How to build a marketing plan in 7 steps.
A marketing plan is the document that connects the sales goal to each month’s actions. To build yours, follow seven steps: audit, goal, audience, positioning, channels, budget and a calendar with metrics. A good plan fits in a few pages and is reviewed every month.
Fabrício MartinsFounder of Martin Marketing & Design
In short
- What it is: the path between the sales goal and the marketing actions, with deadlines and numbers.
- How long it covers: usually one year, with more detail for the next 90 days.
- What cannot be missing: goal, audience, channels, budget and metrics.
- How to keep it alive: one meeting a month to compare the plan with what actually happened.
What a marketing plan is
It is the document that answers four questions in writing: where the company wants to go, who it wants to serve, how it will reach those people and how much it will invest to do so.
A marketing plan is not a list of social media posts, and it does not need to be a fifty-page document nobody opens. The best plan is the one the team can check during a meeting and use to decide what to do that week.
| A marketing plan is | A marketing plan is not |
|---|---|
| A goal with a number and a deadline | "Increase our digital presence" |
| A choice of two or three main channels | Being on every social network at once |
| A budget split by channel | Investing "whatever is left" at the end of the month |
| Metrics reviewed every month | A document written once and forgotten |
The seven steps below build the plan in this order. Each step depends on the previous one, so it is worth resisting the temptation to start with the channels.
Step 1: start with an audit
Every plan starts from a snapshot of the present. Without it, the goal becomes a guess and the choice of channels becomes personal taste. Gather at least:
- Revenue and number of new customers per month over the last twelve months.
- Where those customers came from: referrals, Google, social media, ads, partnerships.
- Average ticket and proposal close rate.
- How much was invested in marketing, adding up media, tools and providers.
- What the main competitors do and promise.
This survey often reveals surprises, such as a channel that brings few leads and many sales, or a large investment that produces no customers at all. The full step by step is in marketing audits.
Step 2: turn the sales goal into marketing numbers
The plan’s goal is a business goal, not a goal in likes. The work in this step is to do the math backwards: how many leads and visits are needed to reach the desired revenue.
A hypothetical example, of a service company that wants to earn R$ 60,000 a month from new customers:
| Stage | Calculation | Number per month |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue from new customers | Meta | R$ 60,000 |
| New customers | R$ 60,000 ÷ R$ 3,000 ticket | 20 |
| Proposals sent | 20 ÷ 25% close rate | 80 |
| Leads received | 80 ÷ 50% that turn into proposals | 160 |
| Website visits | 160 ÷ 2% conversion | 8,000 |
With the math done, the plan gets a concrete target: 160 leads a month. It also shows where improving is cheapest. If the close rate rises from 25% to 30%, the same goal needs 67 proposals instead of 80, without a single extra visit.
Use your rates, not the example’s. If you do not know your own rates yet, use estimates in the first month and replace them with real numbers as soon as they come in.
Step 3: define who you want to serve
"Everyone who needs my service" is not an audience. For the plan to work, describe the customer the company most wants to attract, based on the best customers it already has:
- Who they are: type of company or person, size, region, stage of life or of the business.
- What problem they have: what makes this person look for a solution now.
- Where they look: on Google, through referrals, on Instagram, on LinkedIn, at events.
- What weighs on the decision: price, timeline, security, specialization, proximity.
- What makes them give up: the objections that come up in sales conversations.
The best source for this step is talking to five to ten current customers and reading the messages that reach customer service. The words customers use go straight onto the website and into the ads.
Step 4: decide on the main message
With the audience defined, the question is: why should this person choose your company over a competitor? The answer is the positioning, and it needs to fit in one sentence.
A simple template: "For [audience] who [need something], [company] is the [category] that [main benefit], because [proof]." This sentence does not go on the website as it is. It guides the home page headline, the angle of the ads and the sales pitch.
If the company does not have this clarity yet, it is worth pausing the plan here and solving it first. The article on brand positioning shows how to get to the sentence, step by step.
Step 5: choose two or three channels
The most common mistake in a plan is wanting to be on every channel. With limited budget and team, the company ends up weak on all of them. Choose channels by how your audience behaves, not by what is trendy:
| Channel | When it makes sense | Time to results |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | Customers already search for the service by name | Weeks |
| Ads on Instagram and Facebook | You need to spark interest in people who are not searching yet | Weeks |
| SEO and content | The decision involves research and the business thinks long term | Months |
| Google Business Profile | Customers search close to where they are | Weeks to months |
| Referrals and partnerships | Trust weighs heavily on the decision | Months |
| Email and WhatsApp for existing customers | There are past customers who can buy again | Days |
A common mix for service companies is one channel for immediate demand, such as Google Ads, plus one long-term channel, such as SEO, and some care for the customer base. To decide between the two big ad platforms, read Google Ads vs. Meta Ads.
