how to start a marketing firm business plan

BUSINESS STRATEGIES

How to start a successful marketing business for beginners in 9 steps

Jeremy Greenbaum
11 min read

Get started by: Creating a website → | Getting a domain →

Do you enjoy creating impactful campaigns and love helping businesses achieve their growth goals? If so, starting a marketing business could be the perfect venture for you. In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of starting a marketing business, from developing your concept to creating a professional business website and implementing effective marketing strategies . We'll also discuss the challenges that come with running a marketing business and provide practical steps for overcoming them.

What is a marketing business?

A marketing business offers strategic marketing services to clients. This type of business typically provides a range of marketing solutions, such as branding, digital marketing, advertising, social media management and market research. Marketing businesses are focused on helping clients promote their products or services, reach their target audience and achieve their business objectives.

Why start a marketing business?

The marketing industry presents a compelling opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs. With businesses increasingly recognizing the necessity of effective marketing strategies, there is a high demand for professionals in this fast-growing industry . By starting a marketing business, you can tap into this growing demand and provide valuable support to companies in reaching their target audiences, enhancing their brand image and driving business growth.

Learn more: Small business marketing

Moreover, a marketing business offers flexibility and scalability. You have the freedom to shape your operations according to your preferences, whether it's working remotely (a marketing business is a great online business idea ) or establishing a physical office. You can also customize your services to match your expertise and interests, exploring various niches within the industry. As your business gains momentum and establishes a solid reputation, you have the potential to scale your operations by expanding your team, taking on larger projects and diversifying your service offerings. This scalability opens doors for increased profitability and long-term business success in the dynamic marketing landscape.

How to start a marketing business

Now that you understand the benefits and challenges of starting a business in the marketing field, let's explore the essential steps to help you get started:

Research the market and plan your business

Pick your marketing business niche

Choose your business structure and register your business

Determine your target market and services

Set your pricing and packages

Gain experience in the field

Establish your online presence

Develop a marketing strategy

Build a strong network and reputation

01. Research the market and plan your business

Conduct market research to understand the demand for marketing services in your area. Analyze the demographics, competition and potential customer base. Develop a comprehensive business plan that outlines your goals, marketing strategies and operational procedures. Consider your financial projections and whether you need to raise money for your business .

02 . Pick your marketing business niche

When starting a marketing business, it's important to choose a niche or specific area of expertise. This could be social media marketing, content marketing once you start a blog or email marketing . By focusing on a specific niche, you can stand out from your competitors and establish yourself as an expert in that particular field. You can also tailor your services and strategies to better serve your clients within that niche. Do some research and determine what area of marketing you are most passionate about and have the skills for. Once you have chosen your niche, create a detailed plan on how you will provide value to clients within that market and how you will set yourself apart.

Some types of marketing business niches are:

SEO marketing services

Content marketing and writing services

PPC companies

Social media marketing firms

Email marketing services

Influencer marketing firms

Overall digital marketing agencies

03. Choose your business structure and register your business

Select a legal structure or business entity for your marketing business, such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC) or corporation . Register your business and obtain the necessary permits and licenses to operate legally. If you're unsure how to name a business , consider using a business name generator to come up with a creative option that speaks to you. Or be inspired by these marketing business name ideas.

04. Determine your target market and services

Identify your target market within the marketing industry, such as small businesses, startups or specific industries. Determine the range of marketing services you will offer, such as digital marketing, social media management, content creation or branding. Define your unique selling proposition to differentiate your business from competitors.

05. Set your pricing and packages

Determine your pricing structure based on factors such as the scope of services, market rates and the value you provide to clients. Consider offering different packages or customizable options to cater to varying client needs. Conduct competitive research to ensure your pricing is competitive and attractive to potential clients.

06. Gain experience in the field

Experience is key in the world of marketing. It allows you to understand how to analyze target audiences and truly understand each market’s needs and values. This can best be done by diving into the field, looking into the latest trends and by learning from experts through internships and shadowing. You can also consult with people in online forums and communities and try to take on a few projects for free in order to build more experience.

07. Establish your online presence

For building a website for your marketing business, consider using platforms like Wix . Showcase your services, highlight your expertise and provide information on how potential clients can contact you. Optimize your website with Wix’s SEO tools to improve online visibility. Utilize social media platforms and set up a link in bio with Hopp to promote your business and engage with your target audience.

According to Adi Huri, Product Manager at WoW for Wix.com :

“There are over 2 billions websites out there and we all visit many of them daily. With visual and textual content you have the opportunity to make a statement and have your site stand out. This is the place to add your brand personality. If you are more traditional, no need to go wild. Often, unique copy or a cool visual is all you need for your site to be memorable.”

08. Develop a marketing strategy

Implement a comprehensive marketing strategy to promote your marketing business. This can include a combination of online and offline tactics such as content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, networking events and collaborations with complementary businesses.

09. Build a strong network and reputation

Networking is crucial in the marketing industry. Attend industry events, join professional associations and engage with other professionals in your field in order to gain valuable connections. Build relationships with clients and consistently deliver high-quality work to establish a positive reputation for your business. Encourage satisfied clients to provide testimonials and referrals to further enhance your credibility.

how to start a marketing business asteps

How much does it cost to start a marketing business?

The cost of starting a marketing business can vary depending on several factors, including the scale of your operation, the services you plan to offer and your location. Here are some key expenses to consider when estimating the cost to start this specific business idea .

Education and training: Consider any costs associated with gaining the necessary education and training in marketing, whether through a formal education or online courses.

Business registration and licensing: Costs for registering and licensing your business, will vary by state.

Office space : you can choose to start your business from home to save on startup costs but if not, you'll need to factor in rent, utilities and office supplies.

Software and equipment : Invest in computers, software and other tools required for marketing work. This might include graphic design software, project management tools, and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Your own marketing materials: Create business cards, marketing materials and any other types needed to promote your services.

How profitable is a marketing business?

The profitability of a marketing business can vary widely depending on various factors. Some key considerations that can impact the profitability of a marketing business are:

Specializing in a specific niche or industry can often lead to higher profitability. Clients may be willing to pay more for marketing services from experts who understand their specific needs and challenges. An example of this is SEO, which for many companies requires complex strategies and techniques.

Providing high-quality marketing services is essential for long-term success and the profitablity of your marketing business. Satisfied clients are more likely to become repeat customers and refer others as well. The ability to attract new clients and retain existing ones is critical. Marketing businesses that excel in client acquisition and retention tend to be more profitable over time. This includes the importance of a marketing business having effective internal marketing strategies. Demonstrating your own marketing expertise through how you market your own company can attract clients and contribute to the success of your agency.

The marketing field is dynamic, with constant changes in trends and technologies. Businesses that adapt to new marketing strategies and incorporate innovative approaches are better positioned to stay competitive and profitable.

Scaling a marketing business can lead to increased profitability. This may involve expanding services, hiring additional staff or targeting new markets. However, scaling should be done strategically to ensure continued success and avoid risk as much as possible.

Controlling operational costs is crucial for maintaining profitability. This includes managing overhead, employee expenses and other operational expenditures efficiently.

Building strong relationships with other businesses, forming partnerships, and networking within the industry can open up new opportunities for collaboration and client acquisition.

It's worth noting that the marketing industry can be competitive, and success often requires a combination of strategic planning, execution, and ongoing adaptation to industry changes. As with any business, profitability may take time to achieve, and it's important to continuously assess and adjust your strategies based on market trends and client feedback.

Tips for managing your marketing business

Opening and managing a marketing business effectively requires careful planning, organization and attention to detail. Here are five key considerations.

Target audience research and analysis

Conduct market research to identify your target audience, their needs and preferences.

Analyze market trends, competitor strategies and consumer behavior to develop effective marketing strategies.

Define your unique selling proposition (USP) to differentiate your business and attract your ideal clients.

Brand development and positioning

Create a strong brand identity that resonates with your target audience.

Develop a compelling brand message and value proposition that communicates your expertise and the benefits of working with your marketing business.

Design a visually appealing and professional brand identity, including a logo, website and marketing materials.

Services and pricing strategy

Determine the range of marketing services you will offer, such as social media management, content creation, SEO or advertising.

Define your pricing structure based on factors like your expertise, market rates and the value you provide to clients.

Consider offering packages or customizable solutions to cater to different client needs and budgets.

Marketing channels and campaigns

Identify the most effective marketing channels to reach your target audience, such as social media platforms, email marketing, content marketing or networking events.

Develop a comprehensive marketing plan that outlines your strategies, goals and specific tactics for each channel.

Create engaging and valuable content to attract and engage your target audience, showcasing your expertise and building credibility.

Client relationship management

Implement effective client relationship management strategies to foster long-term relationships and repeat business.

Provide exceptional customer service and communication, addressing client needs and concerns promptly.

Seek feedback from clients to continuously improve your services and exceed their expectations.

Tips for promoting your marketing business

Promoting your marketing business is crucial to attract clients and establish your reputation. Make sure to keep your branding consistent. Use Wix’s logo maker to create a logo that you can feature across platforms. Check out these tech logo ideas for inspiration and take a look at these additional tips to effectively market your business.

Online presence and website

Develop a professional website that showcases your services, portfolio, client testimonials and contact information.

Optimize your website for search engines to increase visibility and attract organic traffic.

Utilize social media platforms to share valuable content, engage with your audience and promote your expertise.

Networking and partnerships

Attend industry events, conferences and local business networking groups to connect with potential clients and strategic partners.

Collaborate with complementary businesses or professionals to cross-promote each other's services and expand your reach.

Thought leadership and content marketing

Position yourself as a thought leader in your industry by sharing valuable insights and expertise through blog posts, articles or videos.

Create and distribute high-quality content that addresses your target audience's pain points and provides practical solutions.

Testimonials and referrals

Collect testimonials from satisfied clients and display them on your website and marketing materials to build credibility.

Offer referral programs or incentives to encourage satisfied clients to refer new clients to your business.

Leverage your professional network and ask for referrals from clients, colleagues or industry contacts.

Examples of marketing businesses on Wix

Schoenen Marketing : Founded in 2010, Schoenen Marketing offers marketing consultation to help you navigate the complex and often confusing landscape of today’s marketing options. They’ll work with you to help you craft an approach that’s right for you and your business.

Moth Marketing : Moth Marketing is an “all gas, no brakes” marketing team that covers social media management, content creation, web design and creation, public relations, email marketing, digital advertising, podcast management and copywriting.

Benefits of starting a marketing business

Starting a marketing business is exciting and comes with lots of advantages and opportunities. Some key benefits include:

Creative freedom: As the owner of a marketing business, you have the freedom to unleash your creativity and develop innovative marketing strategies. You can help businesses build their brand, reach their target audience and achieve their marketing goals through creative campaigns and effective communication.

Impactful collaborations: A marketing business allows you to collaborate with a diverse range of clients across different industries. This provides an exciting opportunity to work with businesses of various sizes and sectors, helping them grow, thrive and make a lasting impact in the market.

Entrepreneurial journey: Starting a marketing business enables you to embark on an entrepreneurial journey. You can build a business from the ground up, shape its vision and make strategic decisions that drive its success. Being your own boss allows you to set your own working hours and establish a work-life balance that suits you.

Challenges of running a marketing business

While starting a marketing business offers numerous benefits, it also comes with its challenges. Here are a few common challenges to be aware of so you can plan ahead:

The marketing industry is highly competitive, with numerous agencies and freelancers vying for clients. Standing out in the crowded market requires a unique value proposition, a strong brand identity and a track record of delivering exceptional results.

How to start a marketing business FAQ

Can you start a marketing business on your own.

Yes, many successful marketing businesses begin as solo ventures . Freelancing allows you to leverage your skills and build a client base organically. As your business grows, you can gradually hire additional professionals to expand your services.

How much money do you need to start a marketing business?

Can you start a marketing agency with no experience, what types of marketing agencies are there, resources for starting a marketing business in a specific state.

If you're looking to start a marketing business in a specific state, here are some helpful links:

How to start a business in South Carolina

How to start a business in Georgia

How to start a business in Connecticut

How to start a business in Oregon

How to start a business in Tennessee

How to start a business in Wisconsin

How to start a business in Colorado

Don’t see your chosen state here? You can use the search bar in the Wix Blog to find all the information you need.

How to Start a Successful Marketing Agency from Scratch Opening a marketing agency is tough, but with the right strategy your business can take off.

By Timothy Carter Mar 17, 2021

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If you have experience in the marketing world or want to start a business that allows you to think creatively and recommend solutions for a diverse array of clients, launching a marketing agency could be a great option. The global market for digital marketing and advertising alone is estimated to be $322.5 billion and is projected to grow to $640.2 billion by the end of 2027 . And within this industry, you can capitalize on any number of subfields, including niche areas of expertise that don't have much competition and fast-growing areas with high potential for profitability.

Of course, starting a marketing agency from scratch isn't easy. To succeed you'll need to follow a few important principles and strategies.

Get experience (one way or another)

First, you'll want to gain experience. As a marketing agency CEO with virtually no marketing experience, you'd be hard-pressed to make insightful recommendations to your clients.

The most common path is to earn this experience for yourself. Start as a freelancer , providing small-scale marketing services to a limited number of clients. Or develop your abilities by working for an already established marketing agency.

Related: 10 Marketing Strategies to Fuel Your Business Growth

If you don't have much experience of your own and you want to get started sooner, you can leverage the experience of other professionals instead.

For example, you can:

Partner up. If you have a mind for business but limited marketing experience, consider partnering with a bona fide marketing expert who has limited business know-how. Complementary partnerships often work well.

Hire someone. You can also substitute your lack of experience with a roster of highly experienced employees. With the right team, your minimal experience is a nonissue.

Work with investors. If you have at least some experience, you can lean on the help of investors to guide you through the earliest stages of agency development.

Work with vendors. You can also work with vendors as the primary source of your recommendations. In this model your agency works more as a conduit than a direct source of marketing strategies or tactics.

Find a way to distinguish yourself

There are more than 40,000 advertising and related agencies in the United States. That's a lot of competition. To find clients and establish a reputation for your brand, you'll need a way to distinguish yourself.

Fortunately there are many options to do this. For example, you could focus on a specific type of client, based on their company size, industry or stage of growth. You could also focus on a specific area, appealing only to people in your city or state. Additionally, you could distinguish your brand by offering a unique voice or perspective on marketing in general.

Don't shy away from white labeling

One option for new agencies and inexperienced entrepreneurs is white labeling. Through white labeling you'll work with another agency, offering their services to your end clients as if they were your own. Depending on the nature of this relationship, you'll likely be able to devise strategies, execute tactics, and even produce reports through your partnered agency; and all these assets will be presented by your brand.

You'll pay upfront for these services, usually marking up the price slightly for your end client. Profit margins are reasonable, your client still gets a great price and you can rest assured that your clients are getting the best quality work.

Practice what you preach

As a marketing agency, it's important to practice what you preach. For example, let's say your agency formally recommends search engine optimization (SEO) to its clients. If your clients conduct a few basic searches for your agency's website and are unable to find it, this is a sign of your agency's incompetence, hypocrisy or both.

To make a good first impression and land more clients, you need to master all the strategies you're recommending.

Serve your first clients well

Your earliest clients are going to be some of the most important. This is your opportunity to prove what your agency can do, and oftentimes, early clients serve as a gateway to a potentially endless chain of referrals. Do whatever it takes to make these first clients happy, even if it means taking small losses or making additional sacrifices.

Related: Why I Spent Hours Conducting Research for My First Clients — All Before I Was Paid a Dime

Have a plan to scale

Marketing agency margins aren't amazing, especially if you're outsourcing most of your work. If you want to make money long-term, you'll need a plan to scale and attract more clients. There are many ways to do this, each with advantages and disadvantages. For example, you could dump more money into marketing and advertising, establish a referral program, or open up new locations in different cities.

Related: The 5 Stages Startups Must Go Through to Make that First $1 Million

Starting a marketing agency is tough, especially if you have little experience in the marketing industry. But with the right strategy and accommodation for these important points, your business has the potential to take off.

Chief Revenue Officer of SEO.co

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Blog Marketing What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

Written by: Sara McGuire Oct 26, 2023

A marketing plan is a blueprint that outlines your strategies to attract and convert your ideal customers as a part of your customer acquisition strategy . It’s a comprehensive document that details your:

Target audience: Who you’re trying to reach
Marketing goals: What you want to achieve
Strategies and tactics: How you’ll reach your goals
Budget: Resources you’ll allocate
Metrics: How you’ll measure success

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about creating a marketing plan . If you need a little extra help, there are professionally designed marketing plan templates that’ll make the process much easier. So, let’s ditch the confusion and get started!

Click to jump ahead:

What is a marketing plan?

How to write a marketing plan .

Marketing plan v.s. business plan
Types of marketing plans

9 marketing plan examples to inspire your growth strategy

Marketing plan faqs.

A marketing plan is a report that outlines your marketing strategy for your products or services, which could be applicable for the coming year, quarter or month.

Watch this quick, 13-minute video for more details on what a marketing plan is and how to make one yourself:

Typically, a marketing plan includes:

An overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals
A description of your business’s current marketing position
A timeline of when tasks within your strategy will be completed
Key performance indicators (KPIs) you will be tracking
A description of your business’s target market and customer needs
A description of how you will measure the performance of the strategy

For example, this marketing plan template provides a high-level overview of the business and competitors before diving deep into specific goals, KPIs and tactics:

Learning how to write a marketing plan forces you to think through the important steps that lead to an effective marketing strategy . And a well-defined plan will help you stay focused on your high-level marketing goals.

With Venngage’s extensive catalog of marketing plan templates , creating your marketing plan isn’t going to be hard or tedious. In fact, Venngage has plenty of helpful communications and design resources for marketers. If you’re ready to get started, sign up for Venngage for Marketers now. It’s free to register and start designing.

Whether you’re a team trying to set smarter marketing goals, a consultant trying to set your client in the right direction, or a one-person team hustling it out, Venngage for Marketers helps you get things done.

As mentioned above, the scope of your marketing plan varies depending on its purpose or the type of organization it’s for.

For example, you could create a marketing plan that provides an overview of a company’s entire marketing strategy or simply focus on a specific channel like SEO, social media marketing, content marketing and more, like in this example:

A typical outline of a marketing plan includes:

Executive summary
Goals and objectives
User personas
Competitor analysis/SWOT analysis
Baseline metrics
Marketing strategy
Tracking guidelines

Below you will see in details how to write each section as well as some examples of how you can design each section in a marketing plan.

Let’s look at how to create a successful marketing plan (click to jump ahead):

Write a simple executive summary
Set metric-driven marketing goals
Outline your user personas
Research all of your competitors
Set accurate key baselines & metrics
Create an actionable marketing strategy
Set tracking or reporting guidelines

1. Write a simple executive summary

Starting your marketing plan off on the right foot is important. You want to pull people into your amazing plan for marketing domination. Not bore them to tears.

Creative Marketing Plan Executive Summary

One of the best ways to get people excited to read your marketing plan is with a well-written executive summary. An executive summary introduces readers to your company goals, marketing triumphs, future plans, and other important contextual facts.

