You may have heard about one page marketing plans, but don’t know where to begin. As marketers, we understand how important it is to be efficient with time and money, so today we’ll share some basic steps for how you can create a useful one page marketing plan for your business.
To create a one page plan, the first step is to select a template that is relevant to your business. Finding the right one requires clarifying your market (B2B vs. B2C) and having in mind what kind of marketing you plan to do (which tactics you want to use). Then it’s a matter of completing the key elements of the plan such as: defining your target market, deciding on channels, choosing metrics, and more. Before we explore details of “how,” let’s discuss what a one page marketing plan is and what’s included in it.
What is a one page marketing plan?
A one page marketing is a succinct and useful tool that brings focus to your marketing efforts for your business, products, or services. While some one page plans focus on pre-launch, launch, and post-launch, there are a number of ways you can approach your plan. A lot depends on the scope of your marketing efforts.
For example, if you are running a campaign for an existing line of business, your one page plan may be about digital marketing tactics. However, if you are launching a brand new product, or optimizing for rapid business growth, your one page plan may resemble a broader marketing plan. A one page marketing plan is simply a way for you to capture where you are trying to go with your marketing efforts.
What’s included in a one page marketing plan?
Knowing what elements you’ll need for an effective one page marketing plan is part of the process. If you don’t already have a full marketing plan you’ll want to include the following:
Business goals and objectives - what are you trying to accomplish for your business?
Competitive landscape - who’s offering similar products or services?
Target market - who is your audience and what are their personas?
Price and profit margin - how will you make money?
Metrics (KPIs) - how will you measure the success of your marketing campaign?
Strategies and channels for reaching customers - where will you find your customers?
Budget - how much can you afford to spend and still meet your financial goals?
What are the benefits of a one page marketing plan?
A one page marketing plan is an actionable marketing plan. It can help you decide the who, what, where why and how of your marketing efforts and help you stay on track. Its most important benefit is eliminating unnecessary work and spending. It is very tempting when you are in the middle of launching products to throw many things at the wall and see what sticks.
Though there is always an element of trial and error, taking an informal approach makes it hard to measure success and may leave you with too little to show for your efforts. Formalizing your marketing plan into a single page can help you stay focused so you can truly measure what is working and what is not.
How do I write a one page marketing plan?
Writing a one page plan is a multi-step process. To get started, the first step is to choose a template that you like or create your own. Many small and medium businesses rely on Alan Dib’s book, The 1-Page Marketing Plan. A quick search will yield dozens of other free templates that you can use as well.
Choose one that best mirrors your business. For example, if you plan to use digital marketing to drive most of your sales, then pick one that has some detail about social media channels. Before you start writing, run a few numbers so you know what you can afford to spend on your plan.
Marketing budget - understanding the costs of marketing
Before we dive into how to create your own sophisticated marketing plan, you need to develop a marketing budget. Marketing channels costs vary widely so you will likely have to pick and choose those that are most likely to reach your target market in the most cost-effective manner possible. Moreover, it’s important to consider your marketing budget in relation to your overall marketing strategy and customer lifetime value.
The next step (before spending maps money) is to spend some time thinking about the key components and structure of the plan, which we will cover next.
How to structure your plan
You can use the template you’ve chosen to structure your one page marketing plan. If you follow the Alan Dib model, you will be using a “before, during and after” approach. Whatever template you choose, spend some time on the following:
What is your value proposition (unique selling proposition)? Why should someone buy from your company? Specifically, what differentiates your company, product, or service from the rest?
What is your marketing message to potential buyers? Draft a few versions and pick one that best captures the benefits of your product or services and is consistent with your value proposition. Honing your message will be key to your marketing success.
Exactly who comprises your target market? Are you purely B2B or B2C? Is your audience younger or older buyers? Small or large businesses? Take some time to develop a persona or set of personas for your buyers. The more granular you can be about who will want your product, the better.
What is the competitive landscape? Who does what you do better or cheaper or faster? What does their offer look like? How will your product compare to other products in the marketplace? Paying attention to your competitive position is essential to success. Performing a SWOT analysis is always a useful exercise.
Determine your pricing model. What’s the price range across the industry for the products and services you want to offer? Are you providing something new and different or better that can carry a premium? Is your goal to get people in the door to try your product and then later buy a subscription? Are you offering a free trial? Is there a one-time fee? Make sure you’ve explored a number of options before settling on one.
Hand in hand with pricing is to define your revenue and profitability objectives. What volume of sales do you need or expect? Does your pricing allow you to be profitable? Complete some simple financial projections based on monthly units sold or closed sales. Take time to consider the costs of delivering your product to market.
Determine your marketing objectives and metrics. These may include “building awareness” or “generating leads.” Are you trying to build awareness of your product or start a conversation about your new brand? Be clear about how you will measure success - 3 new B2B leads a month? 200 units sold?
Remember to sync up your one page marketing plan with your marketing budget. In many cases your marketing success may depend on your target market, and customer lifetime value. You may have to be disciplined and make some choices.
There is a lot to do to create a solid one page marketing plan. How much time you spend is up to you. Here are some helpful resources as you dive deeper into the details of your one page marketing plan.
One page marketing plan resources
If you choose to follow the Alan Dib model using the “before, during, and after” approach, some of the tasks at hand will be: Defining your niche, creating a marketing message, and handling leads from capture to conversion. You may find that it helps to spend some time researching each of these elements. Some resources for developing this type of plan are included below.
Defining your niche: Find your place in the competitive landscape. This step comes early and should be completed during your product and offer development process. To get some insight, check out this article.
Capture your leads: You can have a great marketing message and an exceptionally great product, but if you can’t capture the leads your marketing program won’t generate sales. To find tips on email lead capture, click here.
Nurturing your leads: Not everyone is ready to buy immediately, so nurturing your leads can yield big dividends. Especially for large purchases, it may take weeks rather than days for customers to make a decision. Find out more about lead nurturing here.
Convert to a sale: Your marketing efforts are designed to hit the bottom line. Plan to close the deal by focusing on a few key conversion techniques.
Optimize for retention: Include a step in your strategy for increasing customer lifetime value. Many times it’s easier to upsell to existing customers than generate new leads, that may be limited by your marketing budget.
How quickly will I see results?
Successful business owners begin to see the fruits of their labor within the first few weeks of using the plan. Refer to it often and make adjustments. You should aim to have weekly status checks on your marketing efforts and a review every month or every 4 weeks.
Download our one page marketing plan
If you are looking for a template to get started, download our one page marketing plan today. This actionable marketing plan template will help you get started thinking through the most important elements of your marketing strategy.
To use the template, start at the top. Think about your unique selling proposition to the customer and your marketing messages.
At Llama Lead Gen, we know how important it is for your marketing success to have a solid marketing plan. If you are looking for a digital marketing company to support you in your marketing efforts, we are ready to help you develop a marketing plan.