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What Is a Marketing Plan?

Understanding marketing plans, how to write a marketing plan, marketing plan vs. business plan.

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What Is a Marketing Plan? Types and How to Write One

James Chen, CMT is an expert trader, investment adviser, and global market strategist.

what is an operational marketing plan

Pete Rathburn is a copy editor and fact-checker with expertise in economics and personal finance and over twenty years of experience in the classroom.

what is an operational marketing plan

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A marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an advertising strategy that an organization will implement to generate leads and reach its target market . A marketing plan details the outreach and PR campaigns to be undertaken over a period, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives. The functions and components of a marketing plan include the following:

  • Market research to support pricing decisions and new market entries
  • Tailored messaging that targets certain demographics and geographic areas
  • Platform selection for product and service promotion: digital, radio, Internet, trade magazines, and the mix of those platforms for each campaign
  • Metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines

A marketing plan is based on a company’s overall marketing strategy.

Key Takeaways

  • The marketing plan details the strategy that a company will use to market its products to customers.
  • The plan identifies the target market, the value proposition of the brand or the product, the campaigns to be initiated, and the metrics to be used to assess the effectiveness of marketing initiatives.
  • The marketing plan should be adjusted on an ongoing basis based on the findings from the metrics that show which efforts are having an impact and which are not.
  • Digital marketing shows results in near real-time, whereas TV ads require rotation to realize any level of market penetration.
  • A marketing plan is part of a business plan, which describes all of the important aspects of a business, such as its goals, values, mission statement, budget, and strategies.

The terms marketing plan and marketing strategy are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition.

Types of Marketing Plans

There are a variety of different marketing plans that suit different businesses and different business needs.

New Product Launch: This is a marketing plan that outlines how a new product will enter the market, who it will target, and in what way advertising will be done.

Social Media: A social media marketing plan focuses on the advertising strategies on different social media platforms and how to engage with the users on these platforms.

Time-Based: Time-based marketing plans, such as those that are executed quarterly or annually, focus on the time of the year, the current condition of the business, and the best strategies in that period.

Mission and Value Proposition

A marketing plan considers the value proposition of a business. The value proposition is the overall promise of value to be delivered to the customer and is a statement that appears front and center of the company website or any branding materials.

The value proposition should state how a product or brand solves the customer's problem, the benefits of the product or brand, and why the customer should buy from this company and not another. The marketing plan is based on this value proposition to the customer.

Establishing your key performance indicators (KPIs) will allow you to measure the success of your marketing plan in relation to your company's value proposition. For example, if your goal is to engage with a certain demographic in a certain region, you can track social media and website visits.

The most effective digital marketing techniques in 2020 according to marketers are content marketing and marketing automation.

Identify Your Target Market

The marketing plan identifies the target market for a product or brand. Market research is often the basis for a target market and marketing channel decisions. For example, whether the company will advertise on the radio, on social media, through online ads, or on regional TV. 

Knowing who you want to sell to and why is an extremely critical component of any business plan. It allows you to focus your business and measure its success. Different demographics have different tastes and needs, knowing what your target market is will help you market to them.

Strategy and Execution

The marketing plan includes the rationale for these decisions. The plan should focus on the creation, timing, scheduling, and placement of specific campaigns. The plan will include the metrics that will measure the outcomes of your marketing efforts. For example, will you advertise on the radio or on social media? What time will you air advertisements if they are on the radio or TV? The strategy may include flighting scheduling , which includes the times when you can make the most of your advertising dollars.

Set Your Budget

A marketing plan costs money. Knowing your budget for a marketing plan will allow you to create a suitable plan within that context, stick to it, and prevent runaway costs. It will also help you allocate to different areas of your marketing plan.

Adjust Your Plan

A marketing plan can be adjusted at any point based on the results from the metrics. If digital ads are performing better than expected, for example, the budget for a campaign can be adjusted to fund a higher-performing platform or the company can initiate a new budget. The challenge for marketing leaders is to ensure that every platform has sufficient time to show results.

Without the correct metrics to assess the impact of outreach and marketing efforts, an organization will not know which campaigns to repeat and which ones to drop; maintaining ineffective initiatives will unnecessarily increase marketing costs.

Digital marketing shows results in near real-time, whereas TV ads require rotation to realize any level of market penetration. In the traditional marketing mix model, a marketing plan would fall under the category of "promotion," which is one of the four Ps , a term coined by Neil Borden to describe the marketing mix of product, price, promotion, and place.

A business plan details how a business will operate and function in its entirety. A business plan is a roadmap for a business. It will cover the goals, missions , values, financials, and strategies that the business will use in day-to-day operations and in the achievement of its objectives.

A business plan will include an executive summary, the products and services sold, a marketing analysis, a marketing strategy, financial planning, and a budget , to name but a few items.

As mentioned, a business plan will include a marketing plan, which focuses on creating a marketing strategy on how to bring awareness to the public of the company's product or service, how to reach the target market, and generate sales.

Example of a Marketing Plan

John came up with a new business idea that he believes is a niche offering in the market. He decides to start a business and his first step is creating a business plan that outlines all of the objectives, goals, values, pitfalls, and finances of his company.

John is able to raise enough capital from friends and family to get started, hires a few employees, and eventually creates his product. He now has to start selling his product and generate sales to keep his business operating.

To achieve this, John, with the help of a marketing company, creates a marketing plan. The marketing plan consists of market research that details the target market for John's product, which is recently retired men.

The marketing plan then comes up with the best methods of reaching this target market. The marketing plan stresses radio and television as opposed to social media as older, retired men use social media less than traditional forms of media, according to the market research that was conducted.

The ads are tailored to the target market, showing how John's product will benefit their lives, particularly when compared to market alternatives. Once the marketing plan has been executed, the marketing team analyzes how the efforts translate into sales.

What Is a Marketing Plan Template?

A marketing plan template is a document that an individual can use to create a marketing plan. The marketing plan template will contain all the important elements and the various needed language with blank sections. A user can insert their own information related to their business in the blank sections to ultimately create their own marketing plan.

What Is an Executive Summary in a Marketing Plan?

The executive summary of a marketing plan provides a brief overview of the entire marketing plan. The executive summary will contain the key findings of the market research, the company's objectives, marketing goals, an overview of the marketing trends, the description of the product or service being marketed, information on the target market, and how to financially plan for the marketing plan.

What Is a Top-Down Marketing Strategy?

A top-down marketing strategy is a traditional marketing strategy. This is where a business determines who it should sell to and how, and the customer base is largely passive and spurred to take action once they hear the advertisement. For example, a top-down marketing strategy would include ads on radio or television. Top-down marketing strategies are usually determined by the executives of a firm. It usually consists of what a firm desires to do and then determining a way to do it.

What Is a Bottom-Up Marketing Strategy?

A bottom-up marketing strategy focuses on discovering a workable strategy and then building on that strategy to create an impactful advertising campaign. Today's consumer wants to relate to a product or service in a meaningful way and a bottom-up marketing strategy is better suited to this. A bottom-up marketing strategy should focus on the target market and how better to create value for them.

How Much Does a Marketing Plan Cost?

The cost of a marketing plan will vary based on the company, the complexity, and the length of the overall strategy. The cost can range anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000.

A marketing plan is the advertising strategy that a business will implement to sell its product or service. The marketing plan will help determine who the target market is, how best to reach them, at what price point the product or service should be sold, and how the company will measure its efforts.

Constantly monitoring and adjusting a market plan is an important part of running a business as it shows what are the best and worst ways to generate sales. Without a successful marketing plan, a business may not be able to continue operating for very long.

Statista. " Most Effective Digital Marketing Techniques According to Marketers Worldwide in 2020 ."

Laire. " How Much Does a Marketing Plan Cost? "

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what is an operational marketing plan

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Operational Marketing: definition, tools, performance measurement

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Operational marketing is a crucial area impacting the performance of companies. It is the marketing actions taken to achieve the objectives defined by the  marketing strategy . Ahmed et al. (2014)  emphasizes in their research that the internal resources related to marketing and operations are an essential point of the performance and competitiveness of a company. This impact is notably moderated by economic conditions and top management’s involvement in creating and providing marketing and operational resources.

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  • Operational marketing consists of setting up different actions to achieve the objectives defined by the  marketing strategy .
  • These actions are based on  market knowledge and analysis  as well as overall marketing objectives.
  • Operational marketing is short-term and therefore has the advantage that it can be adapted according to the different actions’ success.
  • Operational Marketing: definition

Marketing Mix

  • Some operational marketing tools
  • Performance Indicators

what is an operational marketing plan

Operational marketing is based on strategic marketing and information, comments, and data from the field to define concrete actions to meet the company’s marketing objectives. The actions thus defined can (and should) be adapted over time based on feedback and performance.

Several steps are necessary before implementing these actions:

  • Market research  aimed at understanding the market’s issues
  • Strategic marketing that defines an overall direction and long-term objectives.
  • Operational marketing, which breaks down objectives into concrete action points in the short term.

Operational marketing is the means to achieve the objectives set by the company in terms of marketing strategy. It is thus a question of defining the promotional and communication actions to be carried out. The goals can be diverse and varied and revolve around sales and turnover, but increasingly around brand awareness .

what is an operational marketing plan

The  marketing mix , theorized for the first time by  Neil Borden , is one of operational marketing’s main levers. Over time, several approaches have been developed to identify consumer needs and appropriately implement products and services.

The 4 P’s

  • Product : This involves defining product characteristics (design, utility, use, options), ranges (e.g., associated products), packaging, associated services, and conditions linked to the product (guarantees, returns, life cycle).
  • Price : This applies to the pricing strategy(ies), the chosen positioning, discounts, and means of payment.
  • Place : This point is closely linked to the presence of the product(s) on the market. It is a question of determining the implementation strategies, market coverage, distribution channels (offline or online), geographical presence, etc.
  • Promotion : As you can imagine, it is a question here of defining communication strategies (advertising, direct marketing, digital marketing), establishing an editorial line (messages, content, communication channels, media, frequency of communication).

The 7 P’s

The 7 P’s were developed in response to a strong demand from marketers to recognize the strategic and operational difference between products and services. To the 4 P’s have been added 3 analyses:

  • People : This aspect includes training needs, customer relationship management, and complaint management guidelines. The aim is to link strategy and the representation of the brand by the staff.
  • Process : This involves defining the company’s processes, the procedures put in place: the degree of standardization, performance analysis, best practices, etc.
  • Physical evidence : This point corresponds to the elements external to the service but influencing the consumer’s perception: layout, design, and decoration of the space, ambient conditions (temperature, smell, sound).

The 4 C’s

We are also talking about the 4 C’s, which allow a new segmentation of operational marketing by considering the customer perspective.

  • Consumer : The objective is to highlight the needs and desires of consumers to respond to them in the best possible way.
  • Cost : This aspect encompasses much more than the “price” of the 4 P’s since it considers the entire investment of the consumer with, for example, the time spent to find the item. For example, going to Disneyland doesn’t just cost the price of a ticket to the park. It also considers the high probability that the consumer needs to buy a train ticket, a night in a hotel, that the purchase is made for a group, etc.
  • Convenience : The ease of access to the product or service in question and ease of use, simplified purchase, etc.
  • Communication : This involves going beyond advertising options and creating a real dialogue between a brand and its customers.

what is an operational marketing plan

Operational marketing tools

Many tools are available to carry out operational marketing actions: direct marketing, advertising, digital marketing. The options are not lacking and are continually evolving.

  • Direct marketing  aims to disseminate a message to a defined target (B2B, B2C, B2B2C) in a personalized and incentive way. Different goals can be associated with it: acquisition, conversion, loyalty…
  • Advertising : television, radio, out-to-box (mail), OOH, i.e., Out-Of-Home (billboards), paper ads (in newspapers and magazines, for example), or on digital platforms. We have dedicated an article to the impact of covid-19 on the advertising industry .
  • Digital marketing   or web-marketing includes all the marketing techniques implemented on digital channels (websites, social networks, e-mailing,  SEO , SEA, etc.).

These tools can be integrated into inbound or outbound marketing strategies.

  • Inbound marketing  is the creation of content that attracts visitors and loyal readers to the brand. This blog is an excellent example of this: we publish articles on subjects close to your interests and our industry:  market research , marketing, and  big data . Another example is the publication of our  podcasts  and  videos on our YouTube channel .
  • As for  outbound marketing , it corresponds to more traditional and unidirectional approaches such as canvassing, advertising, and telemarketing.

what is an operational marketing plan

The performance indicators

To ensure the relevance of the actions with the established marketing strategy, it will be imperative to measure their  performance . In this way, you will adapt investments according to the most promising channels or content. For your website, for example, go to Google Analytics. You will find many KPIs such as the number of visitors, page views, source of traffic, conversion rate, etc. This will allow you to improve pages with gaps or simplify access to these pages ( internal link building ). An e-mailing campaign can be measured by the opening rate, the rate of clicks, unsubscription, or deliverability.

Performance indicators are incredibly dependent on the action (communication channel, content, format, etc.) and objective ( AIDA : Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action).

The conversion funnel (AIDA)

conversion funnel AIDA: Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action - Loyalty

  • Awareness corresponds to the awareness of the existence of your brand and its values. You want to attract qualified prospects that you have targeted beforehand according to their issues. Then measure the number of visitors, on your website or in your store, that you can associate with a marketing effort.
  • Interest is linked to the interest in a product or service. Among the visitors to your website resulting from the marketing activities, how many go to one or more pages of your website?
  • Desire is the intermediate step between perceived interest and action. It can be a question of defining how much time a visitor has spent on a product page, for example.
  • Action is traditionally linked to purchase but can take different forms: addition to the basket, to the wish list, subscription to your newsletter, for example.

Increasingly, customer loyalty and recommendations are integrated into this model. They are a crucial lever for customer satisfaction and the promotion of your company. Nespresso has understood this very well: in this article, we detail the techniques implemented by the famous coffee brand to build customer loyalty from the very first online purchases. Several research studies prove that design is a crucial factor in customer loyalty.

Lackermair et al. (2013)  and many other scientific publications highlight the importance of customer recommendations on purchasing behavior. Indeed, it is increasingly common for consumers to conduct in-depth research before making a significant purchase (vehicle, household appliances, etc.). Beyond word of mouth, the opinions published by your customers can have a positive but also a negative impact on the perception of your brand, product, or service.

For example, a Facebook ad aimed at generating awareness, attention towards your brand can be evaluated according to the number of clicks redirected to your website or the time spent viewing the video if it is the format you have chosen. An advertisement on social networks with a conversion objective should be analyzed via the number of clicks concerning the number of purchases and the average basket resulting from this action.

what is an operational marketing plan

Operational marketing can take many forms. Many media are flourishing; to give just two examples: videos are referenced among the first results of a Google search, and podcasts are growing in popularity. It is mainly a question of implementing short-term actions to achieve the marketing strategy objectives established over the long term.

  • Blythe, J. (2009). Key Concepts in Marketing. SAGE Publications Ltd.
  • Kasabov, E. (2015). Marketing Mix. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 1–1.
  • Ahmed, M. U., Kristal, M. M., & Pagell, M. (2014). Impact of operational and marketing capabilities on firm performance: Evidence from economic growth and downturns. International Journal of Production Economics, 154, 59–71.
  • Lackermair, G., Kailer, D., Kanmaz, K. (2013). Importance of Online Product Reviews from a Consumer’s Perspective. Advances in Economics and Business, 1(1), 1-5.
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The Essential Guide to Marketing Operations

By Joe Weller | April 22, 2021 (updated October 27, 2023)

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Your marketing team will only perform well if you have solid marketing operations in place. In this article, you’ll find the most useful expert tips on implementing marketing operations to improve your company’s overall marketing effectiveness.

