Marketing Plan Guide
Marketing plan template and guide
A good marketing plan helps you identify your customers and competitors and develop a
strategy to make your business stand out. The business.gov.au Marketing Plan template
steps you through the process of creating a solid, well-structured plan tailored to your
business.
Marketing plan guide
Marketing planning
A marketing plan assists you to integrate your total marketing effort. It ensures a
systematic approach to developing products and services to meet and satisfy your
customers needs.
When you're writing a marketing plan you need to be clear about your objectives and
how you'll achieve them. A good marketing plan sets clear, realistic and measurable
objectives, includes deadlines, provides a budget and allocates responsibilities. A plan
can consist of these elements:
analysis of your current market
your business objectives
key strategies
steps to achieving your objectives
proposed budget
timing.
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Marketing Plan Guide
Template overview
This template overview provides details on each question asked throughout the
marketing plan template as well as links to further information. When you start
answering a question in your marketing plan, you can refer to the relevant question
below to help guide your answer.
Title page
Question/Field
Explanation
Insert business logo
Adding a logo gives a more professional image.
Your name
Enter the business owner's name. Enter multiple names if there are multiple owners.
Your title
The titles of the business owner(s) listed above, e.g. Owner/Manager.
Business name
Enter your business name as registered in your state/territory.
Main business address
Enter your main business address. This can be your home address if you are a homebased business or your head office if you have more than one location.
Marketing plan summary
Your marketing summary should be no longer than a page and should focus on why your
business is going to be successful. Your answers should briefly summarise your more
detailed answers provided throughout the body of your plan.
The Business
Question
Explanation
Business name
Enter your business name as registered in your state/territory. If you have not
registered your business name, add your proposed business name.
Business structure
Is your business a sole trader, partnership, trust or company?
Business location
Enter your main business location such as your city/town. Briefly describe the
location and space occupied/required.
Date established
The date you started trading. Whether it was the date you opened your doors or the
date your purchased business opened its doors.
Products/services
What products/services are you selling? What is the anticipated demand for your
products/services? These answers should briefly summarise your answers under the
main products/services section.
The Future
Question
Explanation
Vision statement
The vision statement briefly outlines your future plan for the business. It should state
clearly what your overall goals for the business are. To keep it brief you may prefer
to use dot points in your summary.
Goals/objectives
What are your short and long term goals? What activities will you undertake to meet
them?
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Marketing Plan Guide
The Market
Question
Explanation
Target market
Who are you selling to? Why would they buy your products/services over others?
This answer should briefly summarise your answers under the main Market section.
Marketing strategy
How do you plan to enter the market? How do you intend to attract customers? How
and why will this work?
This answer should briefly summarise your answers under the main Market section.
The Finances
Question
Explanation
The finances
Briefly outline your sales forecast. How much money will you need up-front? Where
will you obtain these funds? What portion will you be seeking from other sources?
How much of your own money are you contributing towards the business?
Your answers can be quite brief in the summary. They should give the reader a quick
idea of your current financial position. Where you are heading financially and how
much you need to get there. You can provide more detail in the main Finances section.
The Business
Business overview
Question
Explanation
Business overview
Who are the current business owners? What does the business do/sell? Where it is
located? How long has it been operating?
S.W.O.T. analysis
Question
Explanation
S.W.O.T. analysis table
List each of your businesses Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities or Threats
(S.W.O.T) in the table supplied. For example:
S.W.O.T. activity sheet
Strengths: (e.g. experience in the industry).
Weakness: (e.g. location of your business).
Opportunity: (e.g. new export opportunity available).
Threat: (e.g. new competitor entering the market).
List each weakness/threat, the activities you will undertake to reduce/address each and
the date of expected completion.
Product/services
Question
Explanation
Product/services table
List each product/service your business currently offers. Provide a description and
unit price (including GST) amount for each.
Market position
Where do your products/services fit in the market? Are they high-end, competitive or
a low-cost alternative to the products/services offered by your competitors? How
does this compare to your competitors?
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Marketing Plan Guide
Question
Explanation
Unique selling position
How will your products/services succeed in the market where others may have
failed? What gives your products/services a distinctive edge?
Anticipated demand
What is the anticipated quantity of products/services your customers are likely to
purchase? For example, how much will an individual customer buy in 6 months or 12
months?
Pricing strategy
Do you have a particular pricing strategy? Why have you chosen this strategy?
To help you develop your pricing strategy, you could refer to your customer research,
market position, anticipated demand and costs/expenses to get an idea.
Whatever strategy you use when setting your price, you will also need to adhere to
any relevant fair trading legislation or codes of conduct.
Value to customer
How do your customers value your products/services? Are they a necessity, luxury or
something in between?
Growth potential
What is the anticipated percentage growth of the product in the future? What will
drive this growth?
To help you determine this growth potential, you could refer to your region/industry
research to get an idea of any industry/regional growth that could affect your
business in a positive way. You could also look up any social trends that may have a
positive affect on your business.
Sales/marketing personnel
Question
Explanation
Sales/marketing personnel table
List your current staff in the table provided. Outline each job title, name of the
employee in the position and the main responsibilities related to the position. You
may also like to attach a copy of their resume to the back of your plan.
The Future
Question
Explanation
Vision statement
What is your business' vision statement? It should briefly outline your future plan for
the business and include your overall goals.
Mission statement
What is your business' mission statement (i.e. how will you achieve your vision)?
Goals/objectives
What are your short & long term goals? What activities will you undertake to meet
them?
The Market
Question
Explanation
Unique selling position
How is your business unique in the market? What differentiates your product/service
from others in the market? What makes your business stand out from your
competition? What product gap or service need does it fill for your customers?
