Creating a marketing plan can feel like a daunting task, but it's important to have one if you want your small business to succeed. And the thing is, we know that many small business owners avoid learning how to create a small business marketing plan because they are intimidated by it, scared they will do it wrong, or worried that their marketing plan won't actually work. But (but, but, but), if you follow these simple steps, you can create a marketing plan that will help your small business grow! 

Here’s what we are going to cover today:

• Why most marketing plans fail
• How to create your marketing plan
• Setting a budget for your marketing plan
• How to know if your marketing plan is working

Why most marketing plans fail

As small business owners, there is so much information out there for you about marketing (too much!). And a lot of times, the advice you see isn’t actually geared toward small business owners–even if it says it is. 

What most advice gets wrong is that it doesn’t consider the time that small business owners have. Ultimately, time is your most precious resource, and you don’t have enough of it! Trying to move a marketing plan forward that includes 5+ channels isn’t going to work for most small business owners, and it usually ends in you forgetting about the plan altogether once you fall too far behind.

Doing more just ends up leading to burn out. Instead, simplifying your marketing strategy actually makes it easier for you and more successful in the long run. 

Aside from doing too much, here are a few other factors that can (and will) also lead to unsuccessful marketing plans: 

• They’re too complicated. → A 20-page marketing plan that sits in a Google Doc won’t help you stay consistent.
• They’re not actionable. → A plan is useless if you don’t have a clear, doable execution strategy.
• They lack flexibility. → Marketing changes—your plan needs room to adapt.
• They aren’t tracked. → If you don’t measure what’s working, you’ll waste time on the wrong things.

Define your marketing goals and objectives

The first step you need to take is probably the easiest—you need to determine your marketing goals. And don't overthink this part! These goals can be more aspirational and capture what you want to achieve from more of a 30,000-foot view, or they can be something you’re hoping to achieve in the next year. For example, do you want to make your brand more recognizable? Do you want to get better leads? Or do you want to launch a new product or service?

After you've defined your goals, the next step is to get more specific about what it's going to take to reach them. And this is where you define your objectives. Because, while your marketing goals can be a bit more generic, your objectives should be more specific because this helps you set your KPIs (key performance indicators). 

Think of it this way: a goal like "make my brand more recognizable " is great when paired with an objective like "grow my social media following" because then you can set measurable KPIs. There’s usually something that comes before the “big” goal, and it’s worth tracking it. 

Want to take it even further with a specific target? A good example would be "increase my following on Instagram by 10% in 2 months." These KPIs will help you track your progress, and we’ll touch more on that in a bit.

Pick your marketing channels

The next big part of a successful marketing plan is choosing your unique mix of different marketing channels—but not just any channels, ones that will help you achieve the goals you just set. 

Don't be intimidated by this step—you can think of marketing channels simply as the places you are going to do your marketing (e.g. social media, blogging, SEO, advertising, etc.). These can also change over time so there’s no pressure to get everything “right” from the start.

Let's go back to our sample goals. If you're looking to make your brand more recognizable, you might use social media, PR, and content marketing as your marketing channels. If you're looking to launch a new product or service, paid advertising might be a channel to consider. And if you're looking to get better quality leads, email marketing might be the way to go.

Our biggest piece of advice here? Don't overwhelm yourself with marketing channels! You already wear a lot of hats as a small business owner, and marketing can become overwhelming when you try to do too much or use every channel out there. Pick 2-3 you can commit to with the time you have and do really well. Enji can help you choose with our marketing strategy generator.

Decide on your marketing tactics

Once you have your channels, this brings us to the part where you do your marketing plan. And the tactics (read: things you do) are a super important part of any marketing plan. For example, if your goal is to make your brand more recognizable, what you are actually going to do could be:

• Experiment with new types of content
• Create content to post on a regular basis
• Advertise on Facebook
• Plan a giveaway or social media challenge

And just like it's a really smart idea to not pick too many marketing channels, you want to set realistic expectations of what you can handle here as well. Because if you try to do too many things, it's likely you'll start dropping the ball. Then? You’ll find yourself with a marketing plan that doesn't work. Be realistic with your expectations and action items!

Set your marketing budget

And now we are here—the point where we talk about the money you should be putting behind your marketing. Because, even though you can do a lot of free forms of marketing, you still need to create a marketing budget. Because even if you’re just budgeting your time (and maybe your fave all-in-one marketing software), it's kind of hard to figure out what's smart to outsource or invest in if you haven't defined this number. 

For example, maybe you want to hire someone to help you set up Facebook ads. Maybe you want to completely outsource your social media management. Or maybe you just want to set aside some money for Google ads that you’ll set up on your own. 

Regardless of whether you have money to spend or you'll be relying on your own time and effort, once you've created your marketing budget, you can start implementing your marketing plan.

Tracking your progress (so you know it’s working)

Now that you know how to create a small business marketing plan, it’s time to execute it and find out if it’s working! 

And listen, while we talk about tracking your progress, it’s important to say that you won’t always see the numbers or the results you want right off the bat. If you do, consider yourself lucky! Most marketing takes time, and you’ll usually need to make some tweaks or changes to really determine which strategy is working the best for your business. 

Just because you don’t see instant results, that doesn’t mean your marketing plan is failing. As long as you have the right tools to measure your efforts, you can always pivot or make smart decisions to uplevel your marketing. 

With Enji’s KPI dashboard, you can finally see all of your analytics in one place, along with easy-to-read, visual reports. Access to your marketing data gives you the power to optimize your marketing plan and make sure you’re using your time and money wisely. 

Here are some examples of what you can measure within your KPI dashboard: 

• Website traffic & conversions (are people visiting + buying?)
• Social media engagement (are your posts actually reaching people?)
• Email open & click rates (are subscribers interested in your content?)
• Lead & sales numbers (is your marketing leading to actual revenue?

What if I don’t have time for marketing?

Before we let you go, let’s talk about something we know that too many small business owners are thinking: what if I don’t have time for marketing?

We get it—even thinking about a simplified marketing strategy is a lot for small business owners. You’re already in charge of the work, client management, business operations, and everything in between. But the good news? You don’t need hours of marketing time to see results. 

In fact, Enji users see results after spending just 1-2 hours each week on their marketing plans. The key is making your marketing plan more manageable and focused on the time that you actually have, which is what we prioritize at Enji!

Want to know how we do it? First, we start with a marketing strategy generator that considers your time and goals before creating a plan that’s designed for you. 

From there, we help you execute your marketing strategy more efficiently with Enji’s AI-powered copywriter. You can batch-create content once a week to maintain a consistent content calendar without overthinking it. 

Once your posts are ready, you can schedule them in advance and repurpose content easily. One blog post becomes 5 social posts and an email easily!

Get a marketing plan (backed by an actual strategy)

Now that you know how to create a small business marketing plan, let’s get your business out in the world! 

Through Enji’s marketing strategy generator, you can create your marketing plan in as little as 10 minutes. With a little bit of planning, some creativity, and the magic of Enji, you’ll finally have a plan that helps your small business succeed.

Just remember to focus on your marketing goals, create a mix of different marketing channels, and budget for your marketing activities—which you can do all of in our marketing tools! So let's get you set up with a small business marketing plan that works—start your free trial today!