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Blog Marketing What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

Written by: Sara McGuire Oct 26, 2023

A marketing plan is a blueprint that outlines your strategies to attract and convert your ideal customers as a part of your customer acquisition strategy. It’s a comprehensive document that details your:

• Target audience:  Who you’re trying to reach
• Marketing goals:  What you want to achieve
• Strategies and tactics:  How you’ll reach your goals
• Budget:  Resources you’ll allocate
• Metrics:  How you’ll measure success

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about creating a marketing plan . If you need a little extra help, there are professionally designed marketing plan templates that’ll make the process much easier. So, let’s ditch the confusion and get started!

Click to jump ahead:

What is a marketing plan?

How to write a marketing plan , 9 marketing plan examples to inspire your growth strategy.

• Marketing plan v.s. business plan
• Types of marketing plans

Marketing plan FAQs

A marketing plan is a report that outlines your marketing strategy for your products or services, which could be applicable for the coming year, quarter or month.  

Watch this quick, 13-minute video for more details on what a marketing plan is and how to make one yourself:

Typically, a marketing plan includes:

• An overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals
• A description of your business’s current marketing position
• A timeline of when tasks within your strategy will be completed
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) you will be tracking
• A description of your business’s target market and customer needs
• A description of how you will measure marketing plan performance

For example, this marketing plan template provides a high-level overview of the business and competitors before diving deep into specific goals, KPIs and tactics:

Learning how to write a marketing plan forces you to think through the important steps that lead to an effective marketing strategy . And a well-defined plan will help you stay focused on your high-level marketing goals.

With Venngage’s extensive catalog of marketing plan templates, creating your marketing plan isn’t going to be hard or tedious. In fact, Venngage has plenty of helpful communications and design resources for marketers. If you’re ready to get started, sign up for  Venngage for Marketers   now. It’s free to register and start designing.

Whether you’re a team trying to set smarter marketing goals, a consultant trying to set your client in the right direction, or a one-person team hustling it out, Venngage for Marketers helps you get things done.

As mentioned above, the scope of your marketing plan varies depending on its purpose or the type of organization it’s for.

For example, you could look for performance marketing agency to create a marketing plan that provides an overview of a company’s entire marketing strategy:

A typical outline of a marketing plan includes:

• Executive summary
• Goals and objectives
• User personas
• Competitor analysis/SWOT analysis
• Baseline metrics
• Marketing strategy
• Tracking guidelines

Below you will see in details how to write each section as well as some examples of how you can design each section in a marketing plan.

Let’s look at how to create a successful marketing plan (click to jump ahead):

• Write a simple executive summary
• Set metric-driven marketing goals
• Outline your user personas
• Research all of your competitors
• Set accurate key baselines & metrics
• Create an actionable marketing strategy
• Set tracking or reporting guidelines

1. Write a simple executive summary

Starting your marketing plan off on the right foot is important. You want to pull people into your amazing plan for marketing domination. Not bore them to tears.

One of the best ways to get people excited to read your marketing plan is with a well-written executive summary. An executive summary introduces readers to your company goals, marketing triumphs, future plans, and other important contextual facts.

Basically, you can use the Executive Summary as a primer for the rest of your marketing plan.

Include things like:

• Simple marketing goals
• High-level metrics
• Important company milestones
• Facts about your brand
• Employee anecdotes
• Future goals & plans

Try to keep your executive summary rather brief and to the point. You aren’t writing a novel, so try to keep it under three to four paragraphs.

Take a look at the executive summary in the marketing plan example below:

The executive summary is only two paragraphs long — short but effective.

The executive summary tells readers about the company’s growth, and how they are about to overtake one of their competitors. But there’s no mention of specific metrics or figures. That will be highlighted in the next section of the marketing plan.

An effective executive summary should have enough information to pique the reader’s interest, but not bog them down with specifics yet. That’s what the rest of your marketing plan is for!

The executive summary also sets the tone for your marketing plan. Think about what tone will fit your brand ? Friendly and humorous? Professional and reliable? Inspiring and visionary?

2. Set metric-driven marketing goals

After you perfect your executive summary, it’s time to outline your marketing goals.

(If you’ve never set data-driven goals like this before, it would be worth reading this growth strategy guide ).

This is one of the most important parts of the entire marketing plan, so be sure to take your time and be as clear as possible. Moreover, optimizing your marketing funnel is key. Employing effective funnel software can simplify operations and provide valuable customer insights. It facilitates lead tracking, conversion rate analysis, and efficient marketing optimization .

As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible. The folks over at  VoyMedia  advise that you should set goals that impact website traffic, conversions, and customer success — and to use real numbers. Complement your goals with website optimization tools (e.g., A/B testing speed with Nostra – check Nostra AI review to learn more) to further improve conversions.

Avoid outlining vague goals like:

• Get more Twitter followers
• Write more articles
• Create more YouTube videos (like educational or Explainer videos )
• Increase retention rate
• Decrease bounce rate

Instead, identify  key performance metrics  (KPI) you want to impact and the percentage you want to increase them by.

Take a look at the goals page in the marketing plan example below:

They not only identify a specific metric in each of their goals, but they also set a timeline for when they will be increased.

The same vague goals listed earlier become much clearer when specific numbers and timelines are applied to them:

• Get 100 new Twitter followers per month
• Write 5 more articles per week
• Create 10 YouTube videos each year
• Increase retention rate by 15% by 2020
• Decrease bounce rate by 5% by Q1
• Create an online course  and get 1,000 new leads
• Focus more on local SEO strategies
• Conduct a monthly social media report to track progress

You can dive even deeper into your marketing goals if you want (generally, the more specific, the better). Here’s a marketing plan example that shows how to outline your growth goals:

3. Outline your user personas

Now, this may not seem like the most important part of your marketing plan, but I think it holds a ton of value.

Outlining your user personas is an important part of a marketing plan that should not be overlooked.

You should be asking not just how you can get the most visitors to your business, but how you can get the right visitors.

Who are your ideal customers? What are their goals? What are their biggest problems? How does your business solve customer problems?

Answering these questions will take lots of research, but it’s essential information to get.

Some ways to conduct user research are:

• Interviewing your users (either in person or on the phone)
• Conducting focus groups
• Researching other businesses in the same industry
• Surveying your audience

Then, you will need to compile your user data into a user persona  guide.

Take a look at how detailed this user persona template is below:

Taking the time to identify specific demographic traits, habits and goals will make it easier for you to cater your marketing plan to them.

Here’s how you can create a user persona guide:

The first thing you should add is a profile picture or icon for each user persona. It can help to put a face to your personas, so they seem more real.

Next, list demographic information like:

• Identifiers
• Activities/Hobbies

The user persona example above uses sliding scales to identify personality traits like introversion vs. extroversion and thinking vs. feeling. Identifying what type of personality your target users tend to have an influence on the messaging you use in your marketing content.

Meanwhile, this user persona guide identifies specific challenges the user faces each day:

But if you don’t want to go into such precise detail, you can stick to basic information, like in this marketing plan example:

Most businesses will have a few different types of target users. That’s why it’s pertinent to identify and create several different user personas . That way, you can better segment your marketing campaigns and set separate goals, if necessary.

Here’s a marketing plan example with a segmented user persona guide:

The important thing is for your team or client to have a clear picture of who their target user is and how they can appeal to their specific problems.

Start creating robust user personas using Venngage’s user persona guide .

4. Conduct an extensive competitor analysis

Next, on the marketing plan checklist, we have the competitor research section. This section will help you identify who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how you could carve yourself a place alongside them in your niche — and ideally, surpass them. It’s something you can learn to do with rank tracking software .

Competitor research is also incredibly important if you are starting a blog .

Typically, your competitor research should include:

• Who their marketing team is
• Who their leadership team is
• What their marketing strategy and strategic marketing plan are (this will probably revolve some reverse-engineering)
• What their sales strategy is (same deal)
• Social Media strategy (are they using discounting strategies such as coupon marketing to get conversions)
• Their market cap/financials
• Their yearly growth (you will probably need to use a marketing tool like Ahrefs to do this)
• The number of customers they have & their user personas

Also, take as deep a dive as you can into the strategies they use across their:

• Blog/Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• SEO Marketing
• Video marketing
• And any other marketing tactics they use

Research their strengths and weaknesses in all parts of their company, and you will find some great opportunities. Bookmark has a great guide to different marketing strategies for small businesses if you need some more information there.

You can use this simple SWOT analysis worksheet to quickly work through all parts of their strategy as well:

Click the template above to create a SWOT chart . Customize the template to your liking — no design know-how needed.

Since you have already done all the research beforehand, adding this information to your marketing plan shouldn’t be that hard.

In this marketing plan example, some high-level research is outlined for 3 competing brands:

But you could take a deeper dive into different facets of your competitors’ strategies. This marketing plan example analyses a competitor’s inbound marketing strategy :

It can also be helpful to divide your competitors into Primary and Secondary groups. For example, Apple’s primary competitor may be Dell for computers, but its secondary competitor could be a company that makes tablets.

Your most dangerous competitors may not even be in the same industry as you. Like the CEO of Netflix said, “Sleep is our competition.”

5. Set accurate key baselines & metrics

It’s pretty hard to plan for the future if you don’t know where your business stands right now.

Before we do anything at Venngage, we find the baselines so we can compare future results to something. We do it so much it’s almost like second nature now!

Setting baselines will allow you to more accurately track your progress. You will also be able to better analyze what worked and what didn’t work, so you can build a stronger strategy. It will definitely help them clearly understand your goals and strategy as well.

Here’s a marketing plan example where the baselines are visualized:

Another way to include baselines in your plan is with a simple chart, like in the marketing plan example below:

Because data can be intimidating to a lot of people, visualizing your data using charts and infographics will help demystify the information.

6. Create an actionable marketing strategy

After pulling all the contextual information and relevant metrics into your marketing plan, it’s time to break down your marketing strategy.

Once again, it’s easier to communicate your information to your team or clients using visuals .

Mind maps are an effective way to show how a strategy with many moving parts ties together. For example, this mind map shows how the four main components of a marketing strategy interact together:

You can also use a flow chart to map out your strategy by objectives:

However you choose to visualize your strategy, your team should know exactly what they need to do. This is not the time to keep your cards close to your chest.

Your strategy section may need to take up a few pages to explain, like in the marketing plan example below:

With all of this information, even someone from the development team will understand what the marketing team is working on.

This minimalistic marketing plan example uses color blocks to make the different parts of the strategy easy to scan:

Breaking your strategy down into tasks will make it easier to tackle.

Another important way to visualize your marketing strategy is to create a project roadmap. A project roadmap visualizes the timeline of your product with individual tasks. Our roadmap maker can help you with this.

For example, this project roadmap shows how tasks on both the marketing and web design side run parallel to each other:

A simple timeline can also be used in your marketing plan:

Or a mind map, if you want to include a ton of information in a more organized way:

Even a simple “Next, Now, Later” chart can help visualize your strategy:

7. Set tracking or reporting guidelines

Close your marketing plan with a brief explanation of how you plan to track or measure your results. This will save you a lot of frustration down the line by standardizing how you track results across your team.

Like the other sections of your marketing plan, you can choose how in-depth you want to go. But there need to be some clear guidelines on how to measure the progress and results of your marketing plan.

At the bare minimum, your results tracking guidelines should specify:

• What you plan to track
• How you plan to track results
• How often you plan to measure

But you can more add tracking guidelines to your marketing plan if you see the need to. You may also want to include a template that your team or client can follow,  for  client reporting ,  ensure that the right metrics are being tracked.

The marketing plan example below dedicates a whole page to tracking criteria:

Use a task tracker to track tasks and marketing results, and a checklist maker to note down tasks, important life events, or tracking your daily life.

Similarly, the marketing plan example below talks about tracking content marketing instead:

Marketing plan vs. marketing strategy

Although often used interchangeably, the terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” do have some differences.

Simply speaking, a marketing strategy presents what the business will do in order to reach a certain goal. A marketing plan outlines the specific daily, weekly, monthly or yearly activities that the marketing strategy calls for. As a business, you can create a marketing proposal for the marketing strategies defined in your company’s marketing plan. There are various marketing proposal examples that you can look at to help with this.

A company’s extended marketing strategy can be like this:

Notice how it’s more general and doesn’t include the actual activities required to complete each strategy or the timeframe those marketing activities will take place. That kind of information is included in a marketing plan, like this marketing plan template which talks about the content strategy in detail:

1. Nonprofit marketing plan

Here’s a free nonprofit marketing plan example that is ideal for organizations with a comprehensive vision to share. It’s a simple plan that is incredibly effective. Not only does the plan outline the core values of the company, it also shares the ideal buyer persona.

Note how the branding is consistent throughout this example so there is no doubt which company is presenting this plan. The content plan is an added incentive for anyone viewing the document to go ahead and give the team the green light.

2. Social media marketing plan

Two-page marketing plan samples aren’t very common, but this free template proves how effective they are. There’s a dedicated section for business goals as well as for project planning.

The milestones for the marketing campaign are clearly laid out, which is a great way to show how organized this business strategy is.

3. Small business marketing plan

This marketing plan template is perfect for small businesses who set out to develop an overarching marketing strategy for the whole year:

Notice how this aligns pretty well with the marketing plan outline we discussed in previous sections.

In terms of specific tactics for the company’s marketing strategy, the template only discusses SEO strategy, but you can certainly expand on that section to discuss any other strategies — such as link building , that you would like to build out a complete marketing plan for.

4. Orange simple marketing proposal template

Marketing plans, like the sample below, are a great way to highlight what your business strategy and the proposal you wan to put forward to win potential customers.

5. One-page marketing plan

This one-page marketing plan example is great for showcasing marketing efforts in a persuasive presentation or to print out for an in-person meeting.

Note how the fact sheet breaks down the marketing budget as well as the key metrics for the organization. You can win over clients and partners with a plan like this.

6. Light company business fact sheet template

This one-page sample marketing plan clearly outlines the marketing objectives for the organization. It’s a simple but effective way to share a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

What really works with this example is that includes a mission statement, key contact information alongside all the key metrics.

7. Marketing media press kit template

This press kit marketing plan template is bright and unmistakable as belonging to the Cloud Nine marketing agency . The way the brand colors are used also helps diversify the layouts for each page, making the plan easier to read.

We like the way the marketing department has outlined the important facts about the organization. The bold and large numbers draw the eye and look impressive.

8. Professional marketing proposal template

Start your marketing campaign on a promising note with this marketing plan template. It’s short, sharp and to the point. The table of contents sets out the agenda, and there’s a page for the company overview and mission statement.

9. Social media marketing proposal template

A complete marketing plan example, like the one below, not only breaks down the business goals to be achieved but a whole lot more. Note how the terms and conditions and payment schedule are included, which makes this one of the most comprehensive marketing plans on our list.

Marketing plan vs. business plan

While both marketing plans and business plans are crucial documents for businesses, they serve distinct purposes and have different scopes. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines all aspects of your business, including:

• Mission and vision
• Products or services
• Target market
• Competition
• Management team
• Financial projections
• Marketing strategy (including a marketing plan)
• Operations plan

Marketing plan on the other hand, dives deep into the specific strategies and tactics related to your marketing efforts. It expands on the marketing section of a business plan by detailing:

• Specific marketing goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales)
• Target audience analysis (detailed understanding of their needs and behaviors)
• Product:  Features, benefits, positioning
• Price:  Pricing strategy, discounts
• Place:  Distribution channels (online, offline)
• Promotion:  Advertising, social media, content marketing, public relations
• Budget allocation for different marketing activities
• Metrics and measurement to track progress and success

In short, business plans paint the entire business picture, while marketing plans zoom in on the specific strategies used to reach your target audience and achieve marketing goals.

Types of marketing plans that can transform your business strategy

Let’s take a look at several types of marketing plans you can create, along with specific examples for each.

1. General marketing strategic plan / Annual marketing plan

This is a good example of a marketing plan that covers the overarching annual marketing strategy for a company:

Another good example would be this Starbucks marketing plan:

This one-page marketing plan example from coffee chain Starbucks has everything at a glance. The bold headers and subheadings make it easier to segment the sections so readers can focus on the area most relevant to them.

What we like about this example is how much it covers. From the ideal buyer persona to actional activities, as well as positioning and metrics, this marketing plan has it all.

Another marketing plan example that caught our eye is this one from Cengage. Although a bit text-heavy and traditional, it explains the various sections well. The clean layout makes this plan easy to read and absorb.

The last marketing plan example we would like to feature in this section is this one from Lush cosmetics.

It is a long one but it’s also very detailed. The plan outlines numerous areas, including the company mission, SWOT analysis , brand positioning, packaging, geographical criteria, and much more.

2. Content marketing plan

A content marketing plan highlights different strategies , campaigns or tactics you can use for your content to help your business reach its goals.

This one-page marketing plan example from Contently outlines a content strategy and workflow using simple colors and blocks. The bullet points detail more information but this plan can easily be understood at a glance, which makes it so effective.

For a more detailed content marketing plan example, take a look at this template which features an editorial calendar you can share with the whole team:

3. SEO marketing plan

Your SEO marketing plan highlights what you plan to do for your SEO marketing strategy . This could include tactics for website on-page optimization , off-page optimization using AI SEO , and link building using an SEO PowerSuite backlink API for quick backlink profile checks.

This SEO marketing plan example discusses in detail the target audience of the business and the SEO plan laid out in different stages:

4. Social media marketing plan

Your social media marketing plan presents what you’ll do to reach your marketing goal through social media. This could include tactics specific to each social media channel that you own, recommendations on developing a new channel, specific campaigns you want to run, and so on, like how B2B channels use Linkedin to generate leads with automation tools and expand their customer base; or like making use of Twitter walls that could display live Twitter feeds from Twitter in real-time on digital screens.

For B2C brands, you can target Facebook and Instagram. Gain Instagram likes to build trust for your brand’s profile and post engaging content on both platforms. Leverage AI social media tools to automate and scale your content plan..

Edit this social media marketing plan example easily with Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor:

5. Demand generation marketing plan

This could cover your paid marketing strategy (which can include search ads, paid social media ads, traditional advertisements, etc.), email marketing strategy and more. Here’s an example:

What should marketing plans include?

Marketing plans should include:

• A detailed analysis of the target market and customer segments.
• Clear and achievable marketing objectives and goals.
• Strategies and tactics for product promotion and distribution.
• Budget allocation for various marketing activities.
• Timelines and milestones for the implementation of marketing strategies.
• Evaluation metrics and methods for tracking the success of the marketing plan.

What is an executive summary in a marketing plan and what is its main goal?

An executive summary in a marketing plan is a brief overview of the entire document, summarizing the key points, goals, and strategies. Its main goal is to provide readers with a quick understanding of the plan’s purpose and to entice them to read further.

What are the results when a marketing plan is effective?

When a marketing plan is effective, businesses can experience increased brand visibility, higher customer engagement , improved sales and revenue, and strengthened customer loyalty.

What is the first section of a marketing plan?

The first section of a marketing plan is typically the “Executive Summary,” which provides a concise overview of the entire plan, including the business’s goals and the strategies to achieve them.

Now that you have the basics for designing your own marketing plan, it’s time to get started:

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• Marketing |
• How to create a winning marketing plan, ...

How to create a winning marketing plan, with 3 examples from world-class teams

A marketing plan helps leaders clearly visualize marketing strategies across channels, so they can ensure every campaign drives pipeline and revenue. In this article you’ll learn eight steps to create a winning marketing plan that brings business-critical goals to life, with examples from word-class teams.

To be successful as a marketer, you have to deliver the pipeline and the revenue.”

In other words—they need a well-crafted marketing plan.

Level up your marketing plan to drive revenue in 2024

Learn how to create the right marketing plan to hit your revenue targets in 2024. Hear best practices from marketing experts, including how to confidently set and hit business goals, socialize marketing plans, and move faster with clearer resourcing.

7 steps to build a comprehensive marketing plan

How do you build the right marketing plan to hit your revenue goals? Follow these eight steps for success:

1. Define your plan

First you need to define each specific component of your plan to ensure stakeholders are aligned on goals, deliverables, resources, and more. Ironing out these details early on ensures your plan supports the right business objectives, and that you have sufficient resources and time to get the job done. 

Get started by asking yourself the following questions: 

What resources do I need? 

What is the vision?

What is the value?

What is the goal?

Who is my audience?

What are my channels?

What is the timeline?

For example, imagine you’re creating an annual marketing plan to improve customer adoption and retention in the next fiscal year. Here’s how you could go through the questions above to ensure you’re ready to move forward with your plan: 

I will need support from the content team, web team, and email team to create targeted content for existing customers. One person on each team will need to be dedicated full-time to this initiative. To achieve this, the marketing team will need an additional $100K in budget and one new headcount. 

What is the vision?  

To create a positive experience for existing customers, address new customer needs, and encourage them to upgrade. We’ll do this by serving them how-to content, new feature updates, information about deals and pricing, and troubleshooting guides. 

According to the Sales Benchmark Index (SBI) , CEOs and go-to-market leaders report that more than 60% of their net-new revenue will come from existing customers in 2023. By retaining and building on the customers we have, we can maintain revenue growth over time. 

To decrease the customer churn rate from 30% to 10%, and increase upgrades from 20% to 30% in the next fiscal year. 

All existing customers. 

The main channel will be email. Supporting marketing channels include the website, blog, YouTube, and social media. 

The first half of the next fiscal year. 

One of the most important things to do as you create your marketing strategy is to identify your target audience . As with all marketing, you need to know who you’re marketing to. If you’re having a hard time determining who exactly your target audience is, try the bullseye targeting framework . The bullseye makes it easy for you to determine who your target audience is by industry, geography, company size, psychographics, demographics, and more.

2. Identify key metrics for success 

Now it’s time to define what key marketing metrics you’ll use to measure success. Your key metrics will help you measure and track the performance of your marketing activities. They’ll also help you understand how your efforts tie back to larger business goals. 

Once you establish key metrics, use a goal-setting framework—like objectives and key results (OKRs) or SMART goals —to fully flush out your marketing objectives. This ensures your targets are as specific as possible, with no ambiguity about what should be accomplished by when. 

Example: If a goal of your marketing plan is to increase email subscriptions and you follow the SMART goal framework (ensuring your objective is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) your goal might look like this: Increase email subscription rate from 10% to 20% in H1 . 

3. Research your competition 

It’s easy to get caught up in your company’s world, but there’s a lot of value in understanding your competitors . Knowing how they market themselves will help you find opportunities to make your company stand out and capture more market share.

Make sure you’re not duplicating your competitors’ efforts. If you discover a competitor has already executed your idea, then it might be time to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm new ways to differentiate yourself.  By looking at your competitors, you might be surprised at the type of inspiration and opportunities you’ll find.

To stay ahead of market trends, conduct a SWOT analysis for your marketing plan. A SWOT analysis helps you improve your plan by identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. 

Example: If your competitor launches a social media campaign identical to what you had planned, go back to the drawing board and see how you can build off their campaign. Ask yourself: How can we differentiate our campaign while still getting our message across? What are the weaknesses of their campaign that we can capitalize on? What angles did they not approach?

4. Integrate your marketing efforts

Here’s where the fun comes in. Let’s dive into the different components that go into building a successful marketing plan. You’ll want to make sure your marketing plan includes multiple supporting activities that all add up into a powerful marketing machine. Some marketing plan components include: 

Lead generation

Social media

Product marketing

Public relations

Analyst relations

Customer marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Conversational marketing

Knowing where your consumer base spends the most time is significant for nailing this step. You need to have a solid understanding of your target audience before integrating your marketing efforts. 

Example: If your target audience is executives that spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, focus your social media strategy around placing branded content on LinkedIn. 

5. Differentiate with creative content

Forty-nine percent of marketers say visual images are hugely important to their content strategy. In other words, a clear brand and creative strategy is an essential component to every marketing plan. As you craft your own creative strategy, here are some tips to keep in mind: 

Speak to your audience: When defining your creative strategy, think about your audience—what you want them to feel, think, and do when they see your marketing. Will your audience find your creative work relevant? If your audience can’t relate to your creative work, they won’t feel connected to the story you’re trying to tell. 

Think outside the box: Find innovative ways to engage your audience, whether through video, animations, or interactive graphics. Know what screens your creative work will live on, whether desktop, mobile, or tablet, and make sure they display beautifully and load quickly across every type of device. 

Tie everything back to CTAs: It’s easy to get caught up in the creative process, so it’s important to never lose sight of your ultimate goal: Get your audience to take action. Always find the best way to display strong Calls to Action (CTAs) in your creative work. We live in a visual world—make sure your creative content counts.

Streamline creative production:   Once you’ve established a strong creative strategy, the next step is to bring your strategy to life in the production stage. It’s vital to set up a strong framework for your creative production process to eliminate any unnecessary back and forth and potential bottlenecks. Consider establishing creative request forms , streamlining feedback and approval processes, and taking advantage of integrations that might make your designers’ lives easier.

Example: If your brand is fun and approachable, make sure that shows in your creative efforts. Create designs and CTAs that spark joy, offer entertainment, and alleviate the pressure in choosing a partner.

6. Operationalize your marketing plan

Turn your plan into action by making goals, deliverables, and timelines clear for every stakeholder—so teams stay accountable for getting work done. The best way to do this is by centralizing all the details of your marketing plan in one platform , so teams can access the information they need and connect campaign work back to company goals.  

With the right work management tool , you can: 

Set goals for every marketing activity, and connect campaign work to overarching marketing and business objectives so teams focus on revenue-driving projects. 

Centralize deliverables for your entire marketing plan in one project or portfolio .

Mark major milestones and visualize your plan as a timeline, Gantt chart, calendar, list, or Kanban board—without doing any extra work. 

Quickly loop in stakeholders with status updates so they’re always up to date on progress. This is extremely important if you have a global team to ensure efforts aren’t being duplicated. 

Use automations to seamlessly hand off work between teams, streamlining processes like content creation and reviews. 

Create dashboards to report on work and make sure projects are properly staffed , so campaigns stay on track. 

With everything housed in one spot, you can easily visualize the status of your entire marketing plan and keep work on track. Building an effective marketing plan is one thing, but how you operationalize it can be your secret to standout marketing.

Example: If your strategy focuses on increasing page views, connect all campaign work to an overarching OKR—like “we will double page views as measured by the amount of organic traffic on our blog.” By making that goal visible to all stakeholders, you help teams prioritize the right work. 

See marketing planning in action

With Asana, marketing teams can connect work, standardize processes, and automate workflows—all in one place.

7. Measure performance

Nearly three in four CMOs use revenue growth to measure success, so it’s no surprise that measuring performance is necessary. You established your key metrics in step two, and now it’s time to track and report on them in step eight.

Periodically measure your marketing efforts to find areas of improvement so you can optimize in real-time. There are always lessons to be learned when looking at data. You can discover trends, detect which marketing initiatives performed well, and course-correct what isn’t performing well. And when your plan is complete, you can apply these learnings to your next initiative for improved results. 

Example: Say you discover that long-form content is consistently bringing in 400% more page views than short-form content. As a result, you’ll want to focus on producing more long-form content in your next marketing plan.

Marketing plan examples from world-class teams

The best brands in the world bring their marketing plans to life every day. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these examples from successful marketing teams.

Autodesk grows site traffic 30% three years in a row

When the Autodesk team launched Redshift, it was initially a small business blog. The editorial team executed a successful marketing plan to expand it into a premier owned-media site, making it a destination for stories and videos about the future of making. 

