The Curated List of Best Websites for Effective Marketing Plans Templates: Content, Quality and Costs.
Introduction
As businesses race to catch up and embrace digital transformation and seek innovative ways to reach their target audiences, marketing plans tuned to digital and direct response have become essential tools for success. A well-structured marketing plan can provide a roadmap to guide businesses towards achieving their sales goals. However, creating a marketing plan from scratch can be a daunting task. Thankfully, there are websites that offer valuable resources in the form of marketing plan templates. In this blog post, we explore and review web sources for marketing plan templates. We review their content, format, and overall quality of each source.
We reviewed more sources than those on this curated list. Most templates cover the narrative part of marketing planning. We looked to see if there are any marketing plan templates designed to build the numeric details, such as advertising strategies, expenses, circulations, and other expense details to calculate bottom line profits – or loss – from the marketing expenses. In other words, were there any marketing plan templates showing all the marketing expenses to make a sale that also included all the costs and expenses to deliver the product. The ultimate result of the template plan being a traditional Income Statement. We found none except the marketing plan template system we recently created, Marketing-Profit-Plans.com. This made it easy to highlight Marketing Profit Plans at the top of this list.
1 Marketing-Profit-Plans.com
Marketing Profit Plans is the only excel spreadsheet system that builds operational marketing plans for Pay Per Click and Direct Response advertising to sell products and services. Specifics of advertising circulations, costs, response rates, sales, product, fulfillment, and all business operating expenses build a true Profit or Loss at three levels. The three levels are different template types. They are single (one ad), Multi (up to 15 different ads in a campaign) and Group (up to 299 source codes calculated separately and totaled). Both Pay Per Click and Direct Response each have these three templates, so there are six templates in total. The system is versatility covers planning from the simplest to the most complex multi-step strategies. Yet everything calculates with the same formulas to produce a standardized Income Statement.
These templates have no generalizations. The data inputs are the real numbers that will determine profits or loss. The templates are extremely functional because a 35-year direct marketing veteran used them in businesses he has run and now uses them as a consultant since semi-retiring. There is no fluff or theory in these templates.
The spreadsheets printed, save to pdf, or save as separate excel Workbooks depending on which type of plan.
Main Takeaways: Marketing Profit Plans is not for writing the narrative of your marketing strategy. It is the tool set to build specific marketing campaigns using single ads, groups of ads, or ads with up to 299 source codes for different list variations for PPC key words.
Marketing-Profit-Plans.com also lets you what if experiment with all the key driver variables to find the sweet spot strategy and combination that will generate maximum sales, maximum profit or whatever objective you set.
Quality and Cost: Marketing Profit Plan runs on Microsoft Excel. Users only need basic Excel skills as all the templates controls are customized and simplified. It sells for $295 for a perpetual license.
Marketing-Profit-Plans link is https://marketing-profit-plans.com
2 HubSpot
HubSpot is a large inbound marketing and sales platform known for its comprehensive resources. Their marketing plan template is no exception. The template offered by HubSpot provides a narrative-style plan that is rich in textual detail. It covers essential components such as an executive summary, target audience analysis, competitive analysis, marketing strategies, budget allocation, and performance metrics. The template design is to help businesses create a cohesive and data-driven marketing plan.
Main Takeaways: HubSpot’s marketing plan template is ideal for businesses looking for a detailed, narrative-based approach to marketing planning. The template’s emphasis on data and analytics ensures that decisions are well-informed and aligned with business objectives.
Quality and Cost: HubSpot’s marketing plan template is of high quality, coming from a trusted industry leader. Best of all, it is available for free, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes. The template is an incentive to join HubSpot’s membership programs.
Hubspot’s link is https://offers.hubspot.com/marketing-plan-template
3 CoSchedule
CoSchedule is a renowned marketing platform offering a variety of resources for businesses. Their marketing plan samples provide a narrative-style plan with rich textual detail. The templates cover crucial aspects such as situational analysis, target audience identification, marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics, along with clear timelines and budget allocation.
Main Takeaways: CoSchedule’s marketing plan examples are ideal for businesses seeking detailed, step-by-step guidance. The templates help businesses create comprehensive marketing plans that align with their goals.
Quality and Cost: The marketing plan examples from CoSchedule are of high quality and are available for free as an incentive to join. Their income seems to come from a 3-type pricing structure starting with free (perhaps for a single user) to monthly charge ($39) plans for multiple users sharing information and collaborating.
CoSchedule’s link is https://coschedule.com/marketing-strategy/marketing-plan/marketing-plan-examples-samples
4 Visme
Visme is a versatile design and presentation tool that also offers marketing plan visual templates. Their templates focus on visual elements and infographics, making them visually appealing and engaging. Visme’s marketing plan templates include sections for market analysis, marketing strategies, budgeting, and timelines, all presented in a visually stimulating manner.