Standard Business Proposal Executive Summary

Basically, you can use the Executive Summary as a primer for the rest of your marketing plan.

Include things like:

Simple marketing goals
High-level metrics
Important company milestones
Facts about your brand
Employee anecdotes
Future goals & plans

Try to keep your executive summary rather brief and to the point. You aren’t writing a novel, so try to keep it under three to four paragraphs.

Take a look at the executive summary in the marketing plan example below:

Content Marketing Proposal Executive Summary

The executive summary is only two paragraphs long — short but effective.

The executive summary tells readers about the company’s growth, and how they are about to overtake one of their competitors. But there’s no mention of specific metrics or figures. That will be highlighted in the next section of the marketing plan.

An effective executive summary should have enough information to pique the reader’s interest, but not bog them down with specifics yet. That’s what the rest of your marketing plan is for!

The executive summary also sets the tone for your marketing plan. Think about what tone will fit your brand ? Friendly and humorous? Professional and reliable? Inspiring and visionary?

2. Set metric-driven marketing goals

After you perfect your executive summary, it’s time to outline your marketing goals.

(If you’ve never set data-driven goals like this before, it would be worth reading this growth strategy guide ).

This is one of the most important parts of the entire marketing plan, so be sure to take your time and be as clear as possible. Moreover, optimizing your marketing funnel is key. Employing effective funnel software can simplify operations and provide valuable customer insights. It facilitates lead tracking, conversion rate analysis, and efficient marketing optimization .

As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible. The folks over at VoyMedia advise that you should set goals that impact website traffic, conversions, and customer success — and to use real numbers.

Avoid outlining vague goals like:

Get more Twitter followers
Write more articles
Create more YouTube videos (like educational or Explainer videos )
Increase retention rate
Decrease bounce rate

Instead, identify key performance metrics (KPI) you want to impact and the percentage you want to increase them by.

Take a look at the goals page in the marketing plan example below:

They not only identify a specific metric in each of their goals, but they also set a timeline for when they will be increased.

The same vague goals listed earlier become much clearer when specific numbers and timelines are applied to them:

Get 100 new Twitter followers per month
Write 5 more articles per week
Create 10 YouTube videos each year
Increase retention rate by 15% by 2020
Decrease bounce rate by 5% by Q1
Create an online course and get 1,000 new leads
Focus more on local SEO strategies
Conduct a monthly social media report to track progress

You can dive even deeper into your marketing goals if you want (generally, the more specific, the better). Here’s a marketing plan example that shows how to outline your growth goals:

Growth Goals Roadmap Template for a Marketing Plan

3. Outline your user personas

Now, this may not seem like the most important part of your marketing plan, but I think it holds a ton of value.

Outlining your user personas is an important part of a marketing plan that should not be overlooked.

You should be asking not just how you can get the most visitors to your business, but how you can get the right visitors.

Who are your ideal customers? What are their goals? What are their biggest problems? How does your business solve customer problems?

Answering these questions will take lots of research, but it’s essential information to get.

Some ways to conduct user research are:

Interviewing your users (either in person or on the phone)
Conducting focus groups
Researching other businesses in the same industry
Surveying your audience

Then, you will need to compile your user data into a user persona guide.

Take a look at how detailed this user persona template is below:

Taking the time to identify specific demographic traits, habits and goals will make it easier for you to cater your marketing plan to them.

Here’s how you can create a user persona guide:

The first thing you should add is a profile picture or icon for each user persona. It can help to put a face to your personas, so they seem more real.

Next, list demographic information like:

Identifiers
Activities/Hobbies

The user persona example above uses sliding scales to identify personality traits like introversion vs. extroversion and thinking vs. feeling. Identifying what type of personality your target users tend to have an influence on the messaging you use in your marketing content.

Meanwhile, this user persona guide identifies specific challenges the user faces each day:

Content Marketing Proposal Audience Personas

But if you don’t want to go into such precise detail, you can stick to basic information, like in this marketing plan example:

Social Media Plan Proposal Template Ideal Customers

Most businesses will have a few different types of target users. That’s why it’s pertinent to identify and create several different user personas . That way, you can better segment your marketing campaigns and set separate goals, if necessary.

Here’s a marketing plan example with a segmented user persona guide:

The important thing is for your team or client to have a clear picture of who their target user is and how they can appeal to their specific problems.

Start creating robust user personas using Venngage’s user persona guide .

4. Conduct an extensive competitor analysis

Next, on the marketing plan checklist, we have the competitor research section. This section will help you identify who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how you could carve yourself a place alongside them in your niche — and ideally, surpass them. It’s something you can learn to do with rank tracking software .

Competitor research is also incredibly important if you are starting a blog .

Typically, your competitor research should include:

Who their marketing team is
Who their leadership team is
What their marketing strategy and strategic marketing plan are (this will probably revolve some reverse-engineering)
What their sales strategy is (same deal)
Social Media strategy (are they using discounting strategies such as coupon marketing to get conversions)
Their market cap/financials
Their yearly growth (you will probably need to use a marketing tool like Ahrefs to do this)
The number of customers they have & their user personas

Also, take as deep a dive as you can into the strategies they use across their:

Blog/Content marketing
Social media marketing
SEO Marketing
Video marketing
And any other marketing tactics they use

Research their strengths and weaknesses in all parts of their company, and you will find some great opportunities. Bookmark has a great guide to different marketing strategies for small businesses if you need some more information there.

You can use this simple SWOT analysis worksheet to quickly work through all parts of their strategy as well:

Click the template above to create a SWOT chart . Customize the template to your liking — no design know-how needed.

Since you have already done all the research beforehand, adding this information to your marketing plan shouldn’t be that hard.

In this marketing plan example, some high-level research is outlined for 3 competing brands:

Content Marketing Proposal Competitive Research

But you could take a deeper dive into different facets of your competitors’ strategies. This marketing plan example analyses a competitor’s content marketing strategy:

Competitor-Analysis-Content-Marketing-Plan-Template

It can also be helpful to divide your competitors into Primary and Secondary groups. For example, Apple’s primary competitor may be Dell for computers, but its secondary competitor could be a company that makes tablets.

Your most dangerous competitors may not even be in the same industry as you. Like the CEO of Netflix said, “Sleep is our competition.”

5. Set accurate key baselines & metrics

It’s pretty hard to plan for the future if you don’t know where your business stands right now.

Before we do anything at Venngage, we find the baselines so we can compare future results to something. We do it so much it’s almost like second nature now!

Setting baselines will allow you to more accurately track your progress. You will also be able to better analyze what worked and what didn’t work, so you can build a stronger strategy. It will definitely help them clearly understand your goals and strategy as well.

Here’s a marketing plan example where the baselines are visualized:

Social Media Marketing Proposal Success Metrics

Another way to include baselines in your plan is with a simple chart, like in the marketing plan example below:

Because data can be intimidating to a lot of people, visualizing your data using charts and infographics will help demystify the information.

6. Create an actionable marketing strategy

After pulling all the contextual information and relevant metrics into your marketing plan, it’s time to break down your marketing strategy.

Once again, it’s easier to communicate your information to your team or clients using visuals .

Mind maps are an effective way to show how a strategy with many moving parts ties together. For example, this mind map shows how the four main components of a marketing strategy interact together:

You can also use a flow chart to map out your strategy by objectives:

However you choose to visualize your strategy, your team should know exactly what they need to do. This is not the time to keep your cards close to your chest.

Your strategy section may need to take up a few pages to explain, like in the marketing plan example below:

Creative-Modern-Content-Marketing-Plan-Template

With all of this information, even someone from the development team will understand what the marketing team is working on.

This minimalistic marketing plan example uses color blocks to make the different parts of the strategy easy to scan:

Blue-Simple-Social-Media-Marketing-Plan-Template

Breaking your strategy down into tasks will make it easier to tackle.

Another important way to visualize your marketing strategy is to create a project roadmap. A project roadmap visualizes the timeline of your product with individual tasks. Our roadmap maker can help you with this.

For example, this project roadmap shows how tasks on both the marketing and web design side run parallel to each other:

A simple timeline can also be used in your marketing plan:

Or a mind map, if you want to include a ton of information in a more organized way:

Even a simple “Next, Now, Later” chart can help visualize your strategy:

7. Set tracking or reporting guidelines

Close your marketing plan with a brief explanation of how you plan to track or measure your results. This will save you a lot of frustration down the line by standardizing how you track results across your team.

Like the other sections of your marketing plan, you can choose how in-depth you want to go. But there need to be some clear guidelines on how to measure the progress and results of your marketing plan.

At the bare minimum, your results tracking guidelines should specify:

What you plan to track
How you plan to track results
How often you plan to measure

But you can more add tracking guidelines to your marketing plan if you see the need to. You may also want to include a template that your team or client can follow, for client reporting , ensure that the right metrics are being tracked.

The marketing plan example below dedicates a whole page to tracking criteria:

SEO Marketing Proposal Measuring Results

Use a task tracker to track tasks and marketing results, and a checklist maker to note down tasks, important life events, or tracking your daily life.

Similarly, the marketing plan example below talks about tracking content marketing instead:

Marketing plan vs. marketing strategy

Although often used interchangeably, the terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” do have some differences.

Simply speaking, a marketing strategy presents what the business will do in order to reach a certain goal. A marketing plan outlines the specific daily, weekly, monthly or yearly activities that the marketing strategy calls for. As a business, you can create a marketing proposal for the marketing strategies defined in your company’s marketing plan. There are various marketing proposal examples that you can look at to help with this.

A company’s extended marketing strategy can be like this:

Notice how it’s more general and doesn’t include the actual activities required to complete each strategy or the timeframe those marketing activities will take place. That kind of information is included in a marketing plan, like this marketing plan template which talks about the content strategy in detail:

Marketing plan v.s business plan

While both marketing plans and business plans are crucial documents for businesses, they serve distinct purposes and have different scopes. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines all aspects of your business, including:

Mission and vision
Products or services
Target market
Competition
Management team
Financial projections
Marketing strategy (including a marketing plan)
Operations plan

Marketing plan on the other hand, dives deep into the specific strategies and tactics related to your marketing efforts. It expands on the marketing section of a business plan by detailing:

Specific marketing goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales)
Target audience analysis (detailed understanding of their needs and behaviors)
Product: Features, benefits, positioning
Price: Pricing strategy, discounts
Place: Distribution channels (online, offline)
Promotion: Advertising, social media, content marketing, public relations
Budget allocation for different marketing activities
Metrics and measurement to track progress and success

In short, business plans paint the entire business picture, while marketing plans zoom in on the specific strategies used to reach your target audience and achieve marketing goals.

Types of marketing plans that can transform your business strategy

Let’s take a look at several types of marketing plans you can create, along with specific examples for each.

1. General marketing strategic plan / Annual marketing plan

This is a good example of a marketing plan that covers the overarching annual marketing strategy for a company:

marketing strategy template marketing plan

Another good example would be this Starbucks marketing plan:

This one-page marketing plan example from coffee chain Starbucks has everything at a glance. The bold headers and subheadings make it easier to segment the sections so readers can focus on the area most relevant to them.

What we like about this example is how much it covers. From the ideal buyer persona to actional activities, as well as positioning and metrics, this marketing plan has it all.

Another marketing plan example that caught our eye is this one from Cengage. Although a bit text-heavy and traditional, it explains the various sections well. The clean layout makes this plan easy to read and absorb.

The last marketing plan example we would like to feature in this section is this one from Lush cosmetics.

It is a long one but it’s also very detailed. The plan outlines numerous areas, including the company mission, SWOT analysis , brand positioning, packaging, geographical criteria, and much more.

2. Content marketing plan

A content marketing plan highlights different strategies , campaigns or tactics you can use for your content to help your business reach its goals.

This one-page marketing plan example from Contently outlines a content strategy and workflow using simple colors and blocks. The bullet points detail more information but this plan can easily be understood at a glance, which makes it so effective.

For a more detailed content marketing plan example, take a look at this template which features an editorial calendar you can share with the whole team:

3. SEO marketing plan

Your SEO marketing plan highlights what you plan to do for your SEO marketing strategy . This could include tactics for website on-page optimization , off-page optimization using AI SEO , and link building using an SEO PowerSuite backlink API for quick backlink profile checks.

This SEO marketing plan example discusses in detail the target audience of the business and the SEO plan laid out in different stages:

4. Social media marketing plan

Your social media marketing plan presents what you’ll do to reach your marketing goal through social media. This could include tactics specific to each social media channel that you own, recommendations on developing a new channel, specific campaigns you want to run, and so on, like how B2B channels use Linkedin to generate leads with automation tools and expand their customer base; or like making use of Twitter walls that could display live Twitter feeds from Twitter in real-time on digital screens.

For B2C brands, you can target Facebook and Instagram. Gain Instagram likes to build trust for your brand’s profile and post engaging content on both platforms

Edit this social media marketing plan example easily with Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor:

5. Demand generation marketing plan

This could cover your paid marketing strategy (which can include search ads, paid social media ads, traditional advertisements, etc.), email marketing strategy and more. Here’s an example:

1. Free marketing plan template

Here’s a free nonprofit marketing plan example that is ideal for organizations with a comprehensive vision to share. It’s a simple plan that is incredibly effective. Not only does the plan outline the core values of the company, it also shares the ideal buyer persona.

how to start a marketing firm business plan

Note how the branding is consistent throughout this example so there is no doubt which company is presenting this plan. The content plan is an added incentive for anyone viewing the document to go ahead and give the team the green light.

2. Pastel social media marketing campaign template

Two-page marketing plan samples aren’t very common, but this free template proves how effective they are. There’s a dedicated section for business goals as well as for project planning .

Pastel Social Media Marketing Plan Template

The milestones for the marketing campaign are clearly laid out, which is a great way to show how organized this business strategy is.

3. Small business marketing strategy template

This marketing plan template is perfect for small businesses who set out to develop an overarching marketing strategy for the whole year:

Notice how this aligns pretty well with the marketing plan outline we discussed in previous sections.

In terms of specific tactics for the company’s marketing strategy, the template only discusses SEO strategy, but you can certainly expand on that section to discuss any other strategies — such as link building , that you would like to build out a complete marketing plan for.

4. Orange simple marketing proposal template

Marketing plans, like the sample below, are a great way to highlight what your business strategy and the proposal you wan to put forward to win potential customers.

5. One-page marketing fact sheet template

This one-page marketing plan example is great for showcasing marketing efforts in a persuasive presentation or to print out for an in-person meeting.

Nonprofit Healthcare Company Fact Sheet Template

Note how the fact sheet breaks down the marketing budget as well as the key metrics for the organization. You can win over clients and partners with a plan like this.

6. Light company business fact sheet template

This one-page sample marketing plan clearly outlines the marketing objectives for the organization. It’s a simple but effective way to share a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

What really works with this example is that includes a mission statement, key contact information alongside all the key metrics.

7. Marketing media press kit template

This press kit marketing plan template is bright and unmistakable as belonging to the Cloud Nine marketing agency . The way the brand colors are used also helps diversify the layouts for each page, making the plan easier to read.

We like the way the marketing department has outlined the important facts about the organization. The bold and large numbers draw the eye and look impressive.

8. Professional marketing proposal template

Start your marketing campaign on a promising note with this marketing plan template. It’s short, sharp and to the point. The table of contents sets out the agenda, and there’s a page for the company overview and mission statement.

9. Social media marketing proposal template

A complete marketing plan example, like the one below, not only breaks down the business goals to be achieved but a whole lot more. Note how the terms and conditions and payment schedule are included, which makes this one of the most comprehensive marketing plans on our list.

Checkered Social Media Marketing Proposal Template

What should marketing plans include?

Marketing plans should include:

A detailed analysis of the target market and customer segments.
Clear and achievable marketing objectives and goals.
Strategies and tactics for product promotion and distribution.
Budget allocation for various marketing activities.
Timelines and milestones for the implementation of marketing strategies.
Evaluation metrics and methods for tracking the success of the marketing plan.

What is an executive summary in a marketing plan and what is its main goal?

An executive summary in a marketing plan is a brief overview of the entire document, summarizing the key points, goals, and strategies. Its main goal is to provide readers with a quick understanding of the plan’s purpose and to entice them to read further.

What are the results when a marketing plan is effective?

When a marketing plan is effective, businesses can experience increased brand visibility, higher customer engagement, improved sales and revenue, and strengthened customer loyalty.

What is the first section of a marketing plan?

The first section of a marketing plan is typically the “Executive Summary,” which provides a concise overview of the entire plan, including the business’s goals and the strategies to achieve them.

Now that you have the basics for designing your own marketing plan, it’s time to get started:

More marketing design guides and templates:

Marketing Infographics: The Definitive Guide [Includes Infographic Templates]
20+ Business Pitch Deck Templates to Win New Clients and Investors
20+ White Paper Examples [Design Guide + White Paper Templates]
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How To Write a Marketing Agency Business Plan + Template

Creating a business plan is essential for any business, but it can be especially helpful for marketing agency businesses that want to improve their strategy and/or raise funding.

A well-crafted business plan not only outlines the vision for your company, but also documents a step-by-step roadmap of how you are going to accomplish it. In order to create an effective business plan, you must first understand the components that are essential to its success.

This article provides an overview of the key elements that every marketing agency owner should include in their business plan.

Download the Digital Marketing Agency Business Plan Template

What is a Marketing Agency Business Plan?

A marketing agency business plan is a formal written document that describes your company’s business strategy and its feasibility. It documents the reasons you will be successful, your areas of competitive advantage, and it includes information about your team members. Your business plan is a key document that will convince investors and lenders (if needed) that you are positioned to become a successful venture.

Why Write a Marketing Agency Business Plan?

A marketing agency business plan is required for banks and investors. The document is a clear and concise guide of your business idea and the steps you will take to make it profitable.

Entrepreneurs can also use this as a roadmap when starting their new company or venture, especially if they are inexperienced in starting a business.

Writing an Effective Marketing Agency Business Plan

The following are the key components of a successful marketing agency business plan:

Executive Summary

The executive summary of a marketing agency business plan is a one to two page overview of your entire business plan. It should summarize the main points, which will be presented in full in the rest of your business plan.

Start with a one-line description of your marketing agency
Provide a short summary of the key points in each section of your business plan, which includes information about your company’s management team, industry analysis, competitive analysis, and financial forecast among others.

Company Description

This section should include a brief history of your company. Include a short description of how your company started, and provide a timeline of milestones your company has achieved.

If you are just starting your marketing agency , you may not have a long company history. Instead, you can include information about your professional experience in this industry and how and why you conceived your new venture. If you have worked for a similar company before or have been involved in an entrepreneurial venture before starting your marketing agency, mention this.

You will also include information about your chosen marketing agency business model and how, if applicable, it is different from other companies in your industry.

Industry Analysis

The industry or market analysis is an important component of a marketing agency business plan. Conduct thorough market research to determine industry trends and document the size of your market.

Questions to answer include:

What part of the marketing agency industry are you targeting?
How big is the market?
What trends are happening in the industry right now (and if applicable, how do these trends support the success of your company)?