Included on this page, you’ll find information about the main pillars of marketing operations , best practices for marketing operations , top KPIs in marketing operations , and how marketing operations can help you align marketing and sales departments for success.

What Is Marketing Operations?

Marketing operations (MOPs) refers to the activities required to implement and oversee the technology and processes that foster an effective marketing team. A marketing operations team helps drive positive marketing results for a company.

Jeff Pedowitz

Jeff Pedowitz, President and CEO of the Pedowitz Group , a marketing consulting company based in Atlanta, says that one of the biggest mistakes companies make is underinvesting (or not investing at all) in marketing operations. 

“I think that most companies don’t understand the importance of marketing operations and often end up overlooking it or misappropriating it,” he says. 

Pedowitz adds that marketers must hone their brand and creative marketing, while also focusing on the data and analytics that measure results.

“You really can’t have one without the other,” he continues. “It’s really about getting marketing (and business) leaders to understand how important marketing operations is to the team. MOPs gives you the tools and the analysis to demonstrate value to the business.”

Here are some of the primary characteristics of marketing operations:

Kelly Ann Collins

  • It Creates and Manages Systems and Processes: Marketing operations builds and manages the processes that make your marketing effective and ultimately, that drive revenue. These processes include creating marketing content, managing data, and measuring results. 
  • It Helps Manage Vital Marketing Systems and Tools: MOPs builds infrastructure that helps your company choose the appropriate marketing technology and tools. It then ensures that the company is using those tools effectively. 
  • It Helps Your Company Understand and Use Data: Effective MOPs also builds a system that allows your company to gather and understand data on your customers, products, and marketing itself. That system then helps your company make strategic, data-informed decisions.
  • It Is Always Looking for Improvements: Marketing operations focuses primarily on structures, systems, and tools. So, it is always looking for ways to improve those three elements. MOPs ensures that your staff can provide feedback on how everything is working. And, it makes sure that your company performs the necessary adjustments, based on that feedback.

Who Are the Stakeholders for Marketing Operations?

The stakeholders for marketing operations include certain organizational leaders, namely the CEO, CIO, CMO, and director of marketing. By delivering the results that these leaders expect, MOPs can demonstrate that it’s performing well.

These stakeholders expect the following from marketing operations: 

  • CEO: The chief executive officer expects marketing operations to play a significant part in increasing the company’s overall revenues. The CEO also expects MOPs to show a return on investment (ROI) for marketing spending. In addition, the CEO counts on marketing operations to show how the company’s marketing supports the organization’s overall strategic goals.
  • CIO: The chief information officer expects marketing operations to ensure that the company is using the most appropriate technology — and using it well. The CIO also depends on MOPs to ensure that the company remains technologically current.
  • CMO: The chief marketing officer entrusts MOPs with the crucial task of aligning marketing with sales. The CMO also depends on these specialists to build a structure that turns prospective customers into actual customers.
  • Director of Marketing: The director of marketing looks to marketing operations to work collaboratively with the marketing department’s creative team. The director of marketing also expects MOPs to track and analyze data from specific marketing campaigns. That tracking allows the company to make changes that leverage the results of marketing investments. 

To learn more about managing marketing campaigns, visit “The Definitive Guide to Marketing Campaign Management.” You can also find easy-to-use templates for your marketing campaigns at “Free Marketing Campaign Templates and Guide.”

The Pillars of Marketing Operations

Marketing operations covers a wide range of areas and duties, which experts sometimes categorize in different ways. Still, the work generally falls into three categories, or pillars : process management, marketing technology management, and data analytics and management.

Process Management

When a company markets itself to potential customers, such work involves multiple processes. Marketing operations must ensure that those processes make sense and deliver the best results for the company. Those processes include the following:

  • Planning strategically to ensure that your marketing investments align with your company’s goals (To learn more about strategic planning in marketing, visit “The Definitive Guide to Strategic Marketing Planning.” )
  • Managing the overall marketing budget
  • Developing and implementing appropriate marketing strategies
  • Developing and implementing processes that enable smart budgeting and planning (To download easy-to-use market budget templates, visit “12 Free Marketing Budget Templates.” )
  • Helping to manage and track the creation of marketing content
  • Helping to manage all marketing content following its creation (To learn more about marketing asset management, visit “Marketing Asset Management: Turn Marketing Assets into Powerful Business Tools.” )

To learn more about marketing workflow when creating content, visit “The Complete Guide to Marketing Workflows: Templates, Tools, and Tips.” and “The 61 Best Free Content Marketing Templates to Drive Performance.”  

To learn more about the project management of marketing content, visit “Content Marketing Project Management Toolkit: Workflows, Templates, and Checklists.”

And, to download easy-to-use marketing timeline and marketing calendar templates, visit “Free Marketing Calendar Templates in Google, Excel, and Word Formats” and “Marketing Timeline Tips and Free Templates.”

  • Working to increase public demand for your company’s products
  • Helping to manage leads (i.e., moving people who express interest in your product or service through the sales cycle to become actual customers)
  • Helping to manage and maintain your company’s overall brand
  • Helping to ensure that your company’s marketing adheres to all government regulations

Morgan from Radically Distinct defines brand compliance as, “Helping to determine how to create a perception in the marketplace and then managing that perception in order to continually attract the types of customers you want.” 

Marketing Technology Management

There are now thousands of technology solutions that help marketing teams do their jobs. These tech solutions help you create content, promote that content, organize social media, and manage projects, among many other tasks. 

To download easy-to-use templates for marketing projects, visit “Free Marketing Project Plan Templates.” To learn about the technology that can help you manage marketing projects and processes, visit “How to Pick Marketing Project Management Tools and Software” and “Is Marketing Resource Management (MRM) Dead?”

One of the core responsibilities of marketing operations is managing all of a company’s marketing technology. This means helping the company determine which technology solution best fits its needs and budget, as well as staying abreast of evolutions in technology in order to help the company make necessary upgrades. And, accordingly, it means helping employees understand the new technology and fully leverage its capabilities.

Pedowitz notes that “Owners or managers may think that with more technology, they need fewer people — when the opposite is true. If you truly want to get the most out of the technology, you need people who have the skills to run it and leverage it. Otherwise, you’re sitting on a bunch of expensive technology, and you’re not really changing how you’re doing marketing.”

Source: Simon Daniels, Percassity Associates 

Data Analytics and Management

The third key pillar of responsibility in marketing operations is data analytics and management. Some experts consider this particular area to be the most important, as marketing operations must gather, track, and analyze a wide range of data. 

Such data concerns the following: a company’s products or services; how the company markets those products or services; and how customers and potential customers react to those products or services (as a result of such marketing efforts).

Marketing operations must do the following:

  • Gather and monitor the data and organize it into usable formats.

Download Matrix Showing Top KPIs for Marketing and Marketing Operations - PDF

  • Create a structure to report the data’s findings to staff and company leaders.
  • Analyze the data to determine what it reveals about customers, the company, and the company’s marketing efforts.
  • Track conversions , or how (and how often) prospective customers become actual customers.

Collins of Vult Lab says that data analytics is essential to doing “predictive modeling, analysis reporting for clients, and internal reviewing, to make sure your campaigns are actually moving the way they need to be moving.”

Simon Daniels

“Analytics, or reporting, or measurement — however you want to term it — is about understanding the outcome of the marketing that you're undertaking and, ultimately, knowing what that effort’s return on investment is,” says Simon Daniels, a London-based marketing operations consultant and Principal with Percassity Associates . 

To learn more about technology and systems that can assist with all of this marketing information, visit “The Definitive Guide to Marketing Information Management & Systems.”

The Fourth Pillar: Training

Some experts believe that marketing operations includes a fourth pillar that’s separate from the three listed above: employee training.

Marketing operations often helps to continually enhance the skills of the entire marketing team. MOPs achieves this goal by providing ongoing training in the use of new technology and by helping to improve staff skills as the marketing industry evolves. (To learn more about certifications that can enhance a professional marketer’s expertise, visit “Can Marketing Certifications Maximize Your Career?” )

How to Create a Marketing Operations Strategy

As your company launches a marketing campaign or works to improve a marketing process, you need to lay out a marketing operations strategy. That strategy should identify both your goals and your tactics for reaching those goals.

Here are some critical steps for creating a marketing strategy:

  • Align Your Strategy with Company Goals, and Identify Stakeholder Needs: Before you execute any strategy, make sure that it aligns with your company’s overall strategic goals. In order to do this, you may also need to figure out how your strategy satisfies some primary stakeholder needs. Those stakeholders could be your customer base or a specific department within your company.
  • Write Down Specific Steps to Reach Goals: Enumerate the steps to reach your goals. The very act of writing down such steps forces your team to evaluate whether or not each undertaking is actionable — meaning realistically doable. As you decide on the steps, include who is responsible for each step or task and the timelines and tools they might need.
  • Numerical values that reflect the size of a team’s workload
  • The length of time it takes to create and complete a task
  • The actual amount of time it takes to perform a task (and the actual cost you incur by performing that task) compared to the task’s planned schedule budget
  • Numerical values that reflect the accuracy of budgets
  • The length of time it takes to complete a budget process
  • The rate of process completion
  • The measurable level of effectiveness in tracking the status of page proofs
  • The percentage of deadlines a team meets
  • The measurable level of thoroughness of a team’s review of government regulation content 
  • The measurable ROI for each marketing campaign
  • The marketing cost per sales lead obtained
  • The percentage of sales leads that ultimately turn into customers Marketing dashboards can help you monitor metrics. To learn more about effective marketing dashboards, visit “Which Types of Marketing Dashboards Are Best for Your Company?”
  • Consult with Employees about the Strategy and Any Refinements: Your team may want to consult with other marketing employees who are impacted by the strategy. Those other employees may have suggestions on how to refine the strategy in order to make it more effective.

In our " Expert Tips on Building an Outstanding Marketing Operations Team " article, you’ll get the most useful expert advice on how to build a marketing operations team, including details on important roles and required skills.

Best Practices for Marketing Operations

Experts recommend a number of best practices to help your company optimize its marketing operations. These best practices include aligning operations with overall business strategy, establishing strong processes, and working continuously to understand your customers.

Here are some recommended best practices:

Setting Up Marketing Operations Seven Questions to Answer at the Start

  • Be Part of the Product Development and Sales Process from the Start: Marketing operations should help the marketing team become an integral part of the product development and sales process from the very beginning. Your MOPs team can provide input on potential market reaction and can think proactively about how to market a product. (To learn more about product marketing and find easy-to-use templates, visit “Product Marketing 101: Templates, Strategies, and Examples.” )
  • Think about Your Return on Investment from Marketing Initiatives: Marketing operations should help company leaders think about the potential ROI for overall marketing as well as for individual marketing campaigns. The team should also track these ROIs on its own. “Okay, so, back-of-the-napkin economics: ‘How much is this customer worth to us?’” asks Morgan from Radically Distinct. “If you gave me one dollar, business owner, and I gave you back four dollars… would you be happy with that? Now, most people would say, ’Yes.’ But, when it comes to investing in marketing, they don't do that at all. It's like, ‘We're going to invest a penny, and we're going to expect a million dollars.’ So, you really have to start by being able to answer these two questions: ‘What is our financial goal? And, how does that relate to our marketing budget?’”
  • Prioritize: “It [marketing operations] needs to be proactive. There needs to be a prioritization mechanism,” says Daniels of Percassity Associates. “So, you can say: ‘There are a thousand things to do here. Which ones do you want to do first? Because we can’t do all of them.’ And then manage that.”
  • Break Down Silos: Marketing operations must break down departmental silos in the company. That means it must lead in getting marketing, information technology, finance, and other departments to communicate and collaborate with each other.
  • Understand that Data and Data Analytics Are Key: If marketing operations does nothing else, it must lead the company in gathering and monitoring data about its customers, and also about company marketing. Then, it must analyze that data to understand how to make the necessary changes.
  • But, Don’t Enter Data Analysis Paralysis: “You can overdo it,” says Pedowitz of the Pedowitz Group. “You can get so bogged down in standards and process and approvals and governance, that you stop creating emotion. It’s a balance.”
  • Understand Who Your Customer Is and Who You’re Trying to Attract: Marketing operations must help the company gain an understanding of the type(s) of customers it is trying to attract. “You want to understand who your potential customer is, or who you should be going for as your potential customer,” says Morgan. “You want to have a description of who your customer is, and then be able to justify all of the things that you're trying to set up and do, based on how they move through your sales process.” Morgan suggests that companies create “customer avatars” for their ideal customers, or a detailed profile of a hypothetical customer, that includes demographics, likes, and dislikes.
  • Understand the Zero Moment of Truth: Marketing operations must help its company understand the “Zero Moment of Truth” for its potential customers, which refers to the moment when a customer first thinks about and begins to do research on a product. (Jim Lecinski coined the term in his 2011 e-book ZMOT , in which he described how the concept functions at Google.). From there, MOPs must help the company understand the customers’ “First Moment of Truth” and their “Second Moment of Truth.” The First Moment of Truth occurs when the customer decides to buy the product, and the Second Moment of Truth defines the customer experience with the product after buying it. “This basically means that there's this deliberation period now, when the whole buying process for a customer has changed,” says Morgan. “Your customers are going out and they're checking out your website, they're looking at all these potential competitors, and they're comparing you against these other companies. “Younger millennials, they’re not even talking to you if your website looks like it's old. Your marketing operations department needs to understand that particular point in time, because it's a relatively new point in time for our customers. It’s the ‘zero moment’ — the moment right before you as a potential customer decide you're going to be a customer of a company,” Morgan emphasizes.
  • Hire People with Skills, Develop Those Skills, and Make Sure Your Team Continually Evolves: You’ll need to hire people with technology, project management, analytical, and leadership skills, and ensure that everyone on your team is continually evolving and improving those skills as technology and practices change.
  • Understand When to Outsource: In some cases, it may make more sense to hire a contractor with the specific skill you need than to hire a full-time employee with that skill, or relying on the halfway knowledge of one of your current team members. “Outsourcing is an important skill for marketing operations,” says Morgan. She says that, especially as a company starts a marketing operations initiative, it may need specialists to implement some structures. “If you're trying to create marketing operations, you should not be looking to do every piece of it yourself,” she says. “Figure out what is a good internal hire, along with working with a few different external resources.”
  • Create and Monitor Operational Metrics: Just as you want to track overall data on your customers and their relationship to your company, you’ll also want to track metrics that measure your own marketing operations. Track metrics surrounding specific marketing campaigns, along with those that track general marketing operations tasks. “It needs to be broken down into activities that are daily, weekly, monthly … in order to achieve a set goal,” says Morgan. “And then, once you have that process down, you can ask, ‘Did we achieve these goals?’ And if so, ‘Did we actually do all those activities?’ If we did, ‘Did it generate the results? How short of those goals were we?’ “So, it’s important to set goals and write them down, as opposed to just sort of trusting your gut. And then, make activities that meet those goals, and then measure as you're doing the activities, as well as afterward.”

The Benefits of Good Marketing Operations

Strong marketing operations provides a number of benefits to your marketing team and to your overall company. It helps ensure that your marketing is strategic and that it aligns with company goals. It also helps you understand customers and their needs.

