In short
- Marketing plan: what it is and how it differs from a strategy: The strategy answers the question „where are we going and why this way?”.
- Marketing plan template: seven fields to fill out: You can rewrite this marketing plan template into a spreadsheet or document.
- SMART goals in marketing: how to write them: SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed.
- Marketing plan example: a service company step by step: Below is a small example for an imaginary service company that provides advisory services to the industry.
A marketing plan is a one-page document that tells what you do in a year, why, for how much, and how you will measure the results. Below is a template with ready-made fields, an example for a service company, and a marketing action schedule that you can immediately adapt to your own needs.
KOKPIT COMMPLACE® · RADAR OF DECISIONS
The strategy consists of six checkpoints, not one document
The radar leads from the current situation to a decision. The arm covers additional points, and each of them must be checked before the company spends money.
- 1Diagnosis
- 2Data
- 3Options
- 4The decision
- 5Implementation
- 6Control
The schematic of the Commplace® method · illustration, not client data
Marketing plan: what it is and how it differs from a strategy
The strategy answers the question „where are we going and why this way?”. The marketing plan answers the question „what, who and when is being done this year?”. The strategy changes rarely, the plan every year, and its schedule even every quarter. Without a strategy, the plan is a list of ideas. Without a plan, the strategy becomes a declaration.
A good marketing plan is made up of several pages. If it has thirty pages, no one will open it after the second month. It should include goals, audiences, actions with deadlines and owners, a budget, and metrics. Below we break down each of these elements and show how to fill them out.
Marketing plan template: seven fields to fill out
You can copy this marketing plan template into a spreadsheet or document. Each field has an optional question and instructions on how to check if it is filled out correctly.
Start with the starting point, because that is often overlooked. Gather it in one place: the number of bid requests in the last twelve months, their sources, the number of winning bids, the average value of the order, and the costs of marketing activities. If you don’t have any of these numbers, enter „no data” and make it a task for the first quarter. An honest lack of data is better than a number taken at face value.
Fill in the fields in order. Do not move on to the schedule until the goals and recipients are clear, because then the plan becomes a calendar of meaningless activities.
| Field of plan | Additional question | A good post looks like this |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Starting point | What do we know today about sales, customers, and channels? | Figures from the last 12 months, with the source provided |
| 2. Goals | What is going to change by the end of the year? | The goal with a gauge, a value and a deadline |
| 3. Recipients | To whom are we directing the activities? | One to three groups with a description of the purchasing situation |
| 4. Transmission | What do we promise and how do we prove it? | One main sentence and three proofs |
| 5. Actions | What exactly will we do? | Tasks with the owner and a deadline |
| 6. Budget | How much and for what? | Amounts broken down by channels and quarters |
| 7. Control | When and how do we check? | Review dates, decision thresholds |
Would you rather fill out a form together with someone who has done it hundreds of times? Schedule a short conversation.
Make a short conversationOne-screen strategy: evidence, options, risks, and plan
This is what the cockpit looks like, which monitors strategic decisions in Commwork®AI. Everything is visible at once: how many evidence has been collected, which option is winning, what could go wrong and who is responsible for what.
| Period | What we do | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–30 days | Diagnosis and collection of evidence | The strategy leader | in progress |
| 31–60 days | Choosing an option and budget | Management Board | waiting |
| 61–90 days | Implementation and first measurement | Marketing team | plan |
SMART goals in marketing: how to write them down
SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. It sounds theoretical, but in practice it means one thing: a goal written in such a way that after a year it can be unequivocally said whether it has been achieved. „Increase visibility” does not meet this condition. „Increase the number of bidding requests from 20 to 30 per month by the end of the fourth quarter” does meet it.
Note that the second goal is a reference point, that is, the current state. Without it, growth is impossible to assess. If you don’t know how many questions you have today, the first task of the plan is to measure it.
It is a good idea to also write down a „minimum goal” for each goal, i.e., the result below which you will consider the action unsuccessful. This way, during the review, you won’t discuss whether 24 inquiries are a success or a failure, because you have set the threshold in advance, without emotion.
Examples of goals in three categories
Each target below is a model to be copied. The numbers are just assumptions that you need to replace with your own.
- Sales: increase the number of winning bids from digital channels from 5 to 8 per quarter by the end of the year.
- Acquisition: reduce the cost of acquiring one tender request by 15 percent compared to the first quarter.
- Image: increase the number of publications in industry media from 2 to 6 quarterly, with a qualitative assessment of each publication.