You should also include sources for the information you provide, such as published research reports and expert opinions.

Customer Analysis

This section should include a list of your target audience(s) with demographic and psychographic profiles (e.g., age, gender, income level, profession, job titles, interests). You will need to provide a profile of each customer segment separately, including their needs and wants.

For example, the customers of a marketing agency may include small businesses, non-profit organizations, or even individuals.

You can include information about how your customers make the decision to buy from you as well as what keeps them buying from you.

Develop a strategy for targeting those customers who are most likely to buy from you, as well as those that might be influenced to buy your products or marketing agency services with the right marketing.

Competitive Analysis

The competitive analysis helps you determine how your product or service will be different from competitors, and what your unique selling proposition (USP) might be that will set you apart in this industry.

For each competitor, list their strengths and weaknesses. Next, determine your areas of competitive differentiation and/or advantage; that is, in what ways are you different from and ideally better than your competitors.

Below are sample competitive advantages your marketing agency may have:

Proven track record of success
Strong client base
Robust marketing strategy and execution
Highly qualified and experienced team
State-of-the-art technology and tools

Marketing Plan

This part of the business plan is where you determine and document your marketing plan. . Your plan should be clearly laid out, including the following 4 Ps.

Product/Service : Detail your product/service offerings here. Document their features and benefits.
Price : Document your pricing strategy here. In addition to stating the prices for your products/services, mention how your pricing compares to your competition.
Place : Where will your customers find you? What channels of distribution (e.g., partnerships) will you use to reach them if applicable?
Promotion : How will you reach your target customers? For example, you may use social media, write blog posts, create an email marketing campaign, use pay-per-click advertising, launch a direct mail campaign. Or, you may promote your marketing agency via public relations or word-of-mouth.

Operations Plan

This part of your marketing agency business plan should include the following information:

How will you deliver your product/service to customers? For example, will you do it in person or over the phone only?
What infrastructure, equipment, and resources are needed to operate successfully? How can you meet those requirements within budget constraints?

The operations plan is where you also need to include your company’s business policies. You will want to establish policies related to everything from customer service to pricing, to the overall brand image you are trying to present.

Finally, and most importantly, in your Operations Plan, you will lay out the milestones your company hopes to achieve within the next five years. Create a chart that shows the key milestone(s) you hope to achieve each quarter for the next four quarters, and then each year for the following four years. Examples of milestones for a marketing agency include reaching $X in sales. Other examples include adding X new clients or launching a new website.

Management Team

List your team members here including their names and titles, as well as their expertise and experience relevant to your specific marketing agency industry. Include brief biography sketches for each team member.

Particularly if you are seeking funding, the goal of this section is to convince investors and lenders that your team has the expertise and experience to execute on your plan. If you are missing key team members, document the roles and responsibilities you plan to hire for in the future.

Financial Plan

Here you will include a summary of your complete and detailed financial plan (your full financial projections go in the Appendix).

This includes the following three financial statements:

Income Statement

Your income statement should include:

Revenue : how much revenue you generate.
Cost of Goods Sold : These are your direct costs associated with generating revenue. This includes labor costs, as well as the cost of any equipment and supplies used to deliver the product/service offering.
Net Income (or loss) : Once expenses and revenue are totaled and deducted from each other, this is the net income or loss.

Sample Income Statement for a Startup Marketing Agency

Balance sheet.

Include a balance sheet that shows your assets, liabilities, and equity. Your balance sheet should include:

Assets : All of the things you own (including cash).
Liabilities : This is what you owe against your company’s assets, such as accounts payable or loans.
Equity : The worth of your business after all liabilities and assets are totaled and deducted from each other.

Sample Balance Sheet for a Startup Marketing Agency

Cash flow statement.

Include a cash flow statement showing how much cash comes in, how much cash goes out and a net cash flow for each year. The cash flow statement should include:

Cash Flow From Operations
Cash Flow From Investments
Cash Flow From Financing

Below is a sample of a projected cash flow statement for a startup marketing agency .

Sample Cash Flow Statement for a Startup Marketing Agency

You will also want to include an appendix section which will include:

Your complete financial projections
A complete list of your company’s business policies and procedures related to the rest of the business plan (marketing, operations, etc.)
Any other documentation which supports what you included in the body of your business plan.

Writing a good business plan gives you the advantage of being fully prepared to launch and/or grow your marketing agency . It not only outlines your business vision but also provides a step-by-step process of how you are going to accomplish it.

If you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, it is especially important to have a well-written business plan that demonstrates the expertise and experience of your management team, as well as your company’s potential for financial success. By taking the time to write a detailed and comprehensive business plan, you will give your marketing agency the best chance for success.

Finish Your Marketing Agency Business Plan in 1 Day!

Wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your marketing agency business plan?

With our Ultimate Digital Marketing Agency Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

How to Write a Marketing Plan

By Joe Weller | March 28, 2024

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A marketing plan is a guide for achieving marketing initiatives on a set timeline. It includes analysis of a company's target audience, competitors, and market sector. Teams can build an organized strategy with that information to reach their goals.

Inside this article you’ll find a detailed, step-by-step guide to writing a marketing plan, with a free, downloadable marketing starter kit for beginners .

A marketing plan includes analysis of the target audience, the competitors, and the market so that teams can determine the best strategy for achieving their goals. The plan’s length and detail depend on the company's size and the scope of the marketing project. A marketing plan is useful for all types of marketing, including digital, social media, new product, small business, B2C, and B2B. Follow the steps below to write a comprehensive marketing plan.

1. Prepare for Success

Before you begin writing your marketing plan, set yourself up for success by conducting thorough market research and assembling a team with diverse skills in marketing strategy, content creation, digital marketing, and data analysis. Be sure to consult all your team members as you progress through these steps. It might also be helpful to assign leaders to complete different sections of the plan, depending on their areas of expertise. For example, you might assign the market analysis section to a team member with strong analytical skills and experience in data analysis.

2. Use a Marketing Plan Template

Download a free marketing plan template to ensure consistency and thoroughness in your final marketing plan.

For more template options, see this collection of free marketing plan templates and examples.

3. Identify Your Target Customers

To identify target customers for your marketing plan, collect information about their location, demographics (such as age, gender, and income), interests, values, and purchasing behaviors. This knowledge enables you to focus your marketing goals and tactics to meet their specific needs and preferences.

A customer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer that provides valuable insights for strategic decision-making. Use one of these customer persona templates to craft a detailed profile of your ideal customer.

4. Conduct a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is an important part of any marketing plan, because it helps identify a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in relation to the market environment. To start, divide a page into four quadrants and label each as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, brainstorm with your team to fill in each section. Be as honest and specific as possible, considering factors such as market trends, competition, and your own resources and capabilities. This information will allow the team to capitalize on strengths, prepare for challenges, and make sound strategic decisions throughout the marketing plan.

See this collection of marketing plan SWOT analysis templates for additional guidance.

5. Conduct a Market Analysis

A market analysis is an assessment of a market's size, growth, trends, customer segments, and competitor dynamics. Include it in your marketing plan to provide critical insights for strategic decision-making, helping to tailor products to customer needs, differentiate from competitors, and identify new opportunities.

To conduct a market analysis for your marketing plan, determine each of the following factors:

Market Size: This is the total potential sales that a particular product or service can achieve within a defined market. Determine the market size by estimating the number of potential buyers for a particular service and multiplying that by the estimated number of purchases over a specific timeframe. (Number of Target Customers) x (Number of Purchases in a Given Time) = Market Size Imagine your company sells wireless headphones, and you estimate that the average consumer purchases a new pair every two years. If your market includes 1 million target customers, and assuming each customer buys one pair of headphones every two years, the calculation for annual market size would be as follows: (1 million target customers) x (0.5 purchases per year) = 500,000 pairs of wireless headphones per year
Market Growth Rate: This measures the change in a market’s size over a specific time period and is typically expressed as a percentage. To determine the market growth rate, use the following formula: [(Current Market Size − Previous Market Size) ÷ Previous Market Size] × 100% = Growth Rate For example, if the market for wireless headphones was worth $1 billion last year and is worth $1.1 billion this year, the market growth rate would be as follows: [($1.1 Billion – $1 Billion) ÷ $1 Billion] x 100% = 10%

Market Share: This is the percentage of total sales in an industry generated by a particular company over a period of time. It provides a benchmark for assessing performance relative to competitors. Use this formula for calculating market share: (Company’s Revenue ÷ Total Industry Revenue) x 100% = Market Share

Tip: Keep in mind that the market size, share, and growth rate are all estimates. It’s impossible to be exact. To obtain the most accurate numbers, review the latest industry reports and seek insight from experts.

Market Demand: This is the amount of a product or service a consumer is willing to purchase and how much they are willing to pay for it. To determine market demand in a market analysis, begin by conducting comprehensive research on consumer behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns related to your product or service. Use tools such as surveys, SEO analytics, and interviews to gather data on potential customer interest and willingness to pay, and analyze competitor pricing and offerings.
Market Trends: This is the growth or decline direction of a product or service’s price over a specific timeframe. To identify a market trend, monitor industry developments, consumer behavior, and technological advancements over time. Review industry reports and expert analyses to understand broader market movements and future projections. Summarize these observations and include them in your plan to highlight the direction in which the market is heading.

Market Segments: The broader market includes specific groups, categorized by shared characteristics. Generally, there are four types of market segments: geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral. In your marketing plan, detail how you'll target each segment by adapting your strategies to their unique characteristics. This targeted approach ensures more effective engagement with each segment.

Competitor Analysis: A competitor analysis involves examining your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, market positioning, product offerings, and marketing strategies. Describe how you'll conduct a comprehensive evaluation of key competitors by analyzing their market share, pricing, distribution channels, and promotional tactics. For more guidance, try downloading this competitor analysis template. Use it to identify areas where your rivals succeed and why. Their strengths indicate areas for improvement, while their weaknesses indicate opportunities.

6. List Your SMART Goals

Include SMART goals in your marketing plan to ensure that objectives are specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound, providing a clear direction for strategic actions and performance evaluation. Start by identifying key performance areas that align with your overall business strategy. Then, for each goal, apply the SMART framework.

Here are two examples of SMART marketing goals:

By Q4 end, increase search results page (SERP) position from 14th to the top three for keywords pertaining to our brand and lead to more organic traffic.
Increase social media following, reach, and engagement by 25 percent in six months and 50 percent in one year.

Learn more about SMART goals and find a customizable SMART goals worksheet in this comprehensive guide to writing SMART goals .

7. Create a Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy is the plan for achieving your SMART goals.

“A marketing plan should include strategic and tactical elements,” says Gayle Kalvert, Founder and CEO at Creo Collective , a full-service marketing agency. “From a strategic standpoint, it is critical that the marketing plan aligns to the overall goals of the organization. Tactically, what initiatives will the marketing team execute, and why? Tactics with no strategy lead to spotty results and poor-quality leads.”

Use one of these marketing strategy templates to get started. A successful marketing strategy will include the following elements:

7a. Customer Buying Cycle

The customer buying cycle is the path a potential customer follows from first having exposure to a product or service to becoming an advocate for it. Understanding this process allows marketers to effectively target communications and strategies at each stage in their marketing plan.

Pro Tip: “Consider your persona’s buyer's journey and ensure marketing has a role at each stage of the journey, especially after the close,” says Kalvert. “That is when customers can become advocates, sources of referral, and great subjects for marketing content for future buyers.”

7b. Unique Selling Proposition

A unique selling proposition (USP) is a specific benefit or advantage that sets your product or service apart from the competitors. By including a USP in a marketing plan, you help ensure that the team communicates why customers should choose your offering over others.

For example, Google’s USP is its powerful and accurate search algorithm that delivers relevant search results faster and more efficiently than its competitors.

7c. Branding

Branding is the development of a unique identity, image, and experience for a company. Marketers convey a brand through messaging, tone, logo, colors, and web design. The marketing strategy needs to align with the company’s brand in order to maintain consistency in messaging and experience, which ultimately builds customer trust.

7d. Marketing Mix A marketing mix refers to the set of actions that a company takes to promote its brand or product in the market, typically encapsulated by the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Go through each of these steps when including the marketing mix in your strategy:

Product: Describe the product and the problem it solves for your target customers. What makes your product or service different from the competition? Why is it special?
Price: Explain how much your target customer is willing to pay for the product or service based on its real and perceived value. What do your competitors charge for a similar product? Will you run any seasonal promotions or discounts?
Place: Describe where your product or service will be available for purchase by your target customers. Will you sell it online, through retail partners, or both? How will you manage logistics and supply chain to ensure your product is accessible to your target market?
Promotion: Detail the strategies you will use to communicate your product’s value to consumers. This includes advertising, public relations, social media marketing, email campaigns, sales promotions, and direct marketing tactics.

7e. Channels

Identify the specific mediums and platforms — or channels — where you’ll share your message to your target audience. These should include distribution channels, communication channels, and engagement channels.

As you list them, explain how they will be used to effectively reach and engage with your target audience. For example, if you’re marketing a new fitness app, one distribution channel would be a direct download from the App Store to reach fitness enthusiasts directly on their smartphones. An engagement channel could be an in-app community feature for users where they can share progress.

Here is a brief list of popular marketing channels:

Affiliate marketing
Email marketing
Social media
Website marketing

7f. Tactics Tactics are the specific actions you will take to reach the goals outlined in your strategy. They cover everything from the creation and distribution of marketing materials to the scheduling of campaigns to the platforms used for advertising and engagement. Detail the specific actions and tools you will use to execute your marketing strategy, along with timelines, responsibilities, and budget allocations for each activity. This includes specifying the exact steps for product promotion, customer engagement, content creation, digital marketing efforts, and any other methods chosen to reach and convert your target audience. “Equally as important as using data is to build in time and resources to be flexible,” says Kalvert. “The marketing landscape is evolving at such a rapid pace. Tactics that worked last year may not work this year. Be open to experimenting with new tactics and adjusting your approach based on feedback and results.”

8. Determine the Budget

Start by estimating the costs associated with each tactic and channel outlined in your strategy, taking into account factors such as content creation, platform fees, and personnel costs. Next, prioritize spending based on the expected ROI for each tactic. Finally, document the budget in a clear, detailed format within your marketing plan, including an itemized list of costs for each tactic, total expenditure, and a contingency fund.

For more resources and help estimating marketing project costs, take a look at this collection of helpful free marketing plan budget templates .

9. Create a Calendar

Create a calendar to schedule and track deliverables. Include time for brainstorming, planning, executing, and analyzing results. List objectives, start dates, end dates, due dates, and responsible parties. Keep the calendar in a central location so that team members can easily access it.

10. List Marketing Tools and Technology

List any marketing tools or technologies your team will use to help achieve their goals. These can include email marketing software, blogging software, social media management software, or any other programs you plan to use.

11. Identify Metrics and KPIs

Identify the metrics for measuring and tracking your marketing goals. Metrics and KPIs eliminate ambiguity so that you can accurately measure progress. Select indicators that directly reflect the success of your marketing objectives, such as conversion rates, website traffic, lead generation, and customer acquisition costs.

12. Write an Executive Summary

Once you’ve completed all the sections in your marketing plan document, return to the first section to write the executive summary. Completing this section last ensures that you have a thorough understanding of all key elements before summarizing them.

Concisely highlight the main objectives, target market, and key strategies of the plan, providing a snapshot of the market analysis and expected outcomes. Outline the budget, resources required, and the metrics for measuring success. This section serves as a compelling overview, enticing stakeholders to delve into the plan.

For more detailed information on executive summaries, see this guide to writing an effective executive summary. You can also download a helpful template from this collection of free executive summary templates

Marketing Starter Kit for Beginners

Download Marketing Starter Kit for Beginners

Get everything you need for creating a marketing plan with this free, downloadable marketing plan starter kit. The kit includes an executive summary template, a customer persona worksheet, a SWOT analysis template, a competitor analysis template, a SMART goals worksheet, a marketing strategy template, and a calendar template with a budget tracker, all in one easy-to-download file.

In this kit, you’ll find the following:

An executive summary template for Microsoft Word to help you introduce the content of your marketing plan.
A customer persona worksheet for Microsoft Word to collect information about your ideal customer.
A SWOT analysis template for Microsoft Word to guide strategic decision-making based on the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
A competitor analysis template for Microsoft Word to help you compare and evaluate your competitors.
A SMART goals worksheet for Microsoft Word to ensure each marketing objective follows SMART guidelines.
A marketing strategy template for Microsoft Word to outline the plan for achieving your goals.
A calendar template with budget tracker for Excel where you can organize, track, and manage marketing deliverables and their costs.
A marketing plan template for Microsoft Word to ensure consistency and thoroughness in your final marketing plan.

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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How to start a marketing agency (the right way) in 2024

13 min read

Can I start a marketing agency on my own?

Is owning a marketing agency profitable.

steps to starting a marketing agency in 2024

How hard is it to run a marketing agency?

Modern marketing agencies run on copilot.

Almost two years ago, I quit my dream job to start my dream marketing agency.

I haven’t looked back since.

I mean, who doesn’t want to be their own boss, get to work with awesome companies, and help them drive growth through creative marketing plans?

But, you're probably wondering if you can start a marketing agency all by yourself. The answer is yes — I did it!

A profitable venture? Definitely! However, beginning a business is not simple, it requires cautious arranging and execution (no surprise).

In this article, I’ll guide you through the crucial steps I took to start a successful marketing agency — from finding your niche and productizing your service to scaling client acquisition strategies.

Let’s get to it!

Starting your own marketing agency is indeed an exciting journey and can absolutely be undertaken independently.

I know because I did it.

With the right mix of dedication, continuous learning, and using the right tools , your dream of creating a successful digital marketing agency is achievable. To reach success, it’s important to understand various digital marketing channels and strategies that work best for each. You’ll also need to acquire knowledge on how to use different online tools that can help you stay ahead of the competition.

Building an ideal team is also key to delivering top-notch services, fulfilling client expectations, and attaining sustainable success. Encouraging your team to take online digital marketing courses can help them stay up-to-date with the latest trends and strategies.

Studies have revealed that we spend between 5 to 8 hours a day online, providing businesses with the perfect opportunity to connect with their customers where they spend the majority of their day. This is why starting your own digital marketing agency can be a great business idea.

As an entrepreneur, profitability undoubtedly ranks high among your concerns. This begs the question, does owning a marketing agency offer a profitable venture? The answer is a resounding yes!

Owning a digital marketing business in the form of a marketing agency can be highly profitable, with profit margins varying on the services you provide and how much of the work you want to outsource. Plus, the added bonus of being able to work remotely means you can reduce overhead costs and focus on delivering exceptional services to your clients.

10 steps to starting a marketing agency in 2024

The steps to start a marketing agency can look different for each person and use case. However, I created a list that I personally followed to start and grow my agency — so I know these steps are tried and true.