Here are some of the main benefits of good marketing operations:

  • Provides Oversight for Long-Term Goals: A key role of marketing operations is to help the company focus on long-term goals and then provide the structure to keep everyone on course toward those goals. This will mean setting and tracking overall marketing strategies, as well as tracking the ROI for various marketing initiatives. It will also mean tracking KPIs in a number of areas.
  • Creates Alignment and Order: Strong MOPs helps create alignment and order within marketing as well as the larger company, as MOPs teams will create work systems that help everyone within the company.
  • Ensures Team and Project Collaboration: Marketing operations also organizes teams within the marketing department and ensures that they are always collaborating.
  • Aligns Marketing Roles: Marketing operations also helps to align all roles within the marketing team, and to ensure that all important tasks and processes are assigned to a specific person or team. The benefit of this is especially noticeable in companies that don’t have staff devoted to marketing operations, says Daniels, of Percassity Associates. “If you don’t have a function focused on it [MOPs] — be that an individual or team — then it means that those functions are spread out across all the individuals on your marketing team,” Daniels says. “The disadvantage of that is that it becomes nobody's job, which means it's probably the last thing that everybody is really thinking about.”
  • Ensures Data Transparency: Good marketing operations ensures that relevant data is gathered and tracked. The entire company will most often have access to that data. This helps everyone make decisions and suggest changes based on the data.
  • Encourages Process Consistency: Marketing operations creates a structure in which processes are consistent and repeatable. This saves staff time and energy, and saves the company money.
  • Ensures Readiness for Future Growth: When marketing operations allows for transparent and consistent processes, the company can better understand how to expand those processes with future growth.
  • Solves the Needs of Customers, Stakeholders, and Employees: Good marketing operations will recognize and solve the needs of a company’s customers, stakeholders, and employees.
  • Helps Companies Make Adjustments Where Needed: Marketing operations will track more than just marketing work, including how fast certain products are selling, what isn’t selling, and any warehousing and delivery issues. Tracking all of this will help both the company and the marketing department make the necessary changes.
  • Responds to Market Trends: Marketing operations helps the company track customers’ needs, responses, the performance of the competition, and overall market changes. From there, it can help the company make needed adjustments.
  • Helps Identify New Markets: The strategic planning and data analysis that marketing operations coordinates will help the company spot opportunities for new markets and expanded sales. 
  • Helps Optimize Marketing Channels: Marketing operations helps a marketing team understand results from all marketing channels, including email marketing, social media, advertising, print media, and more. Having such an enlarged perspective enables the company to better determine which channels work best for specific marketing goals. To learn more about automated email marketing, visit “Automated Email Workflows: Examples, Best Practices, and Templates.” And, to learn more about marketing in a number of channels at the same time, visit “The Definitive Guide to Real Omnichannel Marketing and Tips for Implementing Your Own Strategy.”
  • Helps Companies Become More Transparent, Efficient, and Profitable: Good marketing operations encourages strategic planning and the constant monitoring of important marketing and other operations. Such efforts make a company more transparent, accountable, efficient, and profitable.

The Future of Marketing Operations

Marketing operations experts predict significantly increased automation and that sales and marketing teams will merge within some companies.

Detailed expectations for the future of marketing operations are as follows:

  • Sales and Marketing Partnerships: Marketing operations in forward-thinking companies will have sales and marketing departments that work much more closely and collaboratively. They will share information on customers and work together to determine how to attract and convert customers. Daniels believes some companies may even merge their sales and marketing departments. “From a bigger picture perspective, the hot topic is the putative merging of marketing operations and sales operations, and potentially customer success operations, into a revenue operations function,” he says.
  • Increased Automation: As the number of marketing technology tools continues to expand, many experts believe that there will soon be even more tools available that allow smaller companies to automate many of their marketing operations activities. “The future will be really cheap automated services for people who know what they’re trying to accomplish,” says Morgan. “But, you are still going to need the brainpower to figure out how to use those tools.” To learn more about current marketing automation software, visit “How to Choose a Marketing Automation Platform.”  
  • Merging of Marketing Technology Tools: There are now thousands of marketing technology tools, and many companies use several or more at the same time. Pedowitz says that new market technology solutions combine data and analysis that exist on several platforms into one platform. The all-in-one platform is easier to use and performs better analysis.

The History of Marketing Operations

Marketing operations existed long before it became known as such. Here are some notable times and dates during the development of the discipline:

  • In the 1920s, radio advertisers were doing research to better understand their customers, how such customers reacted to their advertising, and how they reacted to the overall marketplace.
  • The president of Scott Paper Company, along with others, founded the Marketing Science Institute in 1961. It has supported research into marketing and what is now considered marketing operations.
  • In 2005, marketing consultant and professor Gary Katz published the first article on marketing operations on the MarketingProfs website.
  • By 2011, marketing operations had become the fastest-growing occupation in marketing and the fourth-most staffed marketing function in large corporations.

How Does Marketing Operations Help Agencies?

Marketing operations within a marketing agency helps increase efficiencies and better coordinate the work of everyone within the agency. It improves communication, saves money, and increases customer satisfaction.

When Should a Company Hire for Marketing Operations?

According to many experts, a company should create a marketing operations role when technological demands and efforts at collaboration are noticeably slowing down the marketing team.

Some MOPs gurus go further: They say that marketing operations is so vital to a company that the second hire of any marketing team should be for an oversight role. Therefore, a two-person marketing department should consist of one marketing position and one marketing operations position. In fact, even in a one-person marketing department, the individual employee should be performing marketing as well as MOPs tasks.

Implement and Master Marketing Operations with Smartsheet

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StateOfMops2021

THE STATE OF THE MARKETING OPS PROFESSIONAL

Access 20+ key insights about marketing ops.

marketing operations team working together to create a marketing operations strategy

Updated: 03/09/22

Published: 03/09/22

One of my favorite movies is " School of Rock ," which also happens to be one of 2003's best films. In the movie, Jack Black poses as a substitute teacher at a private school, and, after noticing the students are musically talented, he turns the 10-year-olds into a fully-fledged rock band.

When assigning roles to the students, he approaches the class president and deems her band manager because she had the organizational skills needed to help the band run smoothly. "Summer," he says, "You're in charge of the whole thing."

When I think about marketing operations, I think of this quote — without a team, businesses that depend on technology would have a less-than-seamless experience carrying out their duties. In this post, you’ll learn more about marketing operations and why these teams are essential to a business.

What is marketing operations?

Why is MOps important?

Role of Marketing Operations

Marketing Operations strategy

How to Create a MOps Strategy

Access Now: The State of Marketing Ops Professionals

Marketing operations, sometimes referred to as MOps, is an umbrella term that describes the people, processes, and technology that power a business’s overall marketing strategy and increase chances of success.

The people involved in marketing operations build a foundation that reinforces and supports marketing efforts. It makes it easier to achieve goals by implementing systems to ensure marketers are best equipped to succeed at their jobs.

what is marketing operations

3. Define your goal(s) using the SMART format.

With your metrics identified, the next step in defining a marketing ops strategy is outlining significant SMART goals . This format is important because it gives your team a better sense of direction and organization in strategy execution.

An example of an effective SMART goal is, “We will increase total clicks from email by 25% in one year.” because it’s:

  • Specific : It’s not a broad goal; it’s focused on email marketing.
  • Measurable : It can be measured by a concrete metric (total clicks).
  • Attainable : It’s possible to see this level of change in the business.
  • Realistic : The team is capable of working toward 25% of improvement.
  • Time-bound : This goal has a set duration of one year.

4. If needed, communicate how colleagues can take part in refining your strategy.

With the goal and metrics identified, your next step is to outline what this change would mean for affected colleagues, such as the team members who create and distribute email marketing messages.

The team might conclude that "Marketers can expect an easier email guideline process, a more effective format, and to receive a form to offer input about how to make that happen."

5. Determine actionable steps in your plan that will help you reach your goals.

Determining actionable steps will help your marketing ops team figure out what needs to be done, identify the resources required to see success, and stay organized as they work through their tasks.

A marketing ops professional will need to run these steps by the stakeholders who actually influence the plan. For instance, they would be communicating steps to reach the previously stated SMART goal like:

  • Switching to a more efficient email technology provider.
  • Ensuring that the data being used to measure these goals is clean and accurate.
  • Enabling the marketing team to source more quality leads.
  • Enabling the sales team with better templates or sales enablement resources.

With these steps communicated, stakeholders can provide assistance or suggestions where it’s needed, and the marketing ops team can get closer to execution.

6. Assign team members to specific tasks that will contribute to the completion of your goals.

Having that set in place, what's next for the marketing ops team is to assign team members specific tasks to help them achieve their goals. For instance, one team member might be in charge of redefining email marketing contact lists. Another might be in charge of auditing the current workflows in place for email marketing.

As team members complete these tasks, they would check them off in a centralized space so the entire team can stay updated on the project’s status.

Marketing operations teams are equally effective with their strategies and management capabilities as Summer's character in "School of Rock." With her processes, the group was able to obtain their own rehearsal space and offer music classes.

Align and Optimize Your Marketing Operations

Marketing ops can come up with ways to increase customer satisfaction and ease the job of marketers. Their strategies make marketing activities and duties accessible to all, and because of that, are an essential part of a business.

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Marketing operations describes the function of overseeing an organization's marketing program, planning, and strategic activities. By bringing team members with unique skill sets together, you can build a strategy that meets your most important goals. Learn four steps to create an effective marketing operations strategy, plus why it matters.

Like other operations teams, marketing operations is responsible for ensuring that everything runs smoothly within the marketing organization. In addition to this, they take an active support and advisory role in many marketing functions to ensure that the tactics implemented are possible with the marketing infrastructure. Below, we discuss the basics of marketing operations, some common roles you may see on this team, and how marketing operations affect an organization as a whole. 

What is marketing operations (MOPs)?

Marketing operations describes the people, processes, and technology that turn marketing strategy into actions. Ultimately, marketing operations enables marketing teams to operate efficiently and expand as their business grows. It helps your team organize marketing initiatives , planning, and strategic activities.

[inline illustration] what is marketing operations (infographic)

Why marketing teams need repeatable processes

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Marketing operations skills

While soft skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and work ethic are important, team members in marketing operations roles won’t provide meaningful value to company marketing efforts without the following hard skills :

[inline illustration] critical skills for marketing operations (infographic)

Technical skills: Marketing ops team members must be technically literate. Your team should have general marketing technical skills like SEO knowledge, spreadsheet creation and optimization, and website analysis depending on the role. It’s also important that your marketing operations team understands any marketing software that your team uses at a technical level.

Strategy skills:  MOPs teams have to be strategic about how to create the infrastructure for the entire marketing team. They have to think about all of the teams they support, and how to build a marketing infrastructure that supports other teams’ goals.

Data management: Data management is a skill that involves both gathering marketing data and managing it within a dashboard or tool to share with the rest of the company.  A marketing operations team will help connect the data sources to data visualization platforms so teams can better analyze performance.

Marketing automation: Larger teams often utilize marketing automation software to help streamline marketing processes. A good marketing operations specialist should know how the marketing automation software works and how to get the information teams want flowing in the right direction.

Customer relationship management:  Customer relationship management is an extremely important function for both a marketing and sales team. Marketing operations works together with the sales team to ensure that both marketing and sales have the right information they need from prospects to implement the right strategy to turn them into customers.

What does a marketing operations team do?

It may sound daunting, but the marketing operations team is responsible for the entire infrastructure of your team’s marketing organization. The exact composition of your marketing operations team will depend on your company size, marketing department structure, and industry. Take a look below at common roles and responsibilities that live under the marketing operations umbrella. 

Marketing ops responsibilities:

Marketing analytics : The marketing operations team is responsible for the tracking and reporting of data and analytics. Other teams consult the MOPS team so they can connect data sources to dashboards, and depending on your team, analyze the data to help develop strategy. 

Compliance and risk : If you work in an industry where risk and compliance are common considerations, the marketing operations team needs to be aware of how to create marketing infrastructure that minimizes risks and falls into compliance with regulations.

Asset management :  This responsibility can be held by your marketing operations team, but it all depends on how your current marketing team is organized. Asset management is the organization of digital assets, such as photos, video, or other types of media. The marketing operations team decides how to offer this information to the rest of the marketing organization.

Marketing ops roles:

On smaller teams, marketing operations can be run by one person. But as teams scale and grow, the marketing operations team should grow proportionately with the rest of your marketing organization. Here are some common roles you might see on a marketing operations team.

Marketing operations manager or lead : This is the person responsible for managing a team of marketing operations specialists. MOPs leads work collaboratively with other teams and upper management to decide what is the best marketing infrastructure to build. They help scale a marketing organization while also managing their own team and understanding the day-to-day operations of the work that’s happening.

Marketing operations specialists: The individual team members who work with other marketing team members to ensure that all marketing functions are working. On larger teams, this individual may be assigned specific teams to work for. For example, there may be a dedicated marketing specialist responsible for working with the web development team to ensure that any marketing software is correctly connected to your team’s website.

Marketing operations analyst: These individual(s) are responsible for monitoring, collecting, and analyzing data to help inform future marketing strategies. The information collected by MOPs analysts is used to help establish or create new marketing strategies.

How do MOPs teams work with other teams?

Your marketing operations team is responsible for managing and supporting the processes and systems that enable the rest of the entire marketing team to do their work effectively. This means that MOPs frequently collaborates with other teams, such as e-mail marketing, procurement, growth marketing, web development, and pretty much any other marketing team you can think of. 

Here are a few examples of how you may say marketing operations teams working with others:

Marketing operations would work with a lifecycle marketing team by ensuring their email marketing software connects correctly with your internal CRM software. 

Marketing operations could work with a content marketing team by helping them connect lead generation forms into blog modules.

Marketing operations could work with the data and analytics team to ensure all data sources are pulling the right information that other marketing teams need to track.

4 steps to create a marketing operations strategy

[inline illustration] how to create a marketing operations strategy (infographic)

Creating a marketing operations strategy requires collaboration, knowledge of your current marketing organization, and your team’s marketing technological tools (sometimes called your “tech stack”). Keeping all of this information in mind can be challenging, but here are four simple steps you can take to implement a marketing operations strategy easily. 

1. Identify your stakeholders' goals

Marketing operations primarily functions as a support role for the entire marketing organization. When establishing a strategy for your marketing operations team, it’s important to understand the objectives and goals of key stakeholders . 

For example, imagine you work at an e-commerce company. The growth marketing team wants to start attributing some of their sales to social media advertisements. To do so, they meet with your marketing operations team to establish how to achieve these goals with the marketing tools that you currently have available. 

2. Identify the best course of action

The marketing operations team will then work with the stakeholders to craft a plan of action. It’s not uncommon for a stakeholder to request something that your current marketing infrastructure can’t handle. It’s up to the marketing operations team to understand the abilities and limitations of the marketing technology available, and to work with stakeholders to craft the best course of action.

One common way to ensure stakeholders get what they need while still allowing the marketing operations team to keep availability in mind is to start by having stakeholders create user stories . Commonly used in Agile methodologies , a user story is a brief explanation of how the end user should expect a process to go. A user story is typically told in one sentence, following the format: “As a [persona], I want to [software goal], so that [result].”

Using the growth marketing team previously as an example, the growth marketing team may create the following user story:

As a growth marketer, I want  a dashboard that actively tracks how much money is generated from sales so that I can correctly attribute sales to our social media advertisements

This quick sentence is enough of a story to help your marketing operations team understand what it is the growth marketing team is asking for, and how to create it. Your team now knows that your will need to:

Figure out a way to attribute sales from paid social advertisements

Continuously track the data of sales from paid social advertisements

Connect the data source of the paid social advertisements to a dashboard of some sort that the growth marketing team can access

3. Implement your strategy

Once you solidify the end goal with your stakeholders, the next step is to implement your plan. All marketing organizations are different, and depending on the technology you use or how your team is organized, this implementation stage will differ from project to project. 