The team scaled content production to support seven additional languages. By standardizing their content production workflow and centralizing all content conversations in one place, the editorial team now publishes 2X more content monthly. Read the case study to learn more about how Autodesk runs a well-oiled content machine. Trinny London perfects new customer acquisition 

In consumer industries, social media is crucial for building a community of people who feel an affinity with the brand—and Trinny London is no exception. As such, it was imperative that Trinny London’s ad spend was targeted to the correct audience. Using a work management tool, Trinny London was able to nail the process of creating, testing, and implementing ads on multiple social channels.

With the help of a centralized tool, Trinny London improved its ad spend and drove more likes and subscriptions on its YouTube page. Read the case study to learn more about how Trinny London capitalized on paid advertising and social media. 

Turn your marketing plan into marketing success 

A great marketing plan promotes clarity and accountability across teams—so every stakeholder knows what they’re responsible for, by when. Reading this article is the first step to achieving better team alignment, so you can ensure every marketing campaign contributes to your company’s bottom line. 

Use a free marketing plan template to get started

Once you’ve created your marketing strategy and are ready to operationalize your marketing plan, get started with one of our marketing templates . 

Our marketing templates can help you manage and track every aspect of your marketing plan, from creative requests to approval workflows. Centralize your entire marketing plan in one place, customize the roadmap, assign tasks, and build a timeline or calendar. 

Once you’ve operationalized your entire marketing plan with one of our templates, share it with your stakeholders so everyone can work together in the same tool. Your entire team will feel connected to the marketing plan, know what to prioritize, and see how their work contributes to your project objectives . Choose the best marketing template for your team:

Marketing project plan template

Marketing campaign plan template

Product marketing launch template

Editorial calendar template

Agency collaboration template

Creative requests template

Event planning template

GTM strategy template

Still have questions? We have answers. 

What is a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that outlines the different strategies your team will use to achieve organizational objectives. Rather than focusing solely on the end goal, a marketing plan maps every step you need to reach your destination—whether that’s driving pipeline for sales, nurturing your existing customer base, or something in-between. 

As a marketing leader, you know there’s never a shortage of great campaign and project ideas. A marketing plan gives you a framework to effectively prioritize work that aligns to overarching business goals—and then get that work done. Some elements of marketing plans include:

Current business plan

Mission statement  

Business goals

Target customers  

Competitive analysis 

Current marketing mix

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Marketing budget  

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

The purpose of a marketing plan is to grow your company’s consumer base and strengthen your brand, while aligning with your organization’s mission and vision . The plan should analyze the competitive landscape and industry trends, offer actionable insights to help you gain a competitive advantage, and document each step of your strategy—so you can see how your campaigns work together to drive overarching business goals. 

What is the difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy? 

A marketing plan contains many marketing strategies across different channels. In that way, marketing strategies contribute to your overall marketing plan, working together to reach your company’s overarching business goals.

For example, imagine you’re about to launch a new software product and the goal of your marketing plan is to drive downloads. Your marketing plan could include marketing strategies like creating top-of-funnel blog content and launching a social media campaign. 

What are different types of marketing plans? 

Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, what your timeline is, or which facet of marketing you’re driving, you’ll need to create a different type of marketing plan. Some different types of marketing plans include, but aren’t limited to:

General marketing plan: A general marketing plan is typically an annual or quarterly marketing plan that details the overarching marketing strategies for the period. This type of marketing plan outlines marketing goals, the company’s mission, buyer personas, unique selling propositions, and more. A general marketing plan lays the foundation for other, more specific marketing plans that an organization may employ. 

Product launch marketing plan: A product launch marketing plan is a step-by-step plan for marketing a new product or expanding into a new market. It helps you build awareness and interest by targeting the right audience, with the right messaging, in the right timeframe—so potential customers are ready to buy your new offering right away. Nailing your product launch marketing plan can reinforce your overall brand and fast-track sales. For a step-by-step framework to organize all the moving pieces of a launch, check out our product marketing launch template .

Paid marketing plan: This plan includes all the paid strategies in your marketing plan, like pay-per-click, paid social media advertising, native advertising, and display advertising. It’s especially important to do audience research prior to launching your paid marketing plan to ensure you’re maximizing ROI. Consult with content strategists to ensure your ads align with your buyer personas so you know you’re showing ads to the right people. 

Content marketing plan: A content marketing plan outlines the different content strategies and campaigns you’ll use to promote your product or service. When putting together a content marketing plan, start by identifying your audience. Then use market research tools to get the best insights into what topics your target audience is most interested in.

SEO marketing plan: Your SEO marketing plan should work directly alongside your content marketing plan as you chart content that’s designed to rank in search results. While your content marketing plan should include all types of content, your SEO marketing plan will cover the top-of-funnel content that drives new users to your site. Planning search engine-friendly content is only one step in your SEO marketing plan. You’ll also need to include link-building and technical aspects in order to ensure your site and content are as optimized as possible.

Social media marketing plan: This plan will highlight the marketing strategies you plan to accomplish on social media. Like in any general or digital marketing plan , your social media strategy should identify your ideal customer base and determine how they engage on different social media platforms. From there, you can cater your social media content to your target audience.  

Related resources

How Asana streamlines strategic planning with work management

Write better AI prompts: A 4-sentence framework

What is content marketing? A complete guide

Smooth product launches are simpler than you think

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What Is a Marketing Strategy?

• How It Works
• Marketing Strategies vs. Plans
• Creating a Marketing Strategy

The Bottom Line

• Marketing Essentials

Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Create One

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Investopedia / Daniel Fishel

A marketing strategy refers to a business’s overall plan to convince customers to buy its products or services. A marketing strategy determines how to reach prospective consumers and turn them into customers. It contains the company’s value proposition , key brand messaging, data on target customer  demographics, and other high-level elements.

A thorough marketing strategy covers the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Key Takeaways

• A marketing strategy is a business’s plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services.
• Marketing strategies should revolve around a company’s value proposition and make use of unique brand messaging.
• The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies.
• A marketing strategy is a big-picture idea that informs smaller, short-term marketing plans.

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A clear marketing strategy should revolve around the company’s value proposition. This communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves the customers' business. A well-constructed value proposition provides marketing teams with a template that should inform their initiatives across all of the company’s products and services.

The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies. To do this, a business must understand the needs and wants of its customers. Whether it’s a print ad design, mass customization , or a social media campaign, a marketing asset should effectively communicate a company’s core value proposition .

For example, Walmart ( WMT ) is widely known as a discount retailer with “everyday low prices.” Low prices are its value proposition, so all its business operations and marketing efforts are rooted in that idea, which appeals to its core consumer base. Its marketing strategies may be found on TV, in print, or on the accounts of social media influencers, but they all emphasize the same value proposition of low prices on everyday products.

Many companies use market research to identify what is most important to consumers and how to differentiate their products or services from those of competitors. This information can be used to identify untapped audiences and develop a plan for reaching them, which will increase sales and improve a company's bottom line.

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The marketing strategy is outlined in the marketing plan . This is a document that details the specific types of marketing activities a company will conduct in a given timeframe. It contains important information such as what the current and near-future marketing initiatives will be, how they will be conducted, what their goals are, and the timetables for enacting them. A company may have separate marketing initiatives for each of its products or services; it may also have multiple marketing initiatives for the same product or service that are implemented at different times or on different platforms.

Marketing strategies inform a business's marketing across many verticals and over a longer period of time. These strategies should ideally have longer life spans than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company’s brand, which generally hold constant over the long haul.

Marketing strategies cover big-picture messaging, while marketing plans delineate the logistical details of specific campaigns.

For example, a marketing strategy might say that a company aims to increase authority in niche circles where their clients visit. The marketing plan puts that into action by commissioning thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn.

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

Creating a thoughtful and effective marketing strategy requires several steps.

Identify Goals

While sales are the ultimate goal for every company, a marketing strategy can also include short-term goals such as:

• Establishing authority
• Increasing customer engagement
• Generating leads

These smaller goals offer measurable benchmarks for the progress of your marketing plan. Think of strategy as the high-level ideology and planning as how you accomplish your goals.

Create a Customer Profile

Every product or service has an ideal customer, and you should have a profile outlining what you know about yours. It can include:

• Who they are
• What they are most interested in
• What problems they want to solve
• What is holding them back from solving those problems
• What solutions your competitors offer them
• What types of media are ideal for reaching them

If you sell power tools, for example, you’ll choose marketing channels where general contractors may see your messaging. This could be TV ads, or it might be social media accounts focused on home renovation and DIY.

Develop a Message

Now that you know your goals and who you’re pitching to, it’s time to create your message. Your clients have a problem that needs to be solved and something that is standing in the way of that solution. Your marketing message needs to communicate how your product or service will solve their problem and improve their lives.

This is also when you differentiate your solution from the one provided by your competitors and show how it's the best option for your customers.

Define Your Budget

How you disperse your messaging may depend on how much you can afford. Will you be purchasing advertising? Working with thought leaders or influencers? Hoping for a viral moment on social media organically? Sending out press releases to the media to try to gain coverage?

Your budget will dictate what you can afford to do.

Select Your Channels

Even the best message won't work unless it is communicated through the appropriate medium. Selecting the best channel for your marketing efforts will depend on who your customers are, who they trust, what types of media they consume, and what budget you have to work with.

Some companies may find the most value in creating blog posts for their website. Others may find success with paid ads on social media channels. Find the most appropriate venue for your content.

Track Measurable Benchmarks

To target your marketing, you need to know whether it is reaching its audience. Determine your metrics and how you’ll judge the success of your marketing efforts. Make sure these are clearly defined and measurable. For example, you may decide to track:

• Customer signups
• Sales of an individual product
• Social media followers
• Customer retention
• New accounts opened

Which metrics you track will depend on the goals of your marketing campaign and the type of business you are running.

What Do the Four Ps Mean in a Marketing Strategy?

The four Ps are product, price, promotion, and place. These are the key factors that are involved in the marketing of a good or service . The four Ps can be used when planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer, or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. They also can be used to test a current marketing strategy on a new audience.

What Does a Marketing Strategy Look Like?

A marketing strategy will detail the advertising, outreach, and public relations campaigns to be carried out by a firm, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives. The functions and components of a marketing plan include market research, tailored messaging  that targets certain demographics and geographic areas, platform selection, and metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines.

Is a Marketing Strategy the Same as a Marketing Plan?

The terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year.

Companies need to sell their products and services to generate revenue and put them on the path of being a successful business. To sell their products or services, they have to let consumers know of them. They must also convince consumers to buy them as well as convert consumers from competitors. Having a marketing strategy that outlines this process and more is a crucial step in converting consumers into customers.

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How To Write a Marketing Strategy for Your Business Plan

Potential investors want to see how you plan to sell

Alyssa Gregory is an entrepreneur, writer, and marketer with 20 years of experience in the business world. She is the founder of the Small Business Bonfire, a community for entrepreneurs, and has authored more than 2,500 articles for The Balance and other popular small business websites.

How Marketing Strategy Fits Into Your Business Plan

The 4 ps: product, promotion, price, and place, 7 tips for writing a marketing strategy, the bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Bulent Ince / E+ Collection / Getty Images

A marketing strategy is important for all businesses because it clearly outlines how they'll find new customers and promote their products and services to ultimately achieve more sales. You can use the marketing strategy as a stand-alone tool, as part of a marketing plan, or as part of a business plan, all with slightly different components.

Let's focus on some marketing strategy examples for your business plan. 

• A solid marketing strategy addresses the four Ps: product, promotion, price, and place.
• Your success can depend on understanding your clients’ needs and being flexible enough to find a way to meet them.
• Keep your budget in mind. You can only do what you can afford to do, and you should plan for accommodating periodic shortfalls.

The marketing strategy section of your business plan builds upon the market analysis section . The marketing strategy outlines where your business fits into the market and how you'll price, promote, and sell your product or service. It can also act as a source of important information for potential investors who are analyzing your business.

You can break down the key information in the marketing strategy section using the 4 Ps of marketing concept: product, promotion, price, and place.

Product can refer to either a physical product or a service that you plan on offering. Some of the product areas that fall into this section include:

• Related products or services
• Functionality

Promotion covers the various aspects of how you plan on marketing your product or service. The areas you should address include:

• Advertising
• Marketing budget
• Promotional strategy
• Publicity and public relations
• Sales force
• Sales promotion

This addresses the way you plan on pricing your product or service. The aspects of pricing you should address are:

• Bundling (if you have related products/services)
• Pricing flexibility
• Pricing strategy
• Retail price
• Seasonal price (if applicable)
• Wholesale (volume) price

Also known as distribution, this part is all about the delivery of your product or service to your customers. Some areas you should cover include:

• Distribution centers
• Distribution channels
• Inventory management
• Order processing
• Transportation
• Warehousing

Keep seven things in mind as you write the marketing strategy section of your business plan to make it as effective and relevant as possible.

Show How Unique You Are

The foundation of your marketing strategy should be your unique selling proposition (USP). This is the statement that outlines what differentiates you from everyone else in the market. Create your USP first, then build upon it by relating it to each of the 4 Ps.

The common thread through each part of your marketing strategy should be how your business solves a problem or meets a need better than anyone else.

Know Your Customers/Clients

The information you include in your marketing strategy should incorporate all the research you conducted in your market analysis . Make sure you have a clear idea of who your ideal customers or clients are, what they like, what they need, and what they expect. This will make your marketing strategy more accurate and applicable to your target audience.

Be Flexible

The 4 Ps of marketing work well for physical products, but you may have to tweak them a bit for services. For example, you might use your website instead of a physical location for the place section. Your website should also be a part of your promotion section, as should any social media platforms that you participate in.

Do Your Research

When you’re determining your pricing, you should have plenty of data to back up your decision when you're determining your pricing. Include industry reports, competitor ads, and comparisons that demonstrate the research you conducted and how you came to the conclusion that you're pricing your product or service correctly.

Use Visuals

As in other sections of your business plan, using charts, graphs, and images to illustrate your facts can make them easier for your audience to absorb and understand. Is your pricing right at the median of the industry? Are you planning to use a four-step distribution process?

Use visual aids to drive your point home.

Remember Your Budget

You'll outline the financial analysis of your company in another section of your business plan but keep those numbers in mind as you write your marketing strategy. Your marketing process may look good by itself, but you'll have a difficult time meeting your goals unless you tie it directly to your financial status.

Include Your Collateral

You should include samples as exhibits if you're going to talk about your marketing collateral in your marketing section. These might include brochures, fact sheets, videos, and photos.

Your marketing strategy is your overall plan for how you're going to make your business profitable. Larger enterprises might have different strategies for various arms of their operations. Sole proprietors carry the weight of a single plan on their own. But addressing all these components will increase your odds of success in any case.

What are the four types of marketing strategies?

Many consider the four Ps to be the basic types of marketing strategies, but others focus on four possible ways you can reach clients and consumers: search engine optimization, paid advertising, content marketing, and sales.

What are the seven Cs of marketing?

The seven Cs organize your marketing strategy. They can vary depending on who you talk to and the nature of your business, but you can tailor yours to best meet your goals and needs. Most include customer, consistency, creativity, and communication. Some include other factors, such as convenience, competition, credibility, culture, and change.

American Marketing Association. " The Four Ps of Marketing ."

Notes Learning. " 7 Cs of Marketing ."

OBC. " The 7 Cs of Marketing: How to Apply Them ."

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Marketing Strategy Business Plan

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Cambridge Strategy Group

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">, opportunity.

The start up businesses in Cambridge are in need of a consulting firm that helps them decide how to market themselves and build themselves to a successful business. Research shows that many of these businesses fail since they don’t have the resources to make the right choices. Helping them keeps people employed and the economy going strong. 

The Cambridge Strategy Group (CSG), L.L.C. is dedicated to providing marketing and management consulting services to small and emerging businesses looking for opportunities to increase their potential for success. 

The target market is defined by the customer needs that create the market, the structural forces that govern operation within the market, and the attractiveness of the market based on strategic value, market size, market growth, and potential for profit.

Competition

There are many rivals in the Cambridge area that fall into 4 categories: segment rivals, market rivals, generic rivals, structural rivals.

The Cambridge Strategy Group is focused specifically on helping small and emerging businesses maximize their potential for success. 

Expectations

The market for Cambridge Strategy Group’s services is enormous. Initially, the three founding members intend to work part-time on this venture while maintaining full-time positions with other corporations. As we determine how best to enlarge our operations, we will consider expanding the business as defined in our strategy.

Financial Highlights by Year

Financing needed.

The three managing directors will contribute $115,000.  John Gordon is contributing $40,000, Todd Kuczaj will be contributing $40,000 and Ben Cordell will be contributing $35,000. 

Problem & Solution

Problem worth solving.

The new businesses in the area  were started by an entrepreneur with a solid idea, but little experience in creating the formal business strategies or marketing deliverables necessary to turn their idea into a successful business. With recent IPOs giving back much of their initial valuations, companies are now being forced to demonstrate profitable business models in order to maintain strong valuations. Venture capitalists need to focus on making their existing companies successful instead of simply prospecting for the next great idea. To accomplish this, founders need to effectively define and communicate their value propositions. Since this is not a core competency for many entrepreneurs, there is an opportunity to provide this skill set through outsourcing arrangements. Additionally, founders need experience in sales and marketing to exploit market opportunities and create early revenue wins. Finally, no business currently exists with dominant mind-share as a "small business consulting" firm.

Our Solution

The Cambridge Strategy Group is focused specifically on helping small and emerging businesses maximize their potential for success. We differentiate ourselves in the following ways:

• Focus on small business:   Our mission is to help small businesses of today become the leading corporations of tomorrow. Cambridge Strategy Group will attempt to own the words "small business" in the minds of our potential clients.
• Cost-effective personal interaction with local consultant presence: We will target new regions with local consultants, allowing us to personally interact with small businesses without needing to bring consultants to the region.
• A diverse network of consultants and alliance partners:   By relying on a nationally distributed talent base coordinated to work together remotely, we will be able to bring together a variety of skills to meet the needs of our clients.

Target Market

Market size & segments.

Market Segmentation

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS The following factors define the environment in which CSG hopes to succeed.

• Physical:  New businesses are being formed across the United States every day. Providing consulting services to these businesses will require local presence. North Carolina’s Triangle Area has recently been rated as one of the top three metropolitan areas for small businesses by Dun and Bradstreet’s  Entrepreneur  magazine.
• Legal:  The creation of the Limited Liability Company has made it very simple for new businesses to organize as formal business entities. Limited Liability Companies are ideal for small businesses as they avoid the double taxation characteristic of C Corporations, while providing limited liability for the company members.
• Economic:  Current economic conditions are continuing to challenge investors’ views regarding the potential for return. The market is no longer rewarding entrepreneurs solely on the strength of their ideas. Instead, business owners and Venture Capitalists are expected to show profitability before they will be allowed to reap the rewards of their hard work. While small business owners bring innovative ideas and possibly leadership qualities to their organization, they will need to rely upon skills from other disciplines, including marketing, to succeed.
• Social:  According to a Small Business Administration report, U.S. small business is at an all-time high  (The Facts About Small Business, 1999) "interest in owning or starting a small business has broken new records [between 1993 and 1998]." While recent stock market corrections may have frightened a segment of potential entrepreneurs, the opportunity for financial reward keeps many small business owners diligently chasing their dreams.
• Technological:  Recent advances in technology have greatly enhanced the ability for distributed teams to work together on common projects. The proliferation of the Internet facilitates data sharing and communication. Voice-over-IP technology reduces the cost of conversation between CSG members working across the country.

With these conditions in mind, CSG will concentrate on initially building clients in the North Carolina area before expanding into other areas. We will be concentrating on all businesses that employ less than 100 individuals. CSG will not segment its market to any greater degree since the company wants to build clients as quickly as possible. Therefore our market analysis chart below reflects this initial strategy.

Target Market 

The target market is defined by the customer needs that create the market, the structural forces that govern operation within the market, and the attractiveness of the market based on strategic value, market size, market growth, and potential for profit. Each of these areas is described below.

STRUCTURAL FACTORS Particular market forces affect the ability of the Cambridge Strategy Group to succeed. These forces are identified below:

• Buyer Power:  With almost 900,000 new businesses starting each year, there is ample demand for consulting services. If any particular business chooses to work with another consulting firm, there are still a large number of firms that can be targeted by CSG. Buyers have power in this market, but the size of the market makes it unlikely that buyer power will have any significant negative impact on the consulting firm.
• Threat of Conventional Competitors:  No other conventional competitor owns the idea of "small business consulting" in the minds of today’s business owners. A number of high-profile management and marketing consulting firms exist, yet most of these firms have a reputation for being expensive and much too theoretical for small business owners who have practical, short-term concerns. Still, there is potential for these firms to open distinct teams of consultants focused on this market place. These teams would have particular strength in an area where the competitors already have an established consulting presence, such as the major U.S. cities. By beginning our efforts in the Triangle Area of North Carolina, Cambridge Strategy Group will exploit an area that has a very strong market of small businesses, yet does not have many high-profile competitor offices outside of tax specialists. No smaller competitor has emerged in this area.

• Supplier Power:  Suppliers have minimal power over a consulting firm. The www.cambridgestrategy.net website URL as well as all of the Cambridge Strategy Group email addresses are owned by CSG. Our Web-hosting provider can be changed quickly in the event of any disruption of service. CSG intends to work with third party alliance partners to fulfill client projects. For example, CSG is in the process of entering into an agreement with a Web development firm. This supplier will provide website development for the www.cambridgestrategy.net website in exchange for first right of refusal for future client projects. Contractual stipulations have given the Group legal remedies to terminate the contract due to cost, quality, or time issues with the supplier. By crafting supplier contracts in a careful manner, we hope to limit our exposure to risk due to suppliers’ power.
• Threat of Substitutes:  Potential substitutes are a very real threat. Venture Capitalists could add more consulting services to their portfolio in order to have more points of contact with the new business. Additionally, non-profit groups such as the Council for Entrepreneurial Development offer basic business plan services, primarily focusing on pre-Angel businesses. Cambridge Strategy Group intends to form relationships with each of these potential substitutes. By working with Venture Capitalists, CSG is able to provide a set of core competencies in marketing and business strategy that complements the VCs funding and business model assessment competencies. Also, by becoming more involved with the Council for Entrepreneurial Development and other non-profit organizations, CSG will gain access to a number of firms who will be potential prospects for marketing consulting once they receive their initial funding.
• Threat of New Entrants:  This threat is significant as there are very few barriers to entry in a consulting market. Consulting firms do not normally have significant intellectual property that can be patented, and the requirements for creating these firms are minimal. Fortunately, the size of the new business market should sustain a number of firms in this area. The Cambridge Strategy Group will focus on gaining ownership of the idea "small business consulting" in the mind of the market. By owning that idea, CSG will minimize its exposure to new consulting firms with similar targets. Owning this idea is an expensive task that will have to start locally and move from one city to another as the company expands.

Current Alternatives

Competitors to the Cambridge Strategy Group fall into four categories:

• Segment Rivals:  Segment Rivals offer the exact same services as the Cambridge Strategy Group. These firms must focus exclusively on small businesses and offer marketing and/or management strategy services.
• Market Rivals:  There are a number of available Market Rivals who compete with the Cambridge Strategy Group while having slightly different business focuses. Examples of market rivals include start-up focused branches of Big Five Consulting Firms, Management Consulting Firms, and Venture Capitalists who also provide business services.
• Generic Rivals:  Generic Rivals represent alternative solutions. The main alternative to outsourcing work to a consulting firm is performing the work in-house.
• Structural Rivals:  Structural Rivals are the forces inherent in the market through which the firm must operate. These forces were described in the previous section entitled Target Market Analysis.

Our Advantages

Key Success Factors:   After exploring the opportunities and threats that permeate this market, the following Key Success Factors emerge as the requirements to be successful at providing marketing and management consulting services to small businesses.

• Local presence in a strong small business market;
• Affordable pricing structure/minimal costs;
• Clear value proposition, communicated into target market;
• Core competencies in marketing and strategy;
• Recognition as leading "small business consultants" or, no other firm claiming that title;
• Venture Capitalist relationships.

Keys to Success

UNIQUENESS OF SERVICES The Cambridge Strategy Group is focused specifically on helping small and emerging businesses maximize their potential for success. We combine Blue Chip training with small business experience and local presence. We differentiate ourselves in the following ways:

• Focus on small business.  We place our best people on small business customers. Our mission is to help small businesses of today become the leading corporations of tomorrow. Cambridge Strategy Group will attempt to own the words "small business" in the minds of our potential clients.
• Cost-effective personal interaction with local consultant presence. Personal interaction provides small businesses with a level of comfort not available with remote consultants. There may be many occasions where the small business founders may ask the consultant to simply "stop by," to react to a new development, or to answer a question. While this local presence and personal interaction is highly valued, business owners are often unable to afford the cost associated with bringing consultants to them from other areas.
• A diverse network of consultants and alliance partners.  Solving the unique problems that face small businesses today demands a wide range of skills and experiences. By relying on a nationally distributed talent base coordinated to work together remotely, Cambridge Strategy Group will be able to bring together the skills required by a particular client without incurring the expense of physically bringing all of the individuals together. In the book,  22 Immutable Laws of Marketing , authors Al Ries and Jack Trout note that being first in the customer’s mind is more important than being the overall leader. In the world of small business, this is particularly true. With 898,000 small businesses starting each year, there is a significant opportunity for a consulting firm such as Cambridge Strategy Group to become the "first" consulting firm dedicated exclusively to small businesses in the minds of a number of these potential clients.

Marketing & Sales

Marketing plan.

We have a number of ways to promote We will use a number of relationships to promote the Cambridge Strategy Group.

Through participation in the North Carolina Chapter of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, we will make contacts with key Venture Capitalists, small business founders, and small businesses resources in the area. Once we have helped our first few clients, we will then explore relationships with local newspapers. Participating in local chambers of commerce will also help us to get increased exposure. In every method of communication, we will constantly reinforce our differential advantage:

• Focus on helping small businesses start moving in the right direction;
• Practical, actionable, short-term marketing and business strategy help;
• Local presence for availability and minimization of costs;
• Broad skill base combining Fortune 500 training with small business experience.

The 20 projects averaging 200 hours each listed represents approximately two person-years of work. However, additional time must be included for finding new clients and building Venture Capitalist relationships. For this forecast to become a reality, it will require either: (a) additional consultants to join the firm or (b) some members of CSG to work full-time on group activities. Note that "projects" are not synonymous with "clients." Any given client may require multiple projects from CSG.

The Cambridge Strategy Group understands the importance of implementing the technological components of a small business as soon as possible in order to facilitate communication between the company and its clients, employees, and partners. Therefore, we offer assistance in email enablement as well as phone and fax set-up. CSG also offers expertise in constructing an Internet presence through Web development and Web hosting.

Milestones & Metrics

Milestones table.

Key Metrics

Our Key Metrics are: 

• Total clients per month 
• Average billing per engagement. 
• Repeat business vs. new business. 
• Facebook likes, Twitter follows. 

Ownership & Structure

The company is organized as a manager-managed Limited Liability Company. Initially, we will have three members with equal equity stakes in the company making all voting decisions. An executive director who is one of the managers will be identified to run meetings and provide some form of order to ongoing discussions. Additionally, we will hire consultants as needed to help our clients. Consultants will be paid on a per-deliverable basis.

Management Team

The CSG management team brings a broad range of industry experience and training from both energetic small firms and experienced industry leaders.

