Free Marketing Strategy Planning Template

Download my Marketing Strategy Planning Template
(No registration required).

As I speak with people from around the world -- those who have read my book The New Rules of Marketing and PR (published in 26 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese) or who have seem my dozens of talks a year -- many tell me that they struggle with how to get started.

Most of the implementation challenges people describe involve the shift from marketing products and services to the much more effective approach of focusing on a buyer personas and creating information that helps solve problems for buyers.

A secondary challenge is to get marketers away from a reliance on offline marketing techniques and started with online initiatives.

I have distilled my solution to these challenges -- drawing from The New Rules of Marketing and PR -- to create a simple, two-page Marketing Strategy Planning Template.

Download the free Marketing Strategy Planning Template now (no registration is required).

Feel free to blog it, tweet it, post it on your site or print copies. I’ve put a Creative Commons license on it encouraging you to share.

I created this as a way to get marketers goals oriented to reaching buyers directly. I want everyone to shift out of the comfort zone of preaching about products and services and advertising features and benefits.

For example, if someone says: "I want to start a blog" I would point them first to the template and have them start planning there.

Who are you trying to reach with the blog?

Is a blog the best tool?

What problems can you help solve?

What value do you bring?

What search terms are people entering to find you (will help you name the blog and title posts)

What sort of person are you and what is the company personality (for design).

What do you want people to do? (Buy, donate, subscribe, etc.)

I want to thank my friends Toby Jenkins and Adam Franklin for creating this with me. Toby and Adam run Bluewire Media, a Brisbane web strategy firm. They had been working on a similar strategy template and shared their draft with me. Our ideas were so similar that we collaborated to create this. Thanks guys. Now, when are you going to have me come to Australia so we can surf together?

I am interested in your feedback on the template.

Am I missing anything?
Is this useful?

Comments

[Tim Washer]

David - this is the most concise approach I've seen in help folks articulate their compelling story. I love "How are you remarkable?" they should teach this in business school. congrats, and thanks for sharing.

[David Meerman Scott]

Yeah, Tim, maybe next time we speak at Harvard together we can use it!! Thanks.

[Rob Longert]

This is great for helping to identify influencers for everything from WOM to strategic PR, events etc..

Thanks for sharing this, David.

[Deb Mallett]

So helpful to see the plan laid out this way - to see the big picture and all the components in a couple of pages. Makes the thoughts of a marketing plan much less intimidating and easier to understand. Thank you so much!

[Carolyn Winter]

Wow - this is perfect! I am taking this to the cottage for further contemplation! WIll report back next week.

Thanks so much

Carolyn

[Melody]

This is great. Thank you so much. You are inspirational.

Melody

[David Meerman Scott]

Glad you all like it. Please share!!

[chandani]

Another great work David. This template is not only useful for companies but also for personal branding, like you mentioned starting a blog for company or personal use. Getting the right template to value and design. It guides you through every step. The overall marketing picture in two pages brilliant.

[Greg Jameson]

It always amazes me that most Internet marketing experts think that the solution to becoming rich and famous is through some kind of magical "SEO". This is a great compilation that shows how Internet marketing is really done - a great complement to your book "World Wide Rave" and my book "Grow Your Online Sales" (www.GrowYourOnlineSales.com). thanks David, I am going to repost this.

[Toby_Jenkins]

Hi David,

Thanks for the acknowledgement in your post! It's super exciting to see the feedback too. Thank you all for your comments.

As David said - please share it!

(I've got a couple of places in mind for a surf too David so looking forward to getting you out here sometime - soon hopefully!)

[David Meerman Scott]

chandani -Great point -- the template also works for personal branding!

Greg - SEO (the technical stuff) is important. But if the underlying content stinks, SEO makes it slightly less stinky, not good.

Toby -- It was indeed a pleasure working with you on this!! I am at my surf house on Nantucket Island this week. A couple of great days!!

David

[Colin Warwick]

Hi David, This is a great! Any chance of making it available in an editable format like Google docs or Microsoft Word? Or alter the settings in the PDF writer so that it's not just readable and printable but also fill-out-able (i.e. an editable form: not sure of the technical details but I think there are different saving modes in Acrobat that let you do this.) I'd like to fill in the blanks electronically so I can email my plans to others.

Thanks!

[Richard Randolph]

David:

Thank you for all your great messages and tips – you are helping reshape the practice of Marketing for the better!

I appreciate your Marketing Strategy Planning Template. May I add one element I find particularly useful?

It's a COMMUNICATION PLAN.

WHO needs to know?
WHAT do they need to know?
WHEN do they need to know it?
HOW will we tell them?

I find it helps to break it out this way, and to be explicit about each of the steps, normally into some kind of grid framework. When you begin with WHO needs to know, you can identify different target audiences who you'd like to reach. WIth WHAT do they need to know, you can specify different messages or intended outcomes for each of the different target audiences. For example, a new product launch might include as WHO: your Target Market, Media, Industry reps, etc. Each of those may require a different message, or different timing, or a unique messaging method...

Hope this is of some interest to you. Keep up your great work. LOVED your story about "working" in Japan!

//Richard

[David Meerman Scott]

Richard -- thanks for the suggestion.

Colin -- Don't have anything like that now. Let me think about it. No time to work on it right now...

David

[Marino Fadda]

Thanks. I'll try it immmediately!

[Steve Laswell - The People Developer]

Thank you for investing your time, energy, and wisdom into this very practical tool. Aweome!