When implementing the strategy, it’s important to keep stakeholders in the loop of how the process is going. It’s important to create a communication plan so that stakeholders know where to communicate important information. Key project factors like a project timeline can be communicated through a work management tool so that all stakeholders can check on a project status asynchronously.

4. Measure and report on success metrics

Marketing operations supports many other marketing teams. This can be challenging for the MOPS to measure their own individual metrics. An easy way to combat this is by establishing metrics that connect to the goals of your stakeholders.

Another way to establish metrics for a MOPs team is to analyze how prospective customers interact with the brand at different stages of the marketing funnel. Marketing operations helps other teams identify any bottlenecks in the marketing funnel and assist with developing strategy moving forward.

Create clarity with your MOPs workflow

A marketing team is a large machine with many different working gears and cogs, and it’s important that there’s a team dedicated to ensuring that machine works properly. Create clarity on your marketing team by establishing one central source of truth. 

A work management tool like Asana can help keep marketing teams organized and help push strategic initiatives forward in a clear concise way. Learn more about how Asana can help your marketing team accomplish their goals.

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Get rid of wasted budgets once and for all with operational marketing

rubik cubic

Did you know that according to a study by Proxima,  over 60% of marketing budgets are wasted?  This is because the company has wrong or unrealistic long and short term marketing goals.

A lack of customer data and a data-driven approach is also one of the major reasons why marketing objectives fail.

 Strategy is an important factor in marketing success . But strategic marketing is often focused on the long term. It’s theoretical and full of ‘plans’.

Operational marketing is kind of the A-team of brand success. It focuses on action. It helps to take proactive steps towards strategic goal completion. Let’s take a look at how that works.

JUMP TO SECTION

1. What is operational marketing?

2. Key elements of operational excellence

3. The Ps and the Cs

4. The tools of an operational marketer

5. Want to know more about marketing?

What is operational marketing?

Operational marketing helps to increase short-term wins thereby assisting in the completion of long-term marketing objectives.

It concerns activities such as direct marketing, advertising, digital marketing, outbound marketing, and inbound marketing. 

When people talk about moving from A to B, operational marketing is the B in this equation. It is based on the strategic marketing objectives gathered through extensive data reports.

If that sounds a little ‘management speak’ to you, don’t worry. It gets easier. 

Untitled design-1

  “93% of B2B business owners say the marketing operation function is important.” - B2Bmarketing.net

  “49% of marketing teams have at least one marketing operations leader in place.” - Gartner

Before you start with anything, these three things needs to be in place:

  • Market research (think: voice-of-customer, demographics, psychographics, etc.)
  • Long and short term objectives generated through strategic marketing plans
  • Creation of action points by applying operational marketing techniques

Think of a car for a second. It can have a chassis, doors, wheels, and even a steering wheel. But without an engine, the car isn’t ‘operational’. There’s nothing to drive the goals of the car, a.k.a. getting you to where you need to go. 

Likewise, if your marketing isn’t operational, it’s just a bunch of guys and girls sipping coffee, sitting in a stuffy meeting room drawing up plans. Nothing happens.

The other way gets you the exact same result. An engine without a car doesn’t help you either. Strategy and Operational Marketing go hand in hand. 

But what exactly makes up the core of operational marketing? This comes down to a series of five core elements . Do this right, and your new business endeavour might end up a success.

Key elements of operational excellence

To start with, the first core element of operational marketing is all about having a strategy-based and goal-oriented approach .

As we mentioned before, operational status can’t be achieved with the right foundation. You need something to work with. 

According to the folks at Plannuh , these are the first steps you should take to start with your goal-oriented planning:

  • Define  your goals, milestones, metrics, and targets
  • Align  with your own strategy
  • Define  any constraints your plans might have
  • Build  campaigns around the data you’ve collected

We have to warn you upfront, don’t go crazy on the goal-setting. Stick to about four to six major goals.

Too many and you’ll never achieve them, too few and you might miss out on the right opportunities.

Once we’ve reached the stage where we can start measuring the effect our campaigns have, we can start optimising them.

This leads us to discoveries such as knowing our marketing filter is too tight, rejecting too many qualified leads, or perhaps letting too many unqualified leads through. 

This leads to an important step in successful operational marketing:   knowing the entire marketing system . 

Too often businesses focus on one thing, getting leads. But the little cogs in the machine that make everything lead up to a sale are left to rust.

Working in systems is a good start to making marketing operational. The above framework shows all the elements of such a system. 

But measuring something is pointless if you don’t know what makes up a success. That’s why you need to have KPIs to be able to evaluate the incoming data.

The Ps and the Cs

To make the most of this data and ensure strategic goals are met, it's important to look at the Ps and Cs.

You might already be familiar with the 4 Ps - Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.  These are one of the many main levers for operational marketing.

But the 4 Ps have evolved to keep up with current demands and expanded to the 7 Ps. The brainiacs of marketing added these to the list:

This concerns customer relationship management, complaints, and training needs.

This involves company procedures, marketing performance analysis, best practices, and so on.

  • Physical Evidence 

Think of all the things influencing the customer’s perception of the product or service being marketed. Things such as layout, smell, sound, design, etc.

But, we’re not done with the abbreviations yet. As an operational marketer, you’ll also be faced with  4 Cs . These are the following:

Being able to respond to the needs and desires of the consumer in the best possible way is a recipe for success.

Something your boss will probably text you on a Sunday morning at 7 AM is “How about that ROI?”. That’s the return on investment part of any marketing operation. Will the revenue outweigh the paid campaign costs? 

  • Convenience

Making the consumer’s shopping experience as comfortable as possible. Make their life easier. Understand what your customer needs.

  • Communication

Scroll through any list of negative reviews and you’ll often find quotes like “Customer service is garbage, doesn’t respond”, or “False advertising”. Being able to clearly communicate with your customers creates loyalty.

The tools of an operational marketer

Let’s talk about making things happen. Operational marketing is about action after all.

There are several tools at your disposal to ensure proper marketing operations. We’ve mentioned them briefly before. Now we’ll zoom in on them.

Advertising

 This is where most of your lead generation happens . The ‘Mad Men’ of the marketing mix.

You can practically advertise anywhere, but keep the ROI and budget in mind. You could potentially show up with your brand on TV, radio, billboards, brochures, Instagram, Twitter, newspapers, you name it.

But remember that your advertising campaigns should always lead to the completion of strategic marketing goals.

  If your goal is to attract people in their mid 20s who like animals, don’t go advertising to meat eaters in their late 50s. 

Sometimes, getting leads might not even be the goal of the advertisement. It might be awareness, engagement, or simply informing the customer. 

Direct Marketing

The more ‘direct’ approach. Think of telemarketing, door-to-door sales, even coupons might do the trick.

It’s a more connective way of doing marketing. There’s a face and voice involved. You’re communicating directly with a chosen target group. 

Digital Marketing

The brother (or sister) of direct marketing. It’s everything marketing, but digitally.

Think of websites, social media, email, and even SEO techniques. The operational marketing strategy will surely involve a digital approach in this day and age.

Inbound and Outbound Marketing

To make sure the strategic goals are achieved, operational marketing can make use of two types of getting leads, outbound and inbound.

With outbound marketing, you reach out to a potential lead through email sequences for example. Cold mailing is a common technique with this.

When adopting an inbound strategy, you create authority and credibility through the publishing of blog articles, social media networking, or hosting podcasts. Customers will buy from you on their own initiative because they trust in you and your brand.

Want to know more about marketing?

Becoming an efficient operational marketer means you need to be comfortable with various specialisations within the marketing mix.

If digital marketing caught your eye, we’re offering a course that’ll help you to maximise your impact online. But knowing the ins and outs of growth marketing is just as important.

Hover over to our growth marketing course and take another step to becoming the best operational marketer you can be.

Like we said at the start, working with data is also extremely important when it comes to operational marketing. If you agree, and we hope you do(!), visit our data visualisation course and learn how to present data to your team and bosses without making their heads spin. 

And remember, marketing is all about experimentation. There’s only winning and learning.

Now get out there and ace some campaigns!

 Operational Marketing vs. Strategic Marketing?

The main difference between operational marketing and strategic marketing is their focus and scope. O perational marketing is focused on short-term revenue generation: advertising, pricing, promotions, and sales management.

Strategic marketing is focused on long-term growth and value creation: market research, product development, brand building, and customer segmentation.

What is an Operational Marketing Plan? 

An operational marketing plan is a detailed outline of the specific tactics and activities a company uses to achieve marketing objectives.

It includes marketing channels, target audience, messaging, content, and success metrics. This plan provides a roadmap for execution and helps ensure marketing goals are met. 

 What are the characteristics of operational marketing? 

Operational marketing is characterised by a focus on short-term goals, implementation of tactics, and tactical decision-making. It involves executing marketing plans, managing marketing campaigns, and optimizing performance metrics. It relies on market research and customer feedback to drive decision-making and prioritise activities for achieving business objectives.

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Operational Plan: Everything You Need To Know (2024 Guide)

Download our free Operational Strategy Template Download this template

The old way of planning no longer works in complex and unpredictable business environments, and companies are struggling to find their feet on shaky ground. As we’ve seen with many of our customers and strategies in Cascade, organizations can no longer count on executing three or even five-year strategic plans.

The new reality forces companies and their operations teams to adapt their operational plans more frequently and within shorter time frames if they want to reap benefits faster than their competitors. Organizations need to work on their strategic instinct and fast adaptability .  

And that requires big changes—including building a flexible operational plan, supported by the right tools and systems that help you achieve real-time centralized observability and empower a strategic response to external disruptions.

Read this article to build a bulletproof operational plan that includes all the key elements necessary to overcome unpredictable business chaos. You’ll also get free templates that will help you rapidly adapt and align your teams.

✨Bonus: We’ve included pro tips from business leaders in our network to help you identify gaps in your strategy execution and build resilient business operations.

Free Template Download our free Operational Strategy Template Download this template

What Is An Operational Plan?

An operational plan is action and detail-oriented; it needs to focus on short-term strategy execution and outline an organization's day-to-day operations. If your operations strategy is a promise, your operational plan is the action plan for how you will deliver on it every day, week, and month.

Put simply, an operational plan helps you bridge the gap between business strategy and on-the-ground execution and ensures that the organization is on track to achieve its long-term goals.

Benefits of operational planning

  • Clear definition of relationships between cross-functional teams in different departments and responsibilities for each to eliminate duplicated efforts.
  • Tighter alignment between corporate or business unit strategic plans and on-the-ground execution, helping the organization meet its business targets.
  • Strong operating system that enables the company to quickly adapt, deliver operations goals, and monitor performance.

Operational planning vs. strategic planning

Operational planning deals with the day-to-day details and short-term goals, while strategic planning focuses on the big picture and long-term direction of an organization.

To put it in simpler terms, operational planning is about the "how" of daily tasks, while strategic planning defines the "what" and "why" for future success.

📚Recommended reading: Strategic vs. Operational Planning

Kickstart Your Operational Planning Process: Lay The Foundation

The quality of your operational plan will depend on your input. A successful operational planning initiative will consider these aspects:

  • Who will be involved? Identify and include employees, customers, and the management team in the planning process to gain valuable insights from the front lines, ensuring better strategy and execution buy-in.
  • What are your internal capabilities? Assess internal capabilities by conducting an internal analysis , including resource requirements, operating budget, and talent skills. Talent management and employee engagement are just a few of the many challenges that COOs will have on their operations agenda.
  • What environment are you operating in? Conduct an external analysis (e.g., PESTLE or Porter’s 5 Forces ) to inform your approach and identify optimization opportunities and risks, keeping you agile in a changing market.
  • Is it aligned with your organization’s strategy? Ensure alignment of your operational plan with your organization’s strategic plan to actively support the company's long-term vision and contribute to key business metrics.
👉🏻 Once you’ve gathered this information, you can develop an operational plan to help you execute business strategies.

Key Elements Of Your Operational Plan

Enough chit-chat; it’s time to put your operational plan together. We've built this based on our proven and tested approach, used by over +45,000 Cascade users. Here’s a recap of the five key elements your plan must consider:

Choose key metrics aligned with the company goals

Selecting your operational plan's key metrics isn't a mere exercise in tracking numbers; it's about laser-focused alignment with your business needs and objectives. These metrics are the tangible indicators of your organization's efficiency and performance. They serve as the compass, guiding your daily decisions and actions toward achieving concrete results.

By precisely aligning these metrics with your company's core objectives, you ensure that every initiative and action within your operational plan directly contributes to achieving tangible results.

An aligned operational plan makes it easier to:

  • Communicate roles and responsibilities to all employees so they know how their efforts contribute to overall business success.
  • Identify and address operational bottlenecks and inefficiencies that could derail strategy execution.
  • Motivate and engage employees to work toward strategic objectives and deliver on business outcomes.
Remember that the role of operations is to close the gap between your organization's strategic goals and what is being done on a daily basis to make them happen.

👉🏻 How Cascade can help:

With Cascade’s Metrics Library , you can bring your operating and financial business-level goals together with your strategy under one single roof. This makes reporting & governance easy, accurate, and less time-consuming by connecting your business data to your key business initiatives.

cascade metrics library

Through Cascade’s integrations , you can consolidate your metrics in one place, importing your data directly from business systems, data lakes, BI tools, or even spreadsheets.

Define the focus areas of your operational plan

The focus areas of your operational plan are the key areas of the business that the plan will address.

This will depend on your business plan. Think about how the business operates and how it succeeds. Do you need to pursue short-term cost reductions while simultaneously pursuing longer-term growth and transformation initiatives? Your operational plans must be built on these strategic priorities.

For example, you can prioritize your focus areas based on the most relevant business strategies or by specific departments. Some examples of focus areas could be:

  • Administration
  • Human Resources

💡Tips to help define the focus areas of your operational plan:

  • Identify the business's key challenges and opportunities.
  • Consider the business's overall long-term strategy and key metrics and how the operational plan's focus areas can support these objectives.
  • Bring other people on board to help you identify what needs to be addressed by the operations plan.

Create strategic objectives for your operational plan

Strategic objectives are specific goals aligned with the operation’s strategy and focus areas. They represent what you want to achieve in each focus area and will serve as the building blocks of your plan, ensuring that it’s focused and actionable.

Some examples of strategic objectives:

  • Reduce costs by 10% within the next year by implementing more efficient processes and streamlining the supply chain over the next year.
  • Launch three new products in the next fiscal year to expand your product lines and increase revenue.
  • Increase customer satisfaction scores by 5% within the next six months.

💡Tips for defining strategic objectives include:

  • Ensure your objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
  • Consistently align objectives with your operational plan's focus areas and the company's goals.
  • Don’t be afraid to get input from other people about your objectives.

Identify and prioritize projects

It’s time to identify and prioritize the projects that need to be executed. Remember, projects are action plans to help you achieve your strategic objectives.

Project planning should include thinking about time frames, task assignments, and deliverables (and prioritizing).

Here are some examples of project ideas:

  • Localize sourcing for critical semi-finished materials.
  • Streamline the supply chain to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
  • Find and develop an alternative logistics channel.
  • Implement a new customer service training program to improve customer satisfaction scores.
  • Implement a new technology that will enable end-to-end supply chain visibility.

💡Tips for defining and prioritizing projects:

  • Identify the specific actions and activities needed to achieve each strategic objective.
  • Prioritize the projects based on their importance, feasibility, and potential impact on the business.
  • Involve stakeholders in defining and prioritizing the projects to ensure their needs and concerns are heard.