John B. Gordon, Executive Director: John has worked in marketing, business development, and corporate strategy for a number of small and large firms, including EMC Corporation, IBM Corporation, and Larscom, Incorporated. John’s participation on the North Carolina Council for Entrepreneurial Development, plus his experience providing consulting services to small businesses, catalyzed the formation of the Cambridge Strategy Group.

Todd D. Kuczaj, Managing Director: Todd has worked in Internet consulting, Web design/development, financial services, and media publications for a variety of companies, including a Big Five consulting firm, Integrated Information Systems Inc., SunAmerica Securities Inc., and the Foothills Sentinel. Todd currently functions as an experienced analyst for a Big Five consulting firm, working with Fortune 100 and Fortune e-50 firms to solve their business and technology issues.

Ben S. Cordell, Managing Director: Ben has worked in business development, account management, systems engineering, marketing, and product development positions at LifeServ and ONE Co. (formerly DC Systems). Ben currently functions as a corporate strategy specialist at LifeServ, discovering and developing merger, acquisition and strategic partnership opportunities.

The Cambridge Strategy Group will create an advisory board to bring insight into new areas including consulting management, finance and accounting, venture capital, and local media. The Founders of CSG have a number of contacts that could certainly provide useful guidance in our future operations. We will determine the value and compensation for the advisory board in future discussions.

Personnel Table

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

Key assumptions.

Below is a list of assumptions that define the short-term business model:

• Year 1 will  be spent preparing and learning how best to approach clients and building relationships with VCs;
• All managers will hold full-time positions with other companies;
• We will focus on business opportunities in NC until we create sufficient revenue to open foreign LLC’s in other states;
• year 1  financial model represents only three managers;
• All revenue is realized when a project is finished

Revenue by Month

Expenses by month, net profit (or loss) by year, use of funds.

Our Startup Expenses are: 

Start-up Expenses

Stationery etc.$100

Brochures$150

Insurance$200

Other$4,000

TOTAL START-UP EXPENSES$4,650

Sources of Funds

Our 3 owners will contribute to our startup: John Gordon is contributing 40,000, Todd Kuczaj is contributing 40,000, Ben Cordell contributed 35,000. The total from the owner investment is 115000

Projected Profit & Loss

Projected Balance Sheet

Projected Cash Flow Statement

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Marketing strategy – How to structure your marketing plan

Improve your marketing strategy – how to structure your marketing plan with our hub page.

Use our hub pages as a reference to get up-to-speed on all the main digital marketing techniques. They will help you quickly understand how to make the most of the technique through definitions and recommendations on our member resources and blog articles covering strategy, best practices and the latest statistics.

What is a marketing strategy?

A marketing strategy is a long-term, top-level, strategic marketing plan outlining your overall business goals and the marketing objectives you have set to achieve them.

Successful marketing strategies succinctly communicate your brand value proposition (vs your competition) and how you will position and sell your products and/or services effectively in your markets. Good marketing strategies will also set expectations on budget spend, ROI, and how you will measure your success.

In marketing, there is a danger of focusing too much on tactics rather than defining the higher-level strategic thinking which is so important to business growth. We believe that every business should have a marketing plan that informs all their marketing activities including digital marketing.

Recommended marketing planning resources

• Free article - How do you choose the best marketing plan for your business?
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• Free download - Essential marketing models guide
• Paid resource - Marketing plan guide
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How to structure your marketing strategy

A well-crafted marketing strategy considers the overall positioning of your brand, including target audience, competitive analysis, positioning, branding, and the marketing mix (commonly known as the 7Ps of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, people, processes, and physical evidence.

We recommend that digital/omnichannel businesses also review their marketing strategies across the 6 pillars of digital marketing:

1. Strategy and governance (or management) : Goals – Analytics, Strategy (Segmentation, Targeting, Brand Positioning), integration, marketing and sales alignment, resourcing, structure, marketing technology  and data

2. Goals and measurement : Forecasts, digital reporting including KPI dashboards, attribution and customer insight

3. Media : Paid, owned, earned media including Search, Social and Display ads

4. Experience : Desktop / mobile website and apps. Customer service.

5. Messaging : Email, Chat, Social media, customer service, on-site interactions and personalization

6. Content : Product and blog content to fuel content marketing, PDF downloads, Interactive tools

A well-defined, integrated marketing strategy guides your team's marketing efforts, ensuring they are coherent, focused, and aligned with the overall business objectives, thus increasing the chances of success in the market.

Marketing improvement process

Our RACE Growth System gives you a simple framework for planning, managing, and optimizing your marketing performance.

Part 1. The RACE marketing planning framework

Our popular infographic summarizes the 5 steps of the RACE Marketing Planning Framework which is a classic marketing funnel aimed at improving marketing effectiveness.

The benefit of our RACE marketing framework is you can start to see results from your marketing activities instantly, and you can use data and insights to adapt your plan to meet your objectives as you can see below.

Part 2. The RACE OSA marketing improvement process:

To make the RACE planning framework actionable, OSA gives a simple process to create your overall strategy and improve the results of individual channels such as search, social media and email marketing.

OSA stands for Opportunity > Strategy > Action

The RACE OSA growth process is designed to help our members improve their results from marketing, customized to their needs based on the size and type of business, their personal experience and needs.

So you can make an instant impact, we recommend you start by creating a 90-day prioritized plan and then create a longer-term annual plan and roadmap.

OSA has three simple parts which integrate with our planning templates, learning paths, and other tools:

Download our marketing plan template to structure your marketing strategy

Having a defined, strategic marketing plan is an essential marketing tool for businesses of all sizes since it gives focus to your marketing activities by helping you use research and data to set realistic, achievable priorities within your marketing budget.

Your marketing plan should define what you want to gain from your investment in marketing, such as your SMART goals , and how you will achieve these goals by selecting the best marketing strategies, tactics, and channels to acquire and retain high-value customers.

Download our free marketing plan template to get started today.

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• Online business plan summary template

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Your Guide to Creating a Small Business Marketing Plan

Follow these templates and guidelines to get started on your business's marketing plan.

Table of Contents

To have a successful business, you need a well-thought-out marketing plan to promote your products or services. Although making a few social media posts or blasting a few promotional emails may seem simple enough, disjointed marketing efforts not only confuse your target audience, but can ultimately harm your business. 

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic road map for how you communicate (online and offline) with your target audience to successfully promote your products or services. Depending on your goal, marketing plans can be extremely basic or highly detailed.

According to Molly Maple Bryant, vice president of marketing at Vibrent Health, a marketing plan is not simply a list of things you want to accomplish. Instead, it should list the outcomes you seek — measurable and contextual, like the pipeline you’re developing, or leads you’re generating — and it should explain the high-level strategies you will use to achieve those outcomes. Developing strategies can be complicated, but they make a major difference in keeping you on track and avoiding diversions, also called scope creep .

“Once you have an agreed-upon plan, you are able to compare any incoming requests against your strategies to determine ‘Yes, this adheres to my strategy so we can add it,’ or ‘No, this sounds good in theory, but it doesn’t adhere to our agreed-upon strategy, so we won’t adjust resources,'” Bryant told us.

Types of marketing plans

There are several different types of marketing plans you can use based on certain strategies that make sense for your organization. Your business will likely need a combination of the following marketing plans to create an effective, comprehensive marketing strategy:

• Advertising plan
• Branding plan
• Content marketing plan
• Customer acquisition plan
• Direct marketing plan
• Email marketing plan
• Public relation plan
• Print marketing plan
• Reputation management plan
• Retention plan
• Search engine optimization plan
• Social media marketing plan

Why is it important to have a marketing plan for your business?

A marketing plan is a crucial resource for any small business because it helps you identify the market needs your product or service meets, how your product is different from competitors, and who your product or service is for. Marketing plans also serve as a road map for your sales strategy, branding direction and building your overall business. This is important for successfully conveying your brand messaging to your target audience .

Another significant benefit of a marketing plan for your company is that rather than simply guessing metrics, it forces you to sit down and do the math about your business goals and how to realistically fulfill them. When you look at your growth outcomes, you can delve further to determine what it will take to get to those numbers.

Bryant offered the following example: “Need $100,000 in revenue? How many sales is that? If 10, what’s your close rate? Let’s say 10 percent from lead to closed deal. Now you have a metric to start with — to get to 10 sales, we need 100 leads. Where will they come from, and what strategies will you use? The plan helps you put it all on paper so you can map out resources and tactics later with a lot of preparation and realism,” said Bryant.

When analyzing outcomes and resources, you can save time and avoid scope creep by focusing only on strategies that are relevant to your marketing plan. A marketing plan helps you think realistically about your strategies, gets your stakeholders on the same page, and holds your marketing team accountable for their decisions.

“When everyone’s tasks and goals are laid out for the stakeholders and company partners to see, it is much easier for the entire team to feel at ease about reaching sales goals and allowing the marketing team the space and freedom needed to execute work without constant supervision,” said Cassady Dill, digital marketing consultant and owner of Ethos Agency.

Additionally, Dill said a marketing plan should be easily understood by your entire team, executives and outside departments. Your plan should also serve as an easy guide for future marketing managers and team members to understand and implement.

What are the key elements of an effective business marketing plan?

A marketing plan should be customized to fit your business; however, Dill said, all marketing plans contain five essential functions:

• Your business goals
• Key metrics (how you quantify and measure success)
• Strategies (an overview of implementation and how that will achieve goals)
• A plan (the details of execution and the human resources, departments and software that will be involved)
• Reporting (what reports of progress will include and/or look like)

We broke down those five functions into 10 actionable categories to help you create a marketing plan that is unique and effective for your business.

1. Executive summary

The executive summary is a great place to give the reader of your plan an overview of your business’s mission or goals, as well as the marketing strategy you’re looking to employ. An executive summary is often written after you’ve completed the rest of the marketing plan, to ensure it covers all the important elements of your plan. If the executive summary is the only part of your marketing plan that someone reads (which is highly possible), you want to be sure they understand the most crucial details.

2. Mission statement

The mission statement , not to be confused with a vision statement, is a statement that encompasses your company’s values and how they relate to your overall goals as an organization. Here are some good questions to get you thinking:

• What does your company do today?
• What’s important to your company?
• What would your company like to do in the future?
• What is your brand identity?
• What’s your culture like ?
• How does your company benefit customers, employees and stakeholders?

3. Target markets

Identifying your target market is one of the most important parts of your marketing plan. Without a defined target audience, your marketing expenses will be wasted. Think of it like this: Some people need your service or product but don’t know it exists yet. Who are those people?

Here are some other questions to help you brainstorm your target market :

• What is the demographic of your customers (gender, age, income, education, etc.)?
• What are their needs and interests?
• What’s their psychographic profile (attitudes, philosophies, values, lifestyle, etc.)?
• How do they behave?
• What are some existing products they use?

4. Products and services

In this section, don’t just list what your product or service is. Think critically about what you have to offer your customers and what that value proposition means to them.

• What do you make or provide for customers?
• What are your customers’ needs?
• How does your product or service fulfill customers’ needs?
• What value do you add to your customers’ lives?
• What type of product or service are you offering?

5. Distribution channels

At this point in your report, you should transition your thinking into actual marketing theory and practices. Distribution channels are the avenues you’ll use to reach a prospective customer or business . Think of all current and potential sales channels on which your specific target audience is active. One distribution channel that works great for one organization may be useless to another. For example, one company may host their website for free on a site like HubSpot and solely rely on that as their sales channel, while another company may have a whole team of people using Pinterest to drive sales. [Learn how CRM systems can help track your marketing leads based on various distribution channels.]

Examples of sales channels include the following:

• Mobile text message marketing
• Social media
• Print (newspapers, magazines, brochures, catalogs, direct mail)
• Broadcast (TV, radio)
• Press releases
• Trade shows, product demonstrations, event marketing

6. Competitive profile

One of the major aspects of your marketing plan is developing your unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is a feature or stance that separates your product or service from competitors. Finding your USP is all about differentiation and distinguishing your company as a sole proprietor of one type of good or service. Conduct a competitive analysis to identify your competitive profile and how you stack up against the competition. It is important to remain unbiased when conducting this analysis.

Here are some ideas to consider:

• What’s your USP?
• Who are your competitors? What do they offer?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competition?
• What needs of the market (or customer) are not being served? What can you do to meet those needs?

7. A pricing strategy

Consider pricing when drafting your marketing plan. Developing the right pricing strategy helps you better market your product. Think about your current and projected finances when developing a long-term marketing strategy that is realistic and beneficial for your business. Here are some key questions to ask yourself about your pricing:

• What are reasonable margins to make a profit and cover production costs?
• Is there a market for products or services at your projected price point?
• Are you willing to sacrifice profit margins in return for a greater market share?
• What are your marketing and distribution costs?

8. Objectives

Consider your objectives when developing a marketing plan. This aspect of your plan should involve specific goals related to market penetration and revenue targets. Be sure to keep your marketing objectives on-brand with your business. Here are some things to consider:

• Sales quotas
• Number of new customers gained
• Customer retention percentages
• Revenue targets
• Market penetration
• Brand awareness
• Website traffic

9. Action plans

With all of the above items outlined, determine what steps need to be taken to enact your marketing plan. This includes determining the proper steps, setting goals, breaking down responsibilities, and establishing an overall timeline.

It’s also important to brainstorm potential roadblocks your business could face and some solutions to overcome them. Your research is useless if you don’t have an actionable plan that can be realistically implemented to carry out your ideas.

10. Financial projections

This last step allows you to establish a realistic marketing budget and better understand your marketing plan from a cost perspective. In addition to setting a budget, consider the overall return on investment as well. Here are some other financial projections to consider:

• Cost of implementation
• Cost to produce product or service
• Existing and projected cash flow
• Projected sales
• Desired profit margin on projected sales

What is a template for creating a successful marketing plan?

The internet is full of useful tools, including paid and free marketing plan templates, to help you build a successful marketing plan .

Whether you are looking for a free template generator to build a new marketing plan or a benchmarking tool to evaluate your current strategies, several great resources are available. Keep in mind that the best marketing plan for your business will be a customized one.

“Ultimately, you should design a marketing plan that best serves the needs of your team as you see fit,” said Dill. “Don’t force yourself into a plan that doesn’t fit your team. Use templates to shorten the workload time, but then adjust it for a more custom plan.”

Here are some tools and templates to get you started:

• Free marketing plan template : business.com has developed a free template that is fully customizable based on the needs of your business. Each section provides in-depth explanations, examples and resources to help you create an impressive marketing plan.
• Smart Insights: In addition to offering marketing plan templates, some companies, like Smart Insights, offer marketing benchmarking templates to help you evaluate your strategy performance. These are accessible with a free Smart Insights membership.
• GERU: Similarly, GERU offers a funnel-planning, profit-prediction and simulation tool to help you assess mock business ideas and simulations. This can help you identify weak points in your marketing strategy that need improvement. Although GERU requires users to sign up for a paid account, you can access a free trial to test it out.

What mistakes should you avoid when creating your marketing plan?

When creating an effective marketing plan, you need to avoid falling for common missteps and mistakes. For starters, failing to identify any of the 10 actionable categories above is an obvious mistake.

Here are some other key mistakes to avoid:

• Setting unrealistic budgets: Underestimating the costs of marketing activities or setting an unrealistic budget can limit your ability to execute your plan effectively. Marketing can be expensive, so it’s important to fully understand the estimated cost and budget before building a marketing strategy that you can’t afford.
• Focusing on quantity over quality: “More” doesn’t always mean “better” if you are posting on irrelevant marketing channels or your efforts are bringing in unqualified leads. Prioritizing the quantity of marketing activities over their quality can lead to superficial engagement and a lack of meaningful results.
• Not testing campaigns: Launching large campaigns without testing can lead to wasted resources if the messaging or tactics don’t resonate as expected. Test out your new campaigns to ensure they achieve your intended goal.
• Ignoring customer feedback: You may be tempted to ignore negative feedback, but disregarding customer comments and failing to address their concerns can lead to negative perceptions of your brand. Instead, use customer feedback to your advantage to improve your product and marketing efforts.
• Overpromising and underdelivering: Setting unrealistic expectations in your marketing messages that your products or services can’t fulfill can damage your brand’s reputation.
• Ignoring seasonality and trends: Failing to account for seasonal trends and market changes can result in missed opportunities for timely marketing efforts.
• Not reviewing and updating your plan: A rigid marketing plan that doesn’t allow for adjustments in response to market feedback and changing conditions can hinder your success. A marketing plan should be a living document that is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the market and your business’s goals.

Avoiding these mistakes and missteps can help you create a more effective and successful marketing plan that drives results for your business.

How can you take action with your new marketing plan?

Before you dive into marketing plan templates, it’s important to understand how to think about a marketing plan.

A good marketing plan targets who your buyers are, establishes the service or product you are offering, and determines your unique selling proposition. From here, you will tackle the marketing planning process and develop the best way to get your product in front of buyers who want your product or service.

Dill created a simple four-step process for how small businesses can take action with creating a marketing plan.

• The first step is to hold a marketing meeting with all the marketing team and executives or stakeholders. This gives them time to offer questions, concerns and criticisms you haven’t thought of so you can go back to the board room and revise your strategy or plan.
• Next, add a timeline to all your tasks and assign team members and all the help you’ll need to execute that plan.
• Once your plan is in action, hold weekly check-ins in person or by email to keep everyone on track.
• Share a weekly progress report with all parties involved and execs to ensure you are moving in the right direction.

In addition to drafting your own plan, you can work with a digital marketing agency or use internet marketing and pay-per-click management services to leverage your online presence.

Once you’ve established a general road map, update it annually. Developing an evolving marketing plan sets your business up for continued success because it allows you to prepare for the unexpected and establish a connection between your brand and your audience.

Matt D’Angelo contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.

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Marketing Strategy in a Business Plan

… we will get this market share by …

• Product USP : Why buy our product? What characteristics does the product have to meet customer needs?
• Promotion : What marketing activities will be undertaken? What means of communication will the business use to persuade customers of the benefits of the product? Will it use above the line promotion or below the line promotion?
• Place : What are the distribution channels? How is the business going to reach customers with its product?
• Price : What price will the business charge for the product, and what goal is it pursuing with the pricing strategy? Will the business use premium, penetration, economy or skimming pricing strategies.

Marketing Strategy Presentation

The marketing strategy section of the business plan can be presented in four sections relating to each of the four P’s product, promotion, place, and price as shown in the example layout below.

The marketing strategy is a key section of the business plan, at this stage you are not trying to present a complete marketing plan, but simply trying to show the investor that each major section of the marketing strategy has been thought about and that you have a good marketing mix.

All of the four sections should be consistent with and support each other, for example, if you are planning to adopt a high price strategy, then the product would be aimed at an upmarket target customer, distributed at high end stores, and make use of one to one personal selling.

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide , a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series sets out the business model which the business intends to use to generate revenue.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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Create a Marketing Plan [+20 Free Templates]

Written by: Mahnoor Sheikh

In this article, you'll find a step-by-step guide on how to create a  marketing plan that will work for almost every kind of business. We've also included 20+ free marketing plan templates throughout the post to help you get started on the right foot.

Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit marketing plan templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more below:

Want to skip the tutorial? Create your marketing plan right away with Visme. Use ready-made marketing plan templates , download them as a PDF or share online.

Better yet, use Visme's AI Document Generator to create a fully designed marketing plan that aligns with your content. Prompt the generator with what you’re looking for, choose one of the styles and let the AI do its magic. Afterward, you can customize and finalize as you wish.

Table of Contents

What is a marketing plan, types of marketing plans, 10 marketing plan templates to get you started, why your business needs a marketing plan, how to create a marketing plan, marketing plan examples, marketing plan faqs.

A marketing plan is a roadmap that helps you set goals, understand your target audience and optimize the impact of your marketing campaigns.

• There are several types of marketing plans depending on the objective. Some examples include social media marketing, influencer marketing, video marketing, and email marketing.
• Your business needs a marketing plan to understand your business, align marketing goals with business goals, ensure everyone is on the same page, stay focused on what’s important and make better decisions.
• Learn how to develop a marketing plan in 7 steps, starting with the executive summary and ending with a digital document ready to share with a live Visme link.
• Discover 20 ready-to-use templates for different marketing plan types and get started straight away.

In simple words, it helps you get a clearer view of the what, why and how of all your marketing activities.

A good marketing plan also helps you communicate the “big” strategy and the different tactics involved to your marketing team . Last but not least, it lets you track the success of your campaigns.

A marketing plan should ideally include:

• Your long-term and short-term marketing goals
• A description of your target audience or buyer persona
• One or more high-level marketing strategies and tactics

Take a look at this one-page marketing plan template as an example.

Create your Marketing Plan with this easy-to-edit template! Edit and Download

If your plan is more detailed, you can also consider including:

• An overview of the current market situation
• Key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Any budget or financial considerations
• An execution timeline or roadmap

A marketing plan is usually presented as a PDF document, but you can also whip up a more creative version of it. For example, you can create an infographic , presentation and even an interactive web page to share your plan.

Or you can create a single-page marketing plan similar to the one above.

Scroll down to the end of this post to access seven full marketing plan templates.

Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan

Marketing plans and business plans are both essential pieces of business strategy, but their purpose is different. The terms are often used interchangeably or together: marketing business plan. But each plan is different and here's what sets them apart.

Business plans cover a business's overall strategy, from the branding strategy to the company-wide marketing strategies. A marketing plan solely concentrates on a specific marketing strategy or a branch of the overall department.

For example, one marketing plan can be for digital marketing strategies, while another can be for billboards. Likewise, a marketing plan can be for a single campaign, covering all marketing channels.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

A marketing strategy and a marketing plan are key pieces in the company’s marketing puzzle. However, they serve different purposes.

A marketing strategy is the overall framework guiding a company's marketing efforts. It outlines how your organization will position itself in the market, target ideal customers, and create value for them. A marketing strategy is often long-term and forms the foundation for all your marketing activities.

A marketing plan is a detailed roadmap for organizing, executing and tracking your marketing strategy within a specific timeframe. It provides a step-by-step guide for achieving specific objectives, such as increasing sales, improving brand awareness, or entering new markets.

Simply put, a marketing plan translates your strategy into actionable steps with timelines for implementation and metrics for measuring success.

Made with Visme Infographic Maker

Just as there are several types of marketing strategies, there are numerous types of marketing plans. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Quarterly or Annual Marketing Plan

Quarterly and annual marketing plans are high-level plans for all the marketing activities that will happen in the next quarter or year. From this overarching plan, your team will create smaller, more detailed plans according to specific strategies. These could be daily, weekly or monthly marketing plans.

Social Media Marketing Plan

Social media marketing plans highlight the goal and objective of a brand’s activities on social media that are geared toward marketing. This plan includes campaign information, repurposing guidelines across social media channels and who’s in the social media team.

Content Marketing Plan

A content marketing plan outlines all the content pillars for the brand and what content types need to be created for each pillar. Any content marketing strategies planned out for the brand’s content are detailed in the plan, along with a roadmap and goals.

New Product Launch Plan

In a new product launch plan, the pages lay out all the steps toward a successful launch. Separated into pre-launch, launch and post-launch, the different teams will know what they need to do to complete the plan’s objectives.

Growth Marketing Plan

Growth marketing plans are specifically geared toward brand growth. This plan document lays out all the strategies to undertake in order to grow the brand name online, locally or some other way.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing plans concentrate on outlining all steps to implement an influencer strategy. Sections include the list of potential or chosen influencers and what will be asked and expected of them to reach the plan’s goals.

Market Penetration Marketing Plan

A market penetration marketing plan highlights all the activities involved in marketing existing products to existing customers.

This marketing strategy is considered the most popular in business models. Some examples include discounts on favorite products or new features and updates.

Market Development Marketing Plan

In market development plans, existing products are marketed to new customers and niches. These strategies focus on business objectives like developing distribution channels and increasing brand awareness.

Product/Service Development Marketing Plan

Product development plans outline the activities dealing with marketing new products to existing customers. These marketing plans include examples such as product launches and market insertion plans.

Diversification Marketing Plan

In diversification, marketing plans focus on strategies to launch and promote new products or services to new markets and customers. These marketing plans are on the ambitious side.

Need help putting together a full marketing plan?

Here is our handpicked collection of 10 marketing plan templates for various types of businesses.

Pick the one that best fits your industry and start customizing it in the Visme editor right away. Replace the colors, fonts, text, images, icons and more with a few clicks. Use the dynamic fields option to edit repeating content across slides and create more efficient templates for your team with custom dynamic fields.

You can also tap into a free library of stock photos and add animated characters, illustrations and gestures for advanced customization.

If you’re still on the fence about using Visme for your marketing plans, look at what one of our users has to say:

“I feel that for anyone who wants to improve efficiency and effectiveness at the workplace, VISME gives you the extra edge to take things forward.

It's an apt tool for quickly converting your thought process into a unique communication.” - Autumn | Finance Manager

1. Real Estate Marketing Plan Template

This tailored marketing plan template is perfect for all kinds of real estate and property businesses, complete with a professional “About” section and SWOT analysis.

It has a modern feel to it with a clean layout and corporate color scheme. You can easily switch it out for your own brand colors if you want.

2. Social Media Marketing Plan Template

A good social media strategy needs a marketing plan of its own, which is why this template is a must-have for any business trying to win at this game.

Customize this social media marketing plan template to lay out your goals for the next year or quarter, and outline the key points of your strategy for each social channel.

Add a dose of interactivity by creating a clickable menu or building an interactive table of contents. Interactive plans make a positive impression on team members and stakeholders, improving work satisfaction and productivity.

3. Digital Marketing Plan Template

Create your Marketing Plan with this easy-to-edit template. Edit and Download

Create an actionable marketing plan covering your digital channels with this detailed template.

This digital marketing plan has a classy design and layout, and features key headings like an executive summary, a SWOT analysis, key performance indicators and even a nice table of contents.

4. Product Marketing Plan Template

Creating an effective product marketing plan requires in-depth research of your target market, company strengths and weaknesses, as well as an effective marketing plan design.

This product marketing plan template covers all those basics, along with a detailed budget planner that you can edit with your own financial data.

5. Personal Marketing Plan Template

Hiring someone to help build a powerful personal brand?

This personal marketing plan example is perfect for that purpose. It’s a simple, three-page document with a professional resume detailing skills and experience, followed by a goals page.

6. Marketing Plan Presentation Template

This marketing plan presentation template is a great way to share your marketing goals, SWOT, strategy, timeline, deliverables and more with your team and the management.

You can easily get the slides printed later and share the copies with your team. Edit this marketing plan presentation online in Visme and create a slideshow that's powerful and effective.

7. Retail Marketing Plan Presentation Template

Here is another marketing plan presentation template you can use. This presentation template is especially relevant and useful if you're in the retail business.

Customize this marketing plan template online and download it in PDF or PowerPoint format, or save the slides separately in image format. You can also present this presentation online using a link — no downloads needed!

8. Restaurant Marketing Plan Template

Designing a marketing plan doesn’t have to be daunting. With this template, you can create a comprehensive marketing plan for your food business, whether it’s a small cafe, a big fancy restaurant or a fast food joint.

This marketing plan example features stock photos of food that you can replace with your own. Additionally, you can edit any images with the AI Edit Tools to remove backgrounds or unwanted objects or upscale/unblur less than perfect photos.

This template also has a versatile design that can be tailored to your own brand style and even an entirely different industry.

9. Content Marketing Plan Template

Content is a key element of inbound marketing. This content marketing plan template is carefully designed to match the needs of SaaS and other businesses that want to focus on taking their content strategy to the next level.

