How to create buzzworthy marketing plan templates
By Kesha Thillainayagam
Just a few decades ago, Nike was a Greek goddess who personified victory. Apple was the fruit you polished and gave your teacher. And subways were simply underground transit systems. Today, well-planned marketing campaigns have replaced a goddess with shoes, fruit with computers, and trains with sandwiches.
The lesson is clear: marketing matters. You can have a great product or service, but without an engaged, informed group of customers, you're only going to be selling it to your family and friends.
The idea of coming up with a marketing plan can seem daunting, but it shouldn't! Step back and think about why and to whom you're marketing your product or service. Ask yourself (and someone who's really good at taking notes), these questions:
What's the point of this thing we're offering?
Why should anyone care about it?
Who should care about it?
What does our target audience need?
How are we going to meet those needs?
Once you've answered these questions, you'll have a foundation on which to build your plan.
Benefits of a marketing plan template
A well thought-out plan outlines where you want to be and how you expect to get there, just like a roadmap.
You can use marketing plan templates in Confluence to help your teams build a strategy based on this simple structure:
- Background and objective
- Goals
- Competitive analysis
- Target market
- SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis
- Messaging and positioning
- Programs and timeline
- Budget
- Risks