How do I build a marketing plan (or how do I build a better one)?
I've been asked this question dozens of times, since I started mentoring new marketing leaders about two years ago. Makes sense. Your CEO and/or board will ask you to make a marketing plan. If you haven't done one before, you don't have a playbook for it.
And if you Google "marketing plan" to get some inspiration, you will get... well.... a bunch of SEO optimized posts from tech companies (probably written by someone who hasn't actually built and executed a marketing plan).
I know because I had this exact same series of thoughts in 2018, when I started my first marketing leadership role. So I built my own plan, using my own process, from scratch. And then I did it again, every quarter, in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Each time, I tweaked the process: I removed unnecessary steps, I made the output easier to understand, I did a better job engaging the CEO, I did a better job engaging the team, I did a better job connecting the dots between strategy and execution, etc...
I've posted bits and pieces of this on LinkedIn and every time people ask me for TEMPLATES. So I've published a course with some templates. But more importantly, I've explained how to fill them out collaboratively with stakeholders up and down the org chart. Doing this well means less last minute surprises, more trust from the rest of the exec team, and faster execution (less stopping + starting).
Real world
I've led marketing teams for 5+ years and built a lot of plans. This is not an SEO pillar, it's how I actually do it.
Collaborative
I'll explain how to engage senior execs & individual team members to get company wide buy-in.
No fluff
Detailed breakdowns of meetings I run and deliverables I create during my planning process.
Topics
Course Contents
- My 3 part marketing plan package
- Planning around results: building a pipeline model
- How to adapt the model to your business (for SaaS and non-SaaS businesses)
- How to connect strategy and tactics with a campaign plan
- Turning campaign plans into action (including when you actually need a project management tool)
- The role of customer research in planning
- How to present to the leadership team and the board
Templates
You'll get...
- Detailed breakdowns of every meeting I run during quarterly and annual planning
- A spreadsheet template for building bottom up and top down pipeline models
- Templated campaign planning slides
- The one chart I use to show the board how marketing is driving revenue
What People Are Saying
Quotes from other marketing leaders that have completed the course.
"Love the simplicity and the structure of all of this. I have spent more than a decade building marketing teams, plans and budgets. The steps are all there, including the breakdown of Revenue Goals/Budget formation, Campaign Message & Goals, to tactic/execution plan. Job well done."
Layne Cox
CMO
"This course is fantastic -- I love the situation and context setting for each chapter. It’s so clear that everyone over engineers their marketing plans -- I love how this approach focuses on the behavior change we want to see from our prospective customer/ customer base."
Tara Panu
VP Marketing
"It's nearly impossible to find relevant, credible, and timely resources in niche topics such as B2B SaaS Marketing Leadership. I found this content hit the nail on the head, speaking to the pain points of marketing leaders and providing actionable insights that will be tremendously helpful for me to implement in 2024."
Eli Aizenstat
Director of Marketing