Identify and track key performance indicators (KPIs)

Finally, you’ll need to know if your operational plan and day-to-day activities result in outcomes.

Set KPIs for key initiatives and strategic objectives to measure success, ensure alignment, and identify performance gaps in your operational plan.

Some examples of operations KPIs are:

  • Inventory costs
  • Costs of goods sold
  • Revenue growth
  • Employee retention rate
  • Customer satisfaction score

💡Tips for defining and tracking KPIs:

  • Align KPIs with your strategic objectives and focus areas so that you can track the plan's progress against these specific goals.
  • Add both lagging and leading indicators .
  • Instead of using multiple disconnected spreadsheets and project management tools, consider live dashboards or reporting systems to track the KPIs and monitor progress over time.

👉🏻 How Cascade can help build your plan:

Cascade’s planner feature enables you to build your operational plan with structure and ease by breaking down the complexity from high-level initiatives to executable outcomes. Define your key elements (focus areas, objectives, projects, and KPIs), and share the plan with your teams. You’ll get full visibility of the plan’s progress in real-time, allowing you to identify gaps, quickly update the plan, and communicate the change with your team with a single click.

cascade planner view example

👉🏻 If you don’t want to start building the plan from scratch, use our free Operational Plan Template pre-filled with examples of focus areas, objectives, projects, and KPIs that you can customize to meet your organization’s needs.

Operational Plan Examples & Templates

Here are five operational plan examples to help you create plans for your teams. You can use one master operational plan or set up an operational plan for each department.

Master Operational Plan Example

operational plan free template

This Operational Plan Template will help you close the gap between business goals and day-to-day operations. You'll be able to set goals and KPIs for your top priorities and work with the operations team to deliver operational excellence and business results.

HR Plan Example

This HR Operational Plan Template can be used to meet staffing requirements, manage human capital and align human resources activities with your strategy. HR managers in any industry can create a clear operational plan that can be constantly monitored, adapted, and improved.

IT Plan Example

If you’re in the IT team, try out this IT Plan Template to get your IT operational planning up and running fast. It comes prefilled with focus areas and KPIs relevant to IT operations; you can easily customize workflows and deliverables to your needs.

Marketing Plan Example

This Marketing Plan Template can help you efficiently understand and plan your digital marketing operations using best practices. Use it to quickly set up priorities and get your social media and marketing teams moving on tasks that will make an impact.

Finance Plan Example

This finance-focused template is ideal if you want to get on top of your finance operations plan. Use it to allocate and distribute financial resources across your organization and get real-time updates through your dashboard and reports—which are great tools to create a visually compelling financial summary that clearly shows your key metrics.

💡Pro Tip: To ensure successful execution, it's crucial to align not just your master operational plan with your overarching strategic plan, but also all the operational department plans.

With the Alignment Maps feature, you’ll be able to visualize how your top-level business strategy breaks down into functional and operational plans. This empowers COOs and CFOs to consolidate their operational plans in one place, creating tighter alignment between the finance and operations teams and improving cross-collaboration to build more resilient operations.

alignment map view in cascade

Want to dig deeper? Use the Relationships feature to see the relationships between connected objectives from your plans and understand how your different department goals contribute to the core business metrics and goals. This view will allow you to clearly map dependencies, blockers, and risks that may lie along your journey.

relationships view in cascade

5 Tips For An Effective Operational Plan And Its Execution

1. don’t underestimate the power of transparent communication.

Regularly communicate the operational plan and progress to all relevant stakeholders to build the necessary buy-in and support. Your employees must know your goals and the roadmap, and team members should understand their role in its execution. This business transparency will help everyone row in the same direction.

“Clarity regarding strategy is one of the key drivers of autonomous execution. If people understand what you’re working toward and have guardrails in place, they can be empowered to make their own decisions and don’t need everything to be ‘run up the chain’ to get approved. This allows you to move fast and at scale.” — Sam Sterling , Chief Strategy Officer, Akqa

2. Keep moving forward and adopt a growth mindset

Keep the momentum going and ensure that the plan is executed effectively. Regular monitoring and reviews can help identify and address any challenges or obstacles that may arise.

Schedule regular reviews and check-ins and provide the necessary support to ensure projects are on track and moving forward.

“I think adopting a growth mindset is super important. This means having the confidence to fail fast, try something new and empower people to do that.” — Ken Miller , General Manager, Azure Intelligent Cloud at Microsoft

With the Team Updates functionality, every team member can post updates on key measures, actions, and objectives. This will give you real-time visibility into performance and help you identify possible risks before it’s too late—without having to schedule extra meetings or nag your team members for updates.

3. Make strategic moves and change fast when you need to

Your operational plan should be flexible, adaptable, and open to adjustments. This means keeping an eye on progress, making corrections if needed, and being willing to adapt the plan to changing circumstances or new opportunities. As McKinsey suggests, you can consider creating a team that will be able to collect data, link analysis with action, and offer quick responses to rapid changes.

“Traditionally, companies would have taken that piece of paper and gone out and said: we're going to execute it, start to finish. Then get into the formulation of the strategy, what we need to hit, and what the end product result will be like. But what we do know is that’s never the case. Along the way, you're going to have bumps, and inevitably, you’ll need to change from that original picture.” — Annie Lucchitti , Marketing Manager, Unilever

4. Empower your operations team and boost efficiency

Effective operational planning requires the engagement and empowerment of your team. Involve stakeholders in the planning process and provide them with the necessary resources. Give them context and an opportunity to set goals and prioritize initiatives. This will help you boost engagement and hold them accountable for progress.

“I think it just works at every single level. Are people allowed to be themselves at work? Personally, are they at peace? Are they happy? Productivity happens when people have the right skills, but also when they are engaged and happy. If one of those fails a bit, productivity will start decreasing.” — Joan Torrents , Global Sourcing Manager, TESCO.

5. If it isn’t measured, it isn’t managed

Don’t underestimate the importance of tracking and measuring progress against the operational plan's goals and objectives. Set milestones, enforce KPIs, and stay on top of progress. Doing this will help you stay on course, empower you to act quickly, and provide valuable insights into what is going wrong.

“Data is a foundational element in the strategy definition phase as well as in the strategy execution phase as it helps create a baseline, identify key priorities, set goals, and measure progress.” — Erica Santoni , Principal, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Intuit

Use Cascade’s Dashboards to monitor your day-to-day progress on key metrics and critical business and strategic information in real-time.

example of an operations strategy dashboard in cascade

Compile the information in powerful reports and executive summaries in seconds with pre-built templates. Share them with your key stakeholders —internal and external— and invite them to collaborate on your strategy together.

Execute Your Operational Plan With Cascade 🚀

What good is an operational plan if no one executes it? If your organization wants to operate at a higher level, static tools like Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoints, Google Docs, and/or project management tools aren’t the solution.

❌They aren’t designed for adaptive strategy and planning.

❌They often lead to siloing and hinder effective cross-collaboration.

❌They make it challenging to measure progress and slow down decision-making.

With Cascade as your central operating system, you can stop running business operations blindfolded and embrace rapid, coordinated, and data-driven decision-making.

Get your Operational Plan Template to get started with a dynamic plan that will lead to actual outcomes for your business and see faster results from your strategy.

Or take Cascade for a spin! Start today for free or book a 1:1 product tour with Cascade’s in-house strategy expert.

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Operational Planning: How to Make an Operations Plan

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The operations of your business can be defined as the sum of all the daily activities that you and your team execute to create products or services and engage with your customers, among other critical business functions. While organizing these moving parts might sound difficult, it can be easily done by writing a business operational plan. But before we learn how to make one, let’s first understand what’s the relationship between strategic and operational planning.

Operational Planning vs. Strategic Planning

Operational planning and strategic planning are complementary to each other. This is because strategic plans define the business strategy and the long-term goals for your organization, while operational plans define the steps required to achieve them.

What Is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a business document that describes the business goals of a company as well as the high-level actions that will be taken to achieve them over a time period of 1-3 years.

What Is an Operational Plan?

Operational plans map the daily, weekly or monthly business operations that’ll be executed by the department to complete the goals you’ve previously defined in your strategic plan. Operational plans go deeper into explaining your business operations as they explain roles and responsibilities, timelines and the scope of work.

Operational plans work best when an entire department buys in, assigning due dates for tasks, measuring goals for success, reporting on issues and collaborating effectively. They work even better when there’s a platform like ProjectManager , which facilitates communication across departments to ensure that the machine is running smoothly as each team reaches its benchmark. Get started with ProjectManager for free today.

Gantt chart with operational plan

What Is Operational Planning?

Operational planning is the process of turning strategic plans into action plans, which simply means breaking down high-level strategic goals and activities into smaller, actionable steps. The main goal of operational planning is to coordinate different departments and layers of management to ensure the whole organization works towards the same objective, which is achieving the goals set forth in the strategic plan .

How to Make an Operational Plan

There’s no single approach to follow when making an operation plan for your business. However, there’s one golden rule in operations management : your strategic and operational plans must be aligned. Based on that principle, here are seven steps to make an operational plan.

  • Map business processes and workflows: What steps need to be taken at the operations level to accomplish long-term strategic goals?
  • Set operational-level goals: Describe what operational-level goals contribute to the achievement of larger strategic goals.
  • Determine the operational timeline: Is there any time frame for the achievement of the operational plan?
  • Define your resource requirements: Estimate what resources are needed for the execution of the operational plan.
  • Estimate the operational budget: Based on your resource requirements, estimate costs and define an operational budget.
  • Set a hiring plan: Are there any skills gaps that need to be filled in your organization?
  • Set key performance indicators: Define metrics and performance tracking procedures to measure your team’s performance.

what is an operational marketing plan

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Operational Plan Template

Use this free Operational Plan Template for Word to manage your projects better.

What Should be Included in an Operational Plan?

Your operational plan should describe your business operations as accurately as possible so that internal teams know how the company works and how they can help achieve the larger strategic objectives. Here’s a list of some of the key elements that you’ll need to consider when writing an operational plan.

Executive Summary

An executive summary is a brief document that summarizes the content of larger documents like business plans, strategic plans or operation plans. Their main purpose is to provide a quick overview for busy stakeholders.

Operational Budget

An operational budget is an estimation of the expected operating costs and revenues for a given time period. As with other types of budget, the operational budget defines the amount of money that’s available to acquire raw materials, equipment or anything else that’s needed for business operations.

It’s important to limit your spending to stay below your operational budget, otherwise, your company could run out of resources to execute its normal activities. You can use our free operating budget template for Excel to track your operating costs.

Operational Objectives

It’s essential to align your operational objectives with your strategic objectives. For example, if one of your strategic objectives is to increase sales by 25 percent over the next three years, one possible operational objective would be to hire new sales employees. You should always grab your strategic plan objectives and turn them into one or multiple action items .

Processes & Workflows

Explain the various business processes, workflows and tasks that need to be executed to achieve your operational objectives. Make sure to explain what resources are needed, such as raw materials, equipment or human resources.

Operational Timeline

It’s important to establish a timeline for your operational plan. In most cases, your operational plan will have the same length as your strategic plan, but in some scenarios, you might create multiple operational plans for specific purposes. Not all operational plans are equal, so the length of your operational timeline will depend on the duration of your projects , workflows and processes.

Hiring Plan

Find any skills gap there might be in your team. You might need to hire a couple of individuals or even create new departments in order to execute your business processes .

Quality Assurance and Control

Most companies implement quality assurance and control procedures for a variety of reasons such as customer safety and regulatory compliance. In addition, quality assurance issues can cost your business millions, so establishing quality management protocols is a key step in operational planning.

Key Performance Indicators

It’s important to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the productivity of your business operations. You can define as many KPIs as needed for all your business processes. For example, you can define KPIs for marketing, sales, product development and other key departments in your company. This can include product launch deadlines, number of manufactured goods, number of customer service cases closed, number of 5-star reviews received, number of customers acquired, revenue increased by a certain percentage and so on.

Risks, Assumptions and Constraints

Note any potential risks, assumptions and time or resource constraints that might affect your business operations.

Free Operational Plan Template

Leverage everything you’ve learned today with our template. This free operational plan template for Word will help you define your budget, timeline, KPIs and more. It’s the perfect first step in organizing and improving your operations. Download it today.

ProjectManager's free operational plan template for Word.

What Are the Benefits of Operational Planning?

Every plan has a massive effect on all team members involved, and those can be to your company’s benefit or to their detriment. If it’s to their detriment, it’s best to find out as soon as possible so you can modify your operational plan and pivot with ease.

But that’s the whole point of operational planning: you get to see the effect of your operations on the business’s bottom line in real time, or at every benchmark, so you know exactly when to pivot. And with a plan that’s as custom to each department as an operational plan, you know exactly where things go wrong and why.

How ProjectManager Can Help with Operational Planning

Creating and implementing a high-quality operational plan is the best way to ensure that your organization starts out a project on the right foot. ProjectManager has award-winning project management tools to help you craft and execute such a plan.

Gantt charts are essential to create and monitor operational plans effectively. ProjectManager helps you access your Gantt chart online so you can add benchmarks for operational performance reviews. You can also create tasks along with dependencies to make the operation a surefire success.

A screenshot of a gantt chart in ProjectManager

Whether you’re a team of IT system administrators, marketing experts, or engineers, ProjectManager includes robust planning and reporting tools. Plan in sprints, assign due dates, collaborate with team members and track everything with just the click of a button. Plus, we have numerous ready-made project reports that can be generated instantly, including status reports, variance reports, timesheet reports and more.

project status report builder

Related Operations Management Content

  • Operational Strategy: A Quick Guide
  • Operations Management: Key Functions, Roles and Skills
  • Operational Efficiency: A Quick Guide
  • Using Operational Excellence to Be More Productive

Operational planning isn’t done in a silo, and it doesn’t work without the full weight of the team backing it up. Ensure that your department is successful at each benchmark. ProjectManager is an award-winning pm software dedicated to helping businesses smooth out their operational plans for a better year ahead. Sign up for our free 30-day trial today.

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5 Elements of Operational Marketing Excellence

what is an operational marketing plan

When a marketing department operates efficiently, the execution of marketing activities will run much more smoothly. For CMOs and marketing executives, the importance of operational marketing should not go overlooked.

In a recent blog post, we discussed the impact of ineffective marketing leadership execution . But if the impact of ineffective marketing leadership execution is so high, why don’t more people try to solve the problem? In most cases, the issue is not a lack of effort, but the lack of all of the core elements required for operational marketing excellence.

Defining Operational Marketing

What is operational marketing.

Before anything, let’s define operational marketing at a high level.

Operational marketing is the structural actions taken to achieve the objectives needed to meet the goals of a marketing plan. These processes allow teams to scale their marketing efforts efficiently and effectively.

Key Elements of Operational Marketing

There are certain elements that are needed to achieve true operational marketing excellence. When combined, marketing organizations can get much closer to their true potential. A single missing component can throw everything in the entire system off.

The marketing leader in an organization needs to operate like the conductor of an orchestra, the NASA mission commander, or even a classroom teacher in charge of wrangling a bunch of adolescents.

These organizations and systems all require the following:

  • Element #1: A strategy-based and goal-driven planning approach
  • Element #2: A complete system view
  • Element #3: A process for measurement, refinement, and optimization
  • Element #4: The discipline to connect all activities to outcomes
  • Element #5: A culture of excellence

In this post, we explore the five elements in detail, with examples of operational marketing excellence.

Element #1: A Strategy-Based and Goal-Driven Planning Approach

For most of us, defining and aligning the extended team on your goals is the first step in the planning process , and achieving operational marketing excellence. There are some instances where there are prerequisites to this step. For example, when starting a business or going through a significant change, you would start by understanding and documenting the market, customers, messages, etc.