Marketing plan example: a service company step by step
Below is a small example for an imaginary service company that provides advisory services for the industry. This is an illustration, not the result of any client. All figures are assumptions.
Starting point: the company receives 20 inquiries per month, half of which come from recommendations. Annual goal: 30 inquiries per month, while maintaining quality. Budget: PLN 240,000 per year, or PLN 20,000 per month.
- Quarter 1: organization. Audit of the website and offers, agreement on the message, setting up the measurement of requests and their sources.
- Quarter 2: content. Six expert articles answering customer questions, two case studies, the launch of a newsletter.
- Quarter 3: visibility. Cooperation with industry media, expert commentary, expansion of activities to channels that provided the best inquiries in the first quarters.
- Quarter 4: summary and plan for the next year. Comparison with the starting point, assessment of each action, decisions about continuing.
How to check if the plan worked and not just a coincidence
Let’s assume that in the fourth quarter there are 30 inquiries per month instead of 20. Is this due to the plan? It’s not known until you check for other explanations: the season, a price change, a one-time large order from a partner. Compare the same period with the previous year, break down the inquiries by source, and see if the increase comes from channels covered by the plan. If so, you have stronger evidence. When you can, conduct some of the activities as a test: serve one group of recipients with the new approach, the other with the old one, and compare the results.
Commwork®AI on this topic: the cockpit and the schedule for the year
Commwork®AI is a system that guides the company from order to decision. It combines the programs the company already has into a single system. In the marketing plan, it serves as a schedule and cockpit: it shows tasks with deadlines, reminds you of upcoming reviews, and aligns metrics with the plan's goals.
The system analyzes data, performs tasks, for example preparing reports, and monitors deadlines. The decision whether to shift the budget from one channel to another is always made by a human. Examples of implementations can be found in 101 described projects, and details of the system on the website Commwork®AI.
Commplace® Cockpits: what it's like to work on evidence
Six views that guide our decisions. All the charts below are illustrative examples, not given to clients.
The path of decisions with gates
Cost breakdown: not a single number, but a range
The roadmap for decision-making: from ideas to implementation
24-hour monitoring: what was detected
Growth and impact: the difference counts
Three scenarios instead of one forecast
The screen, graph and values are examples. The decision about further steps is always made by the person.
Tool radar: one picture of the situation before a strategic decision is made
The strategy is based on data from many sources: search engines, analytics, advertising, mail, documents, and calendars. The radar shows 28 tools, of which Commwork®AI collects signals in one place. The tip circulates around them, just as the team circulates around the sources before making a decision. The decision is always made by a human being.
How these tools help with strategy (examples of use cases):
- Diagnosis: Search Console (GSC), Google Analytics (GA4) and Ahrefs show where the company is visible and where customers are coming from.
- Data and options: Sheets and Docs collect numbers and A/B/C variants in one place, without manual input.
- Implementation and control: Tasks, Calendar, Slack, and Meet keep track of deadlines and owners, while HubSpot shows whether the actions turn into conversations with customers.
Marketing action schedule: how to build it
The marketing action schedule is a plan for the duration of the month: what happens in which month and who is responsible for it. Build it in three steps: first, record regular rhythms, such as a monthly newsletter and quarterly review of metrics. Then add events from the industry calendar, such as trade shows or seasonal offers. Finally, add one-time actions.
For each task, write down three things: who is doing it, who is approving it, and what is the proof of completion. The „prepare an article” task makes sense when you know who is writing it, who is approving it, and that the published text with a link is proof. Such records save a lot of unclear conversations in the middle of the year.
Leave some spare time in your schedule. Plans that are full every week fall apart after the first delay. A good practice is to leave about one-fifth of the team's capacity for unforeseen matters.
| A month | Action | Owner | The meter |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Auditing the site and offers; setting up measurement | Marketing | Query database with sources |
| February–March | Communication and sales materials | Marketing and sales | The consistency of the message with the customers' questions |
| April–June | Articles and case studies | Marketing / agency | Questions with content |
| July–September | Relations with industry media | PR / agency | Publications and their quality |
| October–December | Review of annual results, plan for the next year | Management Board | Goals vs starting point |
Budget of a marketing plan: how not to waste money
A common mistake is to divide the budget „equally” across all channels. A good rule of thumb: allocate most of the funds to two to three actions that, according to data and conversations with customers, lead to the highest number of inquiries. Leave a small portion for testing new solutions. Conduct the tests so that you can compare the result with the control variant, for example in the form of an A/B test, that is, a parallel comparison of two versions.