Main Takeaways: Visme’s marketing plan templates are perfect for businesses aiming to create visually captivating marketing plans. The templates help businesses communicate their strategies effectively, especially during presentations and reports.
Quality and Cost: Visme offers both free and premium templates, with the free options providing decent quality. However, the premium plans offer advanced features and customization options, making them worth considering for businesses with design-oriented marketing strategies.Premium plans start at $147 per year.
Visme’s link is https://www.visme.co/marketing-plan/
5 Mayple
Mayple is a marketing platform that focuses on helping businesses achieve their digital marketing goals. Their digital marketing plan template offers a narrative-style plan with comprehensive sections, including market research, target audience analysis, digital marketing strategies, and performance metrics.
Main Takeaways: Mayple’s digital marketing plan template is ideal for businesses looking to strengthen their online presence. The template provides a detailed guide to crafting a successful digital marketing strategy.
Quality and Cost: The digital marketing plan template from Mayple is of excellent quality and is available for free, making it a valuable resource for businesses seeking to improve their digital marketing efforts. This appears to be an introductory effort leading to their role as an agency or consultant with minimum monthly advertising budget spends.
Mayple’s link is https://www.mayple.com/blog/digital-marketing-plan-template#
6 Aha!
Aha! is a product roadmap and strategy platform that also offers marketing templates. Their marketing strategy templates provide a narrative-style plan with detailed explanations for each section. The templates cover market analysis, marketing objectives, strategies, budget allocation, and timeline planning.
Main Takeaways: Aha!’s marketing strategy templates are suitable for businesses seeking a comprehensive and strategic approach to marketing planning. The templates empower businesses to create cohesive marketing strategies aligned with their product roadmap.
Quality and Cost: Aha!’s marketing strategy templates are of high quality but are part of their subscription-based service. While the cost ($59/ month per user) may be a consideration, the value and comprehensive features provided by the platform make it a valuable investment for businesses with a focus on strategic planning.
Aha!’s link is https://www.aha.io/solutions/marketing
7 Vital Design
Vital Design is a digital marketing agency that offers resources and insights into marketing strategies. Their “how to write a marketing plan” template offers a narrative-style plan with detailed explanations. The template covers market analysis, target audience segmentation, marketing strategies, budgeting, and performance tracking.
Main Takeaways: Vital Design’s marketing plan template is suitable for businesses seeking a well-structured and detailed narrative approach to marketing planning. The template’s emphasis on tracking performance metrics helps businesses continually optimize their marketing strategies.
Quality and Cost: Vital Design’s marketing plan template is of superior quality and is available for free, making it a cost-effective resource for businesses seeking professional guidance in marketing planning. The template appears to be a lead generation offer for their agency, branding and design services.
Vital Design’s link is https://vitaldesign.com/digital-marketing/digital-marketing-strategy/how-to-write-marketing-plan-template/
8 SCORE
SCORE is a non-profit organization that offers resources, mentorship, and training to small businesses. Their marketing plan template follows an outline-based format. While it provides a detailed structure, it allows businesses to fill in the specifics themselves. The template covers key elements such as market analysis, marketing strategies, budgeting, and implementation tactics.
Main Takeaways: SCORE’s marketing plan template is perfect for those who prefer a structured outline to create their own detailed marketing plan. It empowers businesses to tailor the plan to their unique needs and industry.
Quality and Cost: SCORE’s marketing plan template is of excellent quality and is completely free, making it a valuable resource for small businesses with limited budgets. This is an excellent service for startups and ongoing business looking to expand.
SCORE’s link is https://www.score.org/resource/eguide/marketing-plan-guide
9 Bplans
Bplans is a website offering a wide range of business planning resources, including marketing plan templates. Their template takes a narrative approach and provides a well-structured guide to building a marketing plan. It covers sections like business description, market analysis, marketing strategies, budgeting, and sales forecasts.
Main Takeaways: Bplans’ marketing plan template is suitable for businesses seeking a comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide to marketing planning. Its user-friendly layout ensures that users can craft a well-rounded textual marketing plan with ease.
Bplans links to LivePlan.com, an affiliate that offers monthly subscription-based planning and tools.
Quality and Cost: The marketing plan template from Bplans is of high quality and comes with a nominal cost. However, given the comprehensive resources available on the website, the cost may be well worth the investment.
Bplans link is https://www.bplans.com/consulting-and-advertising-and-marketing-business-plans/marketing-business-plans/
10 Canva
Primarily known as a graphic design tool, Canva also offers marketing plan templates that are aesthetically appealing and functional. Their templates focus on the visual aspect of marketing plans, making them ideal for businesses that prefer a more graphical representation. Canva’s templates cover market analysis, marketing strategies, timelines, and visual elements to enhance the overall presentation.
