Your First Marketing Plan

"Can you put together a marketing plan for us?"

It's Tariq's second week at a growing e-commerce startup. The founder drops by his desk.

"We've never really done formal marketing — we've been growing mostly through word of mouth. But we need to scale. Can you put together a marketing plan for Q2? Nothing too fancy — just something we can align around."

She walks away. Tariq stares at his screen.

He knows what each word in "marketing plan" means individually. Together, they feel like a trap. What goes in it? How long should it be? Does he need to know the budget first? What if he gets it wrong?

If you've ever felt this — or if you're preparing for a role where you will feel this — this module is for you.

A marketing plan is not a mystical document. It's a structured answer to five questions. Learn the questions, and the document writes itself.

The five questions a marketing plan answers

That's the whole plan. Everything else is detail.

A marketing plan for a small business can be one page. A plan for a global brand might be 50 pages. The length doesn't matter — the clarity does. Every section should be specific enough that someone who's never seen the plan can read it and know exactly what's happening, why, and how.

Section 1: Where are we now? (Situation Analysis)

Before you can plan where to go, you need an honest picture of where you are. This is called a situation analysis — a snapshot of your current position.

The most common tool is a SWOT analysis:

• Strengths: What does this business do better than competitors? What assets do you have? (loyal customers, strong team, unique product, established reputation)
• Weaknesses: Where are you genuinely behind? (no email list, weak SEO, no brand recognition, thin margins)
• Opportunities: What's happening in the market that you could take advantage of? (growing demand, competitor weakness, new platform, underserved segment)
• Threats: What external forces could hurt you? (new competitor, algorithm change, economic downturn, seasonal dip)

Be ruthless about weaknesses. A SWOT that only celebrates strengths is just a hype document — it won't help you make good decisions.

Competitive analysis: Also include a quick look at your top 2–3 competitors. What channels are they using? What's their positioning? What do their customers complain about in reviews? Where are the gaps you could fill?

AI for situation analysis: Prompt Claude or ChatGPT with your business details and ask: "Based on this description of my business and market, help me complete a SWOT analysis. For the Threats section, think about market trends, competitive dynamics, and channel risks. Be honest about weaknesses." Then add the specific details only you know.

Section 2: Who are we talking to? (Target Audience)

You've done this work in Module 2 — your persona. Include a brief version here. One paragraph per target segment, maximum two segments in your plan.

The key things to capture:

• Who they are (demographics — age, location, income, job title — and psychographics — values, motivations, and lifestyle choices that shape buying decisions)
• Their primary problem or goal
• Where they spend time online
• What would make them choose you over alternatives

If you have two distinct segments (e.g., direct-to-consumer customers AND corporate gift buyers), document both — and note that they'll need different messaging and potentially different channels.

Section 3: What do we want to achieve? (Goals and KPIs)

Again, Module 6 territory — but now applied to the plan. Set 2–4 SMART goals for the period, each paired with a KPI (Key Performance Indicator — the specific metric you'll track to know whether you hit the goal). Typically one goal per funnel stage that you're prioritising:

For each goal, name the metric and the tool you'll use to track it.

Section 4: How will we get there? (Strategy and Channel Plan)

This is the meat of the plan — the how. It has two parts:

4a. Strategy (the approach)

Strategy is not "we'll post on social." Strategy is the logic behind your choices.

That's a strategy. It explains why you're doing what you're doing and what you're deliberately choosing not to do.

4b. Channel plan (the execution)

For each channel you're using, answer:

Section 5: How much will it cost? (Budget and Timeline)

Budget allocation is where strategy meets reality. A rough starting framework:

Timeline: Break the plan into phases. Q2 plans work well in 3 phases:

• Month 1: Set up infrastructure (tools, tracking, templates). Create a content backlog. Don't launch ads until tracking is working.
• Month 2: Execute the plan. Measure weekly. Make small adjustments.
• Month 3: Analyse results. Double down on what's working. Cut what isn't. Plan Q3.

AI for budget planning: Describe your goals and available budget to an AI tool: "I have a budget of $1,500/month and want to generate 50 qualified leads per month for a B2B SaaS product. What channel mix would you recommend, with rough budget allocation, and what are the risks?" Use the response as a starting framework, then apply your own market knowledge.

Putting it all together: a one-page plan

Here's Tariq's one-page plan for the e-commerce startup, Q2:

Situation: Growing through word of mouth; no owned media, no email list, no SEO presence. Competitors are investing in content and paid ads. Opportunity: underserved long-tail SEO terms in our category.

Audience: Small business owners, 30–50, who buy branded corporate gifts. Primary pain: finding unique, high-quality gifts that arrive on time and look professional.

Goals:

• Build organic traffic from 0 to 1,500 monthly sessions (Google Analytics, Q2 end)
• Build email list from 0 to 500 subscribers (Mailchimp, Q2 end)
• Generate 30 corporate gift enquiries (contact form, Calendly, Q2 end)

Strategy: Invest in owned media before paid. Build SEO-driven blog content targeting corporate gift search terms. Capture email addresses with a free "Corporate Gifting Guide" lead magnet. Use LinkedIn to directly reach HR and office managers at SMBs.

Channels:

• Blog: 2 posts/week targeting keywords (e.g., "corporate gifts for remote employees")
• Email: Weekly newsletter once list passes 100 subscribers
• LinkedIn: 3 posts/week + 30 targeted connection requests/day
• Lead magnet: "50 Corporate Gift Ideas Under $50" PDF — live by week 2

Budget: $200/month (Mailchimp $29, Canva $15, freelance post editing $156)

Review dates: End of months 1, 2, and 3.

One page. Clear enough that the founder can read it in five minutes and know exactly what's happening. That's the standard.

Back to Tariq

The founder read his plan in four minutes.

"This is exactly what I needed," she said. "Let's start with the blog and LinkedIn — skip the lead magnet for now. Can you have the first post live by next Friday?"

Tariq said yes. The plan that felt like a trap on day two turned out to be five questions with specific answers. The document was one page. The conversation with the founder took four minutes. And he knew exactly what to do on Monday morning.

That's what a marketing plan is for.

Key takeaways

• A marketing plan answers five questions: Where are we now? Who are we talking to? What do we want to achieve? How will we get there? How much will it cost?
• SWOT analysis gives you an honest snapshot of your position — be ruthless about weaknesses and honest about threats.
• Strategy is the logic behind your channel choices — it explains why you're doing what you're doing and what you're deliberately not doing.
• A one-page plan that's clear and specific beats a 30-page plan that nobody reads or follows.
• AI accelerates every section — from SWOT to channel recommendations to goal-setting — but you bring the specific market knowledge AI doesn't have.