How to Write a Marketing Plan in 7 Steps (For solopreneurs and entrepreneurs with small teams)

Business Tips and ToolsLife of FreedomMarketing Tips

May 14

If you’re a small business owner you most likely don’t have a large marketing operation budget or a large team, so does creating a marketing plan make sense? Absolutely! I’m sharing the Simple 7-step Marketing Plan for entrepreneurs on the blog. htt…

When I started my business four years ago I went in search of a marketing plan. Everything I found online said I needed a Marketing Plan, and I totally agreed.

I have a background in Communications and Public Relations so I understood marketing, but marketing for online businesses was not something we covered in great depth.

The internet was a big disappointment. Everything I found was so complex and targeted more towards big corporate businesses, rather than my one-woman show.

Of course, there were elements that were valid, but so much was unnecessary. I wasn’t about to create a million-page report, I didn’t have a marketing team and I didn’t have a large marketing budget to start with.

Instead, I crafted a report that worked for me. Now four years into running my online business and teaching female entrepreneurs how to brand and market themselves online, I’m excited to share the exact 7-Part Marketing Plan Template with you today.

The Marketing Plan Process

The purpose of this plan is to give you the outline to plan out your own marketing objectives, as well as the steps (aka missing pieces) so many entrepreneurs don’t spend enough time on.

This entire process can be done for your brand, which is where I recommend starting and can then be repeated for smaller launches. Think book, program and course launches.

Let’s start with looking at the big picture and how the marketing plan fits in.

WHERE YOUR MARKETING PLAN FITS IN YOUR BUSINESS

It’s important to understand where your marketing plan fits inside your business. Many people get the different levels confused. For instance, so many people think their content strategy and content creation is what their marketing plan is about, when in fact content is a result of a marketing plan.

Let’s take a closer look.

Level 1: Business Goals
At this level, you’re mapping out your financial goals and big vision dreams for your business. This is where getting clear on your revenue-goal is so important.

Level 2: Brand Foundations
This is the foundation of your brand and what I teach inside of You! Branded. Your brand foundations include understanding your niche, unique selling proposition, ideal customer, brand messaging and your offer.

Everything you create in your business will come from this, including your marketing strategy. You can learn more about branding in my free masterclass, The Build a Better Brand Method. Sign up here to watch.

Level 3: Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan comes next, ONLY when you have a clear understanding of your brand can you effectively create a marketing plan, you’ll see why in a minute.

The purpose of the marketing plan is to attract your ideal customer and keep them engaged. You’re leading them from cold prospect to hot prospect, from knowing nothing of your brand to becoming a client.

Level 4: Content Strategy
Once you have your marketing plan mapped out, you can begin to create your content strategy and content calendar. So many entrepreneurs skip the marketing plan part and jump straight here - this is a mistake.

Now, that we’re clear on where the marketing plan fits in, let’s dive into the 7 steps of a marketing plan template and how to write your marketing plan for your online business.

Where does your marketing plan fit in your business? It’s important to understand where your marketing plan fits inside your business. Many people get the different levels confused. For instance, so many people think their content strategy and conte…

7-Step Marketing Plan Template

STEP 1: BUSINESS GOAL
You’re going to pull your revenue goal from your Business Goals. It’s important that we remember what we’re working towards with our marketing and with this number front and center it will help you map out how you’ll get there.

Another area to identify is your marketing budget for the year. I recommend a minimum of 5% as a marketing budget based on your cash coming in. For instance, if you make $1,000 one week in your business you want to set aside $50 into your marketing budget.

REVENUE GOAL x .05 = MARKETING BUDGET

Understanding this, in the beginning, will also give you a general idea of what you’ll be able to invest throughout the year.

ACTION STEP: Write down your revenue goal for the year and figure out your potential marketing budget.

STEP 2: YOUR TARGET BUYER (IDEAL CUSTOMER)
This section comes from your Brand Foundations, something I teach in-depth inside of You! Branded.

However, it’s important to condense your information from your branding work into your marketing plan. Everything you create will stem from the information you’ve collected about your Target Buyer.

Some questions to identify within your marketing plan are:

Who do you want to attract to your brand? What are their defining characteristics?
What do they struggle with at this time (pain)?
What do they desire (pleasure)?
How do you support them in getting from pain to pleasure?

ACTION STEP: Answer those questions above.

STEP 3: LEAD GENERATION
The goal with lead generation is to collect your potential buyer’s attention and add them to your inner circle or community. This is where you’re taking a prospect from cold to warm and going a step further than just a simple follow on social media.

You want to create something that you give as a gift to your target buyer that solves a problem for them. The trick is it is FREE. The goal here is to give them an incentive to provide their email address.

They receive a free gift and you get another touchpoint with your target buyer. It’s important to note that email marketing is essential for online businesses. It’s not enough, or even a good strategy to rely on social media.