Your book is great; now this serves all of us working to "get it" and "do it".

David, you are setting a standard and raising the bar in so many ways.

I am grateful and appreciate you and your touch on my own journey as an entrepreneur...and right on time; for such a time as this!

Celebrating freedom,
Steve

[David Meerman Scott]

thanks Steve...

[Celeste]

Thanks David - I was looking for something like this.

[Ron Carter]

David:

You are a very generous person. Since reading both of your books, I can say that my approach to public relations and marketing have changed. Your Marketing Strategy Planning Template is a gift I will cherish. Thanks.

Ron

[darwinjalen]

what a great work David , I like very much. Thanks for sharing.

[BWD]

Hi David, its really a very good work. Thanks for sharing it.

[Kickofftopic]

Brilliant! My clients and colleagues will love it too. I so appreciate you sharing the important things most small businesses either forget about or neglect, and they don't even realize what impact the change will make until they do it! First step to all marketing strategies is to have a clear goal and plan... Thank you so much for your wonderful spirit of giving David!

Karmen :)
@kickofftopic (on Twitter)

[soha]

Hi David,

Love this post, thanks for sharing.

[Bill Gluth]

Excellent planning tool, David. Concise, easy to get thoughts out of the head and on to paper where they can become actionable and it ties in nicely to New Rules for Marketing and PR 2nd Edition. I can look there for further elaboration on specific tools mentioned on page 2 of the document. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for sharing it.

[David Meerman Scott]

Glad that so many of you find this helpful. I enjoy making things available (for free) that help others to improve their business and their life!!

David

[Go2Mach2]

David...Excellent Template...

One constructive comment - While the focus of the template is on Internet Markeing, I strongly believe traditional marketing can still not yet be forgotten ( as least as of today).

Two questions should still be part of any effective Marketing Strategy - 1. Is Broadcast Media or Print Media an alternative? - and 2. What face to face marketing should be included in my strategies?

The internet is the future; however, unless a business is 100% internet based,some traditional marketing strategies should probably be part of the mix...(at least for today)

Thanks Again....Great Post...

[Carolyn Winter]

Hi David - back from the cottage where I sprung the Marketing Strategy Planning Template on my family to help me brain storm ideas for my 1 person business. Happy to say they did not throw me to the one and only bear we saw, nor did they throw me in the lake for bringing work to a short family getaway!

However, in 45 minutes of brain storming using your template, (and the information I already learned from reading New Rules of Marketing & PR) we quickly got into a discussion of buyer personas and the type of person who looks for my kind of service.

We got stuck on words at some point but not before arriving at how the unique nature of what I do appeals to a particular group and the language that I need to be more mindful of using when talking to them. This alone was enlightening.

It was indeed a very helpful exercise for me to do (even with the limitations of family and vacation) and has brought me to realize I need focus more on the idea of personas. My first action step is to keep a journal where I can record anything that comes to mind for 2-3 personas.

Without question the template is a keeper that I will keep using and of course share with other energy healers in my world.

All the best.

Carolyn

[David Meerman Scott]

Go2Mach2 - Yes, I agree. Thanks for the reminder.

Carolyn - What a great story and thanks so much for sharing. I wish you great success in implementing the work you've done!

David

[Justin Tabas]

I like the simplicity and the step by step process. I think it may be important to consider obstacles, challenges, and/or competition when considering any marketing strategy but i am not sure of the best way to include these into the template.

[Zimmermanjeff]

David, this looks like a great template. I like the focus on the fundamentals (Who is your target customer? What are their problems? How do you solve those problems better than others?) It's easy to get caught up in cool, new vehicles (e.g, Twitter, Facebook) and forget the basics.

[Meital Harel]

It's very thorough!
the one thing I would add is place to write down your progress vs. expectation, so in each step you could measure your success :)

I'm reading the New Rules this days after a long period in PR in Israel - it's not less than enlightening, Thanh you!

[Beltwayboy]

Thank You for providing your insight into the online marketing world! I'm looking forward to reading your upcoming book!

[Dewita Soeharjono]

Thank you, David. This is precisely what I have been looking for. You put it in a concise format.

[trish]

very helpful template -- thanks for creating it!

just a question -
why are there two columns on page 1 - columns 1 and 2?

how does page 2 work? what's backlinks? not understanding this page

[David Meerman Scott]

Two columns to point out that you need to do it again for another buyer. Backlinks = links from other sites to your content.

[Jaclyn Pistilli]

Hi David,

I started reading "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" last night, and plan on finishing it tonight.

I'm hooked and the additional planning tools provided here are extremely helpful.

Thanks!

JP

P.S. as an Aussie expat I want to give a shout out to Bluewire Media. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Jaclyn - Yeah -- Bluewire Media rocks.

[Web Design Brisbane]

Awesome post, really enjoyed it!

[Adriana]

Thank you very much for sharing this information. I already downloaded it. I think it is concise, and summarises the most important points. I am a web designer, and this information will help me to serve my clients better.
thanks!

[Charlie]

"I keep six honest serving men
They tought me all i knew
Their names are What and Why and When
How nd Where and Who?"

Its Reryard Kipling :)

[Brian]

I would love to see you give a way more of these templates.. Great idea

[Sarjoon]

Thanks David I will back soon

[Robert Longley]

Great stuff here. The template is very useful. Thanks.

[Concrete Driveway Installation]

I’m very happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.