Here are my 10 steps to starting a marketing agency:

Find your niche
Productize your service
Do outreach to sign your first client
Send a proposal and sign a contract
Onboard your client with a client portal
Send your client an invoice
Create a real company
Create a website for your agency
Create a case study
Scale your client acquisition efforts

Okay, let’s dive deeper into each one of these.

1. Get good at a specific marketing discipline (aka find your niche)

The first step to starting a successful marketing agency is to become a master in your craft.

You'll see a lot of content online talking about how to start a marketing agency with "no experience" and how easy it is to make X amount in a certain month.

But to be honest, you should not start a marketing agency if you have not mastered a specific area of marketing. This is because, as a marketing agency, you have a moral responsibility to provide your clients with the best possible service — especially when they gave you a chance over the hundreds of other agencies they could have gone with.

Companies hire marketing agencies to help them get results. So, you need a history of getting those results.

The best way to do this is to work at a marketing agency, work in-house for a company, or do both over your professional career (which is what I did). This will give you the opportunity to hone your craft. And, because the marketing agency landscape can be competitive, it's important to get really good at one specific thing. For me, that was content marketing and SEO. For you, it could be the same, or you can get good at social media marketing , running ads for clients, copywriting, building websites, and more.

A marketing agency can provide a wide range of digital marketing services, including:

Social media management
Content creation
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
Email marketing
Website design and development

By focusing on a specific marketing discipline, you make sure that potential clients understand what your agency does and how it stands out from other digital marketing agencies in the market.

Once you've figured out the service(s) you want to provide, it's time to create packages so both you and your clients know what your offering is from the start.

2. Productize your service

Productizing your services enables you to package and price your services as standardized products, allowing you to clearly define the parameters and pricing of your service to be sold like a product. This can be a great way to maximize your business potential, make your services more accessible and understandable to potential clients, and help eliminate scope creep once a project is kicked off.

To package your services into a clear, easy-to-understand offering that will attract your target market, think about the extent of the service, the amount of time it will take to provide it, and the cost of delivering the service.

For example, Designjoy is a single-person agency that has packaged their services into a subscription model.

This helps them showcase the value they offer and makes it easier for potential clients to understand and purchase their services. This approach helps you stand out from competitors who may offer similar services but don’t present them as clearly or transparently to their target audience.

3. Do outreach to sign your first client

Once your niche is carved out and your services are productized, the next step is to concentrate on acquiring your initial client. To do so, you can:

Leverage networking from previous jobs
Reach out to founders of companies you want to work with on LinkedIn
Cold email companies you want to work with (use tools like Hunter.io or VoilaNorbert to find company email addresses)

The way I personally signed my first client for my content marketing agency was to write a free guest post. I reached out to the founder of a company that I saw huge potential for. I asked if I could write them a free article going after a specific keyword that was important for their business. They agreed and a few months later, they started ranking #1 in Google for that keyword. They were also an enterprise company so that single article brought in thousands of dollars in deals for them. At that point, it was a no-brainer for them to sign a long-term contract because I focused on providing value first.

Depending on the type of agency you want to run, your approach may look different. However, the principle of providing value first before you ask for anything is consistent across any marketing service you want to provide.

For example, you can email the founder of a company and tell them the exact steps they need to take to grow their business. And you can end your email with something like, “If you want to dive deeper into this, we can hop on a call — no strings attached.” This will help you land a meeting to show off your skills.

By taking this approach, and reaching out to several companies, it’s inevitable that someone will eventually give you a chance. And once someone is ready to start working with you, it’s time to send them a proposal and contract.

4. Send a proposal and contract

After establishing a connection with a prospective client, the next step is to send a comprehensive marketing proposal and contract detailing your services , pricing structure, and deliverables.

If you’ve successfully productized your service, you may not need to do this step anymore. However, it can be tough to productize your service if you’re just starting out. For me, it took working with a few clients before I polished my services and created packages that I knew I could consistently deliver.

So, in the beginning, you’ll want to clearly outline what you’ll be doing for your first client.

Crafting a compelling proposal is essential in showcasing the value you can bring to your clients and securing a successful agreement. Make sure to include a well-structured business plan, pricing for each service you offer, as well as any additional fees or discounts that could motivate customers to purchase your services.

Process Street has a great article on how to write a proposal. But if you’re looking for a recap of that article, here’s what your proposal should include:

Introduction: This is where explain the problem, the solution, the costs, and the benefits.
Define the issue: This is where you clearly explain the issue, the purpose of the project, the main argument, and any background information.
The solution: This is where you clearly state a step-by-step plan on how you will deliver your services to address the issue at hand.
Qualifications: This is where you give any social proof or explain why you’re the best agency or person for this project.
Conclusion: This is where you state the costs, benefits, and contact information so potential clients can follow up.

At this point, if your client is ready to follow through, they will either ask you to send a contract or they will send you one (depending on the size of the company you are working with).

From personal experience, large companies that have legal teams will take your proposal and create a contract that they will then send to you for review. When working with smaller companies, you’ll generally have to send them a contract which you can generate by searching for “[the service you provide] + contract generator” in Google.

Once a contract is set in stone and your client is ready to move forward, it’s time to onboard them.

5. Onboard your client with a client portal

Your onboarding process is extremely important. First impressions are everything, and this is where you need to show your client that you are a legit business and that you take their success seriously.

The best way to create a smooth onboarding process that not only makes you look professional but also helps you stay organized and be a better project manager is to use a client portal platform to run and manage your agency.

My favorite tool for this is Copilot, yes the blog you are currently reading. And no, I am not an employee of Copilot. I’m actually a customer and use it to manage my agency.

I like to use Copilot because it automates most of the onboarding process for me.

Using a client portal can help you bring everything into one place — from communication, intake forms, file sharing, reporting, invoicing, and more. This not only keeps your client informed but also demonstrates your commitment to transparency and delivering high-quality work.

If you want to learn more about the onboarding process check out this article on the Copilot blog.

6. Set up billing and send your first invoice with Copilot

Once you’ve onboarded your client into their portal, it’s time to set up your billing process. Some agencies will bill clients after the work is complete, while others will bill upfront. I personally prefer to bill upfront as it helps reduce the risk of clients not paying you for your services. Billing upfront also allows you to have cash to invest in growing your agency, whether that’s hiring contractors to help you execute your services or running ads to acquire more clients.

For efficient management of invoicing, payment processing, and financial tracking, adopting a billing tool such as Copilot is recommended. Setting up billing with Copilot is easy — just create an account, add your payment information, and you’re ready to create invoices and track payments.

Sending invoices using Copilot is also straightforward, as you can simply create an invoice in the Copilot dashboard and email it to your client. You can also create recurring invoices (also known as subscriptions) so you can automatically bill your client on any time frame you’d like (whether that’s daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually).

By setting up payment tracking in your Copilot dashboard, you can stay on top of payments and track any changes, ensuring your agency’s financial health remains strong.

For more information on this, check out this article I wrote on how to bill your clients for the first time using Copilot

7. Create a real company and open a business bank account

Okay, this is where things can start to feel a bit daunting if you’ve never opened a real business. And this part is going to vary on a case-by-case basis. Depending on where you live, you’ll definitely want to speak to an accountant to make sure you do this part correctly.

You’ll notice how I left this as step 7, instead of having it as the first step. This is because many entrepreneurs get stuck thinking too hard about this part of their business, without even actually having any sales first.

Once you know you have real cash flow coming in, you want to separate your personal finances and liabilities from your business. In the US, many freelancers and marketing agencies open an LLC (Limited Liability Company). This will allow you to open a business bank account and do all your bookkeeping and business under your company name.

This will help you with tax write-offs and make your bookkeeping a lot easier when it comes to tax season. As agency owners, we get the benefit of writing off a lot of your expenses as business expenses. Are you paying for wifi with your personal bank account? Need a new computer to do your work? Well, all of these can be put under your business as expenses, which can later be written off from your taxes.

Again, this part is going to depend on your local laws, and any information here is for entertainment purposes only. Please follow instructions from your local accountant on this part. Copilot, nor I, are not responsible for any actions you take regarding the legalities of your business.

8. Create a website for your marketing agency

Once you have your company established and your business account ready, it’s time to make yourself more legit. The best way you can do this is by creating a website for your marketing agency.

Maintaining a professional website is imperative for drawing in potential clients as well as displaying your services, portfolio, and case studies. You can use a website builder like Webflow or Framer to craft a professional website or hire a web designer to create a custom website tailored to your needs.

Optimize your website for search engines, leverage social media to reach your target audience, and craft content tailored to your audience’s needs to attract potential clients to your website. A well-designed website not only helps you draw in potential clients but also demonstrates your expertise and commitment to delivering high-quality work.

9. Create a case study

Once you have your website, and you’ve gotten results from your first client, it’s time to create a marketing asset that will help you acquire more clients.

You can do this by creating a case study as social proof of your skills.

As you collaborate with clients and register successes, it becomes necessary to chronicle these triumphs and craft case studies that exhibit your proficiency and outcomes. Case studies are powerful marketing tools that showcase your agency’s ability to deliver tangible outcomes and attract prospective clients who are looking for a proven track record.

By providing detailed information about the project, the challenges faced, and the marketing strategies employed to achieve success, case studies offer potential clients a glimpse into your agency’s capabilities and the results they can expect when working with you. These case studies can be showcased on your website, shared on social media, and used in sales presentations to demonstrate your agency’s expertise and success.

10. Scale your client acquisition strategy

With a sturdy foundation laid, the next course of action is to augment your client acquisition strategy to expand your marketing agency and boost revenue. This involves refining and expanding your marketing efforts to reach a larger audience, while also nurturing existing client relationships to encourage repeat business and referrals.

You can scale your client acquisition efforts by:

Asking existing clients for referrals
Blogging and leveraging SEO on your website
Running ads
Going to conferences and networking

There are also many other ways you can continue to get more clients. You could continue to leverage cold email (like we went over in step 3) or follow some of the strategies in this article .

Overall, stay adaptive and innovative to stay ahead in the market and continuously improve your agency’s services, ensuring long-term success and growth in the competitive digital marketing industry.

Managing a marketing agency is a blend of challenges and rewards. It demands dedication, flexibility, and relentless learning to maintain an edge in the competitive market. As an agency owner, you’ll face various challenges, from acquiring new clients to managing projects and ensuring high-quality work is delivered. However, with dedication and perseverance, you can overcome these challenges and build a successful marketing agency.

To ensure long-term success, it’s crucial to:

Remain steadfast even when times are tough
Continuously improve your agency’s services to meet the ever-evolving needs of your clients
Stay committed, adaptable, and focused on delivering exceptional results

By doing so, you can thrive in the competitive world of digital marketing and build a lasting and successful marketing agency , ultimately leading to a successful business.

Starting a marketing agency is an achievable dream, even if you're going solo. You've learned that finding your niche and mastering it can set the foundation for success.

Your offering isn't just a service — it's an item. Productizing your offer allows clients to understand exactly what they're getting, simplifying sales, and client management processes.

Landing your first client might be tough, but with effective outreach strategies in place, you'll soon see results. Then comes creating proposals or statements of work — this stage solidifies the value proposition of your services to potential clients.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital marketing today, contemporary marketing agencies need modern tools to optimize their operations and outpace the competition. Copilot can help marketing agencies save time, automate tasks, and scale their business. By streamlining operations from client management to billing and financial tracking, Copilot becomes an invaluable asset for any marketing agency.

Leveraging tools like Copilot allows marketing agencies to focus on delivering exceptional results for their clients while ensuring efficient management of their business. By staying up-to-date with the latest trends and tools in the industry, marketing agencies can continue to thrive and grow in an ever-evolving digital landscape. If you’re ready to take Copilot for a spin, be sure to play around with the marketing demo portal to see its power.

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How to create a winning marketing plan, with 3 examples from world-class teams

A marketing plan helps leaders clearly visualize marketing strategies across channels, so they can ensure every campaign drives pipeline and revenue. In this article you’ll learn eight steps to create a winning marketing plan that brings business-critical goals to life, with examples from word-class teams.

To be successful as a marketer, you have to deliver the pipeline and the revenue.”

In other words—they need a well-crafted marketing plan.

Level up your marketing plan to drive revenue in 2024

Learn how to create the right marketing plan to hit your revenue targets in 2024. Hear best practices from marketing experts, including how to confidently set and hit business goals, socialize marketing plans, and move faster with clearer resourcing.

7 steps to build a comprehensive marketing plan

How do you build the right marketing plan to hit your revenue goals? Follow these eight steps for success:

1. Define your plan

First you need to define each specific component of your plan to ensure stakeholders are aligned on goals, deliverables, resources, and more. Ironing out these details early on ensures your plan supports the right business objectives, and that you have sufficient resources and time to get the job done.

Get started by asking yourself the following questions:

What resources do I need?

What is the vision?

What is the value?

What is the goal?

Who is my audience?

What are my channels?

What is the timeline?

For example, imagine you’re creating an annual marketing plan to improve customer adoption and retention in the next fiscal year. Here’s how you could go through the questions above to ensure you’re ready to move forward with your plan:

I will need support from the content team, web team, and email team to create targeted content for existing customers. One person on each team will need to be dedicated full-time to this initiative. To achieve this, the marketing team will need an additional $100K in budget and one new headcount.

What is the vision?

To create a positive experience for existing customers, address new customer needs, and encourage them to upgrade. We’ll do this by serving them how-to content, new feature updates, information about deals and pricing, and troubleshooting guides.

According to the Sales Benchmark Index (SBI) , CEOs and go-to-market leaders report that more than 60% of their net-new revenue will come from existing customers in 2023. By retaining and building on the customers we have, we can maintain revenue growth over time.

To decrease the customer churn rate from 30% to 10%, and increase upgrades from 20% to 30% in the next fiscal year.

All existing customers.

The main channel will be email. Supporting marketing channels include the website, blog, YouTube, and social media.

The first half of the next fiscal year.

One of the most important things to do as you create your marketing strategy is to identify your target audience . As with all marketing, you need to know who you’re marketing to. If you’re having a hard time determining who exactly your target audience is, try the bullseye targeting framework . The bullseye makes it easy for you to determine who your target audience is by industry, geography, company size, psychographics, demographics, and more.

2. Identify key metrics for success

Now it’s time to define what key marketing metrics you’ll use to measure success. Your key metrics will help you measure and track the performance of your marketing activities. They’ll also help you understand how your efforts tie back to larger business goals.

Once you establish key metrics, use a goal-setting framework—like objectives and key results (OKRs) or SMART goals —to fully flush out your marketing objectives. This ensures your targets are as specific as possible, with no ambiguity about what should be accomplished by when.

Example: If a goal of your marketing plan is to increase email subscriptions and you follow the SMART goal framework (ensuring your objective is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) your goal might look like this: Increase email subscription rate from 10% to 20% in H1 .

3. Research your competition

It’s easy to get caught up in your company’s world, but there’s a lot of value in understanding your competitors . Knowing how they market themselves will help you find opportunities to make your company stand out and capture more market share.

Make sure you’re not duplicating your competitors’ efforts. If you discover a competitor has already executed your idea, then it might be time to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm new ways to differentiate yourself. By looking at your competitors, you might be surprised at the type of inspiration and opportunities you’ll find.

To stay ahead of market trends, conduct a SWOT analysis for your marketing plan. A SWOT analysis helps you improve your plan by identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Example: If your competitor launches a social media campaign identical to what you had planned, go back to the drawing board and see how you can build off their campaign. Ask yourself: How can we differentiate our campaign while still getting our message across? What are the weaknesses of their campaign that we can capitalize on? What angles did they not approach?

4. Integrate your marketing efforts

Here’s where the fun comes in. Let’s dive into the different components that go into building a successful marketing plan. You’ll want to make sure your marketing plan includes multiple supporting activities that all add up into a powerful marketing machine. Some marketing plan components include:

Lead generation

Social media

Product marketing

Public relations

Analyst relations

Customer marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Conversational marketing

Knowing where your consumer base spends the most time is significant for nailing this step. You need to have a solid understanding of your target audience before integrating your marketing efforts.

Example: If your target audience is executives that spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, focus your social media strategy around placing branded content on LinkedIn.

5. Differentiate with creative content

Forty-nine percent of marketers say visual images are hugely important to their content strategy. In other words, a clear brand and creative strategy is an essential component to every marketing plan. As you craft your own creative strategy, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Speak to your audience: When defining your creative strategy, think about your audience—what you want them to feel, think, and do when they see your marketing. Will your audience find your creative work relevant? If your audience can’t relate to your creative work, they won’t feel connected to the story you’re trying to tell.

Think outside the box: Find innovative ways to engage your audience, whether through video, animations, or interactive graphics. Know what screens your creative work will live on, whether desktop, mobile, or tablet, and make sure they display beautifully and load quickly across every type of device.

Tie everything back to CTAs: It’s easy to get caught up in the creative process, so it’s important to never lose sight of your ultimate goal: Get your audience to take action. Always find the best way to display strong Calls to Action (CTAs) in your creative work. We live in a visual world—make sure your creative content counts.

Streamline creative production: Once you’ve established a strong creative strategy, the next step is to bring your strategy to life in the production stage. It’s vital to set up a strong framework for your creative production process to eliminate any unnecessary back and forth and potential bottlenecks. Consider establishing creative request forms , streamlining feedback and approval processes, and taking advantage of integrations that might make your designers’ lives easier.

Example: If your brand is fun and approachable, make sure that shows in your creative efforts. Create designs and CTAs that spark joy, offer entertainment, and alleviate the pressure in choosing a partner.

6. Operationalize your marketing plan

Turn your plan into action by making goals, deliverables, and timelines clear for every stakeholder—so teams stay accountable for getting work done. The best way to do this is by centralizing all the details of your marketing plan in one platform , so teams can access the information they need and connect campaign work back to company goals.

With the right work management tool , you can:

Set goals for every marketing activity, and connect campaign work to overarching marketing and business objectives so teams focus on revenue-driving projects.

Centralize deliverables for your entire marketing plan in one project or portfolio .

Mark major milestones and visualize your plan as a timeline, Gantt chart, calendar, list, or Kanban board—without doing any extra work.

Quickly loop in stakeholders with status updates so they’re always up to date on progress. This is extremely important if you have a global team to ensure efforts aren’t being duplicated.

Use automations to seamlessly hand off work between teams, streamlining processes like content creation and reviews.

Create dashboards to report on work and make sure projects are properly staffed , so campaigns stay on track.

With everything housed in one spot, you can easily visualize the status of your entire marketing plan and keep work on track. Building an effective marketing plan is one thing, but how you operationalize it can be your secret to standout marketing.

Example: If your strategy focuses on increasing page views, connect all campaign work to an overarching OKR—like “we will double page views as measured by the amount of organic traffic on our blog.” By making that goal visible to all stakeholders, you help teams prioritize the right work.

See marketing planning in action

With Asana, marketing teams can connect work, standardize processes, and automate workflows—all in one place.

7. Measure performance

Nearly three in four CMOs use revenue growth to measure success, so it’s no surprise that measuring performance is necessary. You established your key metrics in step two, and now it’s time to track and report on them in step eight.