The goal is to create a lead magnet/freebie that is irresistible to your ideal customer. Pull from the information you organized in Step Two. So many people think marketing is just social media, but the goal with marketing is sales. Sales come from community, which comes from your marketing efforts.

ACTION STEP: Decide on the lead magnet you’ll offer your target buyer. This is also a good time to decide on your email platform if you haven’t created one already. I suggest Convertkit, it’s what I use in my business, you can try it for *free here.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one platform, Kajabi is a great option for online entrepreneurs who want their website, lead pages, email marketing, courses and more in one spot. You can try a free 14-day *Kajabi trial here.

STEP 4: MARKETING OBJECTIVES + KPI’S (Key Performance Indicator)
It’s important to note that Step 4 and Step 5 can be interchanged based on your preference. I prefer to have my objectives and KPI’s clear BEFORE I jump into my strategy. For instance, if I decide I’m going to focus mostly on website traffic and have clear objectives in place, then that will affect my strategy moving forward.

Some areas to consider setting clear goals and KPI’s are:

Social Media Engagement
List Size
Website Metrics
Conversion Rates
SEO Performance
Social Media Followers
Video Views

These are just a couple of ideas to get you started, but you want to think of the different ways in which you can attract your ideal customer and set goals for yourself moving forward.

A Note on Brand Awareness: Many old-school marketers will teach you to run ads or plan your marketing with the main objective to increase brand awareness. This is one of the ways so many entrepreneurs waste money. When you’re focused on marketing and growing your online community, your brand awareness will grow as a result of this.

When determining your objectives make sure they are specific and measurable, otherwise, you’ll have a hard time determining if your efforts are working.

Example: Let’s say your Q3 goal is to build your email list to 1,000 subscribers.
You have 500, so that means you need to add an additional 500 subscribers over the next 3 months. So you can set a specific goal of 166 people a month or even 42 new subscribers a week.

If you’re just starting out, I like to start with 100. Doesn’t that feel good? And if you have a bit of a following, you can start with an increase of 25% and adjust as you gain more data.

ACTION STEP: Create a spreadsheet or document that outlines your goals for the next year, and break down into quarterly segments.

STEP 5: HOW TO ATTRACT YOUR TARGET BUYER
This is the meat, what so many entrepreneurs jump too and you’re finally there...congratulations. At this stage, we want to determine where, when and how you’ll show up.

At this stage you want to identify the following:

Platforms: What platforms will you be showing up on?
Delivery: How will you deliver the content? Think video, written, audio, imagery…
Volume: When and how often will you create content?
Paid: Will you invest in paid advertising?

From this information, you can map out your daily, weekly and monthly activities (this is where your content strategy will start to take shape).

ACTION STEP: Answer the questions above.

**This is where everyone stops with their marketing if they’ve even made it this far. Don’t make that mistake. Keep going!

STEP 6: NURTURING
This step is so important. You’ve got a growing list and a community, how will you show up and serve them.

Remember so much of what you’ve done has taken your targeted buyer from cold (not knowing your brand) to warm (super interested and on your email list). During this process you will have made sales, it’s only natural, but you have a large part of your audience who needs more value and trust before making a decision.

This is where nurturing comes in.

How will you continue to show up for your audience - this is where I believe social media comes into play. What I create on social media is not for cold prospects it’s for my warm audience. It’s where I share more stories and behind the scenes of my life.

So my strategy looks something like this...
Cold Audience: Blogging, SEO (Google), Pinterest, Advertisement
Warm Audience: Instagram and Facebook, Weekly Lives and Email Newsletters

Many of your activities will cross over, for instance, I will attract new people through social media and I can email my blog to my warm audience to build trust.

ACTION STEP: Identify how you will show up for your existing community.

STEP 7: CLIENT RETENTION AND CUSTOMER LIFE VALUE
Part of your marketing strategy should be your existing clients. So many entrepreneurs are focused on making the quick sale and are missing out on true fans of their brand who are willing to invest in more services.

If you don’t take time to care for your customers they won’t want to stick around.

And, if you don’t have a next step for them THEN they will be your biggest referees!

ACTION STEP: Think of how you will serve your customers at the highest level. What will your outreach look like? How will you continue the relationship and conversation? What can you create to support them at the next level?

CONCLUSION
It’s important to remember that your strategy consists of 3 phases: Brand Awareness, Marketing and Clients.

When you have a clear marketing strategy in place it’s easier to attract the right people! Keep in mind client acquisition shouldn’t rely on one single marketing strategy. Once you’ve started to map out your plan, it’s important to understand how your strategy and tactics fit in the mix.

Marketing strategy is my bread and butter and what we cover in-depth inside my membership Brandmerry Academy. Learn more and sign up for the waitlist at brandmerry.com/academy.