You should. Without an annual marketing plan, things can get complicated, and it’s nearly impossible to put a number on the budget you’ll need to secure for the projects, hires, and subcontracts you’ll encounter over the course of a year if you don’t.
To make creating a plan easier, we’ve put together a list of what you should include in your plan and a few different planning templates where you can easily fill in the blanks.
Marketing plan outline
1. Business summary
3. Customer analysis
This is where you’ll conduct basic market research. If your company has already done extensive market research, this section of your marketing plan might be easier to put together.
Finally, your marketing plan will include a list of your marketing channels. While your business may promote the product itself using some advertising space, marketing channels are where you will post content that educates your buyers, generates leads, and spreads awareness of your brand.
If you post (or intend to post) on social media, this is the place to talk about it. Use the Marketing Channels section of your marketing plan to map out which contact lists social networks you want to launch a business page on, what you will use this social network for, and how you will measure your success on this network. Part of the purpose of this section is to demonstrate to your superiors, both inside and outside of the marketing department, that these channels will serve to grow the business.
Companies with extensive social media presence might even consider laying out their social strategy in a separate social media plan template.