Step 6: set the budget
The budget comes from the goal, not the other way around. With the number of leads from step 2 and an estimated cost per lead for each channel, you can reach a starting figure.
Split the budget into four parts, so you do not forget any:
- Media: what goes to the ad platforms.
- Production: copy, photos, videos, creative and pages.
- Tools: website, email, CRM, scheduling, measurement.
- People: in-house team, consultancy, agency or freelancers.
Also set aside a share, somewhere between 10% and 20%, for tests. Without that reserve, the plan always repeats what already exists and never discovers a better channel.
To understand how much to put into ads and how that amount changes over time, see how much to invest in ads.
Step 7: build the calendar and the metrics
The annual plan sets the direction. The calendar for the next 90 days says what actually happens. For each month, list the actions, the owner and the date. Actions without an owner and a date do not happen.
Then choose a few metrics, tied to the goal from step 2:
| Metric | Where to see it | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Leads received by channel | Forms, WhatsApp and CRM | Weekly |
| Cost per lead | Ad platforms and finance | Weekly |
| Close rate | CRM or sales spreadsheet | Monthly |
| New customers and revenue | Finance | Monthly |
| Cost per customer | Total investment ÷ new customers | Monthly |
The last metric is the one that separates marketing that pays its way from marketing that only creates activity. The article on CAC, LTV and payback explains how to calculate and read it.
One meeting a month. Compare the plan with what actually happened, decide what to adjust and write down why. That meeting is what turns the document into a plan.
A one-page marketing plan template
To get started, copy this structure into a document and fill in each line. If any stays blank, it is a sign that the matching step needs more work:
| Item | What to write |
|---|---|
| Current situation | Revenue, customers per month, main sources and current investment |
| Meta | Revenue or new customers, with a deadline |
| Numbers needed | Customers, proposals, leads and visits per month |
| Audience | Who they are, what problem they have, where they look |
| Positioning | The sentence from step 4 |
| Channels | Two or three, with the role of each one |
| Quote | Monthly amount per channel, plus the reserve for tests |
| Next 90 days | Actions per month, with owner and date |
| Metrics | The five from the table in step 7, with a target for each |
This page covers most small and mid-sized companies. Details such as a content calendar or a media plan can live in separate documents linked to it.
A filled-in plan example
To see the template at work, here is a hypothetical example of a physiotherapy clinic that serves one area of the city:
- Current situation: 25 new patients a month, 60% from referrals and 30% from Google. No investment in ads.
- Goal: 40 new patients a month within six months, without relying even more on referrals.
- Numbers needed: with 50% of appointments turning into treatment, that is 80 appointments a month.
- Audience: adults with back pain or recovering from surgery, who live or work near the clinic.
- Positioning: physiotherapy with a full assessment in the first session and a written treatment plan.
- Channels: Google Business Profile, Google Ads for searches such as "physiotherapy near me" and messages to past patients.
- Next 90 days: a complete profile in the first month, the campaign in the second, a routine for reviews and follow-ups in the third.
- Metrics: appointments by channel, cost per appointment and patients who complete treatment.
The whole plan fits on one screen. And every line can be checked in the monthly meeting.
Common mistakes
- Starting with the channels. And finding out later that the audience was not there.
- A goal without a number. "Grow on social media" does not tell you whether the plan worked.
- Copying a competitor’s plan. They have another audience, another budget and another moment.
- Forgetting the customer base. Selling again to people who have already bought is usually the cheapest path.
- Not reviewing. A plan that has not changed in six months is probably not being used.
Frequently asked questions
Strategic planning looks at the whole company: products, finances, team and expansion. The marketing plan is one part of it, focused on how to attract and keep customers to meet the sales goals. Small companies often start with the marketing plan, because that is where the lack of direction shows first.
The most common is an annual plan, with more detail for the next 90 days. Every quarter, the next calendar is built on what worked. Big changes in the market or in the company call for a review before the deadline.
Yes, perhaps even more than large ones, because it has less room for error. The difference is in the size: one page with goal, audience, channels, budget and metrics already prevents most of the waste.
The owner or manager needs to take part, because the plan depends on the business goal. It can be built in-house or with the support of a consultancy, which brings method and comparison with other cases. What matters is that the people who will carry it out help build it.
It depends on the depth and the size of the company. Simple plans for small businesses cost much less than a full project with an audit and ongoing support. For reference ranges, see the article on how much marketing consulting costs.
Conclusion
Building a marketing plan means moving from "let us see what happens" to "we know what to do this month and why". Audit, goal, audience, positioning, channels, budget and calendar, in that order, in a few pages and with a monthly review.
If you want to build yours with someone who has led this process in companies from many industries, take a look at Martin’s marketing consulting.
