate to the purpose of your campaign.

Digital Marketing Plan Template

A digital marketing plan is similar to a marketing campaign plan, but, as the name suggests, it’s tailored to the campaigns that you run online. Let’s go over the key components of a digital marketing plan template to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

• Objectives: The goals for your digital marketing and what you’re hoping to accomplish, like driving more traffic to your website . Maybe you want to drive more traffic to your website, or
• Budget : Identify how much it will cost to run your digital marketing campaign and how the money will be distributed. For example, ad placement on different social media sites costs money, and so does creating your assets.
• Target audience: Which segments of your audience are you hoping to reach with this campaign? It’s essential to identify the audiences you want to reach with your digital marketing, as different channels house different audience segments.
• Channels: Identifies the channels that are central to your digital marketing campaign.
• Timeline: Explains the length of time your digital campaigns will run, from how long it should take to create your assets to the final day of the campaign.

Many people use social media in their digital campaigns, and below we’ll discuss some ideas you can use for inspiration.

Social Media Marketing Plan Templates

As your marketing department grows, so will your presence on social media. And as your social media presence grows, so will your need to measure, plan, and re-plan what types of content you want to publish across each network.

If you're looking for a way to deepen your social media marketing strategy — even further than the marketing plan template above — the following collection of social media marketing plan templates is perfect for you:

Download 10 social media reporting templates here .

In the above collection of marketing plan templates, you'll get to fill in the following contents (and more) to suit your company:

• Annual social media budget tracking
• Weekly social media themes
• Required social media image dimension key
• Pie chart on social media traffic sorted by platform
• Social media post calendar and publish time

Below, let's review the social media reporting templates, and what you'll find in each one.

1. Social Media Questions

This template lists out questions to help you decide which social media management platform you should use.

What We Like

Once you know what social media tactics you're going to implement in your marketing plan, it's time to figure out what channels are right for you. This template will help you do that.

2. Facebook Live Schedule

If Facebook Live is one of the marketing tactics in your plan, this template will help you design an editorial calendar. With this template, you can organize what Facebook live's you want to do and when.

Once you've decided on dates, you can color-code your FB calendar and coordinate with your editorial calendar so everyone can see what lives are running in relation to other campaigns.

3. Instagram Post Log

Are you going to begin using Instagram regularly? Do you want to increase your following? With this template, you can organize your Instagram posts, so everyone on your team knows what posts are going live and when.

This is more than just a content calendar. You can use this doc to collaborate with your team on messaging, landing pages linked in your bio, and campaign rollouts.

4. Paid Social Media Template

With this template, you can organize your annual and monthly budget for your paid social media calendar.

With this spreadsheet, all you need to do is plug in your numbers and the formulas will do the works for you. I recommend using this in conjunction with your marketing plan budget to make sure you are not overspending and funds are allocated appropriately.

5. Social Media Audit

Conducting a social media audit? You can use this template to help you gather the right analytics. Tracking the results of your marketing efforts is key to determining ROI.

Use this template to track each of your campaigns to determine what worked and what didn't. From there, you can allocate funds for the strategies that deliver the results you want.

6. Social Media Editorial Calendar

With this template, you can organize your social media editorial calendar. For example, you can include social media posts for each platform, so your team knows what's going live on any given day.

This calendar makes it easy to track activity across every social media platform, since each platform is assigned a specific color. 

7. Social Media Image Sizes

With this template, your team can have the latest social media image sizes handy. This template includes image sizes for all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Having a resource like this readily available for your team ensures that everyone is on the same page regarding image sizes and prevents delays.

8. Social Media Marketing Proposal

With this template, you can create an entire social media marketing proposal. This will outline the social media goals, the scope of the work, and the tactics that you plan to implement.

This proposal functions as more of a deep dive into the marketing channel section of your marketing plan. It's relatively straightforward and contains all the essential sections of a proposal.

9. Social Media Reporting Template

With this template, you'll gain access to a slide deck that includes templates for social media reporting.

If you plan to implement social media in your marketing plan, these reporting templates can help you track your progress. If using the social media audit above, you can add all of your data here once it's been collected.

10. Hashtag Holidays

If you're going to lean into social media in your marketing plan, you can use hashtag holidays to generate ideas.

These holidays are a great way to fill out your social media publishing schedule. With this template, you'll get a list of all the hashtag holidays for the year. Once you've come up with content ideas, you can add them to your social media calendar.

Simple Marketing Plan Template

Of course, this type of planning takes a lot of time and effort. So if you're strapped for time before the holidays, give our new Marketing Plan Generator a try.

This tool simplifies yearly planning by asking prompted questions to help guide your process. You’ll be asked to input information about:

Try our free Marketing Plan Generator here .

• Your annual marketing mission statement, which is what your marketing is focused on for the year.
• The strategy that you’ll take with your marketing throughout the year to accomplish your marketing goals.
• Three main marketing initiatives that you’ll focus on during the year (i.e., brand awareness or building a high-quality pipeline) metrics you’ll use to measure your success.
• Your target goals for those marketing initiatives like generating 100 leads per week.
• Marketing initiatives that are not aligned with your current strategy to stay focused on your goals and activities that will help you be successful.

Once you input all information, the tool will spit out a table (as shown in the image below) that you can use to guide your processes.

Pro Tip: If the tool doesn't work, clear your browser's cache or access it in incognito mode.

Start the Marketing Planning Process Today

The best way to set up your marketing plan for the year is to start with quick wins first, that way you can ramp up fast and set yourself (and your team) up to hit more challenging goals and take on more sophisticated projects by Q4. So, what do you say? Are you ready to give it a spin?

Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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