Periodically measure your marketing efforts to find areas of improvement so you can optimize in real-time. There are always lessons to be learned when looking at data. You can discover trends, detect which marketing initiatives performed well, and course-correct what isn’t performing well. And when your plan is complete, you can apply these learnings to your next initiative for improved results.

Example: Say you discover that long-form content is consistently bringing in 400% more page views than short-form content. As a result, you’ll want to focus on producing more long-form content in your next marketing plan.

Marketing plan examples from world-class teams

The best brands in the world bring their marketing plans to life every day. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these examples from successful marketing teams.

Autodesk grows site traffic 30% three years in a row

When the Autodesk team launched Redshift, it was initially a small business blog. The editorial team executed a successful marketing plan to expand it into a premier owned-media site, making it a destination for stories and videos about the future of making.

The team scaled content production to support seven additional languages. By standardizing their content production workflow and centralizing all content conversations in one place, the editorial team now publishes 2X more content monthly. Read the case study to learn more about how Autodesk runs a well-oiled content machine. Trinny London perfects new customer acquisition

In consumer industries, social media is crucial for building a community of people who feel an affinity with the brand—and Trinny London is no exception. As such, it was imperative that Trinny London’s ad spend was targeted to the correct audience. Using a work management tool, Trinny London was able to nail the process of creating, testing, and implementing ads on multiple social channels.

With the help of a centralized tool, Trinny London improved its ad spend and drove more likes and subscriptions on its YouTube page. Read the case study to learn more about how Trinny London capitalized on paid advertising and social media.

Turn your marketing plan into marketing success

A great marketing plan promotes clarity and accountability across teams—so every stakeholder knows what they’re responsible for, by when. Reading this article is the first step to achieving better team alignment, so you can ensure every marketing campaign contributes to your company’s bottom line.

Use a free marketing plan template to get started

Once you’ve created your marketing strategy and are ready to operationalize your marketing plan, get started with one of our marketing templates .

Our marketing templates can help you manage and track every aspect of your marketing plan, from creative requests to approval workflows. Centralize your entire marketing plan in one place, customize the roadmap, assign tasks, and build a timeline or calendar.

Once you’ve operationalized your entire marketing plan with one of our templates, share it with your stakeholders so everyone can work together in the same tool. Your entire team will feel connected to the marketing plan, know what to prioritize, and see how their work contributes to your project objectives . Choose the best marketing template for your team:

Marketing project plan template

Marketing campaign plan template

Product marketing launch template

Editorial calendar template

Agency collaboration template

Creative requests template

Event planning template

GTM strategy template

Still have questions? We have answers.

What is a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that outlines the different strategies your team will use to achieve organizational objectives. Rather than focusing solely on the end goal, a marketing plan maps every step you need to reach your destination—whether that’s driving pipeline for sales, nurturing your existing customer base, or something in-between.

As a marketing leader, you know there’s never a shortage of great campaign and project ideas. A marketing plan gives you a framework to effectively prioritize work that aligns to overarching business goals—and then get that work done. Some elements of marketing plans include:

Current business plan

Mission statement

Business goals

Target customers

Competitive analysis

Current marketing mix

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Marketing budget

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

The purpose of a marketing plan is to grow your company’s consumer base and strengthen your brand, while aligning with your organization’s mission and vision . The plan should analyze the competitive landscape and industry trends, offer actionable insights to help you gain a competitive advantage, and document each step of your strategy—so you can see how your campaigns work together to drive overarching business goals.

What is the difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy?

A marketing plan contains many marketing strategies across different channels. In that way, marketing strategies contribute to your overall marketing plan, working together to reach your company’s overarching business goals.

For example, imagine you’re about to launch a new software product and the goal of your marketing plan is to drive downloads. Your marketing plan could include marketing strategies like creating top-of-funnel blog content and launching a social media campaign.

What are different types of marketing plans?

Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, what your timeline is, or which facet of marketing you’re driving, you’ll need to create a different type of marketing plan. Some different types of marketing plans include, but aren’t limited to:

General marketing plan: A general marketing plan is typically an annual or quarterly marketing plan that details the overarching marketing strategies for the period. This type of marketing plan outlines marketing goals, the company’s mission, buyer personas, unique selling propositions, and more. A general marketing plan lays the foundation for other, more specific marketing plans that an organization may employ.

Product launch marketing plan: A product launch marketing plan is a step-by-step plan for marketing a new product or expanding into a new market. It helps you build awareness and interest by targeting the right audience, with the right messaging, in the right timeframe—so potential customers are ready to buy your new offering right away. Nailing your product launch marketing plan can reinforce your overall brand and fast-track sales. For a step-by-step framework to organize all the moving pieces of a launch, check out our product marketing launch template .

Paid marketing plan: This plan includes all the paid strategies in your marketing plan, like pay-per-click, paid social media advertising, native advertising, and display advertising. It’s especially important to do audience research prior to launching your paid marketing plan to ensure you’re maximizing ROI. Consult with content strategists to ensure your ads align with your buyer personas so you know you’re showing ads to the right people.

Content marketing plan: A content marketing plan outlines the different content strategies and campaigns you’ll use to promote your product or service. When putting together a content marketing plan, start by identifying your audience. Then use market research tools to get the best insights into what topics your target audience is most interested in.

SEO marketing plan: Your SEO marketing plan should work directly alongside your content marketing plan as you chart content that’s designed to rank in search results. While your content marketing plan should include all types of content, your SEO marketing plan will cover the top-of-funnel content that drives new users to your site. Planning search engine-friendly content is only one step in your SEO marketing plan. You’ll also need to include link-building and technical aspects in order to ensure your site and content are as optimized as possible.

Social media marketing plan: This plan will highlight the marketing strategies you plan to accomplish on social media. Like in any general or digital marketing plan , your social media strategy should identify your ideal customer base and determine how they engage on different social media platforms. From there, you can cater your social media content to your target audience.

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How to Start a Business: A Startup Guide for Entrepreneurs [Template]

Published: February 15, 2024

I started a local HVAC business in the summer of 2020, and since then, I’ve learned a lot about which steps are most important for getting a business venture off the ground. To help you make your business idea a reality, I've put together a complete guide that walks you through the steps of starting a business.

how to start a business; entrepreneur learning how to start a business and talking to suppliers

The guide covers every step I’ve discovered you need to start a business, from the paperwork and finances to creating your business plan and growing your business online. At the bottom, you’ll find a library of the best free tools and resources to start selling and marketing your products and services.

Use the links below to navigate to each section of the guide:

What do you need to start a business?

How to Start a Business

How to make a business plan, how to decide on a company name.

How to Choose a Business Structure

How to Register Your Business

How to comply with legal requirements, how to find funding for your new business, how to create a brand identity for your new business, tips for starting a business, resources to start a business, how to start a business online.

Let's get started.

Every budding entrepreneur wants more visitors, more qualified leads, and more revenue. But starting a business isn’t one of those “if you build it, they will come” situations. So much of getting a startup off the ground has to do with timing, planning, and the market, so consider if the economic conditions are right to start a company and whether you can successfully penetrate the market with your solution.

In order to build and run a successful company , you’ll also need to create and fine-tune a business plan, assess your finances, complete all the legal paperwork, pick your partners, research apps for startup growth, choose the best tools and systems to help you get your marketing and sales off the ground … and a whole lot more.

When I first started my business, I felt overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of requirements, which is why I’ve summed up the process to make it easier for you.

In brief, the requirements for starting a business are:

A business plan.
A business name.
An ownership or business structure.
A business registration certificate.
A legal license or seller’s permit (as well as other legal documents).
A source of funding.
A brand identity.

Without these elements in place, you unnecessarily risk your new business’s future. Now let’s go over these basic steps for starting a business.

Write a business plan.
Choose a business name.
Choose an ownership structure.
Register your business.
Review and comply with legal requirements.
Apply for funding.
Create a brand identity.

Having a great business idea is only part of the journey. In order to be successful, you’ll need to take a few steps to get it off the ground. In order to refine your business idea and set yourself up for success, consider doing the following:

1. Write a business plan.

Your business plan maps out the details of your business, including how it’s structured, what product or service you’ll sell, and how you’ll be selling it. Creating a business plan will help you find any obstacles on the horizon before you jump into running a business.

Pro tip: Remember that part of a business plan is telling investors or funders which specific items you need funding for. Be sure to list what you need to be funded, the reasoning behind items, and how long you will need funding.

70 Small Business Ideas for Anyone Who Wants to Run Their Own Business

Jump to: How to Start a Business Plan →

Featured Resource: Free Business Plan Template

Below are the key elements in a business plan template, details about what goes into each of them, and example sections at the bottom. You’ll also learn tips for writing a business plan .

1. Use a business plan template .

The executive summary should be about a page long. It should cover:

Overview . Briefly explain what the company is, where you’ll be located, what you’ll sell, and who you’ll sell to.
Company profile. Briefly explain the business structure, who owns it, what prior experience/skills they’ll bring to the table, and who the first hires might be.
Products or services . Briefly explain what you’ll sell.
The market. Briefly explain your main findings from your market analysis and product market fit .
Financial considerations . Briefly explain how you plan to fund the business and what your financial projections are.

Featured Resource: Executive Summary Template

On the marketing side, you’ll want to cover answers to questions like:

How do you plan to penetrate the market?
How will you grow your business?
Which channels will you focus on for distribution?
How will you communicate with your customers?

Pro tip: Marketing trends change year after year, so be sure to keep up on the latest trends by subscribing to the Hubspot Marketing blog .

On the sales side, you’ll need to cover answers to questions like:

What’s your sales strategy ?
What will your sales team look like, and how do you plan to grow it over time?
How do you plan to scale for growth ?
How many sales calls will you need to make to make a sale?
What’s the average price per sale?

Speaking of average price per sale, you’ll want to go into your pricing strategy as well.

Featured Resource: Marketing & Sales Alignment Template

More importantly, it typically doesn’t entail giving partial ownership of the business away. Instead, it’s a way of getting funding not from potential co-owners, but from potential fans and customers who want to support the business idea, but not necessarily own it.

What you give donors in exchange is entirely up to you — and typically, people will come away with early access to a product, or a special version of a product, or a meet-and-greet with the founders.

Pro tip: Choose the right platform for your crowdfunding campaign type. Some platforms are more geared towards traditional investors, while others are for donations. Learn more about crowdfunding here .

5. Venture Capital Financing

Only a very small percentage of businesses are either fit for venture capital or have access to it. All the other methods described earlier are available to the vast majority of new businesses.

If you’re looking for a significant amount of money to start your company and can prove you can quickly grow its value, then venture capital financing is probably the right move for you.

Venture capital financing usually means one or more venture capital firms make large investments in your company in exchange for preferred stock of the company — but, in addition to getting that preferred return as they would in series seed financing, venture capital investors also usually get governance rights, like a seat on the Board of Directors or approval rights on certain transactions.

VC financing typically occurs when a company can demonstrate a significant business opportunity to quickly grow the value of the company but requires significant capital to do so.

Pro tip: A lot of venture capital financing is simply being in the right room with the right people. Make sure to network extensively if this is your approach to financing.

When you’re first starting a business, you’ll need to build the foundation for a strong brand identity. Your brand identity is about your values, how you communicate concepts, and which emotions you want your customers to feel when they interact with your business. Having a consistent brand identity to promote your business will make you look more professional and help you attract new customers.

Here’s what you need to do to develop your brand identity:

1. Design a logo.

Creating the right logo for your business requires careful thought and consideration. It should be representative of your brand’s purpose and target audience, while also being memorable and distinct from competitors.

To start, you need a deep understanding of your business’s mission, values, and target audience. Think beyond what your company does and truly examine why you do what you do and who you do it for. This knowledge will serve as the foundation for your logo.

Conducting market research and identifying current logo trends can help you understand what works well for others and strategize on how to stand out. Then, start brainstorming design ideas that showcase what makes your business unique.

For instance, you could try writing out a list of words that best describe your business and what makes it special and then use those words as inspiration to start sketching ideas and concepts.

Once you have some sketches created, pick which ones you think are the best and share them with stakeholders, colleagues, and buyer personas to gather feedback and refine your design. After narrowing down a design, you’ll want to test its versatility and scalability to ensure it works well in different sizes and formats.

Pro tip: Check out this blog on designing your logo, and then try out different logo design features in Canva’s logo maker .

2. Develop a visual identity.

Your brand’s visual identity doesn’t stop at creating a logo — you’ll also need to establish guidelines for typography, color palette, imagery, and other graphic elements. The more consistent your brand is with its visuals, the more consumers will be able to recognize and trust it.

To get started, consider creating a brand mood board. Ask yourself: What kind of emotions do you want your brand to evoke? Is there a specific visual aesthetic that you want to emulate? This can help you gather visual inspiration that resonates with your brand.

Choose your color palette and typography wisely. Spend some time researching color theory , as color can have a major impact on how people perceive your brand. Make sure your typography is readable and looks good across different sizes and formats.

Additionally, you should create other visual assets such as patterns, shapes, illustrations, and icons that pair well with your color palette and typography.

Pro tip: If design and color palettes aren’t your thing, consider hiring a freelance graphic designer on LinkedIn or Fiverr to help you create your visual identity and incorporate it into your logo and overall design.

3. Craft a tagline.

In just a few words, your tagline should encapsulate your brand’s essence and communicate its value. Think of it as a written or verbal version of your logo. Both elements are created to immediately capture the attention of your audience. Even if consumers don’t remember anything about your product or service, they will remember a catchy tagline.

When crafting your tagline, keep it simple. You want your tagline to be memorable, so aim for a short phrase and focus on key benefits or unique aspects of your brand. Also consider using techniques like alliteration, rhyme, or play on words to make your tagline stand out — just make sure it aligns with the rest of your brand’s voice and tone.

Pro tip: This is another element of starting a business that could benefit from someone with experience. A marketing consultant or a content writer could help you establish a compelling tagline with the next step of developing your voice and tone.

4. Develop your voice and tone.

Your brand voice refers to the personality that your brand adopts in its communication with its audience. It provides direction on what to say and how to say it, allowing you to differentiate yourself and cut through the noise.

A well-defined brand voice helps create a distinct and memorable identity for your brand, allowing you to connect with your target audience on a deeper and more meaningful level.

When determining the appropriate voice and tone for your brand, remember that consistency is key. Ensure that your brand voice and tone align with your brand’s values, mission, and positioning. Alignment between your brand’s personality and its communication style is crucial for building trust and authenticity.

Pro tip: Adapt your voice and tone to suit the preferences and understanding of your audience. Additionally, use emotion and storytelling techniques to engage your audience and resonate with them.

5. Create brand guidelines.

Once you determine all of the previously mentioned brand elements, establish a set of brand guidelines that communicate how to appropriately use them. Having these rules and standards set in place ensures consistent and cohesive messaging and representation for your brand.

Get started by defining the rules for using your brand elements across different channels and applications, such as digital and print media, social media profiles, web design, packaging, and any other relevant materials.

Show practical examples of correct and incorrect usage scenarios to demonstrate the do’s and don’ts of brand representation. This helps stakeholders and users understand the guidelines and their application. You can also offer your team templates or mock-ups to ensure correct implementation.

Once the brand guidelines are set, distribute them to internal stakeholders and relevant external partners. To make sure everyone’s on the same page, take the time to review the guidelines with everyone and consider conducting training sessions if necessary.

As your brand evolves, so should your brand guidelines. Continuously review and update them to reflect any changes or refinements. Keep the guidelines easily accessible and communicate any updates effectively.

Pro tip: A writing style guide is a great place to start when creating brand guidelines. Check out this blog on brand style guide examples.

Starting a business online is a little different from starting a traditional business. Here are some important steps for starting and scaling your business online.

1. Determine your niche and business idea.

Your business niche is the target focus area for your product or service. It’s important to choose a niche because customers like brands and businesses that specifically cater to their needs. Most customers are more likely to purchase products or services from a brand that provides personalized experiences.

When determining your niche and business idea, first identify your target audience and specify everything from their age to their interests. Then, use that information to figure out their principal need. If your product doesn’t resolve a specific need, your business will fail to get off the ground.

Pro tip: You should have a good idea of the market at this point. Use that knowledge to position yourself in a way that differentiates you from your competitors.

2. Conduct market research.

Conduct market research to understand what product or service you should offer, whom you should serve, and where you face the stiffest competition. From physical goods to digital downloads, understanding your target market and competitors will help you determine how to best position your product.

Your research should help you create a strong selling proposition . In other words, what makes your business unique? Why should someone buy from you?

Pro tip: Sometimes, market research is as easy as calling around to competitors and getting a quote on services. Make sure your pricing is competitive but not so low as to be unsustainable.

3. Learn online business laws.

While online businesses may require fewer licenses and permits than traditional businesses, there are still legal requirements that you will need to adhere to. Be sure to check:

What kind of business license (if any) do you need to start operations?
What legal structure makes the most sense for your company?
Are there any permits that you need to obtain?
Are there any inspections that you need to pass?
Do you need a sales tax license?
Are there any specific regulations applicable to online businesses only?
What are the laws regarding hiring contractors and hiring employees?

Pro tip: Check out this article for more information on starting an online business and navigating online laws.

4 . Make sure your business is insured.

Depending on your business type, you may be required by state law to be both licensed and insured. HVAC businesses have a lot of liability as they involve both plumbing and electricity. I spoke with several insurance agents before deciding on the best insurance for my business needs.

There are also many different business insurance types, such as:

Liability insurance.
Worker’s comp.
Property insurance (think your business location, tools, and equipment you use).
And more. Be sure to research these different insurance types and purchase the necessary ones.

Pro tip: Check out this article on small business insurance.

5. Create a website.

After handling the research, taking care of legalities, and honing your products or services, it is time to create your website . When creating your website, you will need to choose a strong ecommerce platform that will allow you to sell products online.

Pro tip: Check out Hubspot’s free CMS tool for website building here.

6. Set up shop.

Once your website is complete, it’s time to add products or services to your store. When adding your products, pay attention to product images and descriptions. Having a crisp image and a detailed but concise description will help your audience maneuver your website smoothly.

After you have finished setting up your store, it’s critical to ensure you offer a seamless shipping or delivery experience to your buyers. For example, you can use HubSpot to manage quality control before you ship products out.

Finally, you want to make sure everything is working before you hit the live button on your website. Make sure that everything is clickable and that all pages look good across all devices and browsers. Once you’ve checked that, you are ready to go live.

Pro tip: If you take credit card information on your website, you will need to abide by compliance laws that ensure the safety of sensitive data. Read more on credit card compliance .

7. Create a marketing plan.

You’ve created an awesome product, and now it’s time to get the word out. In other words, it’s time to grow your audience. There are numerous ways to reach your target customer, including:

Social media : Use hashtags and paid ads to expand your reach.
Influencer marketing : Send free samples to “celebrities” in your niche.
Facebook groups : Connect with your target market on this platform.
Google advertising : Put your products in front of people all over the web.
Content marketing : Publish blog posts to bring organic traffic to your site.
Word-of-mouth : Encourage customers to spread the word.
YouTube videos : Start a channel to showcase your products.