If your marketing goals are to drive traffic, generate leads and grow sales through publishing insightful content , this marketing plan will help you organize your editorial calendar.

Take advantage of the fact that you’re already logged in to Visme, and use the resources at your disposal to execute a content marketing plan.

Design blog graphics, infographic visuals, social media content and videos right inside your Visme editor. Share and schedule posts to social media directly from the integrated social media calendar .

10. Marketing Plan Infographic Template

If you're not looking to create a detailed or formal document with several pages, this to-the-point marketing plan infographic template is a great pick.

It's a quick way to share the marketing plan for a one-off project and contains all the necessary details.

I’ve already mentioned how a marketing plan can help you better understand your company’s marketing goals and how to achieve them, but that’s not where the benefits end.

A well-researched marketing plan can help you:

• Understand your business. Conducting thorough research on current market conditions and where your company stands can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business, as well as new opportunities.
• Align marketing goals with business goals. Without a plan, it can be easy to lose your sense of direction. A marketing plan helps you ensure that your marketing goals are aligned with the vision, mission statement and goals of your business.
• Ensure everyone is on the same page. Having a working document of your marketing makes it easier for not just your team, but also the entire company to work together towards a common goal.
• Stay focused on what’s important. A marketing plan is a constant reminder of your goals and strategies, which keeps you from getting sidetracked.
• Make better decisions. Planning ahead of time can prevent you from making hasty decisions when difficult situations arise.

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There’s no one way of creating a marketing plan, but there are some key components that should go inside a winning one. Follow the steps below to create an effective marketing plan.

1. Start with an executive summary.

The executive summary usually goes at the beginning of your marketing plan. It’s basically a short summary or brief overview of your company and the key takeaways from the entire marketing plan.

Here’s an executive summary template you can edit and use for your own business.

The template above is a great example of an executive summary that highlights the key function of a business and the purpose of its marketing plan.

You can also include company achievements and future plans for your business in your summary.

Remember, your executive summary should be concise and to the point. Instead of boring your readers to sleep, it should grab their attention and get them excited about the rest of the plan.

2. State your company’s mission, vision and values.

Before you dive into all the marketing stuff, it’s a good idea to revisit your company’s values, vision and mission. This helps put all the information inside your marketing plan into perspective.

It answers the question of why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Here’s a neat mission, vision and values template to edit and use.

For anyone who reads your marketing plan, this section is important to educate them about the ultimate aim of your business so they can make better sense of your marketing goals, activities and future plans.

3. Identify the market and competition.

The next step is to build a marketing plan is back it up with solid research.

This is often achieved by analyzing your current market situation with a market analysis , by studying your competition and most importantly, looking into your own company’s strengths and weaknesses.

Here’s a market share template that can help you visualize that information and share it with your colleagues and stakeholders.

You can customize this template according to your own brand colors and input your own information. Use it on its own as part of a marketing plan or in a report or presentation .

Here’s another cool design to help you present your market research. Use this SWOT analysis template to highlight your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Instead of adding a boring table that no one wants to read, use a well-designed SWOT like the one above to draw attention to your research.

Here's another worksheet-style SWOT analysis template that you can print out and fill, or edit using Visme before adding to your marketing plan document or presentation.

You can also conduct a SWOT analysis of your competitors, which takes us to another key component of your market research — the competitor analysis .

Studying your competition is crucial to the success of your business. You need to know what they’re doing, what’s working for them and how you can do it better.

Here are a few things to research about your competitors:

• Their marketing and leadership team
• Their growth and financials
• Their best-selling products or services
• Their top-performing blog posts (use a tool like Ahrefs or SiteChecker to do this)
• Their video marketing strategy
• Their social media marketing strategy

Here's a competitive analysis template you can use and add to your marketing plan.

A template like the one above can help you organize and visualize important information about your competitors. In turn, this can help you identify opportunities and set goals.

4. Define your target customer.

Differentiating the target audience and the target market will help you better understand the position of your business within the market. Therefore, it’s important to identify who your buyer or ideal customer is so you can create more informed and tailored marketing strategies.

Naturally, the target customer for every business is different. But the goal is the same — to increase customer awareness.

You may also have more than one kind of customer. For example, a clothing store could be making products for both teens and older women at the same time.

Check out this target audience template to visualize your various customer segments. Use it to better understand your potential customers' attitudes and habits.

You can edit this template and use it as part of your marketing plan layout or presentation. It’s a great way to present the different types of your audience in a way that’s easy to understand.

The pie chart helps identify which chunk makes the bigger part of your customer base so you can focus most of your marketing efforts in that area.

If you’re looking for a more creative approach, take a look at the buyer persona template below.

This infographic template is a fun way to visualize your buyer’s demographic details, habits and goals, i.e.,  whether they're interested in online learning options like digital marketing courses or if they prefer in-person.

Another cool way to create a customer persona is to design it like a resume . This is useful for adding more information in one page without cluttering up the design.

Here’s a resume-style customer persona template you can edit.

This type of buyer persona design makes use of icons and data widgets , like progress bars.

In the end, the goal of creating a buyer persona is to better organize and understand key information about your customer. Use the template that works best for your business.

5. Outline your marketing goals.

In this part of the marketing plan, you need to specify what you aim to achieve.

Outline your marketing goals and objectives, and make sure you use actual numbers instead of writing vague statements.

For example, if your goal is to increase website traffic , mention the exact target so you can track to see if you achieved it or not.

Here’s a marketing goals template you can use as part of your marketing plan.

Remember to create SMART goals for your marketing plan and strategy. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound.

In the template above, notice how the target is defined as a percentage. You can also add a deadline to your marketing goal to make it time-bound.

If you want to share your marketing goals in an infographic format, here’s another template you can edit and use for your own company.

The template above is a more detailed goals infographic with three different phases, which makes it ideal for SaaS companies and mobile apps.

6. Present your marketing strategy.

Now comes the good stuff. In this step, write down one or more marketing strategies and the tactics to execute for each one. Make sure you include:

• How to do it
• The channels to use

This is best presented visually so the entire team can understand each step. You can divide your activities into stages, and present them using a marketing strategy template like the one below.

Another way to present your marketing strategy is by attaching deadlines to it. This can be easily done using a timeline or a Gantt chart .

Another way to present your marketing strategy is with the help of a roadmap. A roadmap outlines the tactics involved in your overall marketing strategy, and can be designed to look similar to a Gantt chart.

Here's a marketing roadmap template you can use for your own business.

If you want to do things differently, you can also use an infographic to visualize your marketing strategy.

An infographic is eye-catching and can be added to any of your presentations and reports. You can even share it on its own with your marketing team or other colleagues.

Here’s a marketing infographic template that divides your execution strategy into four phases.

Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

Another way to visualize your marketing strategy is with the help of a mind map. Mind maps are great for providing your team with an overview of the different elements that are involved in your marketing strategy.

Here's a mind map template that shows how this can be done for a Twitter content marketing strategy.

You can easily build mind maps using our mind map maker .

Keep in mind that your marketing strategy should be actionable and detailed. Explain each step clearly and don’t leave out any information just for the sake of design.

7. Define your marketing budget.

Last but not least, detail your marketing budget considerations in your marketing plan.

This is important so you don’t lose sight of the financial aspect of things during execution and implementation. After all, marketing is costly and there are tons of hidden expenses involved.  You need a budget template to lay out your financial projections.

Here’s an editable marketing budget template you can use.

Including a detailed marketing budget also helps in hiring the right staff and choosing between paid resources so you don’t exceed a certain amount.

You’re probably wondering: What does a marketing plan look like? In this section, we’ll share 5 real-life examples of marketing plans from companies.

1. Visit Baton Rouge

Image Source

This marketing plan is an example of how to create a well-structured and eye-catching marketing plan. The plan has a sophisticated design adorned with captivating images and a rich blend of bright colors.

The proposed marketing plan starts with a situational analysis and review of the previous year. The following pages take a deep dive into key sections, like

• SWOT analysis
• Target Audience
• Overall goals
• Different marketing strategies

Each of the different marketing strategies has individual goals, strategies and detailed plans of action. Additionally, the plan features a comprehensive event calendar and evaluation criteria. This makes it easier for the marketing team to stay organized, implement and track progress.

2. Safe Haven Family Shelter

If you're looking for a template for a marketing plan that will be presented to internal stakeholders at all levels of your organization, this is a perfect example. Although created by a non-profit, it can be adapted for startups and growing businesses.

This comprehensive plan includes everything you need to get started, from SMART marketing goals and deadlines to action steps, long-term objectives, target audiences, core marketing messages and metrics.

This marketing plan example follows a simple format. The content is mostly presented in a list and tabular format, making it well-organized and easy to scan. Readers quickly grasp the organization's strategic direction for its upcoming marketing initiatives.

3. University of Illinois

This detailed marketing plan example is encased in a document format with a bold, eye-catching design. The stunning image and energetic orange color on the cover page immediately grab attention and communicate the brand's dynamic personality. This comprehensive market plan example from the University of Illinois has three key sections.

• Section I provides context on population definitions, admissions funnel stages and core knowledge of the students informing their strategy.
• Section II captures upcoming market research efforts that will inform future strategy.
• Section III takes a deep dive into their strategic plan. This includes objectives, detailed marketing programs to achieve those objectives, and success metrics.

We love that the plan effectively dissects the high-level components of its overall strategy and pairs them with concrete, actionable marketing tactics. Another standout feature is that the pages are filled with compelling visuals, engaging copy and informative graphs and maps that convey their strategic vision and roadmap for marketing efforts.

4. Wright County Economic Development

One of the standout features of the plan is its ease of readability. The sections are clearly organized, allowing readers to quickly scan and identify the most relevant information. It contains key sections, including partners, goals and marketing initiatives—attraction, retention and community relations.

Additionally, the plan offers a thorough breakdown of projected costs per marketing initiative, a crucial detail for upper-level management and stakeholders. This feature makes it easier for decision-makers to understand the financial implications of the proposed plan and allocate resources accordingly.

Overall, Wright County Economic Development's plan serves as a valuable example for marketers looking to develop a practical and effective marketing plan.

5. Visit Oxnard

Being a leisure and lifestyle business, Visit Oxnard infuses captivating designs and vibrant photos that showcase the beauty and excitement of landscapes, landmarks, adventure and resorts. Their innovative plan puts a spin on traditional tourism marketing by focusing on the business side of travel.

This marketing plan example begins with a marketing plan overview, company overview, mission, and goals. Then it dives deeper into the framework and approach the company will take to continue on a positive path forward to economic recovery and growth. Other key sections highlighted in the plan include

• Market Research and Findings
• Customer Personas
• Diverse Offerings
• Earned Media
• Owned Media
• Industry Relations and more

This approach by Visit Oxnard demonstrates how creating actionable marketing plans can help forward-thinking companies capitalize on untapped opportunities.

Still not convinced about the use of marketing plans for your business? Here are some frequently asked questions that can help you make a final decision.

Q. What Is a Marketing Plan Template?

A marketing plan template is a customizable document with placeholder content that can help you get started quickly. Creating a marketing plan from scratch takes too much time. Using a template not only sets up you for faster designing but it also inspires creativity.

Beautiful internal communications inspire delight in coworkers, making it more enjoyable to check off lists and follow processes. Marketing plans on plain white documents just get lost in email threads. Visme marketing plan templates are the solution.

Q. What Is an Executive Summary in a Marketing Plan?

The executive summary in a marketing plan is a superpowered table of contents. In an executive summary page or slide, you share the notable points to be discussed in the subsequent content of the plan in question. An executive summary is comparable to the Quick Read section at the top of our articles.

Q. What Is a Top-Down Marketing Strategy?

A top-down marketing strategy is a traditional strategy with a broad target and brand messaging. Think of the marketing funnel and how at the top it’s wide open. Top down marketing strategies work up there, catching as many people as possible with a message that appeals to a wide audience.

Q. What Is a Bottom-Up Marketing Strategy?

A bottom-up marketing strategy is a targeted strategy for a product or service that meets the needs of a specific audience. Bottom-up marketing strategies are more common in small businesses and startups that don’t yet have large audiences.

Q. What Are the 4 C’s of a Marketing Plan?

The 4C’s of marketing are:

• Customer: The most important factor in a marketing strategy. It’s essential to know what the customer needs and wants.
• Cost: Includes all expenses related to marketing and selling products and services for the company.
• Convenience: The customer shopping experience must be as simple as possible for the client.
• Communication: Includes all interactions between the brand and the consumer. Brand touchpoints are excellent communication opportunities.

These four are called the "marketing mix. Another marketing mix you should know is the 4 Ps or the Four Principles of Marketing .

Q. What Makes a Good Marketing Plan?

For a marketing plan to be good, it doesn’t take much. But for a marketing plan to be great, make sure you check off this checklist:

• Develop targeting and positioning assessments for the strategy and give clear guidance in the marketing plan as to how the messaging will be targeted in marketing copy.
• Share clear promotional tactics per channel, touchpoint or activity. Explain how to repurpose marketing content with intent and tailor promotions to their destination.
• Include a scope assessment and a simple scope management plan for the marketing strategies in the marketing plan.
• Keep the marketing plan document alive by updating and referencing it during the strategy’s lifecycle. Be ready for pivots and changes in the scope.
• Turn your marketing plan into an online digital experience that no one needs to download, print or keep in storage. Visme has an endless array of features to help you create the most engaging business communication.

Q. What Is the Most Important Part of a Marketing Plan?

The most important part of a marketing plan is the targeted consumer, specifically their needs and wants. The entirety of your marketing plan serves the purpose of how your company will use marketing strategies to sell solutions to the customer.

Q. How Can I Make a Marketing Plan With My Team?

With Visme, you can create marketing plans collaboratively in a number of ways. Brainstorm and strategize the plan together in the infinite whiteboard and then design together in the editor. The Visme whiteboard can have multiple pages to control brainstorming iterations and organize meeting results.

Invite members to the whiteboard or workspace by clicking the person+ icon on the top right. They’ll need to have their own Visme account to access the editor or whiteboard you’re inviting them to.

You can also use the workflow feature to assign entire projects or specific tasks to different team members and work on a project together. Keep track of what’s being worked on, leave feedback comments and support each other through the process.

Q. Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan: What’s the Difference?

A marketing strategy is a document or plan that outlines how your organization will deal with market positioning, ICPs and other strategic aspects of a marketing scheme. They can be long- or short-term strategies that form the foundation of all marketing activities.

Marketing plans, on the other hand, are detailed roadmaps that organize how to execute and track a marketing strategy. They provide a guide to achieving the outlined objectives. Marketing plans turn your strategy into an actionable, step-by-step timeline and a foundation for measuring success.

Create a Winning Marketing Plan for Your Business

For most businesses, operating without a solid marketing plan results in ineffective campaigns, reduced ROI and unexpected costs. And nobody wants that.

A custom marketing plan helps you align your marketing objectives and activities with your overall business goals and brings entire teams together on the same page.

Ready to create a professional marketing plan of your own? Get started from scratch or choose one of our marketing plan templates today.

Create effective marketing plans that makes you stand out using Visme

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About the Author

Mahnoor Sheikh is the content marketing manager at Visme. She has years of experience in content strategy and execution, SEO copywriting and graphic design. She is also the founder of MASH Content and is passionate about tea, kittens and traveling with her husband. Get in touch with her on LinkedIn .

MARKETING INSIGHTS

11 best marketing strategies to accelerate your business (+ examples)

• Lena Sernoff
• 18 min read

The first and most crucial step in your marketing strategy is marking your online territory. When you create your own website , you're claiming a digital space that's entirely yours. Next, you'll need to outline your company's growth plan using the right marketing strategies to generate more leads, web traffic and acquire new customers. From influencer marketing and PR to SEO, we'll explore precisely which types of marketing to focus on in the year ahead to fuel significant growth for your business.

Start building your online presence with Wix .

What is a marketing strategy?

A marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan designed to promote products or services, attract customers and achieve short, medium or long term business goals. Its ultimate goal is to reach your target audience through marketing and advertising campaigns and then get them to buy or engage with your service. It can also help you map our your target audience, as well as the best ways to reach them with tracking and insights.

Essentially, a marketing strategy is an overarching plan that anyone deciding how to start a business , or working with an existing business use to increase visibility and ultimately their profits. It can involve anything from creating a strong brand identity to developing innovative products and services. Successful marketing strategies should be tailored to your specific goals and objectives.

Creating strategic marketing strategies starts with defining what is product marketing for your niche, understanding where you are now, identifying key areas of improvement and focusing on achieving specific goals.

It should include:

Goals of your business - brand awareness, to sell services and products

Your target market and research on who they are and where they are

Buyer personas and informational on your customer demographics, if relevant

Competitors, including their marketing strategies and pricing

Value of your product or services for your target customers

Your company's value proposition and what sets up apart from competitors

Your key branding messaging as this must run consistently through all your marketing materials and campaigns

Marketing strategy vs. marketing plan

While these terms are used interchangeably, marketing strategies are broader summaries of what your business does to overcome your pain points, meet your goals and reach your audience.

A strategy provides a larger picture of how you plan to stay ahead of your competition. It can reveal threats that you may need to consider for long-term sustainability . By contrast, the marketing plan methodically outlines details of how you will implement your strategies and how you will track your marketing ROI .

Additionally, your marketing plan is highly detailed and involves the four Ps of marketing : product, price, place and promotion. It helps to ensure a more integrated marketing approach—that is, a unified message across all of your promotional channels.

The main types of marketing

The main types of marketing can be broadly divided into two categories: traditional marketing and digital marketing.

Traditional marketing

This type relies on offline channels to reach its target audience and consumers.

Examples include print (newspapers, magazines, brochures), broadcast (TV, radio commercials), direct mail (catalogs, coupons), outdoor advertising (billboards, bus ads) and in-person or online public relations (press releases, media events).

Digital marketing

This type uses and takes place on online channels to connect with consumers. It includes content marketing (blog posts, articles, videos), social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), search engine optimization (SEO) for better search ranking, search engine marketing (paid ads on search results), email marketing, affiliate marketing (partnering with other websites) and mobile marketing (text messages, apps).

Why marketing strategies matter

There are plenty of benefits to defining your marketing strategies early on. Marketing strategies are essential for businesses as it helps them to identify their goals and objectives, understand their target audience, and develop an effective approach to reach out to them. A well-crafted marketing strategy can help you gain a competitive advantage , improve your brand image and increase sales and revenue. Setting clear goals and objectives and aligning the marketing strategies to achieve them best sets you up for success. To understand more about the theory behind why marketing matters, we recommend the ideas and work of Michael Porter . He is credited with developing the concept of competitive advantage, for example. There's a lot to be gained from understanding his research and incorporating it into your marketing management .

Furthermore, marketing budgets might be limited when starting a business , and a clear plan ensures you won't waste any resources. Besides, how will you measure success if you don't first establish what it looks like or how you'll get there in your small business marketing goals?

The main elements of a marketing strategy: what makes it good

These may vary but generally include:

Establishing your target audience through market analysis

Deciding on your Unique Selling Proposition , Go to market strategy

Creating your market positioning , and establishing product differentiation, how customers will perceive you and your product

Establishing your pricing

Setting the budget for your marketing strategy

Implementation of your chosen strategy

Continuous tracking and improvement of your plan

For more information on what makes an effective modern marketing strategy, we recommend looking to Phil Kotler , whose work on marketing management and the importance of connecting with your audience, has been instrumental in improving marketing strategies.

The 4 p's (now 5 p's) of marketing

Not sure where to start with this? Consider using the marketing mix, or 4p's of marketing . This is an approach that helps organizations develop and implement effective marketing strategies. It consists of four key elements that collectively shape a company's marketing approach - product, price, promotion and place or distribution.

In addition to this some models now include a 5th P: People. Focusing on the importance of customer and employee interactions in the marketing mix.

11 best marketing strategies

One of the biggest challenges in marketing strategies is keeping up with changing market trends and consumer preferences. Developing an effective marketing strategy can also requires significant time, resources, and expertise; the list of the types of marketing strategies out there is extensive. By analyzing the top marketing trends and doing in-depth customer and market research, we've narrowed it down to the top 10 strategies for you.

Remember that no matter which methods you decide to include, they will only be effective if your audience likes and trusts your business. As you carry out campaigns, aim to educate, inspire or entertain your audience, so you'll see the most impactful results.

Content marketing

Social media marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Email marketing and newsletters

Influencer marketing

Earned media and PR

Landing pages

Advertising

Affiliate marketing

Retargeting

AI marketing

01. Content marketing

In the past decade, there's been a shift in the marketing mindset. Today we see a rise in blogs, podcasts and webinars that are engaging and inclusive to audiences—so they feel more connected with brands.

Creating valuable and informative content has become a win-win especially when it comes to developing and improving customer engagement . Content marketing creates a strategic opportunity for your business to connect with a customer meaningfully.

Content marketing also helps you generate awareness, become an authority and tell a story. Focusing on this strategy early on is handy for other marketing ideas , as you can share your content on social media or in email newsletters later. The most popular content strategies are:

Content writing

Infographics

Video marketing

Starting a podcast

02. Social media marketing

71% of small-to-mid-sized businesses use social media for marketing , and 60% reported success with social media ads, according to these small business marketing statistics . This high percentage comes as no surprise. Social media marketing is one of the most influential ways to use digital marketing to increase visibility and gain traffic to your website. More so, it can be a valuable lead generation method, a sales channel, an audience insights tool and a customer service outlet.

From Instagram Reels to TikTok, your options of getting in front of new audiences are endless. Ensure you strategically choose which channels you focus most on, based on your target audience. If you aim to reach a professional audience, LinkedIn is a must for creating a company page. Social media platforms are a great way to secure first-mover advantage , a concept in marketing and business when companies are the first to market in a specific product category. The speed at which its possible to generate and distribute multimedia content on social media is ideal for this.

Video marketing is a format that is becoming more heavily favored on social media as users consume more content on their mobile devices (this marketing strategy also works well if you're focusing on mobile marketing), so consider this as an important form of content creation in your marketing strategy. This marketing strategy also allows brands to tap into the phenomenon of viral content. While not easy to achieve, it can have a dramatic impact on key marketing metrics and KPIs, such as website traffic, and brand visibility.

Social media advertising is another component that should not be overlooked. For example, advertising on Facebook can drastically increase new customers. Want to try Facebook advertising for your business? Facebook Ads by Wix directly connects to your website to set up and optimize your campaigns. Remarketing on social media channels is a highly effective way to bring people back to your website to complete a purchase.

Popular social networks for promoting a business:

Instagram marketing

YouTube marketing

TikTok marketing

Facebook marketing

LinkedIn marketing

Pinterest marketing

Twitter marketing

Our recommended reading to improve your social media strategy:

Types of Social Media Content for Your Business

How to Increase Social Media Engagement

Ways to Improve Your Social Media Presence

03. Search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engines are filled with micro-moments. These are high intent instances when someone wants to learn, buy or do something. By optimizing your chances of ranking higher on search engines to show up at these instances, you're practicing search engine optimization SEO .

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be used as a core marketing strategy or a marketing tactic. In either case, a solid SEO strategy centers around making a brand’s content desirable, discoverable and accessible for web users via search engines like Google and Bing. Like inbound marketing, the most effective SEO strategies will include a great deal of audience research (typically with keyword research) and will be designed to ensure the brand has competitive visibility within the target audience.

SEO strategists tend to focus on industry specialisms and niches, such as technical SEO . Taking this approach can help brands to concentrate knowledge, utilize the most effective SEO tools , and best satisfy user intent.

Using SEO techniques, you'll direct the right kind of traffic to your site. People who find you through searches already arrive at your business website with intent. Driving traffic to your website isn't the only significant benefit. Bottom line sales also improve with SEO. In fact, 70% of online marketers say that "SEO is better than PPC advertising for generating sales."

To implement an SEO strategy, start by learning how to do keyword research the right way. After selecting which high intent keywords you're after, you can begin optimizing your content and improving your online presence to increase your search ranking and visibility.

04. Email marketing and newsletters

Recent studies show that 89% of marketers use email as the primary channel for generating leads . However, for email marketing campaigns to succeed, they need to deliver the right kind of message to your audience (no spammy "Buy now" emails). Good email marketing builds a relationship and acquires trust with readers.

You can still automate emails (check out marketing automation software ) but remember to always add value. These newsletter examples show how all-sized companies can communicate uniquely and interestingly with subscribers. When you make a newsletter , conduct A/B tests to maximize performance.

When done correctly, your newsletter and email marketing strategy can create a strong ROI, improve customer retention and influence purchasing decisions.

Email marketing tips:

To build your email list , add a pop-up to your website to collect user information.

Share engaging content in your emails, such as blog posts, user-generated content and videos.

Personalize emails by adding information such as first names and customizing content based on how the user engaged with your site.

05. Influencer marketing

According to author and entrepreneur Seth Godin, "People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic. These wise words sum up the power of influencer marketing . As one of the quickest growing marketing strategies, influencer marketing uses real people to speak for your brand. Another side of it, is tapping into celebrity branding - using high profile influencers or online celebrities as part of your marketing efforts.

Influencers are individuals with high following or authority on a given topic or niche. This is one of the best marketing strategies because you get to expose your products and brand to a high follower reach without spending time building the audience. More than that, the influencer you've chosen to work with can use their authority to sway potential consumers to buy. Influencer marketing is not unlike word of mouth marketing or referral marketing.

According to Sarah Adam, Head of Marketing Partnerships and Influencer Marketing for Wix Studio,

"Marketing is forever changing and to be competitive and stand out, you need to keep up with the industry changes. Tactics that worked last year are no longer recommended today. Influencer marketing is a great example of that. It is literally changing and growing by the day and that is the core nature of the industry."

The key is to find influencers that relate to your product and align with your brand values. Don’t be afraid to start with smaller partnerships with nano and micro-influencers . Interestingly enough, often their engagement rates and conversions are much higher than the ones with massive followers.

After reading these impressive stats below, you’ll further understand the lucrative power of a good influencer marketing strategy in helping your secure greater market penetration as part of a wider mass marketing strategy:

60% of marketers report better performance with influencer content vs. their own brand content.

Over 70% of marketers agree that the quality of customers and traffic from influencer marketing is better than other forms of marketing.

Influencer marketing yields between $5.20 to $6.50 for every one dollar spent.

06. Earned media and PR

After you've launched your business and website, it's time to spread the word. Gaining positive publicity and traction from media outlets will create the buzz around your business to get the attention of the masses. Business marketing strategies within this realm come in varying forms, including TV, newspapers, radio and podcasts.

Ideally, the press and publicity you acquire are organic (unpaid), but even if you’re considering working with a paid PR agency, the ROI can prove worthy. Bill Gates himself said, “If I only had two dollars left, I would spend one dollar on PR. It's an effective way to take your marketing communication to the next level.

07. Landing pages

What is a landing page? In simple terms—a marketer's best friend. This standalone page has one clear goal which is conversions.

No matter how successful your various online marketing strategies are, your landing pages and website must convert at a decent rate to make all the efforts worthwhile. Even just a one-second delay in page-load speed leads to a 7% drop in conversions.

Stay up to date with landing page best practices to increase your website conversion rate . By using Wix’s landing page builder , you’re already optimizing with best practices in mind. The landing page templates have customizable designs with CTA buttons placed strategically, built to be mobile-friendly, and critical information above the fold. Simply upload your images and change the text to fit your business.

