This Free Marketing Planning Template Can Help Small Businesses Build A Rewarding Strategic Marketing Plan
- RE Casper
- Apr 21
- 5 min read
Updated: May 11
The Real Deal: Why Your Small Business Needs a Marketing Plan
Let’s face it. Running a small business is chaotic. Between juggling vendor calls, managing employees, handling customer issues, and keeping the lights on, marketing often gets shoved to the bottom of your to-do list. With barely enough hours in the day and typically tight cash flow, creating a formal marketing plan feels like a luxury you can’t afford.
But here’s the shocking truth: you’re not alone in this struggle.
Half of Small Business Owners Are Winging It
A revealing 2019 Outbound Engine survey of 350 SMB owners discovered that a full 50% are operating without any marketing plan whatsoever. That’s right. Half of all small businesses are essentially flying blind when it comes to growth.
The Findings Get Even More Concerning
1 in 4 owners had zero strategy for growing their business that year
Most spent less than 5% of revenue on marketing efforts
Nearly 60% could only spare a handful of hours weekly for marketing
And a staggering 86% admitted they’d rather do almost anything else than work on marketing
There’s a Better Way (That Won’t Make Your Head Spin)
This is exactly why we created our Marketing Planning Guide: A Practical How-To Guide on Bridging Silos to Create Rewarding Marketing Plans. We built it specifically for busy business owners like you who need straightforward, actionable steps and not marketing jargon or complicated frameworks that require an MBA to understand. [Grab a free preview to see for yourself.]
The Secret Weapon: Your Team
Here’s what really works: stop trying to shoulder the marketing burden alone. The most effective approach is collaborative. Pull in your sales team, your customer service folks, and anyone else who regularly interacts with customers.
When you tap into these diverse perspectives, something magical happens. Your marketing plan transforms from a dreaded solo project into a living document filled with genuine insights from the people who know your business and customers best. The result? A realistic strategy that actually drives results because it’s grounded in the reality of your business and not marketing theory.
“Organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing functions enjoy 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher sales win rates.”
A Simplified and Practical Strategic Marketing Planning Approach for Small Businesses
Using the collaborative strategic marketing planning process from the guide, we’ve developed a streamlined approach tailored to small businesses.
The template walks you through each section of a complete small business strategic marketing plan:
Instructions for Using the Templates
Company and Products Description
Purpose and Overall Goals
Products We Sell
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Sales Goals by Market
Sales Goals by Product
Marketing Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics
Marketing Budget Summary
Conclusion
Here's How This Strategic Marketing Planning Guide Can Bring Significant Value to Your Business
✅ 1. Brings Structure to Marketing Chaos
Most small business owners operate without a formal marketing plan. This guide offers a clear, step-by-step framework, from team selection to execution, ensuring that marketing efforts are aligned, prioritized, and not left to chance.
📌 2. Promotes Realistic Goal Setting and Alignment
It helps you define:
Vision and mission (with examples like Nike's)
Specific sales and marketing goals
SMART objectives with aligned strategies and tactics
This leads to better internal alignment between marketing, sales, and operations.
🧠 3. Encourages Strategic Thinking with SWOT and Market Analysis
The guide walks you through conducting a SWOT analysis tailored to your:
Products
Pricing
Distribution
Promotion
This provides insights into both internal capabilities and market opportunities, helping prioritize high-impact actions.
📊 4. Converts Ideas into Executable Plans
It connects high-level goals to:
Specific marketing tactics
Timing
Budgeting
Assigned responsibilities
KPIs (like CAC, ROMI, leads, and sales)
This is crucial for small businesses that often struggle with turning strategy into action.
🛠 5. Offers Fillable Templates for Immediate Use
You’re not starting from scratch. It includes:
Editable sections for each planning stage
Tactic planning tables
Budget tracking templates
Multi-channel communication planning
This makes it practical, not just theoretical.
🔄 6. Reinforces Consistent Execution
By encouraging a planning session, regular reviews, and measurable benchmarks, the guide ensures your marketing isn’t static. It’s reviewed, refined, and improved as needed.
📈 7. Supports Growth on a Small Business Budget
The promotion and tactic sections stress:
Cost-effective methods (email, SMS, SEO, loyalty programs)
Focused messaging and targeting
Practical ROI-driven decisions
🧩 8. Fosters Team Involvement and Buy-In
By including sales teams, marketers, and other knowledgeable stakeholders in the planning process, it fosters collaboration and helps surface useful insights from those who engage with customers daily.
Here’s a Summary Summary
This guide is more than a worksheet. It’s a roadmap that empowers small businesses to plan smarter, market more effectively, and grow with purpose.
Need More Help? Get the Full Planning Package
If you’re ready to go deeper, our complete planning package offers everything any business needs to create a high-impact strategic marketing plan that drives results. It includes:
Step-by-step guidebook
Six interactive planning templates
Online facilitator training
Planning PowerPoint presentation
Real-world examples of measurable marketing objectives and strategies
Clear, actionable, and easy to implement, this comprehensive system empowers businesses to improve customer engagement, boost lead generation, and drive measurable growth.
Learn How to Supercharge Your Marketing Using Our Marketing Convergence Planning Processes
Visit our website, Marketing Convergence Solutions, for more practical strategies to help you create a supercharged marketing plan that enhances customer growth, generates valuable leads, and drives measurable sales results.
Our marketing planning package includes a guidebook featuring a practical eight-step approach that demonstrates how aligning messaging and content across traditional and digital channels while fostering collaboration between marketing and sales teams can lead to more effective marketing plans.
This comprehensive package is easy to understand and implement. It includes:
Online interactive training
Interactive planning worksheets
Presentation slides for planning sessions
Examples of measurable marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics
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