SBR 43: HOW TO CREATE A ONE-PAGE MARKETING PLAN

For scaling businesses, creating a comprehensive marketing strategy doesn’t need to be a complex process. In fact, a one-page marketing plan can be the perfect tool for businesses that need a simple, effective way to outline their goals and strategies without getting bogged down in lengthy documents. This approach ensures you stay focused on what matters most—growing your business.

What is a One-Page Marketing Plan & why is it important?

Your one-pager is a concise summary of your marketing strategy, focuses on the essential components that will drive your business forward.

It’s crucial for aligning your entire business behind a single, unified vision of how to grow the brand. Whether you're a small business aiming for local success or a scaling business expanding into new markets, having a clear, concise plan helps every team member understand the strategy and how their role contributes to its success. It creates an environment for collaboration between all “departments”.

It’s a powerful tool for guiding strategic business decisions. It forces you to continuously evaluate whether each initiative and tactic directly supports your long-term business goals. By asking, will this make the boat go faster? you can prioritise efforts that align with your growth strategy and avoid distractions. This ensures that your team stays focused on high-impact activities, maximising efficiency and helping the business scale effectively.

Key Elements of a One-Page Marketing Plan

To build a one-page marketing plan tailored to your small or scaling business, focus on these core components:

1: Have you set a clear business objective? Do you know how much you need to sell, what your annual milestone is in your 5 year plan? If not, get clear on this first.

2: Target Audience: Clearly define your ideal customers. Be sure to have a deep, psychographic understanding of your audience - go beyond demographics. If you need help with this, then - cough cough - we can help you!

3: Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Identify what makes your product or service stand out from competitors.

4: Marketing Objectives: These should be specific, measurable and importantly, commercial. What is it that the business needs to do for it to deliver it’s commercial targets.

5: Marketing Tactics: Outline what you’re going to do to deliver the ambition. Choose your marketing channels ONLY after you have done the first 4 steps. If someone is proposing a channel before you have fully understood the target audience, they’re a charlatan.

6: Budget and Resources: Whether you're a small business with limited resources or a scaling business investing in growth, it’s important to outline how much you’ll spend on marketing activities and the tools needed to execute the plan.

7: Metrics for Success: A wise man once told me, what gets measured gets done - so, define how success will be measured and what the KPIs are.

Measure twice cut once with your strategy

A one-page marketing plan is the ideal solution for businesses looking to streamline their marketing efforts. By getting super-clear on key components like target audience, objectives, and tactics, you can create a marketing strategy that’s easy to understand and execute.