As a small business owner, you must concentrate on getting plenty of new customers buying from you, any inactive customers coming back, and all your current customers buying more. An effective marketing plan will drive your business towards achieving these objectives.

Your plan will identify all the tactics and actions needed to achieve your strategic marketing objectives, with a timetable for implementation. In other words, your marketing plan will describe in detail how you will set about achieving your strategic sales and marketing targets. Most small business owners don’t have a marketing plan, but by creating and introducing one, your business will gain a unique opportunity to stand out above your competition.

This factsheet explains how to write a marketing plan, what you should include in your plan and how to monitor and review your marketing performance.