{"id":21479,"date":"2013-02-11T14:12:32","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T14:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?post_type=guides&p=21479"},"modified":"2025-11-19T11:57:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T11:57:04","slug":"business-marketing-plan-guide","status":"publish","type":"guides","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Business marketing plan guide – 7 steps to success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

How will this Business marketing plan guide help me and my business?<\/h3>\n

A marketing plan is a bit like a job description for your company... Everyone should have one, but they\u2019re often not fit-for-purpose, out-of-date and reviewed infrequently. Research has shown that companies with a plan succeed more than those without a plan.<\/p>\n

Without a marketing plan, you won't have the essential foundations to exploit digital marketing.<\/p>\n

As this guide shows, a marketing plan provides focus, defines the approaches to grow your market share, expand products or move into new markets and ensures you are on track. We recommend frameworks and examples to review your strategic capabilities and options to create a well-considered plan.<\/p>\n

What does the Business marketing plan guide cover?<\/h3>\n

We believe it's essential that detailed digital marketing plans are integrated and aligned with your overall business and marketing plan. Yet our research shows that many businesses don't plan and don't have a plan for marketing as a whole or digital channels.<\/p>\n

To help our members plan more effectively we created this guide and the accompanying examples to help members create or review a top-level marketing plan for their business.<\/p>\n

In this guide, Annmarie Hanlon, an experienced Chartered Marketer and an Associate Profession in Digital and AI Marketing at UCL with over 25 years experience across many business sectors, and Amelia Cooper, Head of Content at Smart Insights with over 10 years of digital marketing experience, give you clear steps and recommendations to follow to create your own plan using PR Smith's SOSTAC\u00ae planning framework.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How will this Business marketing plan guide help me and my business? A marketing plan is a bit like a job description for your company… Everyone should have one, but they\u2019re often not fit-for-purpose, out-of-date and reviewed infrequently. Research has …..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":170170,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21479","guides","type-guides","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","guidetype-ebook"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBusiness marketing plan guide - 7 steps to success | Smart Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover 7 key steps to creating an effective marketing plan for your business with Smart Insights Business Marketing Planning Guide.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business marketing plan guide - 7 steps to success | Smart Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover 7 key steps to creating an effective marketing plan for your business with Smart Insights Business Marketing Planning Guide.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smartinsights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-19T11:57:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3508\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@smartinsights\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/\",\"name\":\"Business marketing plan guide - 7 steps to success | Smart Insights\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-11T14:12:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-19T11:57:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Discover 7 key steps to creating an effective marketing plan for your business with Smart Insights Business Marketing Planning Guide.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png\",\"width\":2480,\"height\":3508,\"caption\":\"Smart Insights 7 steps to business marketing planning guide cover\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Guides\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Business marketing plan guide – 7 steps to success\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/\",\"name\":\"Smart Insights\",\"description\":\"Digital Marketing > The Marketing Strategy Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Business marketing plan guide - 7 steps to success | Smart Insights","description":"Discover 7 key steps to creating an effective marketing plan for your business with Smart Insights Business Marketing Planning Guide.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business marketing plan guide - 7 steps to success | Smart Insights","og_description":"Discover 7 key steps to creating an effective marketing plan for your business with Smart Insights Business Marketing Planning Guide.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/","og_site_name":"Smart Insights","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smartinsights","article_modified_time":"2025-11-19T11:57:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2480,"height":3508,"url":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@smartinsights","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/","url":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/","name":"Business marketing plan guide - 7 steps to success | Smart Insights","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png","datePublished":"2013-02-11T14:12:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-19T11:57:04+00:00","description":"Discover 7 key steps to creating an effective marketing plan for your business with Smart Insights Business Marketing Planning Guide.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business_marketing_planning_guide-2025.png","width":2480,"height":3508,"caption":"Smart Insights 7 steps to business marketing planning guide cover"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/business-marketing-plan-guide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Guides","item":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/guides\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Business marketing plan guide – 7 steps to success"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/","name":"Smart Insights","description":"Digital Marketing > The Marketing Strategy Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guides\/21479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guides"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/guides"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guides\/21479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170126,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guides\/21479\/revisions\/170126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}