A marketing plan sets out what your marketing has to achieve over the next year and
how: the goals, the customers you're aiming at, what you'll say, the channels, the budget, a calendar and the measures
you'll check. This free Word template has a section for each, sized for an established company of roughly 10 to 250
people.
Keep it short. Its value comes from the choices it forces, such as which customers to chase and which channels to
stop, not from its length.
What's in the template
Marketing plan
Company
Plan period
e.g. January to December 2027
Plan owner
Approved by
Total budget
Version and date
1. Where we are now
Last year's figures, taken from records. Ask sales and accounts where each new customer came from.
Measure
Last 12 months
Where the figure comes from
New customers won
Enquiries per month, by source
Enquiry-to-sale conversion rate
Average order or contract value
Repeat or renewal rate
Marketing spend
2. Goals
Business goal
Marketing goal that supports it
Measure
Target
By when
3. Target customers
Segment
Who decides to buy
What they need from a supplier
Where they look
Why they matter to us
4. Positioning
For
The customers we serve best
Who need
The problem they want solved
We offer
What we sell, in plain words
Unlike
The alternative they would otherwise choose
Because
Proof: a fact, a figure, a guarantee or a case study
5. Messages and proof
Message
Proof we can show
For which segment
6. Channels
Channel
Job (find, convince or keep customers)
Main activity
Owner
Budget
Measure
Website and search
Email to existing customers
Social media
Events and trade shows
Referrals and partners
Paid advertising
7. Budget by quarter
Item
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Total
Total
8. Calendar
Quarter
Campaigns and launches
Events
Content themes
Owner
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
9. Measures and reporting
Measure
Target
Source
Reported to
How often
Enquiries by source
Monthly
Cost per enquiry
Monthly
New customers won
Monthly
Revenue from new customers
Quarterly
10. Review
Monthly check
Thirty minutes: are the numbers on track, and what needs to move?
Quarterly review
What to stop, start or fund next quarter
What would make us rewrite the plan
e.g. losing a major customer, or a competitor cutting prices
How to write a marketing plan
Start from the business target. Work back from next year's revenue goal: how much must come from new
customers, how many sales that means at your average order value, and how many enquiries at your usual conversion
rate. That enquiry figure is what marketing has to deliver.
Fill in section 1 from records, not memory: where last year's customers came from and which were
profitable. If nobody records enquiry sources, start now. A recent
SWOT analysis is useful background.
Set two to four goals with numbers and dates. "Raise awareness" can't be checked; "60 enquiries from
facilities managers by June" can.
Choose two or three segments and name the person who decides to buy in each.
Write the positioning before any adverts. If you can't fill in the "because" line, collect the proof
first: a case study, a figure, a guarantee.
Pick a few channels and run them properly, each with one job, matched to where the segment looks for
suppliers.
Cost it from the activities up, enter the figures in your budget,
and compare the spend with the gross profit the goals would bring in.
Give everything a date and an owner. Section 8 holds the big items; a
content calendar holds the weekly detail.
Example: a fictional grounds maintenance contractor
Extracts from the plan of a fictional
65-person company that maintains the grounds of business parks, schools and housing estates.
Section
What they wrote
Goal
12 new maintenance contracts worth at least £15,000 a year each by October; renew 90% of
existing contracts
Customers
Facilities managers at business parks; school business managers; housing association
estates teams
Positioning
For estates teams who want sites kept tidy without chasing, we provide planned
maintenance with a named supervisor per site. Unlike national firms, our crews stay on the same sites all year,
because we only work within 40 miles of our depot.
Channels
Website case studies with before-and-after photos; LinkedIn posts from the managing
director; one regional facilities show; a winter gritting offer emailed to existing clients
Budget
£38,000: website £12,000, show stand £9,000, paid search £8,000, photography £6,000, print
£3,000
Measures
Tender invitations by source, win rate, cost per new contract, renewal rate
The working behind the goal: the company wins about one tender in four, so 12 contracts meant 48 tenders, or four
suitable invitations a month. That, not the budget, became the number checked each month.
Before you plan email campaigns: the UK rules
The Privacy and Electronic Communications
Regulations (PECR) limit who you can email or text with marketing. In summary, from the ICO's guidance:
Individuals, including sole traders and some partnerships: only with their consent, or if they're
existing customers who bought (or negotiated to buy) something similar from you and were given a simple way to opt
out when you collected their details and in every message since. That "soft opt-in" doesn't cover new contacts or
bought-in lists.
Companies and other corporate bodies fall outside the PECR email rule, but you mustn't hide who you are
and must give a valid opt-out address. A named person's work email is still personal data.
US rules differ. This summarises official guidance; it isn't legal advice.
Common mistakes
Goals that are really activities. "Post on LinkedIn three times a week" is a task; the goal is what the
posts should produce.
Every channel at once, each done thinly.
No record of where enquiries come from, so nobody knows which spending worked. Ask "How did you hear about
us?" every time.
Written by marketing alone, so it promises work that sales and operations can't deliver.
No review dates in the diary when the plan is approved.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan?
The strategy is the set of
choices: which customers to serve, how to position the company and which markets to enter. The plan turns those
choices into goals, activities, owners, dates and a budget for a set period, usually a year.
How much should we spend on marketing?
No single percentage fits every company. Cost the activities
needed to reach the goals, then check that the gross profit from the customers they should win covers the spend
comfortably. If it doesn't, change the goals or the channels.