Marketing plan template and guide

business.gov.au

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.

New! Create your marketing plan on your tablet by downloading our free
MarketMyBiztabletapp. Visit www.business.gov.au/apps now!
Copies of the latest version of this template and guide can be downloaded from
www.business.gov.au/plans.
If you need further information, assistance or referral about a business issue, please
contact business.gov.au on 13 28 46.

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

How to use this template

Before you complete thismarketing plan template and start using it, consider the
following:
1.

Do your research. You will need to make quite a few decisions about your
business including structure, marketing strategies and finances before you can
complete the template. By having the right information to hand you also can be
more accurate in your forecasts and analysis.

2.

Determine who the plan is for. Does it have more than one purpose? Will it be
used internally or will third parties be involved? Deciding the purpose of the plan
can help you target your answers. If third parties are involved, find out what are
they interested in.

3.

Do not attempt to fill in the template from start to finish. First decide which
Value to customer: [How do your customers view 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?]

Sales/marketing personnel
Job Title

Name

Responsibilities

[e.g. Marketing/
Sales Manager]

[Mr Chris Brantley]

[What are the main

responsibilities of this
position?]

[e.g. Marketing/
Sales Manager]

[Mr Chris Brantley]

[What are the main

responsibilities of this
position?]

[e.g. Marketing/
Sales Manager]

[Mr Chris Brantley]

[What are the main

responsibilities of this
position?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

The Future
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 these goals?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

The Market
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
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?]

Key customers
[Identify your key customers. (These can be large consumers of your products/services or individuals whose satisfaction is key to the
success of your business.) How will you target your products/services to them? How will you deliver your products/services 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
[How do you rate agains
arket 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?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Marketing strategy
[What is your overall marketing strategy?What steps or activities will you undertake to achieve your goals/objectives?]
Marketing activity/milestone

Person
responsible

Date of expected
completion

Cost ($)

Success indicator

[Print advertising, online advertising, mail-out,

giveaway, media release, event, website,
blog/social media, public relations, branding and
artwork, or publications and catalogues.]

[Who is
responsible for
completing this
task?]

[When do you
expect to complete
the marketing
activity?]

[Estimated
cost of
activity.]

[What indicator/ measurement

result will need to be met before
this activity is considered a
success?]

[Print advertising, online advertising, mail-out,

giveaway, media release, event, website,
blog/social media, public relations, branding and
artwork, or publications and catalogues.]

[Who is
responsible for
completing this
task?]

[When do you
expect to complete
the marketing
activity?]

[Estimated
cost of
activity.]

[What indicator/ measurement

result will need to be met before
this activity is considered a
success?]

[Print advertising, online advertising, mail-out,

giveaway, media release, event, website,
blog/social media, public relations, branding and
artwork, or publications and catalogues.]

[Who is
responsible for
completing this
task?]

[When do you
expect to complete
the marketing
activity?]

[Estimated
cost of
activity.]

[What indicator/ measurement

result will need to be met before
this activity is considered a
success?]

[Print advertising, online advertising, mail-out,

giveaway, media release, event, website,
blog/social media, public relations, branding and
artwork, or publications and catalogues.]

[Who is
responsible for
completing this
task?]

[When do you
expect to complete
the marketing
activity?]

[Estimated
cost of
activity.]

[What indicator/ measurement

result will need to be met before
this activity is considered a
success?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Advertising & sales

Advertising and promotional strategy
Planned promotion
/advertising type

Promotional strategy

Expected business improvement

Cost ($)

Target date

[Print media
advertising, online
advertising, SMS,
mail-out, giveaway,
media release, social
media campaign or
event.]

[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?]

[How do you expect it will improve your

business success?]

[Estimat
ed cost
of
activity.]

[e.g. Dec 09]

[Print media
advertising, online
advertising, SMS,
mail-out, giveaway,
media release, social
media campaign or
event.]

[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?]

[How do you expect it will improve your

business success?]

[Estimat
ed cost
of
activity.]

[e.g. Dec 09]

[Print media
advertising, online
advertising, SMS,
mail-out, giveaway,
media release, social
media campaign or
event.]

[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?]

[How do you expect it will improve your

business success?]

[Estimat
ed cost
of
activity.]

[e.g. Dec 09]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Planned promotion
/advertising type

Promotional strategy

Expected business improvement

Cost ($)

Target date

[Print media
advertising, online
advertising, SMS,
mail-out, giveaway,
media release, social
media campaign or
event.]

[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?]

[How do you expect it will improve your

business success?]

