Build A Marketing Plan On A Page

Build An Aligned And Actionable
Annual Marketing Plan

Forrester’s Marketing Plan On A Page
The Challenge With Annual Marketing Planning

The concept behind an annual marketing plan may be simple, but building an
effective plan is not. B2B marketers are often unsure of what a good plan should look
like — and, marketing plans may suffer from too much detail, or too little, as a result.
Overly complex documents are neither actionable nor easy to absorb and can quickly
become obsolete. Simple plans tend to look like lists of tactics, placing too much
emphasis on execution and too little on alignment with business goals.
Having the right inputs and guiding structure can help. Read on to learn how
Forrester’s Marketing-Plan-On-A-Page Template provides a straightforward process
for building an actionable, quantifiable plan for the fiscal year.
Creating An Annual Marketing Plan: Guiding Questions

A sound marketing annual plan doesn’t depend on marketing alone. At the start of
the planning process, marketing, sales, and product leaders should gather the
information needed to build an aligned plan that supports the organization’s overall
business objectives.
Aim to answer these three fundamental questions:

1. What are we trying to accomplish? Consider the corporate priorities and growth
strategies set for the coming year. Annual sales targets, business unit or product
goals, and regional objectives are critical inputs, as well.
2. What is our current state? Review information on the company’s internal and
external environment, including the go-to-market approach, market segments,
sales channels, product roadmaps, past product and segment performance, and
buyer and customer audience data.
3. What are our resources? Consider marketing team members and their skill sets,
partner and provider ecosystems, available marketing technology, and prior
experience and success in program and tactic execution. The size of the annual
marketing budget is also a critical input here.
© 2021 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester is a registered trademark of Forrester Research, Inc.
Six Elements Of An Aligned, Actionable Annual Plan
Up-front alignment is the starting point — from there, having the right elements can
help you build a clear marketing plan that provides just the right amount of detail.
Forrester’s Marketing Plan On A Page represents a process for developing a plan and
a template for capturing and communicating it. Each element lays the groundwork for
the next, resulting in an integrated and cascading flow of information.
Business Marketing Marketing Marketing Key Dependencies

Objectives Approach Priorities Goals Actions and Risks
What the The approach The top areas What marketing How the What must be
company wants marketing will of focus for will contribute marketing addressed for the
to achieve take to support marketing to business approach will marketing plan
business leadership objectives be executed to work
objectives
1. BUSINESS OBJECTIVES • Retain: Maintain or recapture existing customers,

What the company wants to achieve in the new accounts, and wallet share with the aim of protecting
fiscal year guides marketing plan development. revenue and gaining customer advocates.
Understanding these objectives helps ensure that the
marketing plan contributes to company growth and • Pause: Cease activity in a business segment and
drives business impact. let the current situation play out to allow activities
in flight to work.
2. MARKETING APPROACH
3. MARKETING PRIORITIES
With the business objectives known, the next step is to
These are the top focus areas for marketing in the coming
determine how marketing will help achieve them. A few
year. Marketing priorities set, at a high level, what marketing
possible approaches include:
will do. They align to corporate, sales, product, and
• Innovate: Disrupt the status quo through new offerings, marketing needs and often go beyond supporting
business models, services, outsourcing, supply and financial objectives.
value chain, and delivery.
• Grow: Acquire new customers, accounts, market share,

or revenue with a view to displacing competitors and
achieving revenue or market share objectives.
© 2021 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester is a registered trademark of Forrester Research, Inc.
4. MARKETING GOALS 6. DEPENDENCIES AND RISKS
Marketing goals describe, in greater detail, what marketing These are the factors that must be addressed for the
will do in the near and long term to support business marketing plan to work. Budget is one — team skill sets,
objectives. These goals are quantifiable. They define technology capabilities, and current products may be
critical metrics for marketing performance and link back important, as well. Document any assumptions that were
to the business targets. made during plan development so that they can be
validated as the plan is finalized.
5. KEY ACTIONS
These are examples of how the marketing plan will be Improving Annual Marketing Planning:
executed. This element entails aligning current activity Next Steps
with the new marketing approach, priorities, and goals and A marketing plan lays a strong foundation for a successful
deciding what new activities will need to be implemented. year. Be sure to check progress made toward marketing
Consider these four options: goals, priorities, and overall business objectives in the
• Drop: Activities that no longer align to objectives and months that follow plan creation. Quarterly reviews focused
priorities and should be discontinued on assessing sales, product, and marketing performance
in the context of business objectives can help ensure
• Keep: Activities that fit with the new plan ongoing alignment.
• Fix: Existing activities that will support new objectives Ready to take the next step? Contact us to learn how
and priorities with adjustment you can get a copy of the full Marketing-Plan-On-A-Page
Template and hands-on guidance for developing a plan
• Create: New activities (keep to a minimum) that meets the needs of your organization.
Explore Forrester’s services for FOLLOW FORRESTER

B2B marketing executives and
marketing operations leaders.
© 2021 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester is a registered trademark of Forrester Research, Inc. forrester.com/contactus

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Build An Aligned And Actionable

Annual Marketing Plan

The Challenge With Annual Marketing Planning

Creating An Annual Marketing Plan: Guiding Questions

Aim to answer these three fundamental questions:

Business Marketing Marketing Marketing Key Dependencies

1. BUSINESS OBJECTIVES • Retain: Maintain or recapture existing customers,

• Grow: Acquire new customers, accounts, market share,

Explore Forrester’s services for FOLLOW FORRESTER

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