Steps of Goal-Driven Planning

  • Define core goals, metrics, targets, and milestones
  • Get aligned with your strategy
  • Define the constraints of your plan
  • Build thematic campaigns aligned with metrics in the goals

Defining a core set of goals, metrics, targets, and milestones

To describe your plan at the right level of detail, we recommend that you define four to six objectives for the marketing organization. You need enough goals to define what success means comprehensively and enough detail in each of the goals so there is no doubt about the achievement.

A properly-defined goal includes the following structural elements:

  • A descriptive title

Getting aligned with your strategy

The term “strategy” is one of the most overused and misunderstood terms in business. That’s a bad combination. In its simplest form, a strategy is an approach you choose to attempt to achieve your operational marketing objectives.

For example, if your goal is to climb a mountain, you can choose a meandering trail that is longer but has a shallower incline, or you can choose to scramble up the steep, sheer face. Both paths will lead to the same goal, but they might involve different tactics and equipment. The sheer face could require ropes and other safety equipment, while the meandering trail might require food, more water, and even sleeping gear if it takes you longer than a day to achieve your objective. To plan your hike, you need to choose your strategy in advance. And if you are hiking with a group, all members must be aligned on your strategy.

A marketing strategy follows the same rules. If your primary objective is adding $25 million of new pipelines, there are many strategies you can choose to achieve the goal. And while you can define strategies at all levels (for example, a campaign strategy or even a strategy for a landing page), you need to align your team with your overall marketing strategy.

To achieve operational marketing excellence, marketing organizations should have a well-aligned top-level marketing strategy. HubSpot, the CRM software company, is a great example of a company built on a strategy they coined “inbound marketing”—or what would be generically called thought leadership and content marketing. Professional services like law or accounting firms often combine branding and client hospitality. By inviting their clients to sponsored events, activities, and conferences, they can create opportunities for their partners to have one-on-one conversations with prospective clients.

If you sell a low-cost consumer product, you might successfully use the HubSpot strategy, but the relatively low-value customer relationships would not justify the client hospitality approach used by a large public accounting firm.

Choosing your strategy and aligning your team is important for achieving operational marketing excellence. To go back to the mountain climbing example, if you chose to take the long meandering trail without aligning with everyone, you may have team members who don’t have enough water or a sleeping bag.

Defining the constraints for your plan

Because we all operate in the real world, we must plan for existing conditions. For example, you probably have profitability goals for your business that will define your budget envelope. You may have existing commitments as you enter the new year, including retainers, contracted events, software contracts, and lease agreements.

Along with these commitments, you need to understand your organizational capabilities. If you want to move from a digital demand model to a thought leadership model, you may need to hire new people or plan for some additional contract resources.

Build thematic campaigns aligned with the metrics in the goals

Armed with a set of goals, aligned on a strategy, and with your constraints in the plan, the next step in the operational marketing process is to build a set of thematic campaigns designed to achieve your objectives.

The term “campaign” is also overused in marketing, making it difficult to build campaigns at the right level. One good test is to see if you can align the metrics for your campaign with the metrics for your goals. If your goal is to grow pipeline, the metric is pipeline created. If your “campaign” is designed to generate leads, clicks, views, or registrations, then it probably isn’t a campaign. In this case, it is a tactic that could be part of a broader campaign. If you bundle the lead generation tactics with a nurturing effort, the combined effort can be measured in pipeline contribution.

If your campaigns are aligned with your goal metrics, you can easily build a capacity plan to achieve your objectives. Each campaign should also have a campaign manager accountable for delivering the results.

A campaign plan designed to achieve your pipeline objectives might look like this:

In the case above, the campaign plan is built to deliver 112% of the target for the pipeline throughout the year. Each campaign has a budget and should also have a marketing campaign manager accountable for delivering the budget target and the results.

Each campaign may contain many underlying tactics required to achieve the results. The campaign manager is responsible for making sure that the tactics are delivering the interim results required for their target overall, but they are ultimately responsible for delivering against a common set of objectives that can be normalized across the plan.

Element #2: A Complete Marketing System View

Building a comprehensive campaign plan to achieve your objectives is a necessary (and critical) element of operational marketing leadership. Operationally excellent marketing leaders also develop and monitor a complete system-wide view of marketing for their company.

As you are executing your plan, it is critical that you regularly review the health of the overall marketing system to make sure that everything is operating efficiently. If you think of your progress toward your objectives as the GPS in your car, the complete system view is similar to the check engine lights, dashboard alerts, and tune-up computer at your service station.

For example, if you are focused on pipeline development for your plan objectives, you may miss that you are not nurturing leads that could convert to opportunities, or you may not be taking advantage of up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

To support these analytics, we developed a diagnostic tool called The Integrated Marketing Machine (Figure 1). The tool highlights all the interconnected parts of a go-to-market system for improved operational marketing performance. While most marketers do a good job measuring their lead-to-opportunity funnel, other parts of the system are often ignored.

Integrated Marketing Machine for Operational Marketing

Figure 1: The Plannuh Integrated Marketing Machine

  • Measuring marketing system metrics vs goals-specific metrics
  • Are all appropriate elements in place?

Measuring marketing system metrics versus goal-specific metrics

The metrics associated with your marketing system usually differ from those for achieving your goals. Like the diagnostics in your car, the marketing system is typically instrumented to warn when a system is operating outside an expected range.

Pipeline conversion metrics are a good example of this type of measurement. Your marketing-qualified to sales-qualified lead conversion may have an expected conversion rate of 60% – 80%.

  • If your conversion rate is lower than 60%, marketing is probably passing too many unqualified leads.
  • If the conversion rate is higher than 80%, marketing may have a filter that is too tight.

Presence tests: are all the appropriate elements in place?

Another application of the marketing system view is ensuring that all the appropriate systems are in place. For example, do you have a process to nurture leads that fall out of each stage of the funnel? Do you have a program to market new solutions to your existing customers for cross-selling or up-selling? Have you explored all the potential demand sources that could create opportunities in your pipeline?

By regularly reviewing this complete system view, you force yourself to ask questions about the effectiveness of each operational marketing system element- and ensure all the elements are represented in your plan .

Element #3: Process for Measurement, Refinement, and Optimization

The third element of operational marketing e xcellence is to have a process for measurement, refinement, and optimization. We often see two primary issues with marketing dashboards and metrics: either they lack context and don’t have any targets and milestones, or nobody looks at them. A key to operational marketing success is a process, and regular reviews focused on the “So what?” that comes from the data.

  • Review data & metrics
  • Hold regular meetings

Review Data & Metrics

To facilitate the review of relevant data, we recommend that you schedule a series of focused meetings with the appropriate stakeholders to review the data in question. When reviewing metrics, the data should be presented with a comparison to their targets, milestones, and operating ranges (where appropriate).

Hold Regular Meetings

Here are eight marketing meetings for operational marketing excellence of teams:

This may seem like an excessive amount of marketing meetings, but they are important elements of an operationally excellent marketing process. And if you are part of a small team, you can incorporate several of these reviews into the same meeting.

Many marketing teams meet regularly for generic status meetings. If that is the case, you can turn your meetings into a much more productive investment of your time with purposeful meeting management and agenda planning.

Element # 4: Connect All Activities to Outcomes

Another key element of operational marketing is understanding each marketing activity’s impact on your plan.

Does your marketing matter?

If you don’t constantly focus on understanding the relationship between your activities and meaningful outcomes for your business, you can quickly devolve into what we call “random acts of marketing.” And while it is a fool’s errand to connect a financial value to every marketing activity, you must connect every marketing activity to a financial outcome .

In other words, when striving for operational marketing excellence, you don’t need to try to attribute $2.73 to each data sheet you produce, but you do need to understand that the purpose of the sales tool is to increase the conversion rate of a certain stage in the sales cycle.

To what end?

One effective technique for assessing the value of your activities is to ask the question, “To what end?” until you can connect the activity to a line on the Profit and Loss statement (P&L).

For example, let’s take that datasheet you are writing.

We want to create a data sheet.

  • To help the sales team convert stage 1 opportunities to stage 2 opportunities.
  • To get more opportunities through the funnel and close new revenue.

Let’s look at something harder to measure, like a customer appreciation award.

We want to offer a customer appreciation award.

  • To create more loyalty with that customer.
  • To get them to renew their contract and act as a reference.
  • To close new revenue, reduce churn, and acquire new customers.

Even if you can’t distill each activity down to a numerical value, it is important to understand the business (financial) motivation for the activity. If you can’t make that connection, maybe you should stop the activity.

Alignment to goals

Another approach is to connect your activities to your overall goals. If you have done a complete job of defining your marketing objectives, you should be able to associate the vast majority of your underlying activities with one of those objectives.

If you find a common set of activities that cannot be associated with any of your goals, you might consider adding another goal since its importance is implied by your activities. If you can’t define – or justify – that additional goal, it’s time to stop the random acts of marketing.

Element #5: Building a  culture of excellence

The best operational marketing leaders can fail if they don’t have the full support of their team behind them. Additionally, the operational rigor of an organization can be quickly eroded if you accept deviance from your cultural values. The secret to getting your entire team behind you is to build a culture of operational marketing excellence. Culture comes from the top of your organizational structure, so it is critical that marketing leadership embraces the following principles:

Focus on truth, not credit

Celebrate success and learning, embrace diversity, develop emerging talent.

Regarding operational marketing, the best marketing teams operate like scientists, not promoters. You can tell which type of group you have regarding quarterly review time. The promoters focus on all the good parts of the last quarter and gloss over (or worse, hide) any negative results. Scientists always seek truth, even if the truth isn’t very attractive.

When promoters report their results, they often cherry-pick only the good campaigns or channels.  The scientists will report on all the channels and campaigns, highlighting positive and negative outlying performers. When reporting negative results, the scientists will develop a theory for the poor performance and may even design an experiment to try to prove that theory with upcoming campaigns.

One key indicator of a culture of marketing promoters is the amount of “marketing influence” in their results. Marketing influence can be an important metric, especially with long, complex sales cycles. But when all positive news is in the form of marketing influence, it is time to find some scientists.

Another principle for building a culture of operational marketing excellence is to celebrate success and embrace learning. A guaranteed way to discourage marketers from reporting the truth is to punish them for reporting negative results. Don’t confuse negative results with mistakes. In some cases, poor performance is due to a mistake, and there should be accountability in your organization. But poor performance may come from an assumption that was proven wrong. That’s how you learn.

So how do you avoid the “everyone gets a trophy” mentality? You reward and celebrate success, and you celebrate insights from experiments that can turn into future performance improvement. If a marketer presents results that didn’t perform as expected and then shrugs when you ask why the campaign didn’t perform well, they don’t deserve any praise. But if a marketer can articulate the assumption they made, the data that proves the assumption was wrong, the impact of that assumption, and how they will improve future campaigns, they deserve your praise.

Another part of building a culture for operational marketing excellence is embracing diversity. Diverse organizations perform better because they see the same problems through different lenses. The best marketing organizations are excellent at identifying market changes, campaign performance, competition, etc. By identifying and responding to change rapidly, marketing teams can outpace their peers and deliver much higher performance.

One of the best ways to identify change is to look at problems from different perspectives. If your entire team is cut from the same cloth, you can quickly convince yourself that your perspective is the only one that matters.

Another factor of great operational marketing? Get new perspectives within your organization. One way to ensure that you have fresh perspectives is to embrace the idea that developing emerging talent is a critical, ongoing process. One of the best ways to reward up-and-coming talent is to give them a special project to work on. It costs nothing, and you often end up with excellent results.

Furthermore, there are many reasons for opportunities to emerge in your organization, including turnover (voluntary and involuntary), growth, or positions that become available when other high performers in your organization take on a new assignment. The best operational marketing leaders will always have someone ready to fill those unexpected vacancies – temporarily or permanently – with emerging talent from your team.

Wrapping Up: Operational Marketing Excellence

We hope this article helps you move forward to strive for operational marketing excellence.

Use our operational marketing index to get your digital marketing score :

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Creating an Operational Plan for Marketing Teams: Essential Steps & Tips

  • November 29, 2023
  • by Peter Fechter

A proper plan is the basis for the success of any marketing project. But such plans can be various – short-term, long-term, general, specific, etc. But have you ever heard about the operational plan?  Do you know what this kind of plan looks like? Or how to craft one? If not, let’s delve into the essential definitions, steps, tips, and examples that will help you understand it.

What is an operational plan?

In marketing, the operational plan is the process of meticulously defining, organizing, and coordinating various activities and resources to achieve specific marketing objectives. So, this plan is like a map that details the day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and timelines necessary to succeed and implement broader strategic goals.

Operational Plan for Marketing Teams

5 benefits of preparing an operational plan

However, an operational plan can do much more in the marketing area. For example, it can help:

  • improve team efficiency, 
  • provide financial stability,
  • contribute to long-term strategic goals,
  • improve quality,
  • and also provide a framework for adapting to unforeseen challenges.

Check out these benefits in more detail below.

Improved efficiency and workflows

The operational plan may streamline work as it offers a structured approach to daily activities. It provides a clear scheme, thanks to which marketing teams can operate better. It also makes every task contribute to overall endeavors, enhances workflows across departments, and promotes cohesion and synergy in business processes. ⭐ If you utilize Marketing Resource Management software , you will create an even more collaborative environment among team members.

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Financial Stability

This plan includes an operating budget, which defines the amount of money allocated to marketing tasks and projects. Therefore, it ensures fiscal responsibility and prevents overspending, so it works for the whole organization’s finances. What’s more, it acts as a critical component in controlling marketing costs and achieving key performance indicators (KPIs).

Strategic Alignment

Next, it helps align initiatives and resources with the broader goals outlined in your marketing or business strategy. It creates actionable steps and milestones, thanks to which employees can better understand their role in the company. As a result, everybody can work towards a common goal, as they know its purpose.

team collaboration

Better Quality

Components of an operational plan can incorporate quality assurance and control procedures. They act as a safeguard because they systematically identify and rectify potential issues in operations. With proper elements in this plan, firms can meet high standards with no extra effort and ensure the quality of their marketing services meets requirements. The big advantage here is that commitment to quality at this level builds customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Adaptation to Changes

Last but not least – this plan equips organizations to respond effectively to changes. Maybe a brand wants to adapt to new marketing trends, promote a new product launch, or adjust to shifts in different processes? In all cases, an operational plan will come in handy, as it can help navigate through uncertainties. So with this approach, you can actually maintain competitiveness in the industry.

Operational plan vs. strategic plan vs. tactic plan

You heard about operational, strategic, and tactical plans and think they are similar to each other? Well, not exactly. They are integral components of an organization, but each serves distinct roles.

Let’s start with the widest term:

Strategic plan

It operates at a high level and defines long-term goals for the entire company over the next years – usually three to five years. It involves creating a strategic proposal that outlines the marketing mission and objectives. Also, it encompasses factors such as fiscal year projections. 

This plan defines the entire marketing direction and is a foundation for more detailed operational plans.

An overview of strategic planning:

  • Scope: high-level, long-term vision and goals.
  • Time: long-term, typically covers the next three to five years.
  • Tasks: defines overarching strategic objectives.

Next, we have:

Operational plan

It works in a relatively short timeline and often focuses on daily tasks and marketing goals. It provides a clear understanding of daily activities and the workflow across the organization. Also, this plan outlines how marketing team members execute tasks and manage resources. 

It allows companies to implement the strategic plan step by step.