Your customers/clients
Question
Explanation
Customer demographics
Define who your target customers are and how they behave. You can include age,
gender, social status, education and attitudes. What are their lifestyles, activities,
values, needs, interests or opinions? Where are they located?
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Marketing Plan Guide
Question
Explanation
Key customers
Identify your key customers. (These can be large consumers of your products or
individuals whose satisfaction is key to the success of your business.) How will you
target your products/service to them? How will you deliver your product/service to
them?
Customer management
How will you maintain a good relationship with your customers? What techniques
will you use? How will you keep your customers coming back? Have you introduced
customer service standards? Do you follow any particular code of practice?
Your competitors
Question
Explanation
Your competitors
How do you rate against your competitors? How can your business improve on
what they offer?
Competitor details table
List at least 5 competitors in the table. For each competitor enter:
Competitor: Competitor name.
Established date: When were they established?
Size: Number of staff and/or turnover.
Market share (%): Estimated percentage of market share.
Value to customers: Unique value to customers. Why they would do
business with your competitor? For example: convenience, quality, price or
service?
Strengths: What are your competitor's main strengths?
Weaknesses: What are your competitor's main weaknesses?
Market research
What statistical research have you completed to help you analyse your market? Did
you use a survey/questionnaire? If so, you may like to attach a copy of your
survey/questionnaire to the back of this plan.
Market targets
Outline your planned sales targets. These targets need to be realistic and
achievable. What quantity of your products/services do you plan to sell in a
planned timeframe? Are they monthly or yearly targets? For example, you may set
yourself a goal of selling 1 000 products in 12 months.
Environmental/industry analysis
Detail the results of the market research you have performed. Is the area
experiencing population growth? Are there long-term employers in the area? Is the
region's economy stable? Are there seasonal variations?
What is the size of the market? What recent trends have emerged in the market?
What growth potential is available and where do you fit in? How will the
market/customers change when you enter the market? What external factors will
affect your customers?
A good place to start when researching your regional profile is the Australian
Bureau of Statistics website. The regional profile information includes economy,
population/people, industry and environment/energy statistics.
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Marketing Plan Guide
Question
Explanation
Marketing strategy
What is your overall marketing strategy? What steps or activities will you
undertake to achieve your goals/objectives? For each marketing activity/milestone:
Marketing activity/milestone: Print advertising, online advertising, mail-out,
giveaway, media release, event, website, blog/social media, public relations,
branding and artwork, or publications and catalogues.
Person responsible: Who is responsible for completing this task?
Date of expected completion: When do you expect to complete the marketing
activity?
Cost ($): Estimated cost of activity.
Success indicator: What indicator/ measurement result will need to be met before
this activity is considered a success?
Advertising & sales
Question
Explanation
Advertising and promotional strategy
table
For each promotion/advertising:
Planned promotion/advertising type: What is the promotion/advertising type
being used (e.g. Print media advertising, online advertising, SMS, mail-out,
giveaway, media release, social media campaign or event)?
Promotional strategy: Why have you decided to use this promotion/advertising
type? How and when will you use it? What is your strategy behind this? Who
will upkeep your social media presence?
Expected business improvement: How do you expect it will improve your
business success?
Cost ($): What is the cost of each planned activity?
Target date: When do you expect to complete each activity?
Social media strategy
What do you want to achieve/communicate (brand awareness, online sales etc)? What
social media tools do your customers use (e.g. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook etc)? What
strategies can you use to network and communicate effectively with these customers?
Who will upkeep your social media presence? Do you have internal staff or would you
need to engage an external organisation?
Sales strategy
What sales techniques do you use? What are your strategies behind these techniques?
How is this different/better than your competitors?
Sales and distribution channels table
For each channel enter:
Channel type: What channel will you be using (e.g. Shopfront, internet, direct
mail, export or wholesale)?.
Products/services: List all the products/services sold via this channel.
Percentage of sales: What percentage of overall sales do you expect to sell via
this channel?
Distribution strategy: Why have you decided to use this channel type? How
and when will you use it? What is the strategy behind using this channel type for
this particular product/service?
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Marketing Plan Guide
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Marketing Plan Guide
The Finances
Question
Explanation
Price
What price have you determined for your products/services? Does this price take into
account all your costs including personal, start-up, operational, cash flow and working
capital? Have you also allocated a profit margin in your costing? What price will your
target market bear? Do your prices take into account any seasonal variation to your
suppliers costs?
Expected sales
What are your expected sales? When do you hope to achieve these figures? Are there
seasonal influences?
Marketing budget [YEAR] table
Using the table
The marketing budget table example contains a list of suggested marketing items a
typical business may use.
Please note: The table assumes all figures are GST inclusive.
Attach your own
If you have your own marketing budget or your accountant has already prepared one,
please attach it here. If it is a large sheet, you can always attach it to the back of the
plan and make reference to it from this section.
Monitoring/measurement activities
Question
Explanation
Monitoring/measurement activities table
Reviewing the impact of your marketing should be a periodic activity. List the
details of each review in the table provided. For each marketing activity:
Marketing activity: Print advertising, online advertising, mail-out,
giveaway, media release, event, website, blog/social networking, public
relations, branding and artwork, or publications and catalogues.
Date of review: (e.g. Month/Year or 6 monthly).
Monitoring methods: What tools did you use to measure/monitor the
impact of your marketing activities?
Review outcomes: What were the results for the promotional period?
What were your sales/profit figures? How many new/repeat customers did
you receive? How many visitors to your website?
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