The One-Page Marketing Plan

 

What is a One-Page Marketing Plan?

Similar to a one-page business plan, a one-page marketing plan is a one-page document that details your target audience and marketing strategies, as well as your measurable marketing goals, metrics to track success, and examples of specific activities. 

The one-page marketing plan is often used by businesses to stay focused on the most important aspects of their business. It also helps them prioritize what they need to do in order for it to be successful – from digital marketing, traditional marketing, conversion rates, and customer retention – with one focus at a time.

One-page marketing plans can also be shared with stakeholders outside the company so they have an understanding of how you plan to increase sales, referrals, and increasing customer lifetime value to further grow your business. 
 

Download our Ultimate Marketing Plan Template here

 

How to Write a One-Page Marketing Plan

To write an effective marketing plan, follow the instructions for each section below. Our one-page marketing plan outlines the essential elements to improve your marketing efforts through a variety of channels. A copy of our one page marketing plan template is available to download at the end of this article. 

Target Audience / Persona

This section of your one-page marketing plan is all about your target market – who are they, what are their interests and needs, how can you satisfy their needs, and what marketing channels are most effective to reach this audience.

Section 1: Demographics

• What are the specific demographics of your target market or audience?
• Be sure to include: age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, income, education, and employment as applicable.

Demographic Examples:

• Males and females 25-45 years old. Educated with an average income level greater than $75,000 for one-person households or $100,000+ for joint household income.
• 80% of our customers make more than $65K per year in household income. The average age is 36 years old with a slightly higher concentration of females vs. males at 57%.

Section 2: Psychographics

• What psychological elements should be considered?
• What motivates your target market to buy and use these products/services?
• Be sure to include: attitudes, interests, opinions, emotions, and values as applicable.

Psychographic Examples:

• Our product caters to diversity and inclusion with both the intent of strengthening client relationships and attracting prospects who seek a more socially responsible company.
• Our target audience has a strong sense of independence and self-reliance and often feels the need to prove themselves.

Section 3: Audience Needs

• What specific needs are being fulfilled to motivate this target persona?
• What problem, challenge, or frustration does your product/service solve for these people?
• Be sure to include an example to illustrate the point.

Audience Needs Examples:

• Our clients are finding that they want one place where they can go and find information about everything on campus instead of searching multiple websites. We’re meeting that need by creating one website with all of the relevant campus information on one page.
• Our target market feels “unheard” or unsupported by their families and peers because they often feel responsible for taking care of the family finances on their own.

Section 4: Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

• What benefit do your products/services offer?
• What problem, challenge, or frustration does this product/service solve for your target persona?
• What are your key differentiators?
• What is your core marketing message?

USP Examples:

• Our one-page website clearly defines the one thing you must do to achieve success in your business and why it’s important.
• We’ve designed software for a more efficient purchase process that manages client expectations from start to finish.

Section 5: Marketing Channels

• What marketing channels help you reach this audience optimally?

Marketing Channels Examples:

• Our distribution channels include social media, specifically Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and one-on-one networking events and trade shows.
• We partner with a local university that is a leader in higher education, and we also sponsor one or two local events per year.

Marketing Strategies

You’ve identified your target market and how to communicate with them. You’ll now create a plan to reach this group through one or a variety of channels. You may or may not use all forms of marketing, however, including all aspects will help you create a comprehensive marketing plan to widen your reach and marketing effort. The goal is to consider alternative methods to deliver the same core marketing message to your customers.

Section 1: Digital Marketing Strategy

Examples of Online Marketing Strategies:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Content & Blog Creation
• Web-Based Paid Advertising (Google Ads, Bing Ads & Facebook Ads)
• Text Messaging
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing

First, define the online marketing goals that you want to achieve.

• What goal do you want to accomplish with internet marketing? The goal chosen should be measurable so that you can track your results. 

Examples include:

• Increase website traffic by X% for our blog targeting keywords related to the problem, challenge, or frustration we solve for our target audience.
• Increase user engagement by X% on a particular social media channel.

Second, define the steps that you will take to achieve this goal.

• What action do you want your audience to take?
• How do you get a user to take that action?

Examples include:

• We will increase one-to-one outreach by creating an online course that explains a step in a process or features of our product to embed on our website and share through social media. 
• We will update our existing blog with one new post per week to stay on the radar of potential customers and share through social media channels.

Lastly, describe how the chosen marketing strategy will achieve your goal.

• How is this strategy going to help achieve that measurable goal?

Examples include:

• Creating content that ranks well in Google searches and is shared among our clients’ friends and family members is a way to increase website traffic organically in addition to the distribution through social media networks.
• We will work to increase user engagement by developing a weekly email newsletter campaign to speak directly to the problem/solution from our target persona’s point of view including resources available to help them on our website.

Section 2: Traditional Marketing Strategy

Examples of Traditional Marketing Strategies:

• Billboards, Posters & Bus/Car Wraps
• TV & Radio
• Magazines & Newspapers
• Postcards & Catalogues
• Phone Calls
• Window Displays & Signs
• Trade Show Booths

First, define the traditional marketing goal that you want to achieve.