Operational Plan:

  • Scope: daily activities, tasks, and goals.
  • Time: short-term, often focuses on the current year.
  • Tasks: detailed steps for specific marketing teams.

And last, there’s:

Tactic plan

This action plan involves specific steps designed to implement strategic and operational planning and evaluate outcomes. It divides general marketing goals into more specific moves to address the problem and decide what to do to achieve the main purpose.

It helps teams make operational objectives more effective by providing specific goals, and accounts for the broader company vision.

Tactic Plan:

  • Scope: specific actions to implement the strategic plan.
  • Time: intermediate, shorter than the strategic plan but longer than operational plans.
  • Tasks: breaks down objectives into actionable steps and guides teams in achieving high-level goals.

6 steps to create an operational plan

In operations management, every step counts. You can’t skip a step to make a plan faster. So, if you don’t know how to get started, use our operational plan template.

marketing planning

Step 1: Define purposes

Think, what is the goal of an operational plan? What do you aim to achieve? At this stage, you need to be more concrete than when setting strategic priorities. Consult with your marketing team, do some brainstorming, select one or more of the best ideas, and prioritize them.

Step 2: Identify components

Identify key elements that can’t be ignored because they are the ones that will ensure the venture meets certain conditions. Here, you may include:

  • daily tasks,
  • quality assurance measures,
  • and specific roles your team can take.

Step 3: Assess resources and constraints

Next, evaluate available assets – for example, human resources, finances, and technology. Also, consider any constraints that may impact your operational plans, like trends, time limitations, or external factors.

Step 4: Develop a work plan

Then, create a detailed work plan. It should identify all necessary jobs, responsibilities, and include timelines. Divide larger goals into manageable steps. Also, make sure everyone understands their task.

Step 5: Set operational budget

Allocate the marketing budget for each aspect of your plan. Define how much money is needed for different projects. Be careful and verify the calculations. As a result, you will not encounter negative surprises and be in control.

marketing budgets

Step 6: Monitor and evaluate

And a step you shouldn’t forget – regularly monitor the progress of your marketing plan and adjust it as necessary. Also, conduct a comprehensive evaluation at the end of various stages and the entire process. Evaluate what worked well and what didn’t, learn from mistakes, and gather insights for future planning.

Tips for a better operational planning process

The above steps will help you streamline your marketing operations, but the tips we have prepared for you below can be just as useful. Here they are:

  • Above all, encourage open communication and cooperation among team members. Promote the exchange of ideas and diverse perspectives. Clearly communicate roles, responsibilities, and expectations. As a result, you wil see a collaborative environment in which nothing is impossible.
  • Leverage technology – from Marketing Resource Management software to social media, project management, and data analytics tools. The right tech can streamline tasks and boost your efficiency.
  • Be regular in your duties – whether it’s about identifying available assets, constraints, etc. This way, your plan will remain realistic and achievable, and you will prevent resource-related bottlenecks.
  • Prioritize tasks strategically based on their impact. Create a logical sequence of activities and make sure the most crucial tasks are addressed first.
  • Clearly define roles and responsibilities, so team members can take ownership of their tasks. Thus, you will enhance accountability and commitment.
  • Treat every operational plan as an opportunity for learning and improvement. Evaluate the outcomes, gather feedback from members, and use these insights to perform better in the future.
  • Be flexible to be able to better adapt to unforeseen changes and create a resilient plan that will weather uncertainties.
  • Boost morale and acknowledge milestones achieved throughout the execution of your operational plan. This will instill a sense of accomplishment and motivate teams to give their best.

Examples of effective operational planning in different industries

An operational plan can help in more areas than just marketing. Check out examples in industries like retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology.

In retail, effective operational planning is a must for managing inventory efficiently . Retailers utilize demand forecasting and inventory optimization tools to predict customer demand and guarantee products are adequately stocked. 

Such a plan outlines the optimal stocking levels, reorder points, and supply chain strategies to prevent overstocking or stockouts. Therefore, products are available when customers need them.

Here, the focus is on optimizing patient care processes and delivering high-quality services . Healthcare providers can create detailed plans for patient flow and staff scheduling.  Also, emergency departments can develop these plans to handle patient surges effectively and specify triage procedures, staff requirements, or communication protocols. As a result, they can reduce wait times.

In this sector, this type of planning is for better production efficiency and meeting demand . Manufacturers can create detailed plans to schedule production, use of materials, and quality control.   For instance, a car manufacturing plant may create an operational plan that describes the production sequence, machine utilization, and quality checks at various stages. Thus, they can achieve a smooth production process, minimize downtime, facilitate timely delivery, reduce costs, increase productivity, etc., etc.

Another example is the IT industry, where operational planning is applied to project management processes . It defines tasks, timelines, and resource allocation for short development cycles.  For instance, a software development team may have a two-week sprint with specific goals and tasks. With a good plan, they can adapt to changing project requirements, respond to feedback rapidly, and deliver high-quality software within short timeframes. 

Improve your marketing operation plan with MARMIND

MARMIND   is a Marketing Resource Management platform that helps global teams streamline their marketing operations. It can help you with:

  • Marketing planning
  • Budget & spend management
  • Performance & control
  • Content & digital asset management
  • Cross-team collaboration
  • Workflows & automation

Instead of using several stand-alone tools, you work with an all-in-one platform. MARMIND’s centralized platform lets you manage global marketing resources efficiently and streamline complex processes. You can create top-down marketing plans, eliminate problematic spreadsheets, simplify the briefing process, ensure standardization, speed up presentations to stakeholders, and utilize customizable dashboards for performance measurement and analysis. Also, you can seamlessly manage budgets , break them down into allocations, and get automated forecasts for efficient tracking.  Like you see, one platform – many possibilities. Just book a demo and check out how MARMIND works.

Create an operational plan and leave the competition behind

Effective operational planning is a versatile approach that can help in marketing and many other areas. Whether streamlining inventory in retail, optimizing patient care in healthcare, enhancing production efficiency in manufacturing, or implementing agile project management in technology, a well-crafted operational plan is one of the key drivers of success. If you need an operational plan for your marketing requirements but have never prepared one, MARMIND will prove helpful here. Stop trying to do everything on your own and let a Marketing Resource Management platform do all the hard work for you. Plan, manage, and track your marketing activities across campaigns and channels.  See MARMIND in action and take your marketing to the next level.

What Is Marketing Operations?

what is an operational marketing plan

Marketing operations, sometimes called MOps or MarkOps, determine how a business drives marketing processes, management and optimization. Marketing operations are critical because they link market strategy to how an organization creates marketing materials and drives outcomes. Think of it this way: It’s great to have a marketing plan, but without the operations to put it all together, you’ve got an idea, not a campaign. 

Marketing operations help teams take advantage of opportunities that become much more complicated as the team scales. Effective marketing ops also help teams develop answers to questions like “How are you going to make the right marketing materials that align with the plan?” or “How do we ensure we’re improving?” — all in service of keeping the team aligned.

Marketing operations are typically the responsibility of the marketing department and usually led by a marketing director or chief marketing officer (CMO) , depending on the company’s size.

Types of Marketing Operations

Data management, campaign management, content development, lead generation, reporting and analytics.

Related Reading From Built In Marketing Experts How Marketers Can Avoid Bad Data

Why Is Marketing Operations Important?

Marketing operations link strategy to action. When a team creates a marketing strategy , there’s often a diagnosis of the product’s challenges, some opportunities on which leadership wants to capitalize and of course long-standing values the marketing organization strives to maintain.

Marketing operations allow the team to manage all of these moving parts. Strong marketing operations allow the team to take the strategy and break it down into the bite-sized actions the team will take in order to ensure they’re still aligned with the strategy. When good marketing operations are in play, the next steps are clear to those working in marketing, no matter what the next steps may be. 

For example, let's say there’s a campaign leveraging some of the marketing team’s past work. Usually, we would rely on someone from the past with knowledge of the campaign but institutional knowledge doesn’t scale. More than likely, that person has misplaced assets, forgotten key learnings or even left the company.

That is where marketing ops comes into play as the record holder for the marketing team. Marketing ops makes sure that we catalog our assets and follow a naming standard that helps the team track what assets were used and when. In turn, operationalizing in this way gives the campaign the correct information without wasting time. 

More From Adam Thomas Experience Design Is Everything

Where is data held? Like the example above, having naming standards help keep track of the data for many uses, from onboarding new employees to reusing assets to save time. More than that, though, marketing ops professionals need to be able to leverage data analytics , infrastructure and ops best practices in order to support and execute an effective marketing strategy . 

How are campaigns driving success? Without someone measuring campaigns’ success and failure, it's difficult to understand how the overall strategy is working (or not). 

What is “good” content? How do we ensure our content is on brand? Marketing ops keeps content in line with how the team sees itself. Robust data and marketing analysis in order to understand traffic to that content is also crucially important.

Are the leads we’re generating driving the strategy or are they garbage? Marketing ops keeps an eye on these numbers and makes suggestions on how to improve them.

How are the marketing analytics connecting to our marketing and business strategies? Marketing operations keeps an eye on this relationship and reports on major changes in the data to help the team understand — and act upon — trends.

How To Develop a Marketing Operations Strategy

To start connecting strategy to tasks, ask yourself these questions:

  • What Are Our Marketing Objectives?  What are we ultimately trying to achieve? What problem are we trying to solve with this strategy? These questions will drive the strongest objectives that help a team maintain alignment.
  • Who Needs to Stay Briefed to Keep Our Objectives Up-to-Date?  Communication is an important part of marketing operations. Sometimes, marketers and leaders can find themselves engaged in a campaign and lose themselves in the work. Ops are there to make sure the right people are briefed in the right way at the right time.
  • What Are Our Next Steps?  Understanding next steps and who needs to be involved helps maintain momentum. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what comes next when you’re head-down but marketing ops help keep the whole team on track.
  • How Will We Know We’re Succeeding (or Failing)?  Success and failure can look the same sometimes. Someone needs to watch the pot as the water boils. Marketing ops does this by asking questions and focusing on leading indicators to assist objective management. 

Some good resources to get you started include: 

  • Marketing Operations | Marketing Insights | Gartner.com : This group of articles from Gartner are helpful in understanding how to make Marketing Operations better.
  • Everything You Need to Know About Marketing Operations in One Place : Hubspot has a fantastic guide for those who are ready to get started.

Marketing Operations Best Practices

Marketing operations focus on making marketing decisions and systems better over time. By developing processes, teams can judge the quality of their decisions against how close the marketing team is to reaching their objectives each month, quarter and year. 

If marketing operations aren’t driving these opportunities and improving the processes of teams around them, they are (more than likely) not thinking about iteration. Without iteration and strategy gut checks, you’ll end up with a team that just slows down everyone’s work, thereby turning the operations team into the dreaded meeting people — and you know how much everyone hates meetings.

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Operational Planning

Operational planning definition.

What does operational planning mean? Operational planning creates a detailed roadmap based on a strategic plan. The operational plan aligns timelines, action items and key milestones that finance or the business needs to complete to execute on the strategic plan. In this way, an operational plan outlines the organization’s key objectives and goals and clarifies how the organization will achieve them.

During the operational planning process, finance or the business responsibilities are described in detail based on the timeline for the operational plan. The timeframe should depend on typical organizational velocity; creating an annual operational plan is a fluid, changing process, so keeping clarity and collaboration is vital for success.

A well-conceived business operational plan keeps team members collaborating smoothly, ensures everyone knows what needs to be done and what their part in it is, and guides critical decisions about long-term strategy.

Key steps of operational planning

  • Define the goal or vision for the operational plan clearly
  • Analyze and identify key business stakeholders, resources and budgets team members, budgets, and resources
  • Consistently track and inform team members and stakeholders on progress
  • Adapt the operational plan to wider company goals as needed

What Is Operational Planning?

Operational planning faqs.

What is operational planning for finance or the business? Operational planning is the result of a team or department working to execute a strategic plan. It is a future-oriented process that maps out department goals, capabilities, and budgets to promote the success of team-based activities designed to support the strategic plan.

Operational business plans are most effective when there is buy-in from the entire team or department, ensuring issues are reported, goals identified and timelines get delivered,, and business collaboration is more effective. When communication across finance and the business exists, operational plans work even more efficiently to ensure that the entire organization reaches its goals.

An example of operational planning would be a manufacturer creating a plan to increase revenue by 30%. Finance partners with sales, the marketing team, operations and other key business areas to align on the strategies needed to support revenue growth and achieve business goals together. Another operational planning example might be a brand looking to introduce a new product. It would need to leverage and expand existing capabilities, harness new tools, and create a roadmap for doing so.

Other operational planning examples in management include mapping business or production output to meet other new goals, planning for new or expanded solutions, sales and operational planning, providing a roadmap or increased clarity surrounding business goals, or creating a strategy for increased business partnership.

Strategic Planning vs Operational Planning

There is a difference between strategic planning, tactical planning, and operational planning. However, strategic, tactical, and operational planning need to be considered together and build upon one another.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan describes the high-level goals, long-term vision, and organizational mission, usually over the next three to five years. It also details the major projects or initiatives that will happen to meet them, and how the organization will measure the goals, broadly. This is a big picture view of goals, but it can’t really show a team how to achieve those goals step-by-step.

What is an operational plan ?

An operational plan (also known as an operations plan, work plan, or operation plan) is a detailed outline of what a team or department will focus on in the immediate future—typically within the upcoming year. The operational plan answers questions about things like weekly goals and tasks, such as what they are generally, what they will achieve, who will do them, and how often.

What is a tactical plan?

Tactical planning is a step organizations or teams sometimes take after they create strategic and operational plans. The idea is to break the plans into smaller goals and objectives, to define them and determine which steps and actions will be most effective in achieving them. In other words, the operational plan may just have set a goal or task for person A about goal 1, but a tactical plan might set forth the detailed steps person A will need to execute every week.

Tactical planning and operational planning differ in the kinds of questions they ask. Operational plans ask how the team should do something so they can both adhere more broadly to the organizational mission and specific strategic goals. Tactical plans ask specific questions about how to accomplish strategic and operational goals. They are the most microscopic version of planning.

In summary, a strategic plan is a business-level, long-term strategy plan over the next three to five years. It is a visionary plan, the big picture. Its focus is not on implementation. An operational plan is smaller in timeline and both scope, and the goal of operational planning is both to describe a more granular view of how to achieve strategic goals and to focus on implementation in the form of weekly actions, specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), etc. A tactical plan is the narrowest view that is focused on implementation only, and things like daily tasks for one person or a small team and smaller goals.

Strategic and operational planning work together; operational planning is an important part of a whole strategy. Tactical planning helps teams achieve their strategic and operational planning goals.

The goal of an operational plan is to give particular tasks to specific departments, not the company as a whole, whereas it is strategic vs operational planning that sets forth long-term goals for the next three to five years.

What is the Operational Planning Process?

Going through the operational planning cycle, keep these best practices and operational planning techniques in mind.

Research and Identify Goals

The goal of an operational plan and its creation process should be to address some foundational questions:

  • Start with the strategic plan: how will it shape the actions we take?
  • What is the budget? How will it compare to previous years?
  • What is the current status, considering budget, resources, and team members? What is the goal status in one, two, three years, etc.?
  • How can the team practically achieve the goal? What operational planning methodology informs the approach? What are the operational planning tools we will use?
  • What benchmarks should be used to assess our progress? They might include 5-star reviews, customer service cases closed, launch deadlines met, number of goods manufactured, new customers acquired, revenue increases, etc.

Ask team members the questions, and prioritize responses based on how difficult they are to execute, and how critical.