[Estimat
ed cost
of
activity.]

[e.g. Dec 09]

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 the 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

Channel type

Products/services

Percentage of
sales (%)

Distribution strategy

[e.g. Shopfront,
internet, direct mail,
export or wholesale.]

[List all the

products/services sold
via this channel]

[What percentage
of overall sales do
you expect to sell
via this channel?]

[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?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Channel type

Products/services

Percentage of
sales (%)

Distribution strategy

[e.g. Shopfront,
internet, direct mail,
export or wholesale.]

[List all the

products/services sold
via this channel]

[What percentage
of overall sales do
you expect to sell
via this channel?]

[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?]

[e.g. Shopfront,
internet, direct mail,
export or wholesale.]

[List all the

products/services sold
via this channel]

[What percentage
of overall sales do
you expect to sell
via this channel?]

[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?]

[e.g. Shopfront,
internet, direct mail,
export or wholesale.]

[List all the

products/services sold
via this channel]

[What percentage
of overall sales do
you expect to sell
via this channel?]

[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?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

The Finances
[To complete the finances portion of this marketing plan, you should rely heavily on your financial statements and projections. The
business.gov.au Business plan template available at www.business.gov.au/businessplan can provide you with a start-up costing, balance
sheet profit and loss, cash flow and a break-even analysis template.]

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?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Marketing budget [YEAR]

[Consider the example below when developing a budget to include in your business plan.]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Monitoring/measurement activities
[Reviewing the impact of yourmarketing should be a periodic activity. List the details of each review in the table below.]
Marketing activity

Date of
review

Monitoring methods

Review outcomes

[Print advertising, online

advertising, mail-out,
giveaway, media
release, event, website,
blog/social media, public
relations, branding and
artwork, or publications
and catalogues.]

[e.g.
Month/Year]

[What tools did you use to

measure/monitor the impact
of your marketing activities?]

[What were the results for the promotional period? What were
your sales/profit figures? How many new/repeat customers did
you receive? How many customers visited your website?]

[Print advertising, online

advertising, mail-out,
giveaway, media
release, event, website,
blog/social media, public
relations, branding and
artwork, or publications
and catalogues.]

[e.g.
Month/Year]

[What tools did you use to

measure/monitor the impact
of your marketing activities?]

[What were the results for the promotional period? What were
your sales/profit figures? How many new/repeat customers did
you receive? How many customers visited your website?]

[Print advertising, online

advertising, mail-out,
giveaway, media
release, event, website,
blog/social media, public
relations, branding and
artwork, or publications
and catalogues.]

[e.g.
Month/Year]

[What tools did you use to

measure/monitor the impact
of your marketing activities?]

[What were the results for the promotional period? What were
your sales/profit figures? How many new/repeat customers did
you receive? How many customers visited your website?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Marketing activity

Date of
review

Monitoring methods

Review outcomes

[Print advertising, online

advertising, mail-out,
giveaway, media
release, event, website,
blog/social media, public
relations, branding and
artwork, or publications
and catalogues.]

[e.g.
Month/Year]

[What tools did you use to

measure/monitor the impact
of your marketing activities?]

[What were the results for the promotional period? What were
your sales/profit figures? How many new/repeat customers did
you receive? How many customers visited your website?]

[Business Name] Marketing Plan [YEAR]

Supporting documentation
Attached is my supporting documentation in relation to this business plan. The attached
documents include:

[List all of your attachments here. These may include resumes, customer
survey/questionnaire and/or financial documents.]

Glossary
Australian Business Number (ABN) a single identifying number used when dealing
with other businesses and the Tax Office.
Australian Company Number (ACN) the number allocated by the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) when you register a company under
Corporations Law.
Blog is a shortened word for Weblog (see Weblog).
Channel a way of delivering something to its destination, whether it is a message to
be communicated or a physical product to be delivered.
Contract a legally enforceable agreement made between two or more parties. A
contract may be a verbal contract or a written contract (or may be partly verbal and
partly written).
Demographics the characteristics of a segment of the population, e.g. customers.
Domain name a name that identifies an organisation's address on the internet, either
a website address (the domain name follows the 'www') or an email address (the domain
name follows the '@' symbol in the email address).
Goods and Services Tax (GST) a broad-based tax of 10 per cent on the sale of most
goods and services in Australia.
High-end usually refers to expensive or high quality products/services.
Market position refers to the position an organisation, product or service has in the
market, usually in relation to its competition.
Milestone a goal or objective with a target date.
Mission statement is a statement outlining how an organisation intends on achieving
its vision.
Social