How to write the world’s simplest marketing plan, nail this for 2023. Here’s everything you need to do.
- Rule 1
Make it open access – let everyone on the team help. - Rule 2
Brainstorm ideas and have a way to include those ideas for future dates.
When challenged with a marketing plan these were the only two rules that were unshakable laid down. Marketing Plans need to be open, inclusive and very very simple.
The obvious platform on which to write a Marketing Plan is a spreadsheet. Use Google Doc or OneDrive for cloud sharing. Pick a Spreadsheet system that is cloud-based.
The Spreadsheet Marketing Plan
Clear messaging is obvious, so starting with the website homepage. What can be changed periodically, no matter if it’s every month, day or even year.
The first column of the Spreadsheet can be Dates. The next three column needs to be Homepage Segments. A Segment could be a single banner image on the slideshow. Or it could be a Product highlight further down the page.
If you need more than three Homepage segments. Start a new row, any marketing plan needs space and imagine if it was printed out and scribbled on. Allow plenty of space. Use plenty of ‘rows’ for each ‘Date’. An example date period is a Month.
What will be promoted in January, February, March, April and so on?
After the Homepage Segment columns, add a column for ‘Highlights’ or ‘USP’ – what’s the core target for any given month
Now columns are needed for Newsletters, allow 2 a month, Blog Posts, allow 4 a month and Social Media. If there are other Columns necessary add them, but there is no need to separate Social Media into separate columns for each service, that would be overkill.
Filling in the Marketing Plan
With the columns sorted out and perhaps even colour coded, the advantage of this simple approach becomes apparent, with a couple of rows added for each ‘time period’ the filling-in can start.
The beauty of this simple plan is that only a few words are needed for each ‘topic’, ‘promotion’, ‘idea’ or ‘news’. If planning a photoshoot on the beach. The marketing plan need only contain ‘Beach Photoshoot’.
Equally, the entries for standard events in the year can be filled in with just the words, Valentine, Halloween, Christmas, Eid, Easter and so on and within just an hour or two the marketing plan will start taking shape.
The beauty of this simple marketing plan is that ideas considered now can be added for future months, if planning an Autumn Sale – write in now, in January.
Having filled in the core Homepage Segments columns, move on to the Highlights, Blog, Newsletter and Social Media columns. But they can all follow the website lead. The theme for each month will soon become apparent and easy. A promotion for a Spring Sale, might result in a Homepage Banner Image, a Blog Post, Newsletter and be highlighted on Social Media Channels. The launch of a new product would be the same.
Using the Marketing Plan
Share the Marketing Plan with co-workers or colleagues. The key is to constantly refer to the plan, at meetings bring it up and people will always know what the current key USPs are. Working on Social Media, the hard work of brainstorming is already done.
Everyone knows the direction the marketing is going in. A single phrase like ‘Beach Photoshoot’ says more than enough about everything that could go on around that conceptual idea. Anyone with a little imagination will immediately evoke images of what a Beach Photoshoot might entail and realistically that is enough for the marketing plan.
Add one last column and label it ‘Results’. In this column add a short note about the general result of a Time Period, sales up, visitors down, people liked…
There is never any need to mark things ‘done’ or tick off a list of tasks. No need to retrospectively change anything. Just add a final comment closing comment if anything at all.
Historical Context
Make a new WorkSheet on the Spreadsheet for each year (or fixed time period) and refer back. Each progressive year will build on the information of the previous year. No need to get out detailed statistical analysis on how Valentine’s Day went last year, just one small comment to read and enough to set the direction for this year.
The key to this very simple marketing plan is to add just enough content to evoke the thought process and concentrate the mind on the current time.
With almost no action requirements other than filling in the plan, the majority of the marketing effort can be spent on actual marketing and not planning. There’s a total historical tracking record and sharing is easy via the cloud. Anyone can access and see what is being done.
Conclusion
Link to the NCompass Marketing Plan Template.
Marketing Plans can be reduced to just the bare basics as in these ideas. However, each task within marketing can be as large or small as required. A new product launch or a promotional message for Christmas. For this plan to work it makes no difference.
Highlight an idea in the future for the website, blog, newsletters and social media. Refer back to it frequently to stay on track and on course and perhaps add a few comments on the pros and cons of the result. And that idea and feature is there forever in the same document as current ideas. There is no need to ever refer to another document.
Our clients have often worried that this is simple and in no uncertain terms it is being suggested that a marketing plan does not need detail. Instead, it’s been suggested that an overview is required for all marketing. And if following the steps in this article, a perfectly decent overall marketing plan can be developed in very little time.
Following the 2 rules stated at the beginning of this article, of course!
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