Pro Tip: Google ads and LinkedIn ads regularly offer discounts or free ad money; consider using these promos to try online advertisements out.

8 . Grow your business.

You’ve heard it said that in business, you’re either growing or you’re dying. Here are a couple of tips for growing your business online:

Reduce the amount of time it takes online viewers to receive value from you and your brand.
Answer the questions no one in your industry is answering — for example, a lot of companies won’t talk about pricing, forcing customers to keep looking for someone who will.
Create a dynamic website that changes with the times. Update your images and writing to reflect what’s happening with your business now, and ensure your website isn’t dating you.
Invest in content and SEO . They aren’t cheap, but they are really important for being found online, organically.

Pro tip: Check out this blog on how to become an SEO expert, according to HubSpot’s SEO team.

9. Watch your income and expenditures closely.

The first year of your business is an essential set point for discovering your overhead and your profit. Have a date in mind of when you want your business to start turning a profit and a solid plan for if you aren’t meeting that goal. Read further on potential exit strategies below.

Pro tip: Use a free business budget template to monitor your finances.

10. Plan for an exit strategy.

If you’re like me, you didn’t consider an exit strategy when thinking up your business. You probably assumed you’d run your business for the foreseeable future. However, economic uncertainty or unexpected success can both impact the end of your business. In fact, 90% of startups fail , which makes it a wise choice to know under what circumstances you would close down your business.

You could also experience unexpected buzz and success and be offered a buyout. A good exit strategy will plan for this as well. What amount of money would make selling worth it? Consider also how long you would have to run your business before considering offers. Some want to sell high and fast, whereas other business owners want to see where things go during a set amount of time.

An exit strategy could also include who you want to inherit your business, maybe family or an employee.

Pro tip: Check out this blog on the importance of having an exit strategy.

Next Steps: Getting Ready to Launch Your Business

I know from experience that being a small business owner isn’t easy, but with the right plan, you can set up your business for success. Be sure to check and know your requirements, have a solid business plan, and submit your legal paperwork before you take your business live. Once you have a solid business plan and the financing to execute your goals, you’ll be well on the path to launching a successful enterprise.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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6 Tips for Creating a Great Business Marketing Plan

If you want your marketing campaigns to succeed, it all starts with a great marketing plan.

Marketing campaigns don’t just happen in a vacuum — they should be part of a broad, holistic strategy that works together. Developing a marketing plan is essential to ensure consistent, effective messaging across all marketing channels. From identifying your target audience to fine-tuning your marketing campaigns, a marketing plan serves as guidance to help you succeed. Read on to learn more about how to develop a marketing plan for your small business.

How to develop a business marketing plan

A focused marketing plan sets two goals. The first is to maintain engagement and customer loyalty , and the second is to capture market share within a specific audience segment of your target audience.

Your marketing plan outlines the strategies you’ll use to achieve both goals and the specific actions your marketing team will employ, such as the specific outreach campaigns, over which channels they will occur, the required marketing budget and data-driven projections of their success.

Marketing is a science-driven commitment that typically requires months of data to refine campaigns, and an interconnected marketing plan keeps your business committed to its long-term goals.

All marketing guidelines will circle back to the four P’s: product, price, place and promotion. The following tips are starting points that will ingrain the habit of continually returning to these four P’s.

1. Create an executive summary.

Marketing campaigns should not be considered individual functions. Marketing is the story of your brand as told to customers. As with any narrative, its tone and characters should remain consistent. An executive summary details your marketing goals for the next year and helps tie each campaign together.

When establishing your marketing goals, they should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). These goals should work together to achieve both internal and external harmony, telling a consistent story that informs customers of your exact message while building on its previous chapters.

For example, you may set a SMART goal to increase your company’s social media traffic by 15 percent in a 90-day time frame, and plan to achieve this by creating four relevant, informative and high-quality posts per week on each platform, using your company’s brand kit.

2. Identify your target market.

Before you write a marketing plan, you need to find and understand your niche. Ask yourself who the specific demographic is that you’re targeting. For example, if your business sells 30-minute meals, then those who work traditional 9-to-5 jobs are likely in your market. Study that group of individuals to understand their struggles and learn how your business can solve the problem.

3. Differentiate your brand with inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing utilizes internal tools, such as content marketing, social media activity and search engine optimization , to attract a customer’s attention primarily through online communication. Content marketing can include informative blog posts, interviews, podcasts with relevant industry figures or supplementary guides on how to use your product best. For example, if you sell cooking supplies, consider posting several fun recipes around the holidays that your tools can help prepare.

Each of these strategies empowers the others in a loop to achieve greater customer attention. A strong content offering can improve your search engine ranking, which brings more people to your website and social pages. You can then share those developed content pieces with that wider audience, who will again improve your search engine rankings. All of this can be done without the expense of a famous endorser or commercial advertising campaign.

4. Identify competitors that also target your customers.

No matter how original your product or service may be, there is always competition for your target customer’s dollar. Small business personnel seldom take the time to study their competitors in depth or pinpoint companies outside their industry that are as capable of luring customers away. Knowing who your competitors are, their core competitive advantages, and how they might respond to your offerings, such as price cuts or increased communication, helps you devise strategies to combat such losses.

By seeking out these competitors, you can develop ways to differentiate your business by providing consumers with the things they may be lacking from your competition. Observe how your competitors operate to find ways in which you can stand out and steer your target audience toward your business.

5. State your brand position for your target customers.

Ultimately, your brand ― and what it symbolizes for customers ― is your strongest advantage. You should be able to write a simple declarative sentence of how you will meet customer needs and beat the competition. The best positioning statements focus on solving a problem for the customer in a way that promotes the best value.

6. Budget the plan.

When implementing a strategy, consider the marketing budget you will allot. Marketing requires money for various reasons, including paid promotions, marketing software, events and outsourced costs. Consider your budget when creating the plan so that there is money available to spend on marketing tactics to achieve your goals.

While drafting the plan and evaluating your course of action, note the estimated cost, assets, and time required to achieve the stated goals. This will help when it comes time to set the actual calculated budget. Any goals that you create should be realistically achievable within the budget you have set.

Channels to include in your marketing plan

Once you know the elements of your plan, the next step is to develop the blueprint of how you will reach your target customers. Aside from traditional print and broadcast media, here are three digital marketing channels that many business owners utilize.

Social media

Social media is an essential part of businesses’ marketing plans because every type of customer is on some type of platform, such as Facebook or LinkedIn . You may feel overwhelmed by the possibilities but focus on the sites that can benefit your business the most.

Brett Farmiloe, founder of internet marketing company Markitors, advised companies starting out in social media to get to know their customers and the platforms they use.

“Figure out where your customers are spending their time, and set up shop on those platforms,” he told Business News Daily. “Develop a content strategy that can be executed internally, [and then] execute your strategy by posting branded content on your selected platforms.”

Although email marketing is not as new as social media marketing, it is an effective and popular choice for small business owners. Companies can implement email marketing techniques in many ways, including newsletters, promotional campaigns, transactional emails and drip campaigns .

Farmiloe added to set your email marketing efforts apart from the others by segmenting your markets.

“Not all subscribers want to receive the same blast,” he said. “Smart email marketers take the time to segment subscribers at the outset and then continue to segment based on subscriber activity. Through segmentation, companies reduce the amount of unsubscribes, increase open rates and, most importantly, increase the amount of actions taken from an email send.”

The popularity of smartphones and tablets has changed how companies target consumers. Since people have these devices with them nearly all the time, companies are looking to implement strategies that reach customers on their gadgets.

“Mobile marketing is interruptive,” Farmiloe said. “It’s because of this power that a marketer has to let the consumer determine how and when to receive marketing material. That’s why almost every app comes with the option to turn notifications on or off. The consumer has to hold the power with mobile marketing.”

Monitoring results

Well-defined budgets, goals and action items ― with appropriate personnel assigned to each ― can make your marketing plan a reality. Think about how much you’re willing to spend, the outcomes you expect and the necessary tasks to achieve those outcomes.

Analytical tools that track customer behavior and engagement rates can serve as a helpful guide for your marketing strategy . Unlike billboards or commercials, digital channels allow you to assess each step of the customer journey and gain insights into the individual patterns and intent of prospects. Intention can soon develop into prediction, empowering your marketing team to develop campaigns that consistently reach target audiences at the right time.

Stay on track with a business marketing plan

It can be difficult to measure progress without a clear plan. A marketing plan helps you identify goals and then measure your progress toward them as you deploy your campaigns. While it’s important to develop a plan and stick to it, you can always iterate on your original marketing plan as you learn more. The more your audience engages with your marketing campaigns, the more you’ll learn about what works and what doesn’t — and you can adjust accordingly.

Tejas Vemparala and Adryan Corcione contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.

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Marketing Consulting Business Plan

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Executive Summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. It describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">

MarketCamp is a Mexico City based start-up business that provides local businesses with world-class qualified traffic generation and lead closures for Internet businesses. MarketCamp will offer a wide range of services including: detailed research, internet targeting, mini-site development, search engine submissions, and statistical reporting.

Mexico City’s business community will be the primary market for our company. The business size that we service can be relatively small because the cost per month is only $1,000, but services can be scaled up to meet the needs of huge clients due to the focus and expertise of the business. Internet connectivity in Mexico, in comparison with the U.S., is currently low, but interest is growing. Though far behind the major industrial countries, Mexico maintains one of the fastest growth rates on the Internet with thousands of users and thousands of WWW sites. Mexican WWW sites have been growing at the rate of 200-300 per month this year. CompuServe Mexico, the largest commercial Internet service provider in Mexico has 30,000 subscribers, while Spin Internet has 28,000 Mexican members.

Competitive Edge

MarketCamp has the competitive edge of experience and market expertise in a complicated field. This is truly an advantage as the founder and principal Paul Berry has spent the last five years in the United States honing his e-business skills. Paul received his MBA from the University of Oregon in 1992 and worked at a local software company for a few years. Wanting to see the East Coast, Paul moved to Boston and worked at Forrester Research, the premier Internet marketing research company. It was Paul’s work at Forrester Research that provided him with the experience and insight that he will leverage for MarketCamp.

MarketCamp has conservatively forecasted sales for year onewith sales more than doubling in year three. Profitability will be reached by year one. MarketCamp’s profit margin will steadily increase from year one to year three.

Marketing consulting business plan, executive summary chart image

1.1 Objectives

The following are the objectives for the company:

To be self sufficient within three months.
Healthy sales in Year 1, steadily growing in Year 2 and Year 3.

1.2 Mission

MarketCamp will provide full-service Internet marketing campaigns, focusing directly on keyword combination search results, targeted advertising and mini-sites that deliver an offer in a clean, statistically monitored environment.

1.3 Keys to Success

Keeping existing clients to develop repeat business.
Clients must make money, and know it.
Start with easily-demonstratable simple module, and build up from there.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

MarketCamp is a Web marketing business based in Mexico City. The company will start up as a simple consulting business billing directly in the founder’s name.

2.1 Company Ownership

This company is owned 100% by its founder, Paul Berry.

2.2 Start-up Summary

Start-up costs are detailed in the chart and table below.

Marketing consulting business plan, company summary chart image

2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

MarketCamp will begin as a home-office business in the founder’s apartment in Mexico City. After six months of operation it will expand to a formal office space in Mexico City.

Detailed Research.
Internet Targeting Proposal.
Focused Mini-Site Development.
Top Search Results on Keywords.
Advertising Creative Design.
Monthly Statistical Reporting.
Campaign Maintenance.

3.1 Service Description

** Details and a description of services have been omitted from this published plan because they were strategic and proprietary.

3.2 Competitive Comparison

Competition isn’t the most important factor at this time, there is plenty of need and potential customers out there.

3.3 Sales Literature

Our website will serve as sales literature.

3.4 Fulfillment

For the present time, until there is real growth, services will be delivered by the founder.

3.5 Technology

**Details have been omitted from this published plan because they were strategic and proprietary.

3.6 Future Services

Market analysis summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">.

Mexico City’s business community will be the primary market for our company. We will attempt to work with business models that attract customers and sign contracts. The business size can be relatively small because the cost per month is only $1,000, but services can be scaled up to meet the needs of huge clients due to the focus and expertise of the business.

Internet connectivity in Mexico, in comparison with the U.S., is currently low, but interest is growing. Though far behind the major industrial countries, Mexico maintains one of the fastest growth rates on the Internet with thousands of users and thousands of WWW sites. Mexican WWW sites have been growing at the rate of 200-300 per month this year. CompuServe Mexico, the largest commercial Internet service provider in Mexico has 30,000 subscribers, while Spin Internet has 28,000 Mexican members. Microsoft Mexico, a division of Microsoft’s recently-launched online service named Microsoft Network, will charge $4.95 per month (about one half of CompuServe’s $9.95 per month rate) and will offer local telephone access in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and three other cities. The service will be English-only and U.S.-oriented for at least the first six months, but will eventually include local content.

Many companies in Mexico City currently have Internet access and more are realizing the importance of presence on the Web in order to attract international business. For this reason, our Market Analysis table predicts rapid growth amongst potential small businesses and marketing managers for medium-sized businesses to grow in-line with the growth of Internet usage.

We will try to work with other more established marketing companies, giving up some of the margin in order to get access to more clients more quickly.

We will need to make a decision on pricing, whether to keep rates at an attractive sign-up rate or focus on the more successful clients and raise rates.

Marketing consulting business plan, market analysis summary chart image

Strategy and Implementation Summary

We will obtain our first clients through word-of-mouth from the board of directors and board of advisors as well as the previous connections of Paul Berry’s freelance business. Each mini-site will contain a small “powered by MarketCamp” logo which will lead to information about us. Because of the quality of our work, and the desirability of our expertise, we expect to add a number of clients in the near future.

5.1 Competitive Edge

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5.2 Sales Strategy

The beauty of this business is in the subscription model and the commissions based earnings. Once we sign a client, most will stay for a long period of time, possibly for the lifetime of the business. We feel 30% to 60% growth rates are very modest, therefore we could potentially sign many clients more quickly.

5.3 Sales Forecast

We expect that a 30% to 60% growth rate throughout the first year is very modest. If we find more clients signing up we can scale the team quickly to reach those expectations. The back-end of the business will be built by the founder and a network of top programmers.

Marketing consulting business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

5.4 Milestones

The specific milestones are shown in the following chart and table.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

Paul Berry will be president, responsible for decisions on all hires and expenses. Paul will also do the work behind the scenes, structuring a system that will enable other future employees to scale the business as clients are added.

Carlos Silva will be an initial investor, possibly also a co-founder and part of the board of directors.

Gabriela Lopez will be one of the first employees, contracted part-time for her expertise in design and knowledge of the Web.

Raul Garcia will be another of the first employees, contracted part-time for his expertise as a sales person and junior executive in Mexico City.

6.1 Personnel Plan

Paul will be paid somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 in the initial months, depending on the amount of clients signed, and the nature of those contracts.

Gabriela Lopez will be contracted for $1,000 to $2,000 depending on the load of work and her availability. She will be responsible for the corporate identity and all stationery and brochures.

Raul Garcia will be contracted for $1,000 to $2,000 depending on his involvement with the company and he will also receive a commission structure for additional clients beyond the expected ones.

6.2 Management Team

6.3 management team gaps, financial plan investor-ready personnel plan .">.

MarketCamp will finance growth mainly through cash flow. We recognize that this means we will have to grow more slowly than we might like.

The most important factor to our success is collection days. We can’t push our clients hard on collection days, because they are in larger companies and will normally have marketing authority, not financial authority. Therefore, we need to develop a permanent system of receivables financing, using one of the established financial companies in that business.

We are also assuming start-up capital which will be more than enough to cover salaries, artwork and other expenses while the business begins to produce more cash.

We may take more financing than we originally planned to be able to bring in some very key investors as equity partners, more for their connections to potential clients in Mexico City than for the investment itself.

7.1 Important Assumptions

The Financial Plan depends on important assumptions, most of which are shown in the following table as annual assumptions. The monthly assumptions are included in the appendix. From the beginning, we recognize that collection days are critical, but are not a factor we can influence easily. Interest rates, tax rates, and personnel burden are based on conservative assumptions.

Some of the more important underlying assumptions are:

We assume an economy slightly crippled by the George W. Bush administration in the U.S. and by the skepticism caused by the fall of the dot-coms with terrible business models.
We assume that we can communicate the service to Mexican business owners.

7.2 Key Financial Indicators

The Benchmarks chart shows our projections on an index basis for key financial indicators.

Marketing consulting business plan, financial plan chart image

7.3 Break-even Analysis

The following chart and table summarize our Break-even Analysis showing fixed costs in U.S. dollars per month at the outset (a bare minimum), and what we need to bill to cover our costs. We don’t really expect to reach break-even until a few months into the business operation.

7.4 Projected Profit and Loss

Projected Profit and Loss is presented in the following table and charts.

7.5 Projected Cash Flow

Cash flow is going to rely on the time to collect from account receivables. Carlos Silva, Raul Garcia and others who have more experience working with Mexican businesses will be able to help us estimate both the collection and payment times. We are working on an assumption of 30 days to collect. Clients will pay at the beginning of each month except when this is impossible for them.

The present cash flow projection assumes sacrificed salaries taken as equity contribution for the first few months. The inputs for capital input are actually “sweat equity” contributions from the founder.

7.6 Projected Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet in the following table shows managed but sufficient growth of net worth, and a sufficiently healthy financial position. The monthly estimates are included in the appendix.

7.7 Business Ratios

Business Ratios for the years of this plan are shown below. Industry profile ratios based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 8742, Management Consulting Services, are shown for comparison.

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Market Research

Business planning, website development, product or service selection, marketing and promotion, is it a good idea to start an online business, can i start an online business with $100, what are different types of online marketing strategies, the bottom line.

Small Business
How to Start a Business

How to Start an Online Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Crafting a Winning Business Plan: Setting Goals and Strategies

Katie Miller is a consumer financial services expert. She worked for almost two decades as an executive, leading multi-billion dollar mortgage, credit card, and savings portfolios with operations worldwide and a unique focus on the consumer. Her mortgage expertise was honed post-2008 crisis as she implemented the significant changes resulting from Dodd-Frank required regulations.

How to Start a Business: A Comprehensive Guide and Essential Steps
How to Do Market Research, Types, and Example
Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, How To Create One
Marketing in Business: Strategies and Types Explained
What Is a Marketing Plan? Types and How to Write One
Business Development: Definition, Strategies, Steps & Skills
Business Plan: What It Is, What's Included, and How to Write One
Small Business Development Center (SBDC): Meaning, Types, Impact
How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan
Business Startup Costs: It’s in the Details
Startup Capital Definition, Types, and Risks
Bootstrapping Definition, Strategies, and Pros/Cons
Crowdfunding: What It Is, How It Works, and Popular Websites
Starting a Business with No Money: How to Begin
A Comprehensive Guide to Establishing Business Credit
Equity Financing: What It Is, How It Works, Pros and Cons
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Sole Proprietorship: What It Is, Pros & Cons, and Differences From an LLC
Partnership: Definition, How It Works, Taxation, and Types
What is an LLC? Limited Liability Company Structure and Benefits Defined
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Starting a Small Business: Your Complete How-to Guide
Starting an Online Business: A Step-by-Step Guide CURRENT ARTICLE
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Oscar Wong / Getty Images

If you want to get into the online business game, it’s a good time to start. The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped online consumer spending, including how people shop online and how they research products.