08. Advertising

There are numerous types of advertising to consider for your business. From social media advertising to TV and print advertising , the options for advertising campaigns greatly vary. One thing is clear, online advertising is a powerful way to get your audience's attention. Its digital technology helps you better target, track and measure the results of your paid marketing investment.

Learning how to advertise on Google early on will significantly benefit your growth within digital advertising. Since Google is the largest search engine globally, you want to stay ahead of the competition and show up for strategic keywords related to your offerings with Google ads. Advertising on Google and many social media platforms is also known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising .

To choose the proper advertising methods for your business, consider:

Your audience

Costs and budget

Timing and length of your campaign

Creative assets available

09. Affiliate marketing

To answer the question, “ What is affiliate marketing? ” you can think of it as paid partnerships where others promote your brand for you. By creating an affiliate marketing program, you’re ultimately working with another affiliate that will distribute product promotions on their social media accounts, blog, or other platforms. Their sales get tracked with unique links called affiliate links, which allow the individual to get compensated based on performance.

This type of marketing is increasing in popularity, and more and more companies are rolling out their own affiliate programs. Due to this growth, today, 81% of advertisers include affiliate marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy.

10. Retargeting

Retargeting is a highly effective way to reach people who are already familiar with your brand and have expressed some level of interest in what you have to offer. It allows you to show ads to people who have already visited your website or shown interest in your products or services.

There are a few different ways to retarget people who have visited your website, from display and social media ads to email marketing, which can help you in the following ways:

Increase brand awareness. Make sure your brand is top of mind for people who have already visited your website. This can make them more likely to remember you when they are ready to make a purchase.

Generate leads. Showing ads to people who have visited your website and have done nothing else can encourage people to take the next step. Try offering free discounts or trials to give further incentive.

Drive sales. People who abandoned their shopping carts or visited your website but didn’t buy anything might just need a reminder, and you can make sure they get one.

Whichever platform you choose, just make sure you are tracking the results of your retargeting campaigns so that you can see what’s actually working.

11. AI marketing

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the world of marketing. AI-powered tools and technologies are being used to automate tasks, personalize experiences and target audiences more effectively. As a result, AI is becoming an essential part of any successful marketing strategy.

AI marketing is still in its early stages, but is rapidly growing in popularity. As AI technology continues to develop, it's likely that AI marketing will become even more important in the future. Here are some specific examples of how AI is being used in marketing today:

Chatbots: Chatbots are AI-powered software programs that can simulate conversation with human users. Chatbots are increasingly being used in marketing to provide customer support, answer questions, and generate leads.

Personalized recommendations: AI can be used to recommend products or services to customers based on their past purchase history, interests and online behavior. This is a powerful way to increase customer engagement and drive sales.

Targeted advertising: AI can be used to target ads to specific audiences based on their demographics, interests, and online behavior. This is a more effective way to reach target audiences and improve the return on investment (ROI) of advertising campaigns.

AI website maker : There are a number of AI-powered design tools available that can help businesses create websites more quickly and easily. These tools use AI to generate templates, layouts and even content for websites.

These are just a few examples of how AI is being used in marketing today. As AI technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative and effective ways to use AI in marketing in the future (such as AI marketing automation ).

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Marketing strategies examples (and why we love them)

Wix: content marketing with education in mind.

If you haven't yet heard—we launched a podcast. Now What interviews leaders to discuss the future of business, design and eCommerce. The episodes are filled with helpful insights on succeeding as an entrepreneur as technology keeps changing.

Podcasting is a content marketing strategy that centers around the listener. On top of educating and informing with this content, Wix also turns some episodes into blog posts and shares them on social media. We saw how helpful it could be to have all types of content that listeners and readers can consume in the medium that best fits them. And most importantly its not just about promotion—it can inspire and teach something new. Podcasts and other forms of marketing content can also be used as part of your customer relationship management, as they allow you the ability to engage directly with your users or potential customers.

Berta : Social media marketing that keeps up with the trends

Bridal company Berta didn't earn its 2.9 million followers for nothing. Their highly engaging, humorous and trendy Instagram Reels and TikToks take over social media feeds. In one of their Instagram videos , they used a trending voice-over of the Kardashian family speaking. They styled each Kardashian voice with a different Berta dress to playfully showcase their dress line to each unique personality.

Their trendjacking marketing strategy is not only clever and entertaining, but it also displays products naturally. Berta makes themselves relatable and likable, while also positioning themselves as driven by innovation, through social media—something all brands can learn from.

Etsy : Email marketing campaigns that add value

Etsy, a platform known for its handmade gifts, understands how to use email marketing to showcase products while also benefiting the reader. The sharp yet level-headed subject line "Next-level gifting" grabs attention immediately. Opening the email with the following helpful advice:

"A few tips for nailing their gift: 1) Try a pick that's unexpected—but so perfect. 2) Celebrate your connection, whether it's a shared hobby, a sweet message, or an inside joke. 3) Add a personal detail to make it completely one of a kind."

The email grouped different products, such as jewelry, cozy gifts, heartfelt art and more. As a receiver, you're happy you got some thoughtful gift ideas from Etsy. Instead of spamming product links into an inbox, Etsy added value and tried to find ways their marketing could be helpful.

Blue Apron : Influencer marketing with a niche

As a meal prep business, you can only imagine how strategic it was for Blue Apron to partner with a top chef like Sam Kass . Kass reaches 20,000 followers that are likely all food lovers. Blue Apron's use of influencer marketing and personalization has boosted engagement by hosting a virtual cooking class with Kass, helping them foster brand trust. They stayed focused on their niche within the foodie world and used leaders aligned with their values to represent their brand. While a highly effective strategy on its own, mass marketing is not necessarily the right approach in every situation. Understanding your market share within a niche that is more likely to convert is more important sometimes than focusing on a wider market grab. In essence, strategic marketing is where it's at.

How to choose and create a marketing strategy in 5 steps

Define your goals

Identify your target audience

Understand your customer’s pain points and your value proposition

Select your marketing channels and allocate budgets

Decide on the messaging, creatives and implementation plan

01. Define your goals

Data repeatedly shows that ​​those who write down goals achieve more than those who don't. There are several ways to set your objectives, such as using the SMART Goals method, broader SWOT analysis . You might also need to run a marketing audit of your current strategies to see what's working, what's not and how this will impact your new marketing goals.

Your business goals might be to develop your brand awareness, break into a new geographic area, or increase online sales by a given percent. The more specific and numerical these goals are, the better they can be tracked, measured and replicated.

02. Identify your target audience

After you determine exactly whom your business wants to reach, it will be clearer which marketing strategies to choose. That's because the messaging and platforms you'll use need to fit your target audience and target market . Audience parameters can be tied to demographics like age, gender, geographic region, likes, interests, etc. They can also be enhanced with competitor analysis . Create different l ightboxes or conduct market segmentation to assist you in the process.

03. Understand your customer’s pain points and your value proposition

To develop a marketing strategy that works, you must understand what your ideal consumer struggles with regularly. This awareness will align your product, place, price and promotion to solve their pain points and increase your chances of scalability. Once you’re confident in your value proposition , you’re ready to proceed.

04. Select your marketing channels and allocate budgets

Where does your audience spend the most time? Is it social media or reading publications and online magazines? Once you know where the people you want to be reaching are, you can best select the types of marketing you wish to implement in your strategies and the marketing channels to target. While niche marketing can be impactful, you can also consider the benefits of diversification in your marketing strategies - is offline marketing worth it for you, for example. Sometimes not putting all of your eggs in one basket is the better approach.

Likewise, choose which marketing tools will help you execute the campaigns. Allocating a specific budget for each channel and your KPIs is also important to do in this stage. Using a marketing plan template is a simple and effective way to document your process.

05. Decide on the messaging, creatives and implementation plan

The final step in your marketing strategy is working on your messaging and creative formats. For example, if you plan to educate customers on product capabilities and spend a lot of time on YouTube, you might create a video campaign. The video messaging will resonate with your target audience in a relevant and meaningful way.

How to track marketing strategies

Tracking your marketing strategies according to their set KPI's is essential for understanding how effective they have been and so you can optimize them as they run.

We've put together some of the main ways in which you can track your marketing strategies from planning to execution. The specific KPIs for each marketing strategy may vary, but in general they should all be tracked according to the following steps.

Set your goals and define what you want to achieve with your marketing strategies. Do you want to increase website traffic, generate leads, boost sales or improve brand awareness?

Choose the key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your goals. If one of your goals is to increase website traffic, then your KPIs or marketing metrics would be page views, bounce rate and time on site.

You should use always tracking tools in order to collect the specific data you need to understand how close you are to meeting your KPI's, or not. The exact tools you use will vary according to your goals and specific metrics but some popular examples include Google Search Console, tools that track social media analytics and email marketing software. Make sure to fully understand what it is your tracking before choosing the right analytics tool for you. Some tools can measure multiple KPIs, such as traffic sources , traffic numbers and more. You may need to check that you have the necessary tracking codes installed on your website and landing pages to monitor your campaign's success.

Once you've collected your data, you'll need to analyze it. First of make sure to regularly review and analyze the data collected from your tracking tools, either on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. This will help you identify what's working and what needs to be improved. It should also help you plan better future marketing strategies and campaigns.

Don't be afraid to adjust your strategies. Based on the insights gained from your data analytics, you'll most likely need to adjust or optimize your marketing strategies to improve them. One example of this is if your social media campaign is not generating the desired engagement, try experimenting with different content formats or posting times.

Monitor your strategies and their progress both over the short and long term. This should be a continuous process that involves reviewing your KPIs and metrics to ensure that you're on track to achieve your objectives.

What is a marketing strategist?

A marketing strategist is someone, generally referred to as a professional, who develops and implements marketing plans and campaigns to achieve a company's marketing and sales goals.

Their responsibilities include conducting market research, analyzing consumer behavior and market trends, and identifying target audiences. From this information, they create effective marketing strategies and tactics, including product positioning, pricing, promotion and distribution. The ultimate aim of a marketing strategist is to increase brand awareness and drive sales growth.

Marketing strategies FAQ

What are the main components of a good marketing strategy.

While the precise marketing strategy you choose will depend on your specific business, industry and marketing KPIs, the components of a good marketing strategy remain the same. These include clear goals and objectives, a well-defined target audience, a unique value proposition, a solid competitive analysis plan, a great marketing mix, a clear budget and metrics complete with a structured implementation plan.

Why is a good marketing strategy so important for your business?

What are best practices for marketing strategies, what are the 4 types of marketing strategies, related posts.

Marketing plan template: step-by-step guide plus examples

40 effective types of marketing to boost your business

A look forward: 6 marketing trends to embrace in 2024

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How to Write a Marketing Plan and 4 Types to Explore

People have been making plans since, well, forever. Whether it’s figuring out a road trip, or just deciding what’s for dinner, plans help us stay on track, avoid mess-ups, and actually get things done.

Now, a marketing plan might not be as fun as planning your next weekend getaway, but it’s just as, if not more, important. A good marketing plan keeps your business focused, organized, and ready for whatever comes your way. 

That’s why it’s pretty surprising to us that a recent study found 67% of small and medium businesses don’t have one.

This guide is going to break down everything you need to know to create a marketing plan that actually works.

What’s a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic document used for getting your marketing efforts together, organized, running smoothly, and keeping track of how they’re going. It keeps your marketing teams aligned and on target because “winging it” is a surefire way to crash and burn. 

By putting all your strategies and marketing activities in writing, you’ll stay on track and monitor your marketing campaign’s progress, avoiding setbacks and mistakes.

Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan

Now that you’ve got a decent understanding of what a marketing plan is, let’s talk a bit about what it’s NOT. 

First off, it’s not the same as a business plan. They’re pretty different actually.

A marketing plan is all about your marketing goals, strategies, target market and tactics. It’s a focused plan for getting your marketing right. On the other hand, a business plan covers everything about your business, we’re talking finances, operations, you name it. It helps you decide how to use your resources and make big decisions as you grow. 

So, think of a marketing plan as a smaller piece of the business plan puzzle.

Marketing Plan vs Marketing Strategy

Next, let’s talk about the difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy. This one is a little trickier because they’re closely related but not quite the same thing.

A marketing strategy is all about how you’re going to hit a specific goal. It’s your game plan for picking campaigns, creating content, choosing marketing channels, and using marketing automation tools to see how things are going. 

On the other hand, a marketing plan is the big picture. It’s your master guide that pulls together all your strategies and shows how they fit into your overall marketing and business goals.

How to Write a Marketing Plan

Start with your business mission.

Your first step in writing a marketing plan is to nail down your mission. This mission should focus on what your marketing wants to achieve, but it should also connect to your company’s big-picture goals (AKA your business objectives).

For example, if you run an online accounting platform, your main mission might be to provide accessible, user-friendly accounting services. Your marketing mission could be something like “to attract new customers by highlighting the benefits of online accounting over more traditional accountancy firms.”

This mission sets the stage for everything else in your plan and lays the groundwork for a solid strategy. So, be sure to really take some time to think about what it is that you want to achieve and how it’s going to tie in to your overall business goals.

Figure Out the KPIs for Your Mission

You’ve set your mission and figured out your goals yay! Now, you need to decide how you’ll measure success. That’s where key performance indicators (KPIs) come in.

KPIs are just the numbers that tell you how well your marketing is doing. They help you set short-term goals and keep your bosses happy (they love seeing those numbers).

For example, if your mission is “to attract more leads to your multi-line phone system landing page,” you might track things like how many people visit the page, how many target customers fill out the contact form, or how many sign up for a demo. Each of these is a KPI showing how well you’re doing. 

If you’re curious about which KPIs to set, start by reviewing your marketing data to understand where your brand might be falling behind. This will help you to set your objectives and determine where you should focus your efforts. 

Then, decide how you’re going to measure your success. For example, if you’re focused on improving sales, you’ll want to track conversions, whereas if you’re focused on boosting your customer satisfaction rating, you’ll want to track customer feedback surveys from your cloud contact center .

Know Who Your Target Audience Is

The best way to really know your target audience is to create buyer personas. 

A buyer persona is basically a detailed profile of the type of people you want to attract created using data sources, such as your Google Analytics, social media platforms, and virtual call centers , that all feed into your CRM platform. It often includes information such as age, gender, location, family size, job title, and more descriptive categories such as ‘interested in fashion’ or ‘early adopter.’

Each persona should match up with your current and potential customers. So, if you’re selling high-end tech gadgets, your persona might be a tech-savvy 30-something who lives in a city and loves the latest gadgets.

Strategy and Execution

Here’s where you get down to the fun stuff, actually making your marketing plan work. This is where you’ll spell out how you’re going to make things happen and why you’re choosing certain tactics.

Are you investing in ads for your social media channels, TV spots, or something else? And if you’re sending out email newsletters, when’s the best time to hit send? 

Don’t forget to plan your timing and frequency schedules, too. This just means figuring out the best times and how often to run your campaigns so you get the most bang for your buck.

Nail these details, and you’ll have a marketing plan that rolls out smoothly and actually shows you what’s working.

Set Your Marketing Budget

Every marketing plan needs a budget. Setting one will keep you on track, avoid runaway costs, and help you spend your cash where it counts. 

So, figure out how much you’re willing to invest and make sure it aligns with your larger marketing plan. This way, you’ll have a plan that works without breaking the bank.

A rule of thumb is that B2B companies typically spend around 2 to 5% of their revenue on marketing. For B2C companies, it’s usually a bit higher; we’re talking between 5 and 10%.

Adjust your Plan

Last but definitely not least, it’s time to start tweaking and fine-tuning. Your marketing plan isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it deal. 

Sometimes, things just don’t go as planned. You might test a new marketing idea featuring an interactive video call for your nearest and dearest clients. But if it’s not getting the results you expected, it’s time to tweak your strategy.

Stay flexible, keep an eye on how things are performing, and be ready to make adjustments.

4 Types of Marketing Plans

You need different marketing plans for different goals. Think about it. If you’re launching a new product, you’re not gonna use the same game plan as you would for getting your CEO to go viral.

So, here’s a breakdown of five must-have marketing plans:

New Product Launch Marketing Plan

This plan is your go-to for creating a splashy launch. It’s all about getting people excited and making sure your new product grabs all the attention it deserves. You want people to be shouting about this product from the rooftops, after all.

Content Marketing Plan

This maps out what type of content strategies you’ll whip up (whether it’s blogs, videos, hilarious memes, or livestreams) and how you’ll use it to captivate your audience. It’s your content calendar on steroids.

Social Media Marketing Plan

Likes, follows, mentions, and shares. This plan is all about making sure your social media game is on point. You’ll decide which platforms to focus on (Instagram for eye-catching visuals, Twitter for quick updates, LinkedIn for professional networking, etc.), plan your content schedule, and craft engaging posts that keep your followers hooked. Plus, you’ll track the performance of your posts to see what’s working and what’s not.

SEO marketing plan

Ever clicked onto page 8 of Google? Us either. This SEO plan is all about making sure you don’t end up there. It’s basically your blueprint for climbing those search engine rankings and getting noticed. You’ll figure out the best keywords to target, tweak your website to make it search-engine friendly, and create content that makes Google—and your audience—happy.

These are just four of the many marketing plans out there. There are also email marketing plans, digital marketing plans, marketing technology plans, PR & advertising plans, and more.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it. We’ve covered the basics of crafting a killer marketing plan, from setting your mission to choosing the right tactics for your goals.

Remember, your marketing plan isn’t a “one-and-done” deal. It’s a living, breathing document that needs updating as you learn what works best for your customer base and improve your marketing tactics. 

For all you business owners out there, if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed about having to make a comprehensive marketing plan, don’t worry. You can find plenty of marketing plan templates online to help get you started. These templates can guide you through the process and make sure you cover all the essential bases.

How do I set marketing goals and objectives?

Marketing goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Start by identifying what you want to achieve (e.g., increase brand awareness, generate leads, boost sales), and then define the metrics you’ll use to measure success.

How often should I update my marketing plan?

Marketing plans should be reviewed and updated regularly, at least annually, or more frequently if your business environment changes significantly. Regular updates ensure your strategies remain aligned with your current goals and market conditions.

Originally published Sep 01, 2024

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12 Marketing Strategy Examples, How to Create One + Tips

What is a marketing strategy?

Marketing strategies vs. marketing plans vs. marketing tactics , types of marketing strategies, how to create the most effective marketing strategies.

• Top 11 great marketing strategy examples and 1 you shouldn't follow

Top tips for creating successful marketing strategies

• Marketing strategies make it more likely that you'll reach your goals

Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or just starting out on your very first small business venture, every company in the world needs an effective marketing strategy to build brand awareness and drive new customers to its products and services. However, if you’ve never been involved in successful marketing strategies, creating one can be easier said than done.

The most effective marketing strategies consider every aspect of the marketing flow, from a thorough understanding of your audience personas to a clear-cut marketing budget and so much more; there’s a lot to cover in a company marketing strategy.

In this guide, we’re going to look at some of the best marketing strategies of all time and explain how you can utilize different types of marketing strategies to maximize your returns in no time.

Before we tell you how to compose an effective marketing strategy, you need to understand what a marketing strategy is and how it can help you improve your advertising.

In simple terms, business marketing strategies are a tool marketers use to outline their various campaigns and marketing models. It’s the how of how you’ll get customers interested in your products and services.

To create an effective marketing strategy, you need to do four things:

• Understand who buys your products or services (who are your customers?)
• Understand how to motivate these people to buy/continue to buy your products or services
• Understand who your competitors are and what they’re doing to achieve the same objectives
• Understand how to measure the success of your marketing campaigns and efforts.

You can do it too.

Like a marketing plan, your marketing strategy should cover the five “Ps” of marketing:

• Product – What you’re trying to sell
• Price – Profit margins, marketing budget, etc. 
• Place – What channels or platforms will you use? (For example, will you be advertising on social media, utilizing email marketing, or going offline?) Consider where your customers already spend their time for the optimal marketing locations. 
• Promotion – What are you trying to achieve? (Are you hoping to build your social media presence, increase brand perception, promote a new product, or something else?)
• People – Who is your target audience? What drives them? 

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be in a fantastic position to start building your company’s marketing strategy.

Although “marketing strategies” might seem relatively straightforward, there can often be some confusion when establishing whether you’re creating a marketing strategy, marketing plan, or marketing tactic. While all three of these marketing initiatives work together, they cover slightly different aspects and should not be used interchangeably.

Marketing plan

A marketing plan is an overview of all your marketing initiatives. This will include all the campaigns you intend to run over a set period of time, your goals and ambitions for the projects as a whole, and any research you’ve compiled to support these aims.

Marketing strategies

Marketing strategies at first glance appear very similar to the overarching marketing plan. However, the strategies will take a closer look at just a few select parts of the marketing plan.

For example, if your marketing plan is to promote a new product or service, you might have a strategy dedicated to how you’re going to use email marketing to support these broader goals. Every marketing plan will most likely produce several marketing strategies as part of the broader plan.

Marketing tactics

While the marketing plan and strategies are committed to explaining what you’re going to do, marketing tactics go deeper again and establish how you’re going to do it.

Using the above example, the marketing plan is to build awareness for a new product. The marketing strategy is how you’ll utilize email marketing as part of this. The marketing tactics will detail the specific actions you’ll take as part of the marketing campaign.

Now we understand some of the different marketing terms, it’s time to zone in on marketing strategies and how these work as part of your business plan.

There are numerous different types of marketing strategies you can use depending on your business needs. While we’re not going to cover every marketing strategy type today, these are some of the main ones that you’re likely to come across:

1. Social media marketing strategy 

Today, social media marketing is a huge part of any business’s marketing plan as it’s a hugely compelling way to drive traffic, build brand awareness, and take advantage of the social selling revelation that’s taking over online marketing. 

According to recent data, around 54% of social media users use social platforms to research brands and products, and 89% of consumers who follow a particular brand will purchase from that brand. 

With these figures, if you’re not utilizing an effective social media marketing strategy, you’re missing out on untold rewards.

2. Email marketing strategy

Anyone who’s ever told you “email is dead” is dead wrong. Capturing your customers’ emails and browsers should be an essential part of your marketing strategy and is an excellent way to continue a conversation with people who have expressed interest in your brand.

There are loads of email marketing tools available to help you in this area. However, you still need an effective email marketing strategy to produce consistent, compelling emails that convert readers into buyers. 

3. Inbound marketing strategy

An inbound marketing strategy is all about pulling customers in and driving traffic to your website or products. Rather than using “disruptive” marketing techniques (like TV advertising), inbound marketing is about lead generation using people who have shown interest in your products, services, or brand as a whole.

Email marketing can be a good example of an inbound marketing strategy. If someone has subscribed to your mailing list, chances are they’re at least somewhat interested in what you have to say. This enables you to take a softer approach to your marketing, as these leads are already more likely to become sales.

Another inbound marketing strategy could be blog posts. People will only see blog posts relevant to their search terms and interests, meaning they’ve expressed a need that at least somewhat relates to what you’re selling.

4. Content marketing strategy

A content marketing strategy is likely to overlap with an inbound marketing strategy, but it is more specific. With content marketing strategies, you focus on content creation that will draw people in and build interest.

This is likely to cover blog posts and white papers and can even overlap with your social media marketing.

Effectively, any part of your marketing campaigns that require content will require an effective content marketing strategy.

5. Editorial strategy

Taking an editorial approach is a particularly vital marketing strategy for advertising companies as it highlights the content formats, workflows, and channels you’ll be utilizing to hit your marketing goals.

It’s similar to the sort of marketing strategies you would expect to see in a news or media organization and can be essential for brand publishers or advertisers to keep their marketing efforts and ideas in focus.

6. Marketing communications strategy

Your marketing communications strategy should be primarily focused on your brand’s message and value proposition . It’s all about how you’re going to say what you need to say. 

For example, is your tone of voice serious or humorous? Are you marketing yourself as an expert in your industry? What is the message you want to get across?

7. Digital marketing strategy

Digital marketing probably doesn’t need much introduction… This marketing strategy will encompass all your online marketing, SEO , social media lead generation, performance marketing , and more…. Effectively, if it’s online, it should be covered by your digital marketing strategy. 

8. Internal marketing strategy

Although internal marketing will be less vital for SMBs, it can be a vital part of the marketing efforts for large companies. A good example of an internal marketing strategy would be an internal email that lets employees know they’re eligible to become shareholders or asks existing shareholders to support a new initiative.

Internal marketing can also cover more mundane issues, such as keeping staff up to date on any changes to the company, branding, or internal procedures.

9. Public relations strategy

If you’re in business, you’ll probably know how complicated PR strategies can be. Not only does getting PR right ensure you keep your customers happy, but it’s also vital for protecting your brand image in the eyes of your stakeholders, the media, and even governmental bodies or other influential institutions.

Any large business should have a dedicated PR team in charge of the brand’s public image. In addition to protecting it, good PR can also offer invaluable word-of-mouth advertising.

10. SEO strategy

SEO should form part of all the different marketing strategies. Still, you may find it beneficial to have some of your marketing efforts explicitly dedicated to SEO, as this is likely to be your primary source of lead generation.

SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) is pretty much what it says on the tin: the art of using keywords and phrases to boost your visibility when users search for relevant terms on the internet. Getting SEO right is arguably the best way to drive traffic to your website and should be front of mind in all your digital marketing and content marketing strategies.

Naturally, SEO goes beyond just keyword optimization and considers a plethora of other aspects to help you rise on those search engine results pages (SERPs). So, it’s a good idea to have at least one marketing team member dedicated to the latest SEO trends so you can rank #1 on Google.  

When it comes to strategic marketing strategies, there isn’t always a one-size-fits-all solution. Strategies can take many different forms, from word documents to flowcharts to slides… But although they can look different on the outside, the most effective marketing strategies will always have a few things in common.

If nothing else, your marketing strategy should cover the following questions:

Who are you trying to reach? 

For this section, you need to really get into the mind of your target audience. This includes building detailed buyer personas and user personas, with information including their demographics, age, location, employment status, interests, passions, pain points, and anything else you can think of. The more detail you can include in your target market research, the better you will understand and communicate with your audience. 

Where will you reach your potential customers? 

As part of your research into your target audience, you should also spend some time considering the places (online and offline) where they spend their time. For many businesses today, most of your marketing strategies will probably be focused on social media. Still, even once you’ve narrowed this down, it can also be valuable to create marketing strategies for the various social media platforms and any other marketing channels you would like to use. 

What action do you want people to take?

The answer to this question will fuel your Call - to - Action phrases and is essentially nailing down the goals of your entire marketing campaign. Do you want to drive more website traffic? Increase sales? Raise awareness for a new product? Get more followers on social media? Boost your search results rankings? Whatever your goals are, having them clearly laid out as part of your digital marketing strategy is essential. 

How will you inspire potential customers to take action?

The next question leads off this, and it’s about how you’re going to convince or inspire consumers to take the desired action. This could incorporate discount codes, summer sales, referral programs, or you could even let your brand, product, or service speak for itself if you’re just hoping to build awareness.

How will you measure success? 

If you have no KPIs or objective method for measuring the success of your marketing campaign, you really have no way of monitoring whether or not your campaigns are working! Having clear, measurable goals and precise targets you can see whether you’re hitting are essential for an effective marketing strategy. For eg, if your target is to get more followers on Instagram for your brand… It’s easy to see when you’re on track. However, you’ll want to dive deeper than this, with goals for conversions, weekly and monthly targets, etc.