A practical division that you can test on your own numbers: about sixty percent of funds for proven activities, thirty for developing what is already working, and ten for experiments. This is a suggestion for modification, not a market standard. Your proportions will emerge from data about what has so far yielded results from the inquiries.
Do not plan the entire budget for the entire year in advance without checkpoints. Write down in the plan which months you review the results and which thresholds trigger the reallocation of funds. We describe the breakdown of the money in more detail in the text about marketing budget and distribution among channels, and about measuring the effect in the article KPIs of the marketing strategy in the cockpit.
How Commplace is working on a marketing plan
Commplace has been operating since 1996, that is, for 30 years, as a PR and marketing agency. We work like a doctor: diagnosis, research, plan, implementation, and control. The marketing plan is created by us only after the diagnosis, not in place of it. Thanks to this, you don’t plan activities based on assumptions.
You can read more about how we conduct digital activities on the website. online marketing. If you are planning a plan based on a strategy, take a look at the article B2B marketing strategy: 7 decisions before setting a budget. The assessment of the work on the plan is determined after a brief conversation and an initial diagnosis.
When a marketing plan is not needed
If you run a one-person company and sell mainly on commission, an annual marketing plan can be overkill. Just one sheet is enough: three goals, three actions, one measure. Similarly, when the industry changes so quickly that an annual plan loses its meaning after a quarter: then it’s better to work in quarterly cycles.
The plan is needed when more than one person is working in marketing, when part of the work is performed by an agency, or when management wants to know where the money is going. Then one document streamlines the conversation and protects against disputes over what was agreed upon. It can also be useful for smaller companies. marketing strategy for a small and medium-sized company.
Build a marketing plan that will survive the first quarter
We will have a brief conversation. We will ask about the goals, the budget, and what is already working, and then we will indicate which areas of the plan are ready and which require diagnosis. Without pressure or obligations.
- Review of your plan or its absence
- Indication of actions with the greatest impact
- Schedule with owners and meters
Network of experts: who works with whom when it comes to choosing a direction
A good strategy involves working on many roles at the same time: research, analysis of the competition, valuation of options, planning and control. This network shows how one system connects these roles so that the team doesn’t waste time passing on information.
The network of virtual experts works together: one system, many roles
- How to read the screen: Each point represents one role in the system, and the lines show which roles are exchanged in the conclusions.
- Market observation: Roles with names starting with OSINT involve tracking public sources (OSINT is the observation of publicly available information), for example, the movements of competitors.
- Approval: The roles prepare the proposals. The choice of options, budget and commitments is approved by the person.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How to write a marketing plan step by step?
Describe your starting point with numbers, set SMART goals, identify your audience, formulate your message, break down your actions with deadlines and owners, assign a budget, and plan for reviews. The marketing plan template in this article has seven fields to fill out.
How many pages should a marketing plan have?
A few, preferably up to five. A plan that no one reads is not implemented. Move the technical details to the appendices, and in the main document leave the objectives, actions, budget, and metrics.
What are SMART goals in marketing?
These are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. In practice, this means a record with a measure, a target value, a reference point, and a deadline, for example the number of inquiries per month by the end of the year.
Jak zaplanować harmonogram działań marketingowych?
Zacznij od stałych rytmów, potem dodaj wydarzenia branżowe, a na końcu działania jednorazowe. Dla każdego zadania zapisz właściciela i termin. Zostaw zapas czasu na sprawy nieprzewidziane, bo plan bez rezerwy szybko się rozpada.
Czy plan marketingowy musi zawierać budżet?
Tak, bo bez budżetu plan pozostaje listą życzeń. Podziel środki na kanały i kwartały, zostaw część na testy i zapisz, kiedy przeglądasz wydatki. Budżet zmieniaj świadomie, na podstawie danych.
Jak sprawdzić, czy plan marketingowy działa?
Porównaj mierniki z punktem wyjścia sprzed wdrożenia. Uwzględnij inne czynniki, jak sezon czy zmiana cennika. Gdy to możliwe, użyj grupy kontrolnej lub testu A/B. Sam wzrost sprzedaży nie dowodzi, że to skutek planu.
It is worth reading further
Source: preparation by the Commplace® editorial team. The numerical examples are illustrative and based on explicit assumptions; they do not constitute legal advice or guarantees of results.