Today, 76% of Americans buy products online. Furthermore, roughly a third of people purchase items online weekly. From setting up an ecommerce business to offering web design services, there are countless avenues to explore as an entrepreneur.

Below, we’ll walk through each step to building an online business.

Key Takeaways

When starting an online business, comprehensive market research is critical for identifying your target audience and learning how to resonate with your customers and understand their needs.
Creating a business plan is an important step for outlining your business goals. It also includes your product description, target market, and financial projections, among other core components.
Building your website involves setting up a domain name, finding a hosting company, and designing a strong website with consistent branding that allows your customers to navigate it intuitively.
Choosing the right product or service to sell is essential. It’s important to think about how you’re addressing an unmet need.
Several digital marketing strategies can be utilized, from content marketing to paid advertising, to help your business grow.

Successful online entrepreneurs study hard in order to have a thorough understanding of their market. This is important for knowing exactly how to reach your target market , because these are the people who will buy your products and drive your business growth.

At its core, market research is about understanding your customers’ needs, pain points, and solutions. It is designed to help your business better meet these needs.

Steps to Conduct Market Research

Market research involves understanding key aspects of your current and future customers. To get a clear sense of your target market, outline the characteristics of your audience—for example, age, location, gender, income, job title, and key pain points.

Once you have identified your target audience, conduct research on the following topics, which will tell you about how they make decisions and how you can better position your business:

What are the challenges that your target market faces?
Where do they research a given product or service?
What are their views on pricing for this product or service?
What factors influence their decision to make a purchase?
Who are your competitors?

To put this market research into action, there are a number of different avenues you can take:

Focus groups
Competitive analysis
Brand awareness research
Market segmentation research

Consider the following questions that may be asked in an interview or focus group to learn more about your audience:

“How do you search for that product?”
“How useful was it?”
“What words do you use when you search on Google?”

When you have completed your market research, identify what you have learned as well as your next steps based on these insights.

Creating a business plan is a key first step for all business owners . It is important for companies looking to secure funding resources. It also serves as a blueprint to summarize your key business objectives and goals.

To write a business plan , incorporate these eight main sections, which are often found in traditional templates:

Executive summary : This is typically a one-page section that explains your objectives and includes your mission statement, core team, and why your company is positioned for success.
Company description : This describes what you offer, your competitive advantages, and your business goals.
Market analysis : This is where you explain your target market, market size, market trends, and competitive landscape.
Organization and management : Explain who is working on your team and their professional background and experience.
Service or product line : Describe the product or service you are offering, including any copyright or plans for patenting.
Marketing and sales : Discuss your marketing and sales strategy. Discuss your pricing, key metrics, and sales plan.
Funding request : If you are a company looking for funding, here is where you outline the capital you are requesting and where it will be allocated.
Financial projections : Include projections for your company’s revenue and expenses. Consider including an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement in this section.

A business plan is important because it helps clarify your action points, who you are, and what you offer, all in a coherent template.

Getting your business online is the next key step. In an ever-changing environment, it is important to know the tools, trends, and strategies for building a strong online presence to allow your business to grow.

Registering Your Domain

The first step is registering your name, or your website address. This can be in the form of your business name “.com.” To purchase your domain name, you can go to sites like GoDaddy or Namecheap . If you decide to build your website using WordPress, you will need to use a site such as these to host your website.

Web Hosting Companies

Alternatively, you can buy your domain name at a hosting company. These are companies like Shopify , Wix , or Amazon Web Services , that may also offer tools to build your website and release content on them.

Website Design

A well-designed website is important for many reasons. Using a website builder, such as Mailchimp or Squarespace , can allow you to choose a theme, customize your pages, create relevant content, and set up a payment page.

Other key aspects of your website design include its functionality, simplicity, and ease of use. Allowing your potential customers to navigate the site intuitively will be key to their experience. Brand consistency—in your logo, colors, and typeface, for example—is also key to creating a unified brand.

Another essential part of website design is its mobile application. You’ll want to ensure that your website runs smoothly on mobile, that images load properly, that the text is legible, and that buttons are intuitive to click.

This step focuses on how to choose the right product or service to sell. At the heart of this choice is the goal of solving a customer’s problem. But there are a number of strategies you can use to identify your product idea.

For example, you might consider analyzing companies with high-profit margins, products that align with your passion, burgeoning trends, items trending on online marketplaces, and/or customer reviews.

With this in mind, analyze how this product will get to your customers. Additionally, you may consider products that are not available in stores in your local market but are offered in communities such as Europe or Japan, for example.

Marketing strategy and promotion is an essential driver of business growth. As the digital landscape evolves, it’s important to have an effective marketing plan that resonates with changing consumer preferences and needs.

Here are questions that companies can consider as they create their marketing strategy, navigating today’s environment:

Impact, value, and growth : What are the goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) that will measure success for your business? How will you explain the value that the business provides to its customers and/or society? Create an “elevator speech”—a 30-second description of what you offer and why it’s special.
Customer need and brand promise : How does the brand meet a customer’s need through its products and services?
Customer experience : How will the business deliver the best experiences at each stage of the customer journey?
Organizational model : How will the business operate to serve the customer with the most impact?

These will help you understand what types of strategies can have real impact.

Types of Marketing Strategies

Consider the following digital marketing strategies that can be used for your online business:

Email marketing
Social media marketing
Paid advertising
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Content marketing
Influencer marketing

Each of these presents a different way to reach your target audience, drive conversions, or build brand awareness, depending on your marketing goals.

You need to determine that for yourself. But before starting an online business, it’s important to assess the time, investment, and resources you’ll need to get it off the ground. While the barrier to entry can be quite low, it’s worth considering your goals and strategies for making it a reality.

However, compared with starting up a traditional brick-and-mortar business, the risks of launching an online business may be reduced due to lower upfront costs such as rent, staff, and materials, among others.

The short answer: yes. While it depends on the type of business you hope to pursue, there are many ways to set up an online business at very little cost. For example, you could offer your services doing freelance work, photography, bookkeeping, or personal training. The primary costs involved include setting up your business website, which can cost as little as $2 to $20 each year with companies such as GoDaddy.

There are a number of digital marketing strategies that online businesses can use, such as content marketing, email marketing, paid advertising, SEO, and influencer marketing. Each of these strategies can be useful, depending on your product and goals.

Starting an online business can be a powerful way to launch a new product or service while reaching a wider audience. With market research, a solid business plan, a strong website, and a digital marketing strategy, you can get started in growing your company effectively. As customers increasingly make decisions virtually, building an online business is vital to any business owner’s success.

Pew Research Center. “ For Shopping, Phones Are Common and Influencers Have Become a Factor—Especially for Young Adults .”

U.S. Small Business Administration. “ Market Research and Competitive Analysis .”

U.S. Small Business Administration. “ Write Your Business Plan .”

Ogilvy. “ Getting Future Ready with Marketing Transformation ,” Page 15.

GoDaddy. “ How Much Does a Domain Name Cost? Find Out! ”

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Success From the Start: Developing a Powerful Realtor Business Plan

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The Ultimate Guide for Real Estate Agents to Create a Realtor Business Plan Template

Antonio Del Cueto, CPA

May 14, 2024

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail," Benjamin Franklin's famous words ring especially true in the high-stakes world of real estate. This timeless piece of wisdom underscores the undeniable importance of a structured approach to any ambitious endeavor, particularly in crafting a realtor business plan .

In the competitive real estate market, success often hinges not just on what you do, but on how well you plan your actions. In this blog, you will unleash the essentials of creating a powerful realtor business plan that aligns your ambitions with actionable strategies, setting you on a path to success.

Why You Need a Real Estate Business Plan

Standing out isn't just an option. It's a necessity. A well-crafted business plan isn't merely paperwork. It’s your guide to discovering a successful niche in this competitive field.

Are you a broker or an agent? A solid plan serves as your roadmap, helping you navigate challenges and seize opportunities efficiently. It keeps you focused, ensuring every decision and marketing effort propels you towards your goals.

Set Your Real Estate Business Goals

Setting clear, achievable goals is fundamental in shaping your real estate career. It’s about knowing your destination before you start the journey. For a new real estate business, common goals might include:

achieving a certain income goal through average commission per sale
expanding client reach through strategic lead generation
enhancing brand visibility with open houses and robust social media content.

These targets not only keep you on track but also ensure that you’re aligned with your clients’ needs and local market demands. As you create your plan, remember to consider listing expenses and other costs that could impact your financial milestones.

Realtor Business Plan Template

Using a real estate business plan template can make this process more efficient. A good template will guide you in structuring your plan to cover all necessary aspects, such as developing a client avatar, managing listing photos, and crafting strategies for buyers and sellers.

Key components of the template should help you identify what makes the biggest impact, such as referral systems, new listing strategies, and relationship management . To ensure you’re on track, don’t forget to include a vision statement and a review schedule.

Crafting Your Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Creating a robust real estate agent business plan is vital. It's time to create a comprehensive blueprint that not only guides you through daily tasks but also helps you grow into a successful real estate agent.

Your plan should encompass various strategies to help expand your reach and meet financial goals. You'll need to include a detailed marketing plan , identify key price points, and outline anticipated expenses to consider.

Calculate Your Budget and Resources

Start by estimating all startup costs, including office space, licensing, and technology. These are key investments that lay the foundation for your business. Allocate your budget strategically to areas that drive client acquisition, like marketing, ensuring you prioritize effectively.

Develop realistic financial projections to guide your business, helping you understand when you’re on track or need to pivot. This process is vital for any real estate broker aiming to reach financial goals and expand their business. Don’t panic and take the time to review your finances regularly.

Leveraging Local Demographics for Niche Targeting in Your Real Estate Business Plan

Identifying niche markets through demographic analysis.

Identify your niche market through thorough demographic analysis. Gather and analyze local demographic data to spot emerging lifestyle and consumer trends.

This insight allows you to match property types with the specific needs of different demographics, pinpointing untapped or growing niches. This helps create a focused and effective brokerage that caters to specific client segments.

Customizing Marketing Strategies to Reach Your Ideal Client

In crafting marketing strategies for your real estate brokerage, develop messages that resonate with your target demographic. Select appropriate marketing channels that ensure maximum reach and engagement with your ideal clients.

Engaging actively with the community and leveraging client testimonials are powerful ways to build trust and a strong reputation. This tailored approach will enhance your brokerage's visibility and appeal within your chosen niche.

Enhancing Services to Meet Demographic-Specific Needs

To better serve your target market in real estate, offer specialized services tailored to their specific needs. Build strategic partnerships that enhance your service offerings and create added value for your clients. Continuously update your knowledge and certifications to stay relevant and informed.

Adjust your business strategies based on market conditions and client feedback to ensure you’re always aligned with their needs. This approach helps you grow your real estate business and positions you as a trusted advisor who can make it happen. Remember to review your strategies periodically.

Integrating Technology and Real Estate

Virtual reality (vr) home tours.

VR home tours significantly boost client engagement by allowing potential buyers to explore properties remotely. This saves time and reduces business expenses, making it an integral part of creating a real estate business plan. By integrating VR tours, you successfully transform how you showcase homes.

Drone Photography

Drone photography showcases unique property features, elevating listing attractiveness and potentially boosting conversion rates. Investing time to identify the best tools is essential for any agent looking to improve their sales strategy. This method helps you craft listings that stand out in a competitive market.

AI-Driven CRM Systems

AI-driven CRM systems are revolutionizing how many agents manage their relationships and lead generation. These systems automate routine tasks, allowing you to focus more on personalized service and less on admin. They help you craft a strategy that integrates personal and business goals, keeping you flexible and informed about your progress.

Financial Strategies Beyond the Basics

Leveraging real estate investment trusts (reits).

REITs provide a straightforward path for investing in real estate through collective funds. These funds own and manage properties, returning profits as dividends. By understanding REITs, you can enjoy benefits like steady income and capital appreciation without the complexities of direct property management. These benefits make REITs an attractive option for diversifying your portfolio and gaining exposure to different real estate sectors.

Integrating REITs into your financial plan can create a roadmap to success. Invest the time to identify which REITs best align with your financial goals and track your progress annually. REITs offer flexibility and require less capital than buying property directly, making them a practical choice for many investors.

Sustainable Practices in Real Estate

Understanding the value of sustainable real estate.

Sustainable real estate is not just a trend. It's a smart investment. These properties offer long-term benefits such as reduced energy costs and maintenance savings. They often have regulatory advantages, including tax incentives and easier compliance with building codes, increasing their value. As environmental standards tighten, these green features significantly boost property values, making them highly desirable in the market.

Marketing Green Homes Effectively

In marketing green homes, it's vital to highlight key sustainable features clearly. Create a plan that uses educational marketing to explain the benefits and potential savings associated with features like solar panels and energy-efficient appliances.

Showcasing relevant certifications can also enhance credibility. As you learn strategies on effectively promoting green properties, your marketing efforts can lead to generating more leads—so stay flexible and adapt your strategies as needed.

Effective Storytelling in Marketing

Effective storytelling is key to engaging your audience. Craft relatable stories that resonate, incorporating client testimonials to build credibility. Always ensure your stories reflect the true essence of your brand. Certainly, don’t exaggerate or mislead.

Content Marketing Strategies in Real Estate

Elevate your content marketing by hosting informative podcasts and producing engaging videos. These lead-generating tools help establish you as a knowledgeable source in the real estate market.

Utilize visual platforms to showcase the unique aspects of properties you’re marketing. As a relationship manager, it's important to continuously adapt and innovate your strategies to stay relevant and appealing to your audience.

Key Takeaways

Download the 2024 business planning guide : Make sure to access the latest resources tailored to your industry for informed decision-making and strategic planning.
Year in real estate : Reflect on the trends, challenges, and successes of the past year to inform your business strategy for the upcoming months.
Word of warning : Be cautious of potential pitfalls or market shifts and integrate contingency plans into your business strategy to mitigate risks.
Connect with people : Network with a diverse group of professionals, including clients, fellow realtors, lenders, and industry experts, to expand your knowledge and opportunities.
Know in the comments : Engage with your online community by encouraging feedback, questions, and discussions to build relationships and foster trust in your expertise.

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Money blog: Why are concert tickets so expensive? Here's who is really responsible

Ticket prices for some concerts have reached astronomical levels in recent years - we've looked at why and who is profiting. Read this and the rest of our Weekend Money content below and join us for live updates again from Monday.

Saturday 1 June 2024 21:08, UK

Taylor Swift

Weekend Money

Where is all the money going? Here's who is really responsible for concert tickets going crazy
Strikes, new bank notes, cat fines and airport disruption: Main June money dates for your calendar
Your comments: Man Utd WFH crackdown, Sterling's uni pledge, pebble fines and standing charges

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Ask a question or make a comment

By Katie Williams , Money team

Spending a fair chunk on going to see your favourite big artist is not new - but it certainly feels like concert prices have entered a new stratosphere.

Fans of Bruce Springsteen have paid upwards of £120 for "rear pitch" standing tickets for his May 2024 tour, while some expressed disappointment recently over the £145 price tag of standing tickets for Billie Eilish's 2025 UK leg.

And while you could have nabbed Beyonce or Taylor Swift tickets in the UK for £50 (before fees) if you took a "nosebleed" seat, these had limited availability and quickly sold out. General admission standing tickets for Swift's Eras tour - which comes to the UK next week - started at £110.40 and those at the front had to shell out £172.25. It didn't stop there - by the time many fans got to the front of the online ticket queue, the only tickets left cost upwards of £300.

So what's behind rising ticket costs? These are some of the reasons...

Fans willing to pay for big spectacles

Simply put, ticket prices would come down if people voted with their feet.

Matt Hanner, booking agent and operations director at Runway, said prices at the top level had "risen considerably" - but the increase was partly being driven by demand.

"We're seeing a lot more stadium shows, greenfield, outdoor festival-type shows which are now a staple of towns around the country," he said.

"There's a growing number of people that are happy to spend a large chunk of their disposable income on going to a major music event."

Jon Collins, chief executive of LIVE, the trade body representing the UK's live music industry, had a similar view.

He said there were more large-scale shows and tours now than ever, and there was "massive appetite" among music lovers for "bigger spectacles".

Fancy shows mean higher costs - with staffing, the price of the venue, transport, artists' needs, insurance and loads more to factor in.

Of course, all these things are affected by inflation. Collins said ticket prices also factored in the rising costs that had hit every venue from the grassroots scene to major arenas.

"You've got a couple of different factors - you've got the spectacle of the show and the production cost and everything that goes into the ticket price. But then you've also got the fundamentals," he said.

The cost of venue hire has increased "significantly" in the past couple of years due to electricity and gas price rises, he added.

"You've got the increase in the cost of people… very justifiable costs like increases in minimum wage and living wage. At every stage of the process we've got these cost increases that will all push through the pressure on the ticket price."

Are artists being greedy?

How much money artists really earn off live touring is of interest to many - but the music industry is generally reluctant to release details.

The people we spoke to suggested it was not as simple as artist greed because, as we mentioned earlier, there's a lot to pay for before anything reaches their bank accounts.

The Guardian spoke to anonymous insiders about this topic in 2017. Its report suggested that between 50-70% of gross earnings were left for promoters and artists. The piece also cited a commonly quoted figure that the promoter takes 15% of what is left and the act will get 85%.

It all depends on the calibre of the artist and how much work the promoter has had to put in - they could end up with a bigger share if it was a hard push to get the show sold.

The people we spoke to said music acts and their teams would discuss the ticket price, and the bigger the act, the more sway they have - but it's ultimately set by the promoter.

Taylor Swift - arguably the biggest popstar on the planet right now - is personally earning between $10m and $13m (£8m - £10.5m) on every stop of her Eras Tour, according to Forbes. She is reported to take home a whopping 85% of all revenue from the tour.

But it's worth pointing out, too, that she's been known to be generous with her cash, having given $100,000 bonuses to the dozens of lorry drivers working on the tour.

What have other artists said?

Some artists have been critical of the high ticket prices being demanded by others.

Tom Grennan told ITV two years ago that he had seen "loads of artists putting tickets out that are way too expensive for the times that we are in", adding that he wanted people to enjoy shows without worrying if they could pay their bills.

Singer-songwriter Paul Heaton was also praised for capping ticket prices for his tour with Jacqui Heaton at £30 in a bid to tackle music industry "greed" and help people during the cost of living.

British star Yungblud recently announced his own music festival, Bludfest - saying the industry was too expensive and needed to be "shaken up".

"I believe that gigs are too expensive, festivals are too expensive, and I just wanted to work to create something that has been completely done by me," he told Sky News.

Meanwhile, frequent Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff has said "dynamic pricing" by ticket sale sites such as Ticketmaster was also an issue when it came to cost.