Top 11 great marketing strategy examples and 1 you shouldn’t follow

Now you have an idea of what a marketing strategy is and how to write some of the best marketing strategies, we wanted to give you some great marketing strategies examples so you can see how these work in the real world.

These examples of marketing strategies of a business will provide you with plenty of inspiration for your own campaigns and help you ace the advertising industry. Plus, we’ve included a bonus example of when a marketing strategy didn’t quite go to plan… Take a look!

1. Spotify: offering an alternative user experience

Spotify is the go-to music streaming service for most people around the world, but what is it that makes them stand out?

Spotify’s key marketing efforts focus on how the brand is different from other services, providing users with the chance to discover new music with ease and even lets you filter tracks by mood as well as genre. The artificial intelligence in Spotify’s algorithms provides users with carefully curated, bespoke playlists that actually suit their tastes and manages to turn playing music or listening to a podcast into a whole new experience.

2. Nordstrom: Retargeting campaigns

Nordstrom is well-known for dominating when it comes to marketing, and this campaign was remarkably successful. Employing the latest retargeting technology and tactics, Nordstrom was able to dramatically boost its bottom line and reduce cart abandonment. This campaign primarily utilized abandoned cart emails alongside social media ads that were activated following a website visit from the user.   

3. GoPro: User-generated content

GoPro certainly isn’t the first – or the last – company to achieve success with a user-generated-content-led marketing strategy, but that doesn’t make it any less effective or worthy of inclusion in our list! As a brand dedicated to creating on-the-go, fast content, the product lends itself nicely to this marketing tactic, so GoPro can benefit from a “spectacular” Instagram feed without needing a huge budget to take the images itself. And what’s more, each user-generated image that ends up on the feed motivates others to snap pics and share their experiences.

4. Sephora: Loyalty programs

Loyalty programs are a bit of a tale as old as time for maximizing customer retention, but that doesn’t mean all loyalty programs are created equal. Sephora discovered the trick to innovative, inspiring loyalty programs with its tiered approach and generous rewards. These rewards provide plenty of incentive for users to buy and are a fantastic way of increasing word-of-mouth marketing.

5. Rainforest alliance: “Follow the Frog.”

These days, the top online stores all offer information about how they engage in sustainable practices, have cruelty-free manufacturing, and/or how they support charities and initiatives around the world. Rainforest Alliance’s “ Follow the Frog ” campaign tapped into this priority by offering B2B and B2C organizations the chance to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and sustainability with a green frog seal on their products and website. This became a well-known symbol that’s highly desirable to other brands in all industries.

6. Twitch: Niche-specific marketing

Many brands make the mistake of trying to market their product or service to a target audience that’s simply too broad. But that only leads to a confusing message and few real customers. Instead, follow the lead of the social streaming service, Twitch. This company wasted no time or money advertising to people who won’t be interested in what makes the brand unique… Instead, all its efforts went into establishing precisely who the niche market is and how to attract them.

7. Nike: “Just Do It” – promoting values

We are all familiar with Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan , but have you ever given the marketing plan behind it any thought? Well, Nike used to be a brand dedicated to providing athleticwear to athletes… But they changed their model to appeal to the masses and put values first. The “Just Do It” and “*If you have a body, you’re an athlete” campaigns have been instrumental in Nike’s prolonged success by making everyone feel included and welcomed.

8. Chipotle: Fun contests

Contests are always an effective way to build brand awareness or promote a new product. Chipotle’s 2020 social media contest came at a perfect time and gave the audience a fun and unique way of interacting with the brand. The contest was called “Chipotle Royalty” and involved users posting a TikTok video explaining why their Chipotle order was the best. The prizes? A chance to win $10,000 and have their order become a permanent menu fixture. Definitely worth a video!

9. Red Bull: Putting identify before products

Similar to Nike’s values before products , Red Bull prioritizes experiences and identity of risk-taking front-and-center when it comes to marketing. With Red Bull sponsorships covering everything from Red Bull Stratos (seriously, take a look, it’s really cool) to rallycross racing to Formula One, and so much more, Red Bull had made its identity and brand persona clear… And ensures we won’t forget it any time soon! 

10. Starbucks: Making coffee into an experience and a lifestyle

Selling coffee certainly doesn’t sound like a unique endeavor, but Starbucks’ marketing team worked hard to create an experience that wasn’t just about the coffee. With an incredibly famous logo that can be spotted worldwide, Starbucks created a feeling of comfort, inclusion, and home that cannot be rivelled. Coschedule has an interesting, deep-dive article looking at Starbucks ‘ marketing strategy in more detail. 

11. AllBirds: Humorous, transparent, sustainable

Allbirds’ goal was to create “the world’s most comfortable shoe.” And while they did seem to manage this, it’s not why we’re highlighting their marketing strategy. This strategy really stands out because of the consistent tone of voice and values visible in every piece of marketing, every web page, and every interaction with the brand. The quirky and humorous voice is highly memorable and matches the values of transparency, sustainability, and comfort.

12. Segway: Failed to identify pain points

Now we’ve considered some of the best marketing strategies of all time, we also wanted to look at one brand that didn’t do quite so well. When Segway was first introduced, the idea was that it would replace walking as the primary A-to-B method and could go up to 12.5mph. The primary reason Segway failed is because people didn’t want to stop walking, running, or cycling (among others). So, the pain point the device was built to solve wasn’t really a pain point at all, and Segway offered little benefit to users. 

The lesson here? Do your target market research thoroughly , and don’t just build a product because you think it looks cool.

No matter how big or small your ad campaigns are, it’s essential to always support them with marketing strategies that summarize how you will convert browsers into consumers. To give you a head start at employing the best and most effective marketing techniques, ensure every strategy you create does the following:

Set specific goals

SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-based) goals are essential for an excellent marketing strategy. These will not only give you something to aim for, but they’ll also help you monitor your progress and hold you accountable.

Identify your target audience.

Correctly identifying your target audience, their passions, and their pain points is vital. As we learned from Segway, not having a thorough understanding of your audience and what they need/want is only ever going to be a recipe for disaster.

Identify your competition

There’s a lot to be learned from the competition. On the one hand, you can check on other businesses in your industry to see what they’re doing well and what their audience responds to. On the other hand, identifying your competition’s weaker points can be a brilliant springboard to help you find your unique selling proposition and help you stand out. 

Choose the most effective platform

There’s no point in shouting about your products in a location your customers never visit. As part of your market research, you should also investigate where your customers spend their time online and offline. Then, build a marketing strategy using the platforms and channels your customers are already using.

Marketing strategies make it more likely that you’ll reach your goals

You don’t need to be a Fortune 500 company to invest in an effective marketing strategy and reap the benefits. Even small businesses need marketing to build brand awareness and get people interested. After all, even with the best products in the world, nobody will buy them if they don’t know who you are!

As the famous quote goes, “failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” And the research backs this up, with 313% of marketers being more likely to report success when they have a documented marketing strategy than those without. 

So, don’t waste your precious time and money investing in poorly thought-out marketing campaigns. Instead, take the time to build a detailed plan and strategy with marketing tactics for success, and you’ll be sure to maximize your ROI in no time.

How do you create a marketing strategy?

Building a marketing strategy isn’t that different from writing a marketing plan… It’s just more detailed and niche than the overarching plan and focuses on one/two platforms at a time.

How do you write a marketing strategy example?

It’s worth (if you can) taking a look at some other successful marketing strategy examples from similar companies in your industry before writing your own if you’re not sure where to start. This will give you an idea of what has/hasn’t worked in the past and will enable you to cultivate a better strategy than the one before. Even if you can’t view the marketing strategy document, plenty of research is always necessary for any advertising campaign; the more information you have before you start, the better your marketing strategy will be.

What are the five marketing strategies?

The five “Ps” of marketing are Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People. These “Ps” are essential to quality marketing efforts and should all be covered in your marketing strategy example.

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Key Marketing Strategies for Market Success

Marketing is crucial for any business aiming to grow and succeed in today’s competitive market. It’s not just about promoting products or services; it’s about building a connection with your customers, understanding their needs, and delivering value. Here are some key marketing strategies that can help your business stand out and thrive.

1. Know Your Audience

Understanding your audience is the foundation of any successful marketing strategy. Conduct thorough market research to identify who your potential customers are, what their needs and preferences are, and how they behave. This knowledge allows you to tailor your marketing messages to resonate with them more effectively, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

2. Develop a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Your unique value proposition is what differentiates your brand from the competition. Clearly define what you offer that is unique and why customers should choose your brand over others. This UVP should be central to all your marketing efforts, consistently communicated across all platforms to reinforce your brand’s distinct advantages.

3. Leverage Digital Marketing

Digital marketing provides numerous tools to reach and engage your target audience effectively. Consider these tactics:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Enhance your website’s visibility in search engine results to attract organic traffic. Optimizing your content for relevant keywords and improving your site’s technical performance can significantly boost your search rankings.
• Social Media Advertising: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter allow you to target specific demographics with precision, making it easier to reach your ideal customers and drive conversions through tailored ad campaigns.
• Email Marketing: Keep your customers informed and engaged through regular email updates. Well-crafted email campaigns can nurture leads, promote new products or services, and provide valuable content that keeps your audience connected to your brand.

4. Create Valuable Content

Content marketing is a powerful way to attract and retain customers by providing them with valuable, relevant information. Create blogs, videos, infographics, and other types of content that address your audience’s pain points, answer their questions, and offer solutions. High-quality content not only positions your brand as an authority in your industry but also helps build trust with your audience, leading to long-term loyalty.

5. Build Relationships with Customers

Effective marketing goes beyond just making a sale; it’s about building lasting relationships with your customers. Engage with them on social media, respond to their inquiries promptly, and ensure they feel valued and appreciated. Personalization is key—use customer data to tailor your communications and offer products or services that meet their specific needs. Satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat buyers and advocates for your brand.

6. Measure and Adjust Your Strategy

Marketing is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process. It’s important to regularly measure the performance of your marketing campaigns to understand what’s working and what isn’t. Use analytics tools to track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rates, website traffic, and social media engagement. Based on these insights, be prepared to adjust your strategies to optimize results continually.

Effective marketing does more than just drive sales; it builds a strong, loyal customer base that can sustain your business over the long term. By implementing these key strategies, you can position your brand effectively in the market, connect meaningfully with your audience, and achieve sustainable growth. Whether you’re a small startup or an established company, these marketing principles can guide you toward success in today’s dynamic marketplace.

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2024 Digital Marketing Strategy Guide

Published: Sep 2, 2024, 3:57pm

Reviewed By

Table of Contents

What is a digital marketing strategy, why a digital marketing strategy is important, digital marketing strategy vs. digital marketing campaign, digital marketing strategy vs. digital marketing tactic, how to create a digital marketing strategy, 5 types of digital marketing strategies, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Most of us would be lost without our smartphones, tablets, and computers. People digest a lot of information on these devices, which is why a digital marketing strategy is imperative for any business owner. You want to catch customers where they are exploring search engines and using social media. Getting your marketing on these platforms will improve your conversion results, leading to more sales and revenue.

A digital marketing strategy is a plan to get a product or brand in front of potential customers. The goal could be to grow the brand or hit specific revenue targets. A digital marketing strategy lives exclusively on digital mediums such as search engines, websites, or social media. As a strategy, the campaign takes specific tactics and implements them. One such tactic might be to conduct social media ads that target the demographic most interested in your product or service.

While you may know that you need a marketing strategy, you may not fully understand why it is so important. Here are some highlighted points to consider to help you devote the right time and energy to creating a strong digital marketing strategy.

Understand Market Share

A clear strategy helps you better understand your market share. Without this understanding, you may underestimate (or overestimate) the demand for your products or services. The strategy helps you fully understand the marketplace and takes into consideration customer behaviors, needs, competitors, and customer profiles.

Competitors Gain Market Share

If you don’t have a digital marketing strategy, you can bet that your competitors do and will use it to gain market share while you rely on traditional marketing tactics. You need to invest in digital marketing to maintain visibility with your target audience and stay in the conversation when that audience is deciding to buy. You don’t want to be left out while the competition eats away at what should be your market share.

Develop an Online Value Proposition

Developing a digital marketing strategy helps you to build your online value proposition. The goal of the value proposition is to improve the user experience when buying your product or service regardless of the customer persona. This means that your brand appeals to multiple types of buyers because it is priced right and easy to purchase. The goal is to create loyal customers who love your products and your brand and will share that with family and friends.

Get To Know Your Customers

By deploying user feedback tools, you can better understand the consumer sentiment around your products or services. In the digital marketplace, conducting market surveys and getting customer feedback and reviews is easy. This helps you streamline marketing tactics and focus on what will work best for your company. It also helps you adjust products and services to be the best solution for your target market.

Remain Agile in a Competitive Market

Top brands constantly adjust their brand and user experience. This helps them stay ahead of the competition because the changes cater to consumers’ needs or desires. You want your business to be dynamic and agile as well, ready and able to roll with the ebb and flow of consumer desires.

Business owners often confuse the two terms, strategy and campaign, and use them interchangeably. While there are similarities, a digital marketing strategy is different from a digital marketing campaign, though you need one in order to have the other.

A digital marketing strategy is the plan you have for your marketing campaign. It looks at demographics, product benefits, and platforms to find success. The digital marketing campaign is the actual action you take. A digital marketing strategy can have multiple digital marketing campaigns. You might have one campaign on Facebook while another runs on Instagram. The campaigns support and implement your plan.

Just as there are differences between a digital marketing strategy and a digital marketing campaign, there are differences between a digital marketing strategy and a digital marketing tactic. A tactic is much like a campaign, as it is the action you take to implement the digital marketing strategy.

Tactics are often timeline-sensitive and implemented as part of an action plan. They are part of the campaign and take specific actions.

For example, the digital marketing strategy might be to find influencers to recommend your product or service to their followers. A tactic is reaching out to a specific influencer to see if there is a fit between your brand and theirs. The tactic supports the strategy’s overall goal and is the start of a campaign that would use the influencer’s status to gain interest in your product or service.

Developing a meaningful strategy is critical to the success of your sales goals. The strategy should be comprehensive and include several facets to best reach your target audience. Here are 10 steps to creating a digital marketing strategy.

Step 1: Write a Customer Persona

A customer persona is an archetype of the perfect customer, the person most likely to buy your products or services. It is based on people’s preferences, behaviors, and pain points.

For example, you may sell walking canes. A customer persona is a person who is older, perhaps over the age of 60, and who has trouble walking due to knee or hip problems. Their balance is off, and they would benefit from the use of a cane. You might further differentiate this persona by saying that they are still mobile enough not to need a walker. The more specific you can be in your persona, the better your target marketing will be to this group.

Step 2: Identify All Goals

Goals should revolve around market penetration and digital click-throughs to purchase. Tools, such as Google Analytics, can track and measure your progress and success. Goals should be clear and measurable so you can firmly state whether you are achieving them. They should also support your business objectives.

An example of a digital marketing goal might be to get 100,000 impressions in a month for a Facebook ad. This would increase brand awareness and give you the number of eyes needed to convert enough sales. You could monitor your results through the Facebook Ad Manager to see if your ad is hitting the target numbers. If it isn’t, you might need to increase the ad spend to reach more people.

Step 3: Develop the Right Content

Depending on your strategy, you’ll want to customize content to meet your strategy objectives. Content may be ad copy, blogs, social media posts, or white papers, depending on your overall strategy and what campaigns you employ. Create a content calendar that ensures that your audience gets a drip feed of your content regularly. This will keep your brand top of mind and increase brand awareness.

For example, if your content strategy is to blog helpful tips, make sure you consistently publish blogs. This could be daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on your goals. The key is to be consistent and to meet publishing deadlines so your target audience gets fresh content and comes to expect it on specific days.

Step 4: Review Existing Digital Marketing Channels

Evaluate what you are currently doing and evaluate whether you are seeing the success that you hoped for. This is the time to either refine existing campaigns or eliminate them and move budget resources to other areas that may be more successful. You may also explore new and exciting ways to innovate underperforming areas that you still feel have merit. For example, you may realize that your ads have performed better than expected. Instead of walking away from ads, you should work with a different ad team that has a better track record of success.

Step 5: Implement Automation To Streamline Work

Take a look at your campaigns and the process that the target audience has to go through to buy your product or contact you. Where possible, automate things so you don’t need to spend extra time and energy on them. An example of automation might be in your content generation. You may have a content calendar for social media, and some platforms will automatically publish the content on a schedule to the relevant social media platforms. This frees up time and energy to focus on other tasks.

Step 6: Be Sure You Are Optimized for Mobile

A lot of people digest digital content on smartphones. This means your digital campaign must be optimized for mobile consumption; otherwise, people will bounce from your website. Your website should load quickly, be aligned for mobile viewing, and be user-friendly. Make it easy for people to buy from a phone, sign up for your email list, or contact you with questions. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites, so this should be a priority from the start. You want to give Google every reason to search and rank your site. Coming up at the top of search results (SERPs) is a digital marketing strategy of its own, and mobile responsiveness is one tactic to help you rank.

Step 7: Be Easy To Connect With

Your target market may have questions and will readily buy if those questions are answered quickly. This means that you need to be responsive on social media and take the time to answer people’s questions on ads and social media posts. The more engaged you are, the better it is for your brand.

You will also want to look at any landing pages you have. Evaluate the call to action (CTA) on the page and make sure it clearly and concisely asks for the sale. Many digital marketing experts recommend split-testing CTAs to see which performs best and then switching to the best one. This is a tactic that you may want to employ to get the best responsiveness from your audience.

Step 8: Choose the Right Technology

The goal is to provide your target audience with the right messaging and human touch where appropriate without inundating yourself with extra work. Use CRM systems to manage contacts, invest in automation software, and utilize AI technology where you can. Technology is there to support your digital marketing efforts and, when used correctly, will reduce your workload so you can focus on the tasks that are most important to driving new business. For example, a CRM can automatically send out reminder emails on your behalf, freeing you up for phone calls and follow-ups with hot leads.

Step 9: Reaffirm What Makes You Unique

Every business should have a unique selling proposition (USP). This is what makes you different and is a top priority to highlight when marketing. If you haven’t already done so, identify your USP and write it out. Incorporate it into your marketing strategy so your target audience can see why they should choose you over the competition. Your USP should always be made clear to the target audience. If your current marketing campaigns don’t highlight this, then you need to rework your campaigns to do so.

Step 10: Track Progress

It should be part of your campaign process to establish a system that tracks progress. After all, you want to know if your campaign is a success and whether it should be duplicated and repeated. Put more resources into campaigns that are producing the desired results and fewer resources into campaigns that aren’t yielding what you expect them to. Everyone should know their campaigns’ goals and be prepared to adjust them as needed to offer better results that match the goals. This is part of being an agile company that can adapt as necessary to information in real-time.

When developing a digital marketing strategy, consider your goals, what the audience is most receptive to, and your budget. Some strategies take longer to deliver results than others, so you must weigh the options to see what is best for your company.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a common strategy for many business owners. Its focus is on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to a target audience. This content is meant to attract people to the brand and retain their interest in purchasing and learning more. The most common type of content marketing is blogging.

When you blog, you don’t pitch your product. Instead, you provide readers with valuable insights, tips and information that will help them either at work or at home. For example, if you are a general contractor, you might have a blog about doing maintenance work around the house. This is something that your audience likely won’t hire you to do, but it builds credibility and trust with them as they view you as the go-to resource for all things home repair and remodeling. You could also incorporate holiday lists of decorations and party recipes that will give your company a human touch.

Most forms of digital marketing are a type of content marketing. We’ll dive into them more specifically below, as each has its own pros and cons.

Paid Advertising

Most business owners are familiar with paid advertising. These are ads and commercials on television or radio. When it comes to digital paid advertising, the ads are located on websites, search engines or social media platforms. In paid advertising, you are buying ad space that uses digital resources to specify who sees the ad.

Search engines and websites collect cookies that help advertisers tailor ads based on what consumers are searching for online. When you visit a website about buying a car, you suddenly see car ads on all the sites you browse and on your social media. This is why digital ads are so attractive. They are inexpensive compared to traditional advertising and can be explicitly targeted to audiences that you know meet your demographic or customer persona.

One of the nice things about paid advertising in digital spaces is budget allowance. The digital space allows for those with small budgets to target the same group as those with a large budget. This makes paid advertising accessible to small business owners.

Email Marketing

If you already have a list of followers, there is email marketing software that helps you send emails designed to convert them into sales. You may mix up email marketing with helpful content that isn’t directly selling, such as referring them to the latest blog or tip list, but the goal is to convert emails into customers.

When building an email list, you will need an opt-in from one of your other marketing campaigns, such as advertising or blogs. When you capture the email, make sure you have a double opt-in process to prevent spam bots from opting into your list and being dead leads. Once you have a list, segment it, so you can have groups of customer personas that target specific demographics.

Stay away from buying a list, as these are often seen as spam and labeled as such. You don’t want to be marked as a spammer, as this makes email marketing that much more difficult. Be patient with your list and be consistent in sending content to them. Some people might unsubscribe, but that’s okay. You want to cultivate those that are good leads for you anyway.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing uses social media platforms to promote and sell your products and services. This is not purchased ads on the social media platform, but instead new and curated content that you think your audience will find valuable. This might be product reviews, testimonials, memes, infographics or other content that educates and entertains your audience. The goal is to grow your social media following to a sizeable list that allows you to promote products or services and sales directly to your target audience.

Growing your following can take time, but this is why you want to consistently produce content that your target group will want to share. Often, when building a following, social media marketing is combined with social media advertising to grow the audience and build a loyal following. Check out our top social media statistics and trends to learn more.

Influencer Marketing

Influencers are people who have a large following on social media as a result of the content they publish or their celebrity status. Getting an influencer to tout your brand on their social media channels can go a long way to building a bigger following yourself and increasing sales. Influencers essentially endorse your product or service. Some influencers will do this for a fee, while others will do it for free products or services. Each one is different, so you’ll have to contact the influencer to see what their setup is.

Developing a digital marketing strategy that works takes time and effort. You may employ different tactics and campaigns to reach your ultimate goals of sales and brand awareness. Be patient with your strategy and measure success, so you can adjust tactics as needed.

What are the seven Cs of digital marketing?

The seven Cs of digital marketing are:

• Customer: Who are you selling to?
• Content: What do you tell them?
• Competition: Who are your competitors and what are they saying?
• Community: Build a loyal following.
• Convenience: Make it easy to buy.
• Consistency: Be a resource your customers can rely on for regular content.
• Conversion: Design content to convert into sales.

What should a digital marketing strategy include?

A digital marketing strategy should include a customer persona, engaging content and measurable results.

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Kimberlee Leonard has taken her professional experience as an insurance agency owner and financial advisor and translated that into a finance writing career that helps business owners and professionals succeed. Her work has appeared on Business.com, Business News Daily, FitSmallBusiness.com, CentsibleMoney.com, and Kin Insurance.

Hotel Business Plan

Are you dreaming of starting your own hotel business? A well-crafted hotel business plan is essential for turning that dream into a reality and ensuring the long-term success of your venture. The hotel industry continues to grow, with more entrepreneurs entering the market, making it crucial to have a solid planning hotel in place. This article will provide a comprehensive guide to creating a business plan for a hotel, including a sample outline and essential elements to consider. 

What is a Hotel Business Plan?

A hotel business plan is a strategic document that outlines the vision, goals, and operational framework of a hotel business. It serves as a roadmap for establishing and growing the hotel, guiding its activities and decisions from inception through to expansion. This plan includes details about the hotel’s concept, market analysis, marketing strategies, financial projections, and operational plans. It is a vital tool for securing funding, attracting clients, and ensuring the successful execution of your business strategies.

Why Do You Need a Hotel Business Plan?

Creating a business plan for hotel business in the hospitality industry is crucial for several reasons:

• Securing Funding: Investors and lenders require a detailed business plan to assess the viability of your hotel business. A comprehensive hospitality business plan demonstrates your commitment, understanding of the market, and financial projections, increasing your chances of securing funding
• Guiding Business Development: A business plan hotel provides a clear roadmap for your business, helping you stay focused on your goals and make informed decisions. It outlines the steps needed to achieve your objectives and grow your business.
• Attracting Clients and Partners: Hotel business plans can attract potential clients, partners, and stakeholders by showcasing your hotel’s unique value proposition and competitive advantage.
• Managing Risks: A thorough hotel business planning process helps identify potential risks and challenges, allowing you to develop strategies to mitigate them.

Hotel Business Plan Example: Belle Vie Boutique Hotel

Executive summary.

Belle Vie Boutique Hotel is a proposed luxury boutique hotel located in the heart of Downtown City. With a focus on providing exceptional customer service, unique amenities, and an unforgettable guest experience, XYZ Boutique Hotel aims to become a leading choice for business and leisure travelers. Our mission is to create a memorable stay for our guests by offering personalized services, luxurious accommodations, and a warm, welcoming atmosphere.

Company Description

XYZ Boutique Hotel will offer 50 elegantly designed rooms, a gourmet restaurant, a spa, and state-of-the-art conference facilities. Our target market includes business travelers, tourists, and local residents seeking a luxurious staycation. The hotel’s strategic location in Downtown City ensures easy access to major attractions, shopping centers, and business districts.

Market Analysis

The hotel industry in Downtown City is experiencing steady growth, with increasing demand for luxury accommodations. Our market analysis reveals a significant opportunity for a boutique hotel that offers personalized services and unique experiences. By targeting business travelers, tourists, and local residents, we aim to capture a substantial share of the market.

Marketing Strategy

Our marketing strategy will focus on building brand awareness and attracting our target market through various channels:

• Online Presence: Developing a user-friendly website and leveraging social media platforms to engage with potential guests.
• Partnerships: Collaborating with local businesses, travel agencies, and tourism boards to promote our hotel.
• Advertising: Utilizing online and offline advertising to reach a wider audience.
• Customer Loyalty Programs: Implementing loyalty programs to encourage repeat business and referrals.

Services Offered

XYZ Boutique Hotel will offer a range of services to meet the needs of our guests:

• Accommodations: Luxurious rooms and suites with modern amenities.
• Dining: A gourmet restaurant serving locally sourced, seasonal dishes.
• Spa and Wellness: A full-service spa offering a variety of treatments.
• Conference Facilities: State-of-the-art meeting rooms and event spaces.
• Concierge Services: Personalized assistance with travel arrangements, local recommendations, and more.

Organizational Structure

The organizational structure of XYZ Boutique Hotel will include the following key roles:

• CEO: Oversees the overall operations and strategic direction of the hotel.
• General Manager: Manages day-to-day operations and ensures guest satisfaction.
• Marketing Director: Develops and implements marketing strategies.
• Executive Chef: Leads the culinary team and oversees the restaurant operations.
• Spa Director: Manages the spa and wellness center.
• Front Office Manager: Supervises the front desk staff and handles guest relations.

Partner with Us

If you need assistance crafting your hotel business plan or have questions about how to start a hotel business, don’t hesitate to contact us at BSBCON . Our team of experienced business plan writers and business consultants is here to support you every step of the way.

Financial Plan

The following financial projections have been carefully crafted by the management team of the company. All projections are forward-looking and are dependent on securing the required financing. It is the audience’s responsibility to conduct all necessary due diligence.

Pro Forma Income Statement

Pro Forma Cash Flow Statement

Pro Forma Balance Sheet

The appendices section of your business plan for a digital marketing agency should include any additional information that supports your plan, such as resumes, market research data, and legal documents. Including a business plan cover sheet and other templates can provide additional clarity.