Main Takeaways: Canva’s marketing plan templates are perfect for businesses looking to create visually appealing marketing plans that captivate stakeholders. The templates are especially useful for presentations and reports.
Quality and Cost: Canva offers both free and premium templates. While the free templates are of decent quality, the premium ones provide more advanced features and customization options, making them worth the investment for businesses with a focus on visual presentation.
Canva’s link is https://www.canva.com/templates/s/marketing/
11 Venngage
Venngage is another design-focused website that offers a variety of templates, including marketing plans. Their templates prioritize visual elements and infographics to present data and strategies creatively. Users can customize the templates to match their brand identity and style.
Main Takeaways: Venngage’s marketing plan templates are ideal for businesses that seek innovative ways to communicate their marketing strategies. The templates help make marketing plans visually engaging, improving comprehension and retention among stakeholders.
Quality and Cost: Venngage’s templates come with a range of pricing plans, including free options with limited features and premium plans with more design options. Premium plans start at $10 per month, billed annually. The cost is justified for businesses aiming to make an impression with their marketing plans.
Venngage link is https://venngage.com/templates/plans/marketing
12 Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a popular social media management platform that also offers a marketing plan template tailored to social media strategies. The template is numeric in nature and focuses on setting measurable goals, tracking social media metrics, and implementing data-driven tactics to achieve marketing objectives.
Main Takeaways: Hootsuite’s marketing plan template is perfect for businesses heavily invested in social media marketing. The template’s numeric approach ensures that the plan aligns with measurable targets and KPIs.
Quality and Cost: Hootsuite’s marketing plan template is of excellent quality and is available for free, making it a valuable resource for businesses seeking to enhance their social media marketing strategies.
Hootsuite services are offered on monthly plans starting at $99 for a Professional account.
Hootsuite link is https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan/
13 Marketing Donut
Marketing Donut is a UK website that offers practical marketing advice and resources to businesses. (Note: UK companies sometimes provide a clearer, more refined point of view on a topic than US companies.)
Their marketing plan template is a narrative-style plan that covers all essential components, including market analysis, marketing objectives, strategies, and budget allocation. This template is worth looking at.
Main Takeaways: Marketing Donut’s marketing plan template is suitable for businesses seeking a comprehensive and well-rounded approach to marketing planning. The template’s practical focus ensures that businesses can develop actionable strategies.
Quality and Cost: Marketing Donut’s marketing plan template is of good quality and is downloadable for free, making it a cost-effective resource for businesses seeking to build a solid marketing plan.
Marketing Donut link is https://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing-essentials/your-marketing-plan/marketing-plan-template
14 Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a renowned platform for business-related content and resources. Their marketing plan template offers an outline-based format that guides businesses through the process of crafting a strategic marketing plan. It covers sections like market research, marketing strategies, budgeting, and implementation.
Main Takeaways: Entrepreneur’s marketing plan template is perfect for those who prefer a structured outline with the freedom to customize specific elements. The template provides a comprehensive framework for businesses to develop their marketing plans.
Quality and Cost: Entrepreneur’s marketing plan template is of high quality and is available for free, making it a valuable resource for businesses seeking professional guidance without the associated costs.
Entrepreneur’s link is https://www.entrepreneur.com
15 Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a collaborative work management platform that provides various templates. A query brings up Campaign Plan, Campaign Plan with Baselines and Marketing Plan Management templates.
Campaign Plan with Baselines is a project manager to plan tasks, define budget, set baselines and visualize the project health. It contains a line “Calculate Budget” but offers no steps on how to do it.
Marketing Plan Management sets up a spreadsheet list of factors to measure and manage. Examples are Marketing Objectives, Budget, Actual, Status, Target, CTR%, Conv%, and ROI %. It does not, on the surface, tell where to get these inputs.
Overall, there are hundreds of topics and templates, which look like sophisticated systems.
Main Takeaways: Smartsheet’s marketing plan templates are well suited for businesses seeking a project management, collaborative centric approach to marketing planning.
Quality and Cost: Smartsheet’s marketing plan templates are of excellent quality but come with a subscription-based pricing model. There is Free for a trial run, Pro at $7 per month per user for up to 10 users, and higher Business level at $25 per month per User for unlimited collaborations.
Smartsheet link is https://www.smartsheet.com/
Conclusion
Creating a marketing plan is a crucial step towards achieving marketing success.
The websites mentioned above offer valuable resources in the form of marketing plan templates, catering to various preferences and needs. From narrative-based plans to numeric plans with rich detail focused on bottom line data-driven decision-making, businesses can find templates that align with their objectives.