He told Stereogum that he wanted artists to be able to opt out of the system - which basically means ticket prices increase when a show is in demand - and be able to sell them at the price they choose.

On its website, Ticketmaster describes its "Platinum" tickets as those that have their price adjusted according to supply and demand.

It says the goal of the dynamic pricing system is to "give fans fair and safe access to the tickets, while enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true market value".

The company claims it is artists, their teams and promoters who set pricing and choose whether dynamic pricing is used for their shows.

Ticketing website fees

As well as dynamic pricing, "sneaky" fees by online ticket sites are also causing issues for live music lovers, according to the consumer champion Which?.

A report from the group last month said an array of fees that isn't seen until checkout can add around 20% to the cost of concert and festival tickets.

Which? has urged a crackdown on the "bewildering" extra charges, which include booking, "delivery" and "transaction" fees, venue charges and sometimes charges for e-tickets.

The Cure lead singer Robert Smith tweeted that he was "sickened" after fans complained last year about processing fees on Ticketmaster that wound up costing more than the ticket itself in some cases.

Responding to the Which? findings, Ticketmaster (which was far from the only company named) said: "Fees are typically set by and shared with our clients… who all invest their skill, resource and capital into getting an event off the ground. Ticketmaster supports legislation that requires all-in pricing across the industry."

Live Nation and Ticketmaster sued over 'dominance'

The US government is suing Ticketmaster owner Live Nation over allegations the company is "monopolising" the live events industry.

Justice department officials said it was unfair for the firm to control around 70% of primary ticketing for concerts in America.

Live Nation has been accused of using lengthy contracts to prevent venues from choosing rival ticket companies, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers and threatening venues that they could lose money and support if Ticketmaster wasn't the chosen seller.

Live Nation said the lawsuit reflected a White House that had turned over competition enforcement "to a populist urge that simply rejects how antitrust law works".

"Some call this 'anti-monopoly', but in reality it is just anti-business," it said.

And it said its share of the market had been shrinking and its profit margin of 1.4% was the "opposite of monopoly power".

The lawsuit "won't solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees and access to in-demand shows", the company said.

"We will defend against these baseless allegations, use this opportunity to shed light on the industry and continue to push for reforms that truly protect consumers and artists."

As well as reportedly controlling most of the ticketing market, Live Nation also owns and represents some acts and venues.

Canadian artist Dan Mangan told Moneywise this was enabling the company to take "more and more of the pie".

He said when venue rent, equipment and other costs were taken into account, lesser known artists could take as little as 20% of ticket sales.

Another major cost on tickets in the UK is VAT (value added tax).

At 20%, it's pretty hefty. It was brought down to 5% and then 12.5% as the live music industry was hampered by COVID, but returned to the pre-pandemic level in April 2022.

The charge puts the UK "out of step" with other countries, Collins said.

"In competitive major markets like France, it's 5%. Germany it's 7%, Italy it's 10%. Sales tax in the US is typically 6% or 7%. So we are significantly out of step with other markets when it comes to how much VAT we charge on tickets," he said.

Touring now bigger source of income for major stars

With the decline of physical products and the rise of subscription listening, artists are earning less from making music - and income from live shows has become more important for the biggest stars.

Writer and broadcaster Paul Stokes said major stars who would have toured infrequently in the past were now willing to put on more shows as it becomes increasingly profitable.

Some artists will even pencil in multiple nights at huge venues like Wembley Arena, he said - something that wouldn't have been considered two decades ago.

"When Wembley was built and they said 'we'll be doing regular shows' you'd think 'are there acts big enough to fill this massive stadium?'

"It's become absolutely part of the live calendar that artists will come and play not just one night at Wembley, but two or three every every summer."

Stokes said this demand has also prompted the scale of shows that we've become used to seeing, featuring expensive production and pyrotechnics.

Not being felt evenly

While a night out seeing a platinum-selling artist is likely to be an expensive affair, industry figures are also keen to point out that the escalation in ticket prices isn't necessarily happening at a lower level.

Collins said that while major stars were putting on arena shows, there would be plenty of other live music taking place at the same time, "from the free pub gig to the £10 ticket at the grassroots venue, to the £30 mid-cap".

"There's an absolute range of opportunities for people to experience live music, from free through to experiencing the biggest stars on the planet," he said.

But concertgoers choosing to save their cash for artists they're more familiar with may have led to a "suppression" of prices for lesser-known acts, Hanner noted.

"Everyone's short of disposable income because there's a cost of living crisis. [Artists' and promoters'] core costs are going up as well, so it's more expensive for everyone. That fear of pricing people out is just being compounded," he said.

"I think [that] has definitely led to prices being suppressed [at the lower level], when really they should have been going up."

With May in the rearview mirror, here are the key money dates for your calendar in June.

1 June onwards - benefit changes

While benefits rose 6.7% from 8 April for many claimants, those who had their last assessment period before then will have had to wait until June to receive the new, higher rate.

The exact date in June when that payment is made will depend on when you were assessed.

Also from 1 June, all people claiming Housing Benefit alone will be asked to claim Universal Credit instead within three months of receiving the letter.

Failure to do so could result in you losing your entitlement.

1-2 June - Heathrow disruption

Hundreds of border force officers at Heathrow Airport are striking until Sunday in a dispute over rosters.

More than 500 of its members working on passport control at terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5 are taking action.

Disruption is expected over the weekend as families return to the UK at the end of the half-term holiday.

5 June - new banknotes

Banknotes featuring the face of the King will enter circulation across the UK.

Notes that feature the portrait of the late Queen will remain legal tender and will co-circulate.

The new banknotes will only be printed to replace those that are worn and to meet any overall increase in demand.

10 June - £500 cat fines

All cats over 20 weeks old in England must be microchipped by 10 June.

You could face a £500 if you miss the deadline and don't get your cat microchipped in the following 21 days.

The law does not apply to the rest of the UK.

16 June - Father's Day

As the day dedicated to dads and father figures approaches, it may be worth remembering to put some cash aside to treat them in mid-June.

19 June - inflation data released

We'll get May's inflation data in the monthly drop from the Office for National Statistics.

This will give us the clearest indication of whether the Bank of England will lower interest rates.

Remember, the Bank's target is 2% (April's headline rate was 2.3%), so the closer we get to that number the better.

20 June - interest rate decision

Another Monetary Policy Committee meeting at the Bank of England will determine whether we finally get a drop in interest rates.

Many economists predict a cut from 5.25% will happen in August, but June isn't ruled out.

27 June - doctors' strike

Junior doctors in England will begin a five-day strike at 7am over pay.

The last strike by junior doctors led to 91,048 appointments, operations and procedures being postponed.

30 June - meter readings

Not a fixed date - more of a reminder.

From 1 July, the energy price cap will fall by £122 per year.

Your provider will do most of the work, but you can help keep your bill accurate by submitting meter readings (unless you have a smart meter) ahead of this date.

The big topics covered in the Money blog this week that got you commenting were...

Manchester United giving staff who don't want to come into the office a week to resign
Raheem Sterling offering to pay for 14 people to go to university
Fines for pebble-taking tourists on beaches
The standing charge rising despite the energy price cap being cut

Let's start with the two football-related stories.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, new part-owner of Manchester United, sent an email round on Tuesday offering all non-playing staff the chance to resign (with their annual bonus paid early) within the week if they do not like his plan to stop working from home ...

Some praised his decision...

Well done Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Finally, somebody who has the guts to stand up and end this 'working from home' nonsense! edwinbasnett

Sir Jim has got it right, decisions are decisive and provide clear expectations and an option to get out. WFH doesn't work at the levels seen following COVID, I'm sure it does for some but many take advantage and it's far more difficult to manage. Tel

Others not so much...

Thankfully there's not quite so stark an ultimatum from my employer, but I am planning to leave soon. It's a nonsense commuting to an office where I then engage with other colleagues over Teams/Zoom. Jim

Who wants to work for a **** like that anyway with that attitude? No filter

Earlier in the week, we learnt Raheem Sterling will financially support 14 students through university.

Applications for the Raheem Sterling Foundation Scholarship Programme - which closed on Thursday - were open to students of black, African and Caribbean heritage from socio-economically under-represented backgrounds to help bridge the equality gap.

This will be the second year the Chelsea forward will assist successful applicants at King's College London and the University of Manchester.

Readers said...

Sterling is a credit to sport, football and his heritage. I hope more footballers will join him and his endeavours. Judy

This is brilliant - I have never understood why professionals in many fields do not give more back to their communities. Just a visit to their old primary school could turn a bright light on for so many kids. Why don't many more do it? Old white woman

Well done Raheem Sterling for financially supporting 14 students who would like to attend university. Sometimes professional football players get a negative press but this is amazing, well done. Anthony G

Away from football and to Cumbria - where beach-goers have been warned they could face a fine of up to £1,000 if they remove pebbles or shells across the area.

You said...

Why aren't the same rules applied to stop Southern Water dumping all their s*** into our seas. They take millions of pounds from normal people who trust them to process it correctly. Anti s outhern water

So that means the thrill of going to the beach and collecting a few shells is stopped. What about the scallop shells used in restaurants and supermarkets? What about the sacks of shells sold at garden centres? What about the tonnes of sand used every day etc etc? JR

Has the world gone mad? £1,000 fine for taking pebbles home from a beach? I think most children take a few pebbles home with them. Bob

Many of you responded to last Friday's announcement that while the energy price cap would fall in July, standing charges - the set amount you pay for gas and electric each day regardless of use - would be going up.

Martin Lewis's explanation of it can be read here...

Here's what you said...

Are there any regulations for energy supplies regarding the standing charge? Every time the unit price drops my supplier raises the standing charge. SianW

Our energy bills have dropped, now the heating is off. However, the high daily standing charge means my bills are off the starting blocks even before the switches are flicked. Come the winter the price cap will rise again - not unlike profiteering in wartime. Porthy

My standing charges are almost three times what they used to be. I've cut back on my usage to the point I pay more a month in standing charges than I do usage so having the unit price drop makes little impact. P hunt

The energy companies have ripped us off for the last two years. The daily standing charge has to go. The shareholders have had real good dividends over the past few years, and therefore must pay for the people that can't pay their bills, because of the bonuses they have received. michael rogers

The Money blog is your place for consumer news, economic analysis and everything you need to know about the cost of living - bookmark news.sky.com/money.

It runs with live updates every weekday - while on Saturdays we scale back and offer you a selection of weekend reads.

Check them out this morning and we'll be back on Monday with rolling news and features.

The Money team is Emily Mee, Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young and Ollie Cooper, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

An investigation has been launched into whether the biggest banking merger since the financial crisis could harm competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority announced the inquiry into Nationwide's £2.9bn takeover of rival Virgin Money this morning.

The move would bring together the fifth and sixth largest retail lenders, creating a combined group with around 24.5 million customers and nearly 700 branches.

It would spell the end of the Virgin Money brand, with Nationwide planning to rebrand the business within six years.

The CMA has invited interested parties to give their views on the deal, as it considers whether it could "result in a substantial lessening of competition" in the market.

Nationwide struck the takeover agreement in March, and last week a clear majority of 89% of Virgin Money shareholders voted in favour, helping to clear the path to complete.

The government has sold £1.24bn of its shares in NatWest, accelerating the process of private ownership.

The Treasury's shareholding in the high street bank has fallen by approximately 3.5 percentage points to 22.5%.

NatWest, formerly Royal Bank of Scotland, received multibillion-pound bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis, leaving the government with an 84% stake.

The government has been selling down its stake in the lender, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt planning to sell all of its interest in the bank by 2025 or 2026 should the Conservatives be re-elected.

There was supposed to be a public share sale this summer, allowing individuals, not just institutional investors, to purchase stock, but the plans have been shelved due to the election.

In recent years, the sell-off has become more rapid. In 2018, the government owned 62% of the group, but by December of last year that was down to just under 38%.

In March, that fell below 30%, meaning the government was no longer classed as a controlling shareholder in the lender.

Earlier this year, NatWest wrote to shareholders asking them to support an increase in the amount of stock the bank could buy back from the government in a year, from just under 5% to 15%.

The establishment of Great British Energy is among the last remnants of the "green prosperity plan" devised and championed by Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, three years ago.

The former Labour leader's vision was to spend £28bn per year in the first five years of an incoming Labour government on decarbonising the UK economy.

However, as the current leader Sir Keir Starmer recognised, the issue was swiftly weaponised by the Conservatives because all the money - as Mr Miliband himself had made clear - would have been borrowed.

More importantly, the plan did not survive contact with Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, who has made fiscal responsibility her priority.

The £28bn-a-year spending pledge was watered down in February this year to one of £23.7bn over the life of the next parliament.

A sizeable chunk of that will be on Great British Energy, described by Mr Miliband as "a new publicly owned clean power company", which Labour has said will be initially capitalised at £8.3bn.

And, instead of the money being borrowed, Labour is now saying "it will be funded by asking the big oil and gas companies to pay their fair share through a proper windfall tax".

Read on here...

Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are joining Glasgow as cities with Low Emission Zones where motorists could face fines up to £480 if they don't comply.

The zones were introduced two years ago, but drivers were given a grace period before charges began.

In Dundee, the grace period ended today - in Edinburgh and Aberdeen it's tomorrow.

A non-compliant vehicle entering the zone can be charged £60, which doubles with each subsequent breach up to a maximum of £480.

If paid within 14 days, the initial fine will be halved to £30.

Despite the warning, only 55% of drivers in Scotland are confident they know where the zones are in operation, according to online marketplace Carwow.

Some 30% of Scottish motorists are not sure if they understand the rules and 24% are not sure if their vehicle is compliant.

"We therefore need to tackle the lack of understanding among motorists about Low Emission Zones in Scotland – where they are and which cars are compliant - because, without better knowledge, millions of drivers are at risk of being fined," said Sally Foote, chief commercial officer at Carwow.

The Low Emission Zones aim to discourage high-polluting vehicles from entering certain areas, just like those in English cities like Sheffield and Bristol.

Unlike English Clean Air Zones, Scottish LEZs apply to all types of vehicles except motorbikes and mopeds.

Non-compliant vehicles are not allowed into those zones whatsoever, unlike English LEZs, which apply a daily charge.

Ultra-low emission vehicles are automatically compliant, but others must conform to certain Euro emission ratings, which can be found in your V5C logbook - or you can check online.

Cars, vans, minibuses, taxis and private hire vehicles with a petrol engine must have at least a Euro 4 rating, while those with diesel engines should have a Euro 6.

Grants are available to people living within 20km of a LEZ who have no other choice but to sell or adapt their vehicles.

Hackers say they have stolen confidential information from all Santander staff and millions of customers, reports the BBC.

A gang going by the name of ShinyHunters posted an advert on a hacking forum claiming to be selling 30 million people's bank account details, six million account numbers and balances, 28 million credit card numbers and HR information for staff.

Earlier this month, the bank said data was accessed belonging to customers in Chile, Spain and Uruguay and all current Santander employees, but nothing that would allow transactions to take place.

As of March, Sandander as a whole employed more than 211,000 people and as of 30 June 2021, 20,900 employees worked for Santander UK.

Santander has declined to comment on the claims beyond a statement released on 14 May.

It read: "Certain information relating to customers of Santander Chile, Spain and Uruguay, as well as all current and some former Santander employees of the group had been accessed.

"No transactional data, nor any credentials that would allow transactions to take place on accounts are contained in the database, including online banking details and passwords. The bank's operations and systems are not affected, so customers can continue to transact securely.

"We apologise for the concern this will understandably cause and are proactively contacting affected customers and employees directly."

ShinyHunters have previously sold data stolen from AT&T and claim to be selling private data hacked from Ticketmaster, the BBC reported.

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6.1 Personnel Plan. Paul will be paid somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 in the initial months, depending on the amount of clients signed, and the nature of those contracts. Gabriela Lopez will be contracted for $1,000 to $2,000 depending on the load of work and her availability.
How to Write a Business Plan: Beginner's Guide (& Templates)
Step #1: Write Your Executive Summary. The executive summary is a brief overview of your entire business plan, giving anyone who reads through your document a quick understanding of what they're going to learn about your business idea.. However, you need to remember that some of the people who are going to read your business plan don't want to or have time to read the entire thing.
Write your business plan
Common items to include are credit histories, resumes, product pictures, letters of reference, licenses, permits, patents, legal documents, and other contracts. Example traditional business plans. Before you write your business plan, read the following example business plans written by fictional business owners.
How to Start a Business: A Comprehensive Guide and Essential Steps
The first step is to calculate the start-up costs. Identify a list of expenses and put a dollar amount to each of them through research and requesting quotes. The SBA has a start-up costs ...
How To Start A Business In 11 Steps (2024 Guide)
The best way to accomplish any business or personal goal is to write out every possible step it takes to achieve the goal. Then, order those steps by what needs to happen first. Some steps may ...
How to Build a Foolproof Startup Marketing Plan
11. Revisit your marketing plan. Make time regularly to review your marketing plan. Your business goals might have changed, or you may have started targeting your audience differently—these business insights should be reflected in your marketing strategy. Take time once a quarter to sit down and revisit your plan.
How to Start an Online Business: A Step-by-Step Guide
Starting an online business can be a powerful way to launch a new product or service while reaching a wider audience. With market research, a solid business plan, a strong website, and a digital ...
A Guide to Law Firm Business Management
A law firm business plan is a document that serves as a summary of a firm's plan for how to run the firm as a business. This should outline: ... Clio's law firm website builder can be a good place to start. Try content marketing. The 2022 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report found that 37% of law firms report having a blog, and, ...
5 Low-Cost, High-Profit Business Ideas You Can Start Today
1. Educational or training company. If you have a skill and you can teach it to others, the business possibilities are endless. You can start with a simple tutoring company, helping young folks ...
Success From the Start: Developing a Powerful Realtor Business Plan
Your plan should encompass various strategies to help expand your reach and meet financial goals. You'll need to include a detailed marketing plan, identify key price points, and outline anticipated expenses to consider. Calculate Your Budget and Resources. Start by estimating all startup costs, including office space, licensing, and technology.
What is Marketing Automation?
In its most basic form, marketing automation is a set of tools designed to streamline and simplify some of the most time-consuming responsibilities of the modern marketing and sales roles. From automating the lead qualification process to creating a hub for digital campaign creation, automation is all about simplifying a business world that is growing far too complex, much too quickly.
Money blog: This savings account could bag you a free £8,500 in five
Mining firm Anglo American is among the companies hit by falls this morning. Its shares have dropped by just over 1% after its rival BHP Group walked away from a proposed £38.5bn takeover of the ...
Elon Musk's xAi firm valued at $24 billion as investors pledge more
The AI firm founded by Elon Musk has raised another $6 billion from investors, including Silicon Valley venture capitalists and a Saudi prince, boosting its valuation to $24 billion.
MarketBeat: Stock Market News and Research Tools
Read the latest stock market news on MarketBeat. Get real-time analyst ratings, dividend information, earnings results, financials, headlines, insider trades and options data for any stock.