• What measurable goal do you want to accomplish with traditional marketing? Be specific.

For example:

Increase one-time sales by one percentage point compared to the previous period or year for a specific date range.

Second, define the steps that you will take to achieve this goal.

• What action do you want your audience to take?
• How do you get a user to take that one action?

For example:

Identify two geographic areas where we want to place our billboards, posters, and/or car wraps. Also, identify three print media publications (magazines or newspapers), five radio shows with 7+ listeners per show, three television channels with 500+ viewers per episode who are likely consumers of the product or service based on market research data.

As we place one print ad in each publication, one billboard in one high traffic area, one TV show episode promotion on one channel, and one radio ad about our product or service during one broadcast time slot, we’ll track the campaign cost and results for each media type. Employees who answer the phone for our business will ask ‘How did you hear about us?’ to determine the marketing channel that the user came through. 

Lastly, describe how the chosen strategy will achieve your goal.

• How is this approach going to help achieve your goal?

Examples include:

Using a radio show to advertise our product or service, we will talk about an emotional story about a life transformed by using what we offer as a way to increase one-time sales by one percentage point compared to the previous period or year based on the specific date range. We will be able to track if users call in after hearing our radio show appearance by asking them “How did you hear about us?”.

Section 3: Referral & Retention Strategy

Referral Strategy

First, define the referral goal that you want to achieve.

• What percentage point do you want to improve compared to the previous period/year?
• If you’re trying to get a person to refer your company, what action do you want them to take?
• What incentive would make them curious enough to share your link with their peers and colleagues?

Referral Goal Examples:

• We’ll create a referral program where we give all current customers a referral code to offer to a friend for one month of free access to our product or service.
• Employees can earn a cash bonus on top of their existing salary if they successfully refer five new clients within three months.
• Offering an existing customer 10% off any product or service if they refer a new client who uses one of our services.

Then, describe how this one approach will achieve your one goal.

• What metric do you need to improve in order for it to be considered effective?

For example:

Our referral strategy will help us increase sales by X% compared to the previous period if each individual refers 1 new customer every month starting with the month following their referral event. We’ll track these referrals against our other marketing activities through customer surveys and include them as references when making new contacts.

Retention Strategy

First, define the one goal that you want to achieve through the proposed retention strategy.

For example:

We will increase X% in how many one-time customers turn into repeat customers during Quarter 3 compared to the previous quarter. 

Then, define the steps that your audience will need to take in order for your retention strategy to work.

• What is the first step your audience needs to take in order for our company’s retention strategy to work? Be sure it aligns with your other marketing activities so they aren’t all working for different purposes.
• What metric do you need to improve in order for it to be considered effective?

For example:

Your company’s retention strategy will increase by X% in the number of new sales during Quarter 3 compared to Quarter 2 if we spend 70% of our time reaching out to first-time customers who haven’t made a purchase in X months and 30% of the time following up with first-time customers who have made a purchase in the last three months. In addition to increased sales, you also want to improve the lifetime customer value of the customers already in your system.

Results & Metrics

In the final sections of your one-page marketing plan, you will define your measurable metrics for each chosen marketing strategy and their expected results. Continually reassess your marketing efforts to determine their effectiveness and adjust as necessary.

Section 1: Digital Marketing Results

• What one metric will you use to determine the success of this strategy?
• How long do you need to see results before sharing them with your team?
• How often will you share them?

Examples include:

• Rank #1 on Google for at least one keyword phrase related to the one problem, challenge, or frustration we solve; Page 1 of Bing SERPs for one keyword phrase related to the one problem, challenge, or frustration we solve, etc. I’ll share one digital marketing success update at one weekly meeting with one copy of one report that shows the one metric used to measure success.
• The one metric is a 30% increase in one user action on one social media channel by one certain date. It will take two months to see the results before sharing them with my team. I will share one-to-two results one time per month.

Section 2: Traditional Marketing Results

• What metric will you use to determine the success of this strategy?
• How long do you need to see results before sharing them with your team?
• How often will you share the results?

For example:

One out of five people who saw our billboard and called made a purchase. Five new customers bought one product from the sales representative at this month’s trade show booth. These metrics show an increase of 10% in one-time sales compared to the same time period last year. It takes three-seven days to see results before sharing them with my team. I will share an update every other month.

Section 3: Referral & Retention Results

• What metric will you use to determine the success of this strategy?
• How long do you need to see results before sharing them with your team?
• How often will you share the results?

For example:

One new customer came from a referral. A customer told a friend about our product who then purchased the product totaling $500 in sales revenue. This strategy helped us increase one-time sales by 8% compared to last quarter. It takes two days to see the results before sharing them with my team. I’ll share an update at each weekly meeting.

Download Growthink’s 1-Page Marketing Plan Template

 

Conclusion

A one-page marketing plan is a tool for documenting your business’s marketing strategy so it can be easily shared with team members on an ongoing basis. It allows you to focus on your target market, the core marketing message, and finding your customers through optimal channels to achieve positive results toward your marketing goals — all marketing efforts in 1 single page.

 

 

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