Supporting Documents

• Resumes: Include resumes of key team members.
• Market Research: Provide detailed market research data.
• Legal Documents: Include copies of your business license, contracts, and other legal documents.

Creating a marketing agency business plan is essential for setting the foundation for your agency’s success. By carefully planning each aspect of your business, from market analysis to financial projections, you can ensure that your agency is well-positioned to thrive in a competitive industry. Whether you’re launching a traditional advertising agency, a digital marketing agency, or a creative agency, following this comprehensive guide will help you achieve your goals. Utilizing resources like a business plan marketing strategy example, digital marketing agency plan, or marketing agency templates can streamline the process.

If you need assistance crafting your business plan or have questions about the process, don’t hesitate to contact us at BSBCON . Our team of experienced business plan writers is here to support you every step of the way. For a more detailed guide or marketing agency proposal, reach out to us today.

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Posted on: September 4, 2024

Guest Article

10 Effective Recruitment Marketing Strategies for HR Pros

Recruiters face constant challenges in finding and retaining top talent. The job market is fiercely competitive, and many industries suffer from talent shortages. Technology evolves rapidly, making it harder for companies to keep up.

A recent survey revealed that 62% of recruiters believe finding quality candidates is more difficult now than it was five years ago .

This makes it crucial to stay up-to-date with the latest requirements and modify your recruitment strategies accordingly. In this blog, I will go through ten latest recruitment marketing strategies that can help companies boost their visibility, engage candidates more, and discover the best talent.

Let’s get started!

What is Recruitment Marketing?

Recruitment marketing is like putting out a giant “We’re hiring!” sign, but way cooler .

The process is about attracting talented people to your company by showing them why it’s a great workplace. It goes beyond simply advertising open positions.

Instead, it focuses on building a strong employer brand that highlights your company culture , values, and employee value proposition. This can involve creating content like blog posts, social media campaigns, or even employer branding videos.

By showcasing what makes your company unique and desirable as a workplace, recruitment marketing helps you build a pool of qualified candidates interested in working with you .

Now, let’s have a look at how exactly you can achieve the goal of attracting top talent to work for your organization.

10 Recruitment Marketing Strategies to Attract Top Talent

1. build a solid employer brand.

Companies need to have a good reputation as a great place to work to attract the best employees. This means showing off the company’s values, culture, how engaged your employees are and the work environment in a positive way.

You can do this by sharing stories from employees, talking about the company’s accomplishments, and posting behind-the-scenes stuff on your website and social media .

Employee engagement plays a crucial role here.

Engaged employees are likely to interact with the company’s social media pages which results in creating a strong employer brand .

For example, you can create a “Day in the Life” video series featuring different employees, or post on social media highlighting team successes or individual employee experience.

Also, make sure you always share the same message about your company and it fits with your overall business goals and values.

2. Increase Search Visibility Using SEO & PPC Ads

When aiming to maximize your website’s visibility to potential candidates, using both search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) is the way to go!

When these two marketing strategies complement each other, you can expect increased visibility, valuable data, heightened brand awareness, high-quality content, enhanced traffic, and more .

Make sure your career page and job descriptions have relevant keywords for job seekers. With PPC ads, you can even target specific demographics and job titles. For example, use keywords like “marketing jobs” and direct your PPC ads to marketing professionals.

Creating high-quality industry-related content such as blogs and articles can also improve your organic search rankings. This two-pronged approach boosts the likelihood of your job openings appearing at the top of search results, driving more qualified candidates.

3. Improve Candidate Experience With Mobile Recruiting

Make sure that when you’re hiring new people, the whole process works well on phones and tablets. Your company’s website where you advertise jobs and accept job applications should work smoothly on mobile devices.

It should load quickly and look good on any screen size. You can further simplify the process with shorter forms, easy resume uploads, and the ability to save progress. Using text messages to send interview reminders and updates is a good idea too .

When you’re advertising job openings, make sure the descriptions are easy to read on a phone and that it’s easy for people to apply for the job using their mobile devices. It’s also a good idea to do job interviews with video conferencing and flexible scheduling.

4. Create an Attractive Career Page

Your career page is often the first place potential candidates will explore, so make it engaging and informative. Highlight your company culture, values, and benefits, and share employee testimonials to give a personal touch.

Use visuals and videos to showcase your work environment and provide a glimpse into daily life at your company. Ensure the page is easy to navigate with clear sections for job listings, application instructions, and details about the hiring process .

An attractive and user-friendly career page can significantly boost candidate interest and applications by making a strong first impression and offering all the information they need in one place. Here’s an example of a simple yet engaging career page.

5. Setup Employee Referral Programs

Employee referrals are one of the most effective ways to find top talent. Your current employees can help identify and refer qualified candidates from their networks. To motivate them to refer more candidates you offer incentives and rewards in exchange for successful referrals.

You can set up a structured employee referral program using VIVAHR that can help you cut down your recruitment time by 50% and even make your hiring process more efficient .

This not only helps you find quality candidates but also increases employee engagement and satisfaction by involving them in the hiring process. It’s a win-win situation that can enhance your recruitment efforts and build a stronger team.

6. Use Social Recruiting

80% of candidates are considered passive job seekers, indicating that they are currently employed but open to considering better job offers if approached.

These candidates may not be actively searching through job boards, making social media a convenient avenue to connect with them .

By sharing job openings and engaging with your social media followers, you can capture the interest of potential candidates, streamlining and expediting the recruitment process.

You can use Vivahr’s Social Job Sharing feature to easily create a job posting URL that can be circulated among employees and partners for sharing. This URL can be used to post job openings on websites, social media, or anywhere else online.

7. Utilize Email Marketing to Nurture Candidates

Once you have got a list of interested candidates or some good leads, you can start using emails to nurture them. This is a great way to keep potential candidates engaged and maintain a talent pipeline.

Create a nurturing email campaign with the purpose of familiarizing them with the brand, keeping them posted about job openings, and eventually converting them. Try segmenting your email list to send personalized content to different groups, ensuring relevance and engagement .

Use subject lines that are to the point and use email tracking to check how your campaigns are performing. Be regular with emails to keep your company top-of-mind for candidates, increasing the likelihood of them applying when a suitable position arises.

8. Use Recruitment Chatbots

Recruiters are not always available to answer candidates’ questions immediately, but a chatbot can fill this gap. By employing a chatbot, you can ensure 24/7 availability and reduce a significant portion of your initial workload.

A chatbot provides swift and precise responses to common or frequently asked questions, such as inquiries about job descriptions, location, or essential job skills .

Moreover, recruitment chatbots are adept at conducting the initial screening of candidates. They can evaluate resumes and applications based on predetermined criteria, effectively identifying the most promising candidates.

This automated screening process saves considerable time and allows recruiters to concentrate on more detailed assessments.

9. Invest in the Right Hiring Tools

Investing in the right hiring tools can make a significant difference in your recruitment process. Tools like VIVAHR offer features for recruiting, candidate management, employee referrals, social recruiting, candidate qualification, and collaboration.

It also helps streamline workflows, improve collaboration, and provide valuable insights through analytics. By using these features, you can optimize your recruitment strategy, reduce time-to-hire, and attract top talent more effectively .

VIVAHR can help you manage the entire hiring process from start to finish, making it easier to find and hire the best candidates for your organization.

10. Host Killer Recruitment Events

Lastly, recruitment events are a good platform to spot and connect with potential candidates in a more personal and interactive setting. You can organize job fairs, open houses, webinars, and networking events to showcase your company and its opportunities.

In these events, try to provide valuable insights about your industry and career growth paths. You can even promote these events through social media, email marketing, and partnerships with industry organizations to expand your reach and get more people to join .

These events also give candidates a chance to learn more about your company and see firsthand what makes it a great place to work. Here’s how Spotify pulled up their recruitment event – Diversify

Spotify promoted the event through word-of-mouth advertising and achieved a 43% female and 57% male participant ratio, unseen before at tech events.

Recruitment Marketing Strategy For Your Organization

Attracting top talent involves a multifaceted approach. No matter which strategies you choose to promote your hiring campaigns, you must focus on showcasing your company culture authentically and consistently across all platforms.

Closely analyze the process to understand where your best candidates are coming from and double down on those channels. Also, make sure to create a seamless application process and maintain open, honest communication with candidates throughout .

And the final piece of advice for all recruiters – Don’t forget to engage with passive candidates – those who aren’t actively looking but might be open to new opportunities.

Sometimes the best talent is already employed but willing to make a move for the right opportunity. Keep them in mind and nurture those relationships !

Author Bio :

Pratik Shinde is a Founder at Growthbuzz Media , a Content Creator at Make SaaS Better , and an SEO enthusiast. He helps fast-paced B2B SaaS startups acquire customers through organic marketing efforts. He likes reading philosophy, writing non-fiction, thoughtful walking, running, and traveling.

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A recent survey revealed that 62% of recruiters believe finding quality candidates is more difficult now than it was five years ago. This makes it crucial to stay up-to-date with the latest requirements and modify your recruitment strategies accordingly…

Jobvite Competitors and Alternatives: Find the Best ATS

This guide will walk you through each one’s key features, pros, and cons, and how they compare to Jobvite itself, so you can confidently choose the best tool for your business. Whether you’re thinking of moving on from Jobvite or just exploring your options, we’re here to help you find the perfect fit for your hiring needs. ⭐

Best ATS for Small Business: Top 5 Hiring Software

Simplifying your hiring process is a must, and that’s why we’ve put together this comparison of VIVAHR, BambooHR, Workable, JazzHR, and Zoho Recruit. Our goal is to help you discover the best applicant tracking system for your specific needs, so you can focus on what really matters: growing your business.🎯

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• What you need to include in your business plan
• Tools and templates to get you started

If you’re looking to start a new business, one of the first things you should do is put together a business plan. Like with anything in life, you can save yourself a lot of stress and grey hairs down the track if you take the time to set goals, think things through properly and implement systems from the get-go.

In its simplest form, a business plan is a document – physical or digital – that explains the goals of a business, how it will achieve them and generally how it will function. A business plan can also contain essential information, such as organisational structure, key staff and your product or service offerings.

While typically just an internal document,  a business plan can be very useful when trying to secure funding.  Both potential investors and banks will be interested in seeing it when considering if they should invest in your business.  So, it pays to have a plan in place.

Why is a business plan important?

Business plans can help you dig a little deeper and get a better understanding on different areas of your business. For example, it might help you understand how you’ll collect customer data or how to manage risks.

Another great reason why a business plan is a must-have is that it can help you refine how your business can make money. These plans give you the opportunity to conduct market research and identify gaps or work out what your value proposition truly is and how you can get an advantage over your competitors.

Filling out this document can also help you streamline other areas within your business, such as your finances and marketing. By having a holistic view of your business, you can make confident choices that are consistent with its values and direction.

What should you include in a business plan?

No two business plans are alike, but there are some things that all business plans should have, regardless of your business’ industry and type. As a starting point, we’re going to explain the different types of information that you might include in your business plan. You can also download our business plan template and follow along as we go through this list.

Business description

You need to describe the fundamentals of your business. Begin by asking yourself, "What industry am I in?" Answer this question with details about your products or services and the markets you intend to target.

Goals and objectives

Any business plan must have your business’ goals for the short-, medium- and long-term periods. These goals should be clearly and carefully defined and explain where your business intends to go and by when.

Objectives are the actual steps that your business will need to take to reach each goal. They tell you how to get where you want to go, helping your business focus on what matters. When writing your objectives, consider the different ways you will achieve your goals. What will you do? Who will be involved?

Risk management

Identifying the risks your business might face, and how you manage those risks, is essential for any business plan. By including risk management into your business plan, you can adopt a consistent approach to managing risks as a business, and all staff understand what they need to do should a risk occur.

Price positioning and strategy

How are you going to position your product or service in the market? Will you price low and compete on price with the aim of selling large volumes, or will you position your goods as luxury items? Your customers will want to get what they pay for, so it is important to be consistent with your price positioning.

Core competitive advantage

A core competitive advantage will help your business differentiate its goods or services from those of your competition. Conduct competitor research and compare your business to your competitors – think about how your offering can stand out from the crowd.

Cash flow forecast

It's vital to have an idea of your financial liquidity over a certain time period, say 12 months. Get a plan underway with a cash flow forecast (xlsx) that outlines each month’s projected cash on hand, receipts, payments and overall cash balance.

Ensure that you include every item and consider seasonal changes in sales. In addition, plan multiple scenarios such as an optimistic sales forecast and a pessimistic sales forecast.

Market research

Market research should be a core component of your business plan. Whether you get customer feedback through a short survey or face-to-face focus group, quality research can help you understand what your target market wants and enjoys about your offerings.

Both primary research (surveys, interviews and speaking to customers) and secondary research (government statistics, trade publications and information that's already been gathered) can be useful for improving different areas of business, such as the product itself, product distribution and your marketing channels.

Marketing plan

Now that you’ve conducted market research, you can use those findings to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy . You can determine which channels will work best for your product and market. For example, a fashion boutique targeted towards Gen Z might focus on social media and online marketing, whereas a professional services consultancy might focus more on local area marketing or networking events.

Ongoing development strategy

Your business plan may be most useful when establishing your business, but reviewing and improving your strategy as your business moves forward is just as important.

For your business to continue to develop and grow, you'll need to consistently check its foundations and structure while looking for areas that could do with a little refinement.

If you’re ready to start developing your own business plan, then you can download our Business plan template (PDF) . Or you can download and our Growing your business checklist (PDF) as a starting point.

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Business feasibility: 3 steps to test your business idea.

Business feasibility comes down to a number of factors. Read ANZ's article for business tips and insights into how you can turn your idea into a success.

Six common risks that new small business owners face

Starting a new business is exciting but being prepared for the common risks & challenges can be vital to its success. Read ANZ's helpful guide to learn more.

Important information

This is general information only, so it doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. ANZ is not giving you advice or recommendations (including tax advice), and there may be other ways to manage finances, planning and decisions for your business.

Read the  ANZ Financial Services Guide (PDF)  and, if applicable, the product  Terms and Conditions . Carefully consider what's right for you, and ask your lawyer, accountant or financial planner if you need help. 

Any tools, checklists or calculators produce results based on the limited information you provide so they are an estimate or guide only. As they are incomplete, they are not a substitute for professional advice.

Terms and conditions, fees and charges, and credit approval and eligibility criteria apply to ANZ products.

The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategies & How to Improve Your Digital Presence

Discover how to create a successful marketing strategy for your business to seize growth opportunities and boost revenue.

FREE MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE

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

Published: 08/21/24

Am I right in assuming that a significant part of your marketing strategy today is digital? Probably. Consumers and businesses alike are almost always online and on the go, so you want to be able to reach them wherever they are.

But this ever-changing digital landscape can quickly become overwhelming. With several other responsibilities and tasks needing attention, how can you also efficiently create, fine-tune, and maintain an agile digital marketing strategy?

I've put together this guide about marketing strategies to help you improve your digital presence and grow better.

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

What Is a Digital Marketing Strategy

What Is a Digital Marketing Campaign?

Create a Digital Marketing Strategy

Types of Digital Marketing Strategies

Digital Marketing Campaign Examples

What is a marketing strategy.

A marketing strategy is a plan for reaching a specific marketing-related goal (or goals) in a focused and achievable way. It takes into consideration what your business is currently doing well and what you're missing regarding the objective you set, then developing tactics to help you meet your goal.

If you run a small business, I get that you may not know how to jumpstart your strategy. Thankfully, this digital marketing strategy template will help you get there with its actionable tips and templates to set you up for success.

And did I mention that it’s free?

Now, back to the topic at hand: are you confused about the difference between a marketing strategy and marketing tactics? I’ll cover that below.

Digital Marketing For Small Business

Everything you need to know to get started with digital marketing. You'll learn about:

• Content Marketing
• Marketing Analytics

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Strategy vs. Tactics

The difference between a strategy and a tactic lies in their scope, level of detail, and time frame. A strategy is a high-level plan that guides your direction and long-term goals and how you plan on accomplishing them. Tactics, however, are specific actions and methods used to implement your strategy and achieve short-term objectives.

You can think about it like this: strategy is planning, and tactic is doing. Having a strategy without ways to act on it (tactics) is daydreaming, and taking actions with no common goal or plan (strategy) wastes your time.

Let's dive a bit deeper into the differences between the two.

Characteristics of a Strategy

Marketing or not, there are three parts to any strategy :

1. A diagnosis of your challenge.

2. A guiding policy for dealing with the challenge.

3. A set of targeted actions is necessary to accomplish the policy.

Depending on the scale of your business, your marketing strategy may include several moving parts, each with different goals. With that said, working on your strategy can become daunting at times.

So, if you're ever feeling overwhelmed about your marketing strategy, refer to these three steps to keep you focused on achieving your objectives.

Characteristics of a Tactic

While strategies provide a framework for your overall vision, tactics determine the specific steps taken to execute that vision.

A good tactic should:

• Be specific, actionable, and measurable.
• Align with the overall strategy.
• Have a relatively short time frame.

Depending on your marketing strategy, your tactics may include email marketing campaigns , publishing a blog , or organizing an event .

Now, let's look at digital marketing strategy.

What is Digital Marketing Strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is a plan for using online channels to establish an internet presence and achieve specific marketing objectives. These channels can include organic search, social media, paid ads, and other web-based mediums such as your website. Ultimately, the goal is to boost your business’s visibility and attract new customers.

A strong digital marketing strategy helps your business achieve specific digital goals through carefully selected mediums.

Similar to marketing strategies versus  marketing tactics , “digital marketing strategy” and “ digital marketing campaign ” are also often interchanged.  So, how do they differ?

I’ll discuss that in the following sections.

Components of a Digital Strategy

Goals and objectives.

First of all, you’ve got to lay out your main goals and specific objectives to build an effective digital strategy.

Goals are big-picture ideas, while objectives are more detailed and easier to measure. They have clear deadlines and show what success looks like.

Here is an example of how I like to think about the difference:

• Goal: To increase brand awareness.
• Objective: Grow social media following by 20% within the next quarter.

See the difference? When it comes to goals, you can define and measure them through SMART goals and criteria .

Download SMART template for free

Audience Analysis

Next step — get to know your audience.

Research and identify the specific groups of people you want to reach.

Consider their age, where they live, and how much money they make. What are their interests? What issues do they face? Where do they spend their time online?

Study their online behavior, preferred websites, and what they like to read or watch, so you can pick the best platforms and make content that grabs their attention.

Pro tip: Take it further with 10 Easy Steps to Creating a Customer Profile [+ Templates]

Content Plan

A content plan is the most interesting and, at the same time, most challenging part of any strategy.

Your content must inform, entertain, and engage.

Here you need to “spy” on your audience again. What kind of content do they devour? Where do they leave the most comments, likes, and shares? When do they mostly check in (morning, lunch, bedtime)?

Here are my top tips for creating a content strategy that works:

• Content variety. Use blog posts, videos, infographics, and more content formats to keep your audience engaged. Unique research and case studies are also great.
• Content pillars. Build content around core ideas that resonate with your brand and audience.
• Content calendar. Use a content calendar to stay consistent and ensure a steady flow of material.
• SEO. Research keywords and sprinkle them in for better online visibility.
• Content repurposing. Turn successful content into new formats to maximize its reach.
• Tracking and adapting. Use Google Analytics data to see what works and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Pro tip: Take your content strategy to the next level with this handy guide: How to Develop a Content Strategy in 7 Steps: A Start-to-Finish Guide

Every digital strategy should prioritize a good user experience. Your site or app needs to be functional, enjoyable, and easy to use.

It must be clear, intuitive, and frustration-free. Otherwise, you risk losing potential customers.

Here are my tips for good UX:

• Clear navigation. Make the menu simple so customers can find what they need easily.
• Simple forms. Keep forms short with clear instructions and no annoying error messages.
• Mobile-friendly design. Your site must look good and work well on any device.
• Fast loading speed. Speed up your site to keep visitors and improve user experience.

Pro tip: Explore more UX design here: Perfecting Your Digital UX Design — The Tips You Need to Know

Data Analytics

Data analytics track traffic, analyze which parts of the campaign resonate most, and even pinpoint where users might be dropping off.

Data analytics can also track how users behave, understand what they like, and even predict future trends.

Managing data analytics can be overwhelming, but HubSpot's Marketing Analytics & Dashboard Software makes it easy to keep track of all your marketing efforts effortlessly.

This lets you identify what‘s working and what’s not. You can then refine your approach, optimize content for better conversions, and ultimately achieve your objectives with laser focus.

Pro tip: If you want to learn more about data analytics, I recommend exploring this free resource: A Complete Guide to Data Analytics — Download for free

What is a digital marketing campaign?

Digital marketing campaigns are the building blocks and actions within your digital marketing strategy that move you toward a specific end goal.

For instance, if the overarching goal of my digital marketing strategy is to generate more leads through social media, I might run a digital marketing campaign on X (formerly Twitter.)

I‘d share some of my business’s best-performing gated content on the platform to generate more leads through the channel.

Let's tie it all together to help you create a digital marketing strategy you execute with your digital marketing campaigns.

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy

1. build your buyer personas., 2. identify your goals and the digital marketing tools you'll need., 3. evaluate your existing digital channels and assets., 4. audit and plan your owned media campaigns., 5. audit and plan your earned media campaigns., 6. audit and plan your paid media campaigns..

• 7. Bring your digital marketing campaigns together.

For any marketing strategy – digital or not – you need to know who you're marketing to. The best digital marketing strategies are built upon detailed buyer personas; creating them is your first step.

Featured Resource: Organize your audience segments and strengthen your marketing with these templates to build your buyer personas . They'll help you organize your insights and have a clear visualization of your target audience.

Download this Template

Whatever your overarching digital marketing goal is, you must be able to measure the success of your strategy along the way with the right digital marketing tools.

For instance, HubSpot's Reporting Dashboard brings all of your marketing and sales data into one place, so you can quickly determine what works and what doesn't to improve your strategy for the future.

My favorite feature is that you can customize your dashboards with the drag-and-drop editor to ensure your reports feature the metrics that matter most.

When reviewing your existing digital marketing channels and assets to determine what to incorporate in your strategy, it's helpful to first consider the big picture — this will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed or confused.

Gather what you have and categorize each vehicle or asset in a spreadsheet so you have a clear picture of your existing owned, earned, and paid media.

Owned, Earned, Paid Media Framework

To do this effectively, I recommend using the owned, earned, and paid media framework to categorize the digital “vehicles,” assets, or channels you‘re already using and decide what’s a good fit for your strategy.

Owned Media

Owned media refers to the digital assets your brand or company owns, like your website , social media profiles, blog content, or imagery.

Owned channels are what your business has complete control over. The HubSpot Blog is an example of owned media, but this can also include some off-site content you own (e.g. a blog you publish on Medium).

Earned Media

Earned media , also called earned content, is anything written about or created about your business that doesn’t come from paid advertising or sponsorships.

It’s published by a third party, like press mentions or media outlet coverage, people sharing your content via their networks, user-generated content, and even word-of-mouth marketing from satisfied customers.

You can earn media by getting press mentions and positive reviews as well as by people sharing your content via their networks (e.g. social media channels).

Paid media refers to any vehicle or channel you spend money on to catch the attention of your buyer personas.

This includes things like Google Ads, paid social media posts, native advertising (e.g. sponsored posts on other websites), or any other medium through which you pay in exchange for increased visibility.

I’ll go over an example now that I’ve outlined the framework.

Owned, Earned, and Paid Media Framework Example

Say I have an owned piece of content on a landing page on my website that's been created to help me generate leads.

I know I want to incorporate different parts of the framework rather than just working with owned, earned, or paid media alone.

To amplify the number of leads the content generates, I ensure it's shareable so my audience can distribute it via their social media profiles. In return, this will increase traffic to my landing page. This is the earned media component.

To support my content's success, I might post about the content on my Facebook page and pay to have it seen by more people in my target audience.

This is how the three parts of the framework can work together, although it's not necessary for success. For instance, if my owned and earned media are already both successful, I might not need to invest in paid methods.

I recommend evaluating what solution will help you best meet your goals and then incorporating those channels into your digital marketing strategy.

Featured Resource: Keep track of your paid media efforts with HubSpot's free Paid Media Template .

Recognizing this, Hubspot offers a free blog maker to help you get started on publishing content that resonates with your audience, ensuring you can easily share your knowledge and insights without the technical hassle.

The key is not to blog just because: blog with the intent to solve for the customer. To effectively do so, it’s important to understand your target audience and their pain points .

That way, you can write highly targeted content that’s genuinely helpful for readers, especially since consumers say they read 1-4 blog posts per month.

Another trend in the content marketing space is generative AI, and 85% of marketers say it will change how they create content this year. Those who already use it say it helps them create high-quality, better-performing content.

Image Source

Don’t blog just because; blog with the intent to solve for the customer. To effectively do so, it’s important to understand your target audience and their pain points .

That way, you can write highly targeted content that’s genuinely helpful for readers.

Online Marketing Benefits of Content Marketing

• Boosts web traffic: Regularly publishing fresh and relevant blog content can improve your SEO rankings, attracting more organic visitors to your website. Plus, sharing content on your social media pages and other channels can help you stay engaged with your audience while increasing visibility.
• Establishes authority and credibility: Sharing your expertise and insights through blog articles and other content can help establish you and your company as a thought leader in your industry. This also allows you to engage with your audience and provide them with useful information that speaks to their pain points. Not only does this build trust, but it also positions you as a reliable and knowledgeable resource.
• Generates leads and conversions: By creating engaging and relevant content, you can attract potential customers who are interested in your business and move them through the buyer’s journey. You can also convert readers into leads by including CTAs that encourage readers to take action, such as subscribing to a newsletter or registering for a free trial.

Recommended Reading

• Why Blog? The Benefits of Blogging for Business and Marketing
• How to Create a Successful Blog Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide
• Blog SEO: How to Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Content
• Blogging Mistakes to Avoid According to HubSpot Bloggers

2. Paid Advertising

An organic content marketing strategy is only a portion of the story. It’s just as important to implement non-organic plays, such as paid advertising.

Not only will this help you drive more brand awareness, but it will also help you reach audiences who can’t find your business organically yet.

I recommend paid advertising if you’re still growing your blog or business and not getting as much traffic as you want. There are a few types of advertising you can consider adding to your digital strategy:

• Social Media Advertising .
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) .
• Google Ads .
• Online Advertising .

Nearly every platform has an option for you to advertise — either through a display network (such as Google’s ) or through its built-in ad system (such as Instagram’s, Facebook’s, and LinkedIn’s self-serve advertising portal).

Here’s one example of an ad on LinkedIn :

What I like the most, and the biggest benefit of paid advertising, is that it’s not dependent on a content or SEO strategy where success can take a while to build.

You choose a platform, create your budget, write copy, decide on images, and launch your advertising campaigns.

Still, to ensure your success, I’d recommend creating an advertising plan that outlines who you’re targeting, which channels you’ll be using, and how much you plan to spend.

I recommend downloading the following template to create your plan.

Featured Resource: Advertising Plan Template

Download this Advertising Planning Kit

Online Marketing Benefits of Paid Advertising

• Targeted campaigns: Platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram enable you to target your ads to specific audiences based on their demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. This helps ensure that your ads are seen by the right people who are more likely to be interested in your products or services.
• Measurable results: No matter which platform you advertise on, you’ll be able to track the success of your ad campaigns by analyzing performance metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversions. By analyzing this data, you can identify which ads and targeting strategies are most effective and make informed decisions to improve future campaigns.
• Flexibility: Paid advertising gives you the option to adjust your campaigns, targeting options, and budget based on your marketing goals and audience preferences. This can help you stay agile and responsive in the fast-moving digital marketing landscape and ensure that you are getting the most from your advertising budget.

3. Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Account-based marketing is a strategic approach that focuses on targeting and engaging specific high-value accounts or key decision-makers within those accounts.

Rather than casting a wide net to reach a broad audience, ABM personalizes marketing efforts to cater to the needs and preferences of specific target accounts.

This strategy is particularly suitable for B2B organizations and industries with complex sales cycles, where forging strong relationships with specific key accounts is critical.

For instance, let’s say my software company wants to target enterprise account XYZ Inc.

Instead of a broad marketing approach, I adopt an ABM strategy and tailor my efforts to XYZ Inc. by researching its pain points and business objectives.

I’ll develop personalized content tailored to its needs, engage with decision-makers, nurture relationships, and coordinate my marketing and sales efforts. All of my marketing efforts focus on what works for this one account.

Since it has a specific use case, ABM is lower on the list of popular digital marketing strategies, and I don’t recommend it to anyone but B2B organizations or industries with high-value accounts and complex sales cycles.

Dustin Brackett , CEO and founder of HIVE Strategy , feels similarly and says he believes in the power ABM has for some organizations but understands why it’s not a popular trend.

“ABM is really only valuable for organizations that have high-value customers. There isn't a ton of ROI to be had by investing in ABM for a B2C organization, or any organization that has a lower customer lifetime value because ABM is a large investment in time, resources, and dollars,” Brackett says.

Featured Resource: How to Implement an ABM Strategy

Download Your Free Guide

Online Marketing Benefits of Account-Based Marketing

• Personalized approach: Unlike other marketing strategies, ABM enables you to create tailor-made content, communications, and campaigns for each account you target. This level of personalization helps you establish stronger relationships with your target accounts and increase the likelihood of conversion.
• Alignment between marketing and sales: Alignment between your marketing and sales team is crucial for implementing a successful ABM strategy. It ensures that both teams are focused on the same goals and committed to creating consistent experiences for accounts.
• Improved customer retention: ABM emphasizes building long-term relationships with target accounts. By understanding their specific needs and providing relevant solutions, marketers can increase customer satisfaction, retention, and even drive further expansion within the account.
• The Ultimate Guide to Account-Based Marketing
• How to Choose the Right Accounts for ABM, from HubSpot's ABM Product Manager
• Account-Based Marketing vs. Inbound Marketing
• The Best Account-Based Marketing Software

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the practice of optimizing your web content, structure, and technical aspects to improve its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).

The ultimate goal of SEO is to increase organic, non-paid traffic to your website from search engines like Google and Bing.

If your product pages aren’t earning traffic, SEO is your best bet to get those pages in front of those who are searching for those products and services.

To ensure that your content engages and converts users, it’s important to invest in an on-page SEO strategy .

According to our survey, website/blog/SEO is the second-most used channel among marketers, but they say it offers the best ROI. I’m not surprised by this because of my own experience.

More often than not, I’m looking to Google to find answers to my questions, and so are my other consumer peers — among all generations, people prefer to find answers to their questions with search engines.

Not sure how to get started? Download our starter pack below.

Featured Resource: SEO Starter Pack

Download Your Free SEO Pack

Online Marketing Benefits of SEO

• Increases organic traffic: Optimizing your digital content for search engines can help you rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords that your audience is using. As your ranking increases, so does your brand’s visibility and your website’s organic traffic.
• Improves user experience: When it comes to getting higher rankings, optimizing your website for users is just as important as optimizing for search engines. This includes ensuring that your website is easy to navigate and has a clear hierarchy of information so users can quickly find what they are looking for. In doing this, you not only improve the user experience, but you also increase the chances of users staying on your website longer, engaging with your brand, and ultimately, becoming customers.
• Provides long-term benefits: Unlike paid advertising, which requires ongoing investment, optimizing your content for search engines can provide long-term benefits by driving consistent and ongoing organic traffic to your website. Yes, it can take longer to reach your goals, but the payoff includes saving your business money and building an authentic brand reputation.
• The Ultimate Guide to SEO
• How to Create an SEO Strategy
• How to Do Keyword Research for SEO

5. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is another way to generate brand awareness online and boost your digital strategy.

It involves creating and sharing content on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others, to attract attention, drive website traffic, and generate leads.

Social media is one of the highest ROI marketing channels, and lately, a lot of its success comes from apps incorporating ecommerce.

It’s now one of the leading product discovery and purchasing channels for consumers, so much so that 17% of social media users bought a product in-app in the past three months.

Given this, it’s no surprise that 59% of marketers report driving more social sales than in past years.

Social media marketing is also great for building communities around your brand.

You can speak directly to your audience, engage with followers through comments and messages, and have discussions to connect with them on a more personal level.

The stronger your relationship with your audience, the more loyal they will be to your brand.

Online Marketing Benefits of Social Media Marketing

• Increases brand awareness: With billions of active social media users, you can reach a wide audience and increase your brand’s visibility. This is especially true if you participate in relevant social media trends, run paid campaigns, create and promote branded hashtags, and collaborate with other brands.
• Boosts engagement: A strong social media presence can help create a community around your brand and build a strong relationship with your followers. Plus, you can use tactics like contests and giveaways to encourage specific actions that support your marketing goals, such as asking users to tag a friend or write a review.
• Rich insights and analytics: Social media platforms typically provide robust analytics tools that allow you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, track key metrics, and gain insights for continuous improvement.
• Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide
• How to Create a Great Social Media Strategy in 2024 (+New Data)
• The HubSpot Blog's 2024 Social Media Marketing Report: Data from 1400+ Global Marketers
• How to Run a Social Media Contest That Gets Tons of Engagement
• The Fastest Growing Social Media Platforms [New Data]

6. Influencer Marketing

The global market for influencer marketing has more than doubled since 2019, making it more popular than ever.

By partnering with influencers, brands can create content that promotes their products or services while leveraging the influencer’s reach.

There are many ways you can partner with influencers, such as sponsored content, guest blogging, product collaborations, influencer takeovers, and more.

Before partnering with an influencer, it’s important to do your research and make sure they have an engaged following within your industry or niche and are aligned with your values and messaging.

Not sure how to get started? Check out HubSpot’s Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing.

Featured Resource: The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing

I know that influencer marketing might seem unattainable from a cost perspective as most businesses don’t have the most A list of A list influencer funds available in their budgets.

The good thing is that you don’t have to use these influencers, especially since those with a high price tag aren’t the most effective type of influencer.

Micro-influencers, with 10,000 - 100,000 followers, are the most effective.

Marketers prefer working with them and find them the most effective, which makes sense — the cost is lower, and these influencers typically have a stronger bond with a smaller and more engaged community, ready and open to hear from them.

Online Marketing Benefits of Influencer Marketing

• Brand exposure: Partnering with influencers allows you to tap into the influencer’s existing audience and reach, which can significantly boost your brand’s awareness. By leveraging an influencer’s platform and following, you can expose your products or services to a larger audience and gain visibility among potential new customers.
• Authentic content creation: Influencers are skilled in creating engaging and authentic content that resonates with their followers. By partnering with influencers, you can tap into their creativity and expertise to develop compelling content that promotes your brand’s offerings in an organic and relatable manner. Plus, user-generated content created by influencers can showcase real-life experiences with your brand, which can influence buyer decisions and foster trust.
• Trust and credibility: Influencers are seen as trusted authorities within their niches. When they endorse or recommend a brand’s products or services, it adds credibility and trust. This can positively influence consumer perceptions and increase the likelihood of potential customers trying or purchasing from your brand.
• Influencer Marketing Strategy Checklist & Template
• What Will Influencer Marketing Look Like in 2024?
• 13 Influencer Marketing Campaigns to Inspire and Get You Started With Your Own
• The Top Channels for Influencer Marketing

7. Podcasting

According to Edison Research, the number of Americans (aged 12+) who have listened to a podcast in the last month is up 30% from 2013.

While audio marketing and platforms like Clubhouse are different from podcasting , the idea is the same: you can educate and engage an audience; all they need is a device that plays audio.

When digging into the data, I found that podcasting and other audio content aren’t as popular as other strategies on this list. This makes sense because podcasting isn’t a channel offering the immediate ROI you might want.

Dan Stillgoe, Blend’s Marketing Manager, spoke to my colleague Caroline Forsey and told her the same thing.

He says , “It‘s true that you can’t directly attribute leads or revenue from a podcast, but that's not its purpose."

Podcasts are a long-term brand-building channel that can improve affinity and connection for your brand like no other channel," he explains. "When you realize the long-term and surrounding benefits, podcasting becomes a clear and obvious investment.”

He adds, “Podcasting is the perfect way to craft content that's engaging and authentic — something buyers are beginning to crave in this AI era.”

For inspiration, check out the HubSpot Podcast Network :

Instead of looking to podcasts to drive exponential ROI, I recommend leveraging them to drive engagement.

Having podcasts in your digital strategy allows you to reach people on platforms other than search engines and social media channels, and it’s a much more unplanned, natural medium — though, of course, you should plan each episode carefully and ensure you’re delivering contact that actually serves your listeners.

As a consumer, I like the authenticity of podcasts and how they feel like a free-flowing conversation. I even pay for premium membership subscriptions to some of my favorite shows to take advantage of extra content.

Featured Resource: How to Start a Podcast

Online Marketing Benefits of Podcasting

• Discoverability: Podcasts can be hosted on various platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher, expanding your brand’s reach. You can also transcribe your podcasts and publish the transcript to make them more SEO-friendly. Plus, you can invite guests to speak on your podcast and have them share the episode with their followers.
• Authenticity: Podcasting allows for a more conversational tone compared to other forms of content. The audio format lends itself to authentic and unscripted conversations, creating a sense of connection and genuine interaction between you and your listeners.
• Sustainable: Podcasts have a long shelf life and can remain relevant for months to come, helping you get the most out of your content. Plus, you can repurpose the audio material to create blog posts, videos, ebooks, and other types of content.
• Podcasting: What You Need + Nine Steps To Get Started
• 3 Tips on Launching a Kickass Podcast, from My First Million Producers
• The Anatomy of a Perfect Podcast Episode, According to HubSpot's Podcast Expert
• The Ultimate Guide to Podcast Audio, According to HubSpot's Podcast Expert

8. Email Marketing

Every few years, email marketing falls victim to the “X marketing tactic is dead!!!!!!” conversation, but it’s not.

It’s one of the most leveraged channels among marketers and offers the second-highest ROI, making it one of the most important digital strategies you can implement today.

It gives you plenty of opportunity to nurture customers who are highly interested in your products. It’s important, however, to only email those who have opted-in to receive emails from you.

It’s bad form to do otherwise, and it risks diminishing your email deliverability . After all, you wouldn’t subscribe to a newsletter for a brand that doesn’t interest you, right?

You can earn subscribers through your blog, contests, and even through webinars.

Any time someone gives you their email — and every time they give consent to receive communication from you — you have full permission to target them with an email marketing campaign.

Featured Resource: Email Marketing Planning Template

Download Your Free Template

Online Marketing Benefits of Email Marketing

• Builds R\relationships: Email allows you to communicate directly with your audience, establishing a personal relationship and building trust over time. You can also customize email campaigns to the interests and unique preferences of your target audience, providing more content that is relevant to their needs. Fun fact: Segmented and personalized emails drive 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs.
• Drives traffic to your website: Emails with links to your website or blog can drive traffic to your website and engage with your brand. You can even send your email subscribers exclusive deals, promotions, or discounts, which can increase the potential for conversions.
• Easy to track: Email marketing campaigns can be tracked and measured, providing valuable insights such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribe rates. By analyzing these metrics, you can make data-driven decisions that can help you reach your target audience more effectively.

My pro tip: Streamline your email marketing efforts with generative AI, as marketers told us it’s the most effective at creating emails.

Try it for yourself with AI Email Writer , HubSpot’s generative AI tool that will help you automate copywriting and create marketing emails that capture attention and inspire clicks.

Try the AI Email Writer

• Benefits of Email Marketing Your Marketing Team Must Know
• The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing
• Examples of Brilliant Email Marketing Campaigns

9. Video Marketing

With platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels on the rise, video marketing is more popular — and effective — than ever. In fact, 92% of video marketers surveyed by Wyzowl reported they get a positive ROI on video content.

Given this, it’s no surprise that the fastest-growing platforms are a video haven, especially TikTok. Of the marketers already using the platform, 56% plan to increase their investments in 2024, making it the platform poised to grow the most this year.

One of the reasons videos are so effective is because they allow you to communicate with your audience in a more personal way.

Plus, short-form video takes less bandwidth and effort to create, you can still share a lot of information, and shorter videos align with the fast-paced attention span of many watchers.

By making video an integral part of your digital strategy, you’re able to showcase your brand’s creativity and explore more content formats, such as product demos, explainer videos, expert interviews, customer testimonials, and more.

Online Marketing Benefits of Video Marketing

• Boosts SEO: Since Google tends to prioritize video content in its search results, implementing video as part of your marketing strategy can improve your search engine visibility. Plus, video content can be optimized with relevant titles, descriptions, and keywords, making it easier for search engines to understand and categorize the content.
• Better retention: Video is easier to remember than text-based content because it allows you to use storytelling techniques and communicate important messages more effectively. Video has the power to invoke emotions and create a connection with your audience, making it easier for them to consume and remember your content.
• Enhances reach: Video is highly shareable on social media due to its easily digestible nature. As people share your video content with their own social media networks, it exposes your brand to new audiences.
• The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing
• The Best Video Marketing Channels to Grow Your Brand
• The Video Marketing Playbook

Now, it’s time to bring all of this together to form a cohesive marketing strategy document. Your strategy document should map out the series of actions you’re going to take to achieve your goals based on your research up to this point.

Let's discuss how our digital strategy template can help.

Digital Marketing Strategy Template

While a spreadsheet can be an efficient format for mapping your digital marketing strategy, that approach can quickly become messy and overwhelming.

To plan your strategy for the long-term – typically between six to 12 months out, I recommend a reliable digital marketing strategy document. But where to start? With our free digital marketing plan template.

This template will walk you through your business summary and initiatives, help you build your target market and competitor information, and flesh out your marketing strategy — including your budget and specific channels and metrics.

Download Now

Use this digital strategy template to build out your annual digital marketing strategy and tactics. By planning out these yearly plans, you can overlay when you and your team will be executing each action. For example:

• In January, you'll start a blog that will be continually updated once a week for the entire year.
• In March, you'll launch a new ebook, accompanied by paid promotion.
• In July, you'll prepare for your biggest business month — what do you hope to have observed at this point that will influence the content you produce to support it?
• In September, you'll focus on earned media in the form of PR to drive additional traffic during the run-up.

This approach provides a structured timeline for your activity which will help communicate plans among colleagues.

Finally, here are some examples of digital marketing campaigns and their strategies to inspire you.

1. Béis : Paid Ad

Travel accessory brand Béis recently launched a social media campaign to announce feature updates to one of its products. And they did it in the best way: by showing instead of telling.

Why I Like This

In a 34-second clip distributed on Instagram Stories, the brand shows how its product performed before and how it performs now after updating the material.

This is a great campaign for a few reasons:

• It not only highlights product improvement but shows customers that the brand is committed to iterating and improving,
• It makes sure to include captions in the video so it's accessible to everyone,
• There’s a CTA button at the bottom of the screen that encourages customers to make a purchase.

2. Omsom : Social Media

Asian food brand Omsom creates starter kits for home cooks who want a simple way to cook Asian cuisine without sacrificing authentic ingredients and flavors.

The brand leverages its TikTok profile to share behind-the-scenes content, recipes, and culturally relevant content.

In a recent video, the brand's co-founder shared how it sources one of its key ingredients and how it chose the more difficult route to preserve the integrity of the food.

@weareomsom here's why we choose to make our lives harder as food founders! #business #sourcing ♬ original sound - Omsom

Here’s what Omsom did right:

• Highlights its brand values while still building excitement around the product.
• Includes its website link in its TikTok bio.
• Offers a discount to customers who find it through the video-sharing platform.

Sharing behind-the-scenes content is a great way to connect with your audience and share details that will simultaneously highlight your mission and/or values.

3. The General : Paid Advertising

After reports that consumers thought the brand was untrustworthy due to its low-budget ads, The General decided to revamp its entire marketing strategy.

In a commercial featuring basketball superstar Shaq, the brand addressed the elephant in the room and introduced a new and improved look.

The General’s ad is a great example of effective crisis management:

• It addresses negative perceptions head-on, showing viewers that it's in tune with its target audience and their needs,
• It builds back credibility by emphasizing how long it’s been in business and the number of people it has helped.

Digital Strategy Examples

What makes a winning digital strategy? Let's peek behind the curtain at some of the best strategies from popular brands.

1. Fenty Beauty - Social Listening, Micro-Influencers, and Diversity 

Before the launch of Rihanna's makeup brand Fenty Beauty, there was a huge call for more diverse makeup options in the beauty industry. 

"I remember following different Black women and women of color who were makeup artists and influencers," says HubSpot staff writer and self-proclaimed social media expert Erica Santiago.

"They would often echo the same problem my friends and I encountered when trying to find makeup, which was finding foundation and colors that complemented our skin." 

When Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2019, the brand consisted of 40 shades, more than most makeup brands at the time. Furthermore, the brand leveraged beauty influencers of various shades and backgrounds to promote the products. 

"It was clear the brand paid close attention to what makeup fans were saying online and what influencers people of color were following for beauty tips," Santiago recalls. "I remember seeing prominent Black makeup influencers like Jackie Aina promoting the brand on Instagram."

Fast forward five years and Fenty Beauty still collaborates with a diverse lineup of beauty micro-influencers to show the wide range of Fenty Beauty shades and colors and how they look on consumers of different backgrounds. 

What I like: Fenty Beauty uses diverse micro- and nano-influencers to show the quality of their products and connect to consumes. Micro- andnano-influencers are known to have a close-knit community of followers, and leveraging this online helps Fenty build brand awareness. 

Lesson to Learn

• Use social listening. Pay close attention to what consumers in your industry are saying online and use that to inform the strategy and vision of your digital marketing campaign.
• Find an untapped niche. "Black women and WOC were a very underserved audience in the makeup and beauty industry, and still are in many ways," Santiago says. "Fenty Beauty saw that and made a point to carve a lane with that audience and it's really helped them stand out as a brand."

2. Nike – Apps, Games & the Metaverse

Nike has impressed everyone with its digital strategies and innovative additions in recent years. First, they created apps like the Nike mobile app, SNKRS (for sneaker releases), Nike Training Club (NTC), and Nike Run Club (NRC).

These apps helped Nike sell more stuff, especially during COVID-19. NTC, for example, saw a big sales jump in China — 80% in the latest quarter.

Nike is also exploring the metaverse with a place called Nikeland on Roblox . Young people are crazy about Roblox, with over 216 million monthly active users . Nike jumped on this trend and cleverly integrated its brand into this world.

Nikeland sells digital clothes, shoes, and accessories for Roblox characters. They bought a company called RTFKT, which makes digital sneakers. People fell in love with these shoes, showing there's a big market for this stuff.

Lessons to Learn

• Stay true to yourself. Don't lose sight of your mission. Use tech to help you achieve your goals, not just to make a quick buck.
• Make it personal . Speak to people in a way that resonates with them and personalize your digital offerings.
• Follow trends. Stay vigilant and in trend with what's currently popular and appealing to make the most out of every opportunity.

3. Hinge – The Power of Disruption and Antimarketing

A popular dating app Hinge is doing something different than its competitors.

They want people to stop using their app once they find love! This is a cool change from most apps that try to keep you using them all the time, like Tinder . That said, Hinge's message is “The dating app designed to be deleted.”

Hinge uses specific prompts to help you create a meaningful profile that gets you closer to finding your soulmate, not just someone to go on a date with.

These prompts are like conversation starters that help you show your true self and find someone who connects with you on a deeper level.

For instance, here’s one of the prompts I’ve seen: “ The one thing I'd like to know about you is…”

You answer it, and those who resonate with your energy or share the same vibe will connect. Maybe one of them is “THE” person who will make you want to delete the app later. Who knows?

• Outcome-based marketing works. Focus on the desired outcome for the user rather than just downloads, purchases, or engagement.
• Disruptive marketing helps you stand out. Use strategies that challenge the status quo and stand out from the competition in unexpected ways. For instance — with guerrilla marketing, bizarre campaigns, or unconventional partnerships — the key is to disrupt the norm.
• Unique selling propositions (USP) bring in customers. Use “antimarketing” tactics in your copies and ads to sell more. Instead of being pushy, create curiosity by not seeming too eager to sell. It might sound strange, but it works.

4. Apple — UGC Hype for iPhone 13 Pro

Apple skipped the traditional route of promoting their iPhone 13 Pro's macro camera with branded content. Instead, they launched a viral social media campaign called "Shot on iPhone Challenge ."

This clever content marketing strategy relied on UGC.

iPhone users were encouraged to share their best macro photos with specific hashtags #ShotoniPhone and #iPhonemacrochallenge.

To make things even sweeter, Apple ran a contest where people submitted their best close-up photos. Winners had a chance to be featured on Apple’s official channels and potentially in future marketing ads. (What a sound tactic!)

This got users excited and gave Apple great marketing material from their creative customers.

Outdoor equipment brand Deuter applies the same tactic to draw attention to its Instagram page .

• Free marketing can be effective. Motivate users to create exciting content about your product, saving money on ad creation.
• User trust is a must for UGC. Real people's photos (and especially Reels) resonate more than staged ads, building trust in the brand.
• Contests create buzz. Host contests to create excitement and encourage spreading the word about your brand.
• Unique hashtags grab attention. Create original hashtags to go viral and inspire people to use them.

5. Spotify Wrapped — Turning Data into Engagement

Spotify Wrapped is a year-end summary of your most-listened songs and podcasts. And it’s a content marketing masterpiece.

Wrapped transforms user data on music habits (top artists, songs, genres, listening time) into colorful and informative visuals.

Spotify leverages data to spark self-reflection, and that’s the best part of this strategy.

In fact, as described by Spotify's head of marketing , Wrapped creates a FOMO effect among users. It's simple — everyone wants their Wrapped to have something interesting to discuss and compare by the end of the year.

Wrapped's success shows how user data can become a fun, shareable tool that strengthens brand loyalty.

• Make data engaging. Don't bore your audience with raw numbers. Transform data into visuals, quizzes, or interactive experiences that are fun and informative.
• Personalization is still king. People crave personal experiences. Tailor content, reports, or recommendations based on user data to build a unique connection with each customer.
• Spark conversations. Use data to create content that inspires users to share and discuss it with others. This can be insights about their habits, comparisons with others, or even predictions based on their data.
• FOMO works. Create a sense of urgency or exclusivity around your data-driven experiences.

6. Myprotein — Influencer Collaborations & Promo Incentives

The health and fitness industry was thriving, and Myprotein wanted to stand out. However, they faced a challenge — athletes often stick with trusted protein brands.

To get their name out there, Myprotein teamed up with famous fitness stars like Bella Rahbek to create content that would appeal to her followers.

They even offered special discounts and bundles to people who followed them online. With catchy hashtags and coupon codes, Myprotein made it super easy for people to try their stuff.

Apparently, it worked!

And it still works — ambassador and affiliate programs are their go-to methods that drive sales.

• Collaborate with influencers. Collaborate with micro and big influencers and reach their audience.
• Engage on social media. Connect with your audience and foster a community around your brand.
• Offer promotions. Attract new customers with discounts & deals to sample your products.
• Foster loyalty. Use ambassador and affiliate programs to build lasting relationships with customers.

Building My Own Strategy

Want to see how a digital strategy works in action? Let‘s build one together for my fictional brand, Charmaloo. This step-by-step process will show you how I’m planning to take my idea from concept to online success.

Crafting the Brand Identity

I want a fun, energetic brand that makes people smile. So, I took my artistic skills online and started designing custom clothes.

Each piece is unique, made just for the customer, with whatever designs they want — pictures of loved ones, pets, funny sayings, love quotes, anything.

That‘s how I came up with the name Charmaloo; it’s short and catchy and combines “charismatic” with “loo” for a playful feel.

Defining My Audience

After the idea took shape, I defined my target audience, which comprises two main groups:

• Individuals who seek unique clothing not found in mainstream stores.
• People looking for heartfelt, customized gifts for loved ones.

At this point, I needed to find where my potential customers hang out the most.

Choosing the Right Social Media Platform

To show off Charmaloo's fun and custom style, I knew Instagram was the perfect place to start.

I made my page super colorful and happy, just like my brand. It grabs people's attention immediately and shows how much fun and creative Charmaloo can be.

Creating Mockups with Canva

Starting a new business is pricey, and, unfortunately, fancy photos were out of reach. That's where Canva came in and saved me.

With Canva's mockups, I could put my designs on all sorts of clothes using models that looked real. This saved me a ton of money and is amazing for startups and anyone offering print-on-demand services.

Building Community

I knew there were people out there looking for unique gift ideas, so I started joining Facebook groups where people asked for suggestions. This was a great way to organically promote Charmaloo.

By offering personalized artwork on apparel as a special and creative gifting option, I can connect with potential customers and raise awareness for my brand.

Collaboration with Influencers

Next on my agenda is partnering with mom influencers. I‘ll be reaching out to them to promote my special offer: kids’ drawings printed on t-shirts.

Initially, I'll focus on offering gifted collaborations to build relationships with micro-influencers who might be more receptive to this type of partnership. As Charmaloo grows, I can explore incorporating paid collaborations as well.

To create adorable content for my Instagram page, I'll also be gifting matching mommy-and-me sets.

Collaboration with UGC Creators

A collaboration with UGC creators is inevitable, so I’ll send a sweatshirt to a couple.

The boyfriend will film his girlfriend's reaction when he gives her the “gift.” This genuine moment will showcase the emotional connection to my products and create authentic content.

I’ll do the same with UGC creators who play the role of best friends to get more great content for my feed and reels. This will inspire more friends to do the same and help me reach a larger audience.

Storytelling, Not Just Selling

I told myself, “Charmaloo must be more than just clothes. It must connect with my audience. They need to enjoy my site and have fun here so they can transition from casual browsers to loyal customers.”

That's why I started incorporating inspirational quotes into my feed. The quotes make Charmaloo feel more personal and help people remember the brand.

To make the best of the Charmaloo, here are the future strategy plans for it:

• Launch a website. I'll finally have a place online where customers can personalize and buy their items quickly through the automated system.
• Expand on more SM platforms. I'll be on TikTok and Facebook to reach more customers.
• Get started with email marketing . Engaging email campaigns will keep customers up-to-date on new designs, promotions, and inspiring stories.
• Start an affiliate program. I'll create a program for affiliates who’ll spread the word about Charmaloo and get rewarded for that.
• Paid ads. While my main focus will be on organic growth and community building, I'll also run occasional paid ads to reach a broader audience.

Grow Better With Marketing Strategies That Improve Your Digital Presence

Your strategy document will be very individual to your business, which is why it's almost impossible for us to create a one-size-fits-all digital marketing strategy template.

Remember, the purpose of your strategy document is to map out the actions you'll take to achieve your goal over a period of time. As long as it communicates that, you’ve nailed the basics of creating a digital strategy.

If you're eager to build a truly effective strategy to help grow your business, check out our free collection of content marketing templates below.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Free Marketing Plan Template

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

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