Visualize the Operational Plan

Make sure the vision for the plan is clearly articulated. Clearly defined goals, charts and visualizations, and project management software can help offer a high-level view of tasks and progress for all stakeholders. Identify which operational business planning techniques and tools will work best for achieving the organization’s goals.

Assign People and Budget

The budgeting process in operational planning consists of assigning tasks and allocating resources and budget for team members to complete them. Each piece of the budget should map out to a financial goal in the operational plan with corresponding timetables and deliverables.

Tracking and Informing Progress

Build out a reporting process that corresponds to the clear objectives with goals, targets, deliverables, resource allocation, and timetables in the operational plan. This way the stakeholders can report progress as the plan moves forward.

Adjust the Operational Plan as Needed

A well-conceived operational plan should allow you to understand precisely which activities and aspects of the plan failed to perform. This in turn allows the team to pivot, involve new team members as needed, and continue to the next benchmark with a refined operational plan.

Consider the Right Indicators

Use key performance metrics or indicators that are predictive, not just lagging indicators. You need some lagging indicators such as past sales or attendance figures, but leading indicators such as market trends should also contribute to both reporting progress and adjusting the operational plan.

What Should Operational Planning Include?

Approaches to operational planning vary, but each team has as its main objective producing a functional operational plan that reflects a practical approach to the organization’s mission and strategic plan.

What should an operational plan include? This strategic document should plan all of the daily processes and operations that a business and its teams or departments including marketing, recruitment, and finance need to do to achieve company goals.

A well-defined operational plan should ensure that each manager and employee understands what their specific responsibilities are, and how and when to execute them.

The operation plan itself should have several components:

  • A title page. This summarizes the operational plan.
  • An executive summary. This provides a few sentences with a rough idea of the overall plan and its basic sections.
  • Mission and objectives. This section defines the organization’s broader mission and objectives. It also describes goals and milestones for the coming year that relate to the operational plan.
  • KPIs. Evaluate metrics and KPIs that will measure results.
  • Financial summary. This offers an overview and a financial breakdown of all projects included in the operational plan to demonstrate there is sufficient capital to execute the plan.
  • Hiring plan. Determine how many monthly/quarterly team members to hire across different departments.
  • Key assumptions and risks. Provide this risk analysis so mitigation can be performed.
  • Next steps. Suggest next steps, if any.

What are the Steps in Operational Planning?

The purpose of the operational planning process is not to generate new goals or plans, but to create an operational plan in support of existing strategic goals:

Start with a strategic plan

Create the strategic plan first. Before considering immediate tasks and day-to-day details, it’s important to see the long-term vision and goals. As the leadership team creates the strategic plan, they determine the position of the organization and develop its strategy. They should also monitor the strategic plan, and adjust it as needed.

Sharpen the scope

Narrow the scope of the operational plan to a department, team, or focus area to ensure it is detail-oriented and targeted. The size of the organization determines the scope of your operational plan. In other words, you start big with the strategic plan, and then narrow down to the operational plan and the focus area of the team who will execute it—and then create various supporting action plans for execution.

Identify key stakeholders

Identify stakeholders in the operational planning process before creating an operational plan. The team members who create the operational plan should lead and inform others around the operational plan, so you’ll need to know who they are before execution.

Create the operational plan

Your operational plan sets forth the timeframe, the goals to achieve, and explains the actions the team will take to achieve those goals on time. It must include objectives, deliverables, quality standards (if any), desired outcomes, operating budget, staffing and resource requirements, and progress and monitoring information.

For example:

An organization’s strategic plan sets forth the goal of the marketing team increasing brand awareness by at least 10% in the next year. This will mean increased engagement with potential customers and more eyes on new marketing materials.

This will require support from the design team, who will have new goals: update the website and create new promotional materials. To achieve those goals, they will collaborate with the development team on the update and hire social media engagement team members. The team will use software and management tools to report and track their progress.

Share the operational plan

Share the operational plan with key stakeholders so they understand mission critical goals and the daily tasks that support them. Track progress in real-time for best results. This also allows you to update the operational plan and report on progress as needed to team members and stakeholders. Like project planning, operational planning is never a one-and-done task, but remains a continuous process.

Why is Operational Planning Important?

At the organizational level, project success demands a strong operational plan. Chaos and confusion often reign without an operational plan, as budgets rise and team members lose sight of tasks and deadlines.

The importance of operational planning is in the creation of a single source of truth that enables comprehensive understanding of mission, strategic goals, and how to achieve them. An operational plan helps teams identify areas that cause lack of clarity, missed revenue generation opportunities, inefficient strategies, or areas of reduced business partnership.

What are the Benefits of Operational Planning?

The advantages of operational planning can impact organizations of any size. An operational plan helps teams reach strategic goals by connecting teams and their individual tasks to company goals. A detail-oriented operational plan has many benefits.

It clarifies organizational goals. Operational planning helps leadership define responsibilities, daily tasks, and activities in detail. It also sets out how individual team members support overall department and organizational goals and defines outcomes for them to measure daily tasks against.

It also boosts team productivity. Operational planning enhances efficiency, productivity, and profits by ensuring employees in each department and across the company know their daily responsibilities and objectives.

Operational planning disadvantages include creating an operational plan based on human error, or whose success is overly dependent upon effective coordination of diverse cross-functional teams. Singular focus only on coordination and not connecting the business is a primary disadvantage of implementing an operations planning process.

Who is Responsible for Operational Planning?

Create an operational plan at the department or team level to best precisely capture the roles and tasks. At a larger organization, an operational plan might even be specific to a particular initiative—much like a detailed tactical or work plan.

There several considerations that determine who creates operational plans:

  • Scope. For every activity, the operational plan includes the who, what, and when and must be laser-focused on the initiative itself and the team. Watch to ensure scope is not too broad.
  • Timeline. An operational plan should cover a quarter, six months, or a fiscal year, depending on organizational speed and velocity.
  • Stakeholders. To accurately predict what work to include in the plan, ensure operational planning stakeholders stay close to the work. Finance must unit the business from tactical details to strategic execution.

Typically, the operational plan is the realm of middle-management, in contrast to the top-down execution style from the C-suite the strategic plan receives. Its scope is also narrower and as routine tasks are mapped out, which continuously evolves Changes to the strategic plan will be less frequent.

Given the focus on day-to-day activities, allocation of resources, and tasks, middle-managers are often best-suited to map out and implement the operational plan.

Does Planful Help With Operational Planning?

Yes. Planful’s financial performance platform unites the demand for structured planning originating in finance with the business need for dynamic planning. Planful empowers organizations to make smarter decisions more confidently, rapidly, and strategically and ensures the data collection process for operational planning isn’t a time-consuming, manual process.

Use Planful to build collaborative financial plans that align resources with strategic objectives. Adjust and pivot as business conditions change, model hundreds of different scenarios reliably, and turn annual plans into quarterly or monthly rolling forecasts, all based on what the organization needs now.

Find out more about Planful’s Operational Planning solution here.

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Strategic and operational marketing: Definitions and essential tools

Camila

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Before putting a product or a service on sale, it is necessary to define a prospecting strategy coherent strategy according to several criteria. 🤔 Based on the marketing of a product, there are two types of marketing that complement each other: the strategic and operational marketing.

In this article, we will understand these definitions, their examples and relevant tools to use, 👇step by step!

What is the purpose of marketing? Definitions here!

Marketing can classically be defined as a set of actions designed to study and influence the needs and behaviors of consumers, and to continuously adapt production and trade to previously identified needs and behaviors. ( Adapted definition from the official journal definition). 📰

According to this definition, marketing includes: 🍇

  • Marketing is dedicated to market research
  • Qualitative and quantitative studies.
  • Analyzing consumer behavior , etc.

The relevant tools to influence desires come from need, mainly in the form of marketing and communication strategies: 🍊

  • Advertising campaigns.
  • Direct marketing.
  • Sales promotion.
  • Public relations.
  • Actions and loyalty plans ( CRM )…

The actions and mechanisms for adapting to needs and behaviors are mainly in the marketing plan or marketing mix : 🍉

  • Product policy.
  • Price policy.
  • Media policy.
  • Distribution policy.

Definition of strategic or tactical marketing

It is a systematic analysis of the market in relation to the company’s sector and marketing activities . It helps to identify the needs of the market and respond to them in an optimal way. 💯

When a company operates in any industry, it will need to identify and target the needs and gaps in the market to create a competitive product that stands out from the rest. 🔝 Marketing tactics are there to determine the future products that will be in the market based on the analysis of the market needs.

The purpose of this strategy is to inform the company and its executives for future decision-making. Regarding the design of the product, the choice of price, target audience and the choice of communication strategy will be applied to promote the product. 🗣️

Over the years, companies have become accustomed to relying on data from their prospecting software data to help them make strategic and operational marketing decisions. ⚒️

Definition of operational marketing

While strategic marketing is essentially a systematic definition, operational marketing is the combination of coherent actions that will be taken to market a product. 🎁

Operational marketing is also called “marketing mix”, and is based on four axes or 4 “P’s”: 🍍

  • Distribution policy (“Place”),
  • Communication policy (“Promotion”),
  • Product policy (“Product”),
  • Pricing policy (“Price”).

what is an operational marketing plan

These four axes are the poles of action in B2B marketing . The strategic part in marketing decisions and positions that will be taken will be consistent and continuous, in order to place the product in the most competitive position possible in the market. 🛒

What is the relationship between strategic marketing and operational marketing?

Although marketing in general is based on the strategic design of sales, it is important to distinguish two different areas: strategic marketing and operational marketing. 🦾

After defining the strategic part and operational marketing, it is time to move on to the main differences between the two types of marketing. The comparison will be made according to general and distinctive criteria. 🥸

To recap, strategic marketing and operational marketing are strongly linked. Strategic marketing “thinks”, and operational marketing “executes”. Strategic marketing is the “steering wheel” that provides direction, operational marketing is the means that turns that decision into action. 💥

Strategic marketing 🎯

  • Allows to create the global marketing strategy of the company.
  • It acts on the long term.
  • It is based on tasks related to studies and in-depth analyses of the company’s internal and external environment (customers and competitors, strengths and weaknesses , opportunities and threats, etc.).
  • He puts the user at the center of his actions.

Operational marketing : ⚡

  • Seeks the means for the implementation of the sales strategy to obtain concrete results.
  • It focuses on performance indicators and seeks to reduce the costs associated with the execution of the strategic plan.
  • It works on the short and medium term.
  • It is based on tasks related to communication strategies, product policies, pricing, and distribution.
  • It is consistent with marketing tactics.

What is the purpose of marketing operations projects? Tools here!

In general, strategic marketing offers a different perspective than operational marketing. It primarily aims to: 🍑

  • Define the company’s market.
  • Do a good job of segmenting the population.
  • Evaluate segments in terms of size, growth, and demand.
  • Develop relevant competitive advantages based on current positioning and market forecasts and trends.

It is important in strategic marketing to conduct a thorough internal analysis to evaluate the structural elements and material resources of the company. For example, do internal analysis with SWOT analysis tool or external analysis with PESTEL analysis tool. 🧐

swot analysis

These two factors are very important to consider when developing an inbound marketing strategy ! 🧨

When can a marketing plan become operational? Examples here!

The functions of operational marketing are very different from strategic marketing , but they are still complementary. 🤝 Because the development of an operational action plan must be done in close relation with a strategic marketing plan .

In general, operational marketing emphasizes the “action” dimension of the market-driven concept. It is based on the 4 main elements of the marketing mix ( McCarthy’s 4 Ps ) : 🍈

  • Place (Distribution).
  • Promotion (communication strategies aimed at enhancing the notoriety of a brand, a product, or a company).

Here are 2 examples of Marketing Mix for popular brands: 👑

what is an operational marketing plan

The main function of the “Marketing Mix” is therefore to create added value short term by implementing structured and direct actions : develop a new product line, determine sales prices, select distribution channels , develop media actions, segment the target market , etc. 🧲

Conclusion: New steps for marketing excellence and operational strategy

The traditional 4P model has evolved with advances in marketing research , aiming to be as comprehensive as possible and taking into account all influencing factors. We then see a new “7 P” model has been developed with 3 new steps: 🔥

  • “People” are the way your employees or marketing teams deal with customers: they are the sales force , the reception, the behavior, and the influence on your objectives, to be more attractive for your brand than your competitors.
  • “Process” is important to ensure a reliable and quality service in the eyes of your target. Processes must be prepared in advance and take into account all interactions with customers.
  • “Physical evidence”, which influences customer satisfaction at a high level. This is the tangible evidence you will bring to your customers (tests, results, recommendations…) to reassure them and keep your promises.

what is an operational marketing plan

New 10 “P” models are also emerging, such as “Partnership”, which covers partnerships in analysis and potential areas of action, but the underlying logic remains the same. 💁 Trust yourself to identify the relevant factors to consider in your analysis, the best “P” list is yours! 🤩 The marketing mix method remains the same, no matter how many “P” steps you choose.

To build a solid marketing strategy , it’s important to ask the right questions and use the right methods to optimize your operations and achieve your set goals. Also consider incorporating a little growth hacking to give your marketing strategy more power! 🚀

Article FAQ

What is the difference between strategic marketing and marketing strategy.

Strategic marketing or marketing strategy allow you to have a global vision of the approach to follow to achieve results defined by the company, in fact, these two concepts mean the same thing! 👯

Another function of strategic marketing is competitive intelligence. Thus, strategic marketing focuses on the internal structure of the company. 🔗 The analysis performed will be used to evaluate the physical resources and structural elements of the company.

what is an operational marketing plan

Subsequently, the strategy of funnel marketing first seeks to understand the market in which the company operates and then performs the proper market segmentation . 🏅 This allows for a realistic and comprehensive assessment of each segment. Here, the focus will be on the growth, size as well as the needs of each segment. 🤲

What are the objectives and decisions in a strategic marketing plan?

To approach the strategic marketing effort and facilitate its implementation in business, there are 3 steps to follow 👇

  • An analysis of the external and internal environments leads to a diagnosis.
  • The stage of defining the marketing strategy and marketing objectives . This then leads to targeting , including basic and extension objectives, and positioning of the brand or product line.
  • The final step is to determine which marketing channel to undertake at a certain point in order to grow the business. These active means or levers to activate are essentially represented by the marketing mix .

We are coming to the end of this article, I hope you have understood the main concepts of strategic and operational marketing . See you soon for the next episode! 📺

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Operational Marketing Plan

Operational Marketing Plan

Table of Contents

One of the marketing methods is operational marketing , in which the percentage of success is very impressive due to the good partnership of others. Therefore, in this article , we’re going to walk through the operational marketing plan .

What are the 4 components of operational marketing?

The importance of operational marketing due to its effectiveness, which makes the implementation of marketing activities much smoother, is not hidden from anyone. Several key elements are required to run a successful operational marketing plan and its excellence. Do you know the answer to this question: what are the 4 components of operational marketing?

But before anything, we need to examine the concept of operational marketing at a high level.

So let’s get started.

The meaning of operational marketing

In the market world and based on the marketing of products or services in sales , two types of marketing have been defined that complement each other: Strategic marketing and operational marketing.

The meaning of operational marketing

The concept of operational marketing seeks to determine the ways and strategies to increase the company ’s productivity and profitability through marketing activities.

In fact, operational marketing matches all the marketing actions implemented in order to achieve the best results during the marketing strategy.

It is important to know that in this approach, environmental variables such as laws & regulations, ethical issues, social processes & environmental impacts, and other such matters are also examined.

However, with the help of the tools provided to organizations and companies in this way, senior managers are looking to measure the effectiveness of marketing activities.

This measurement is done with the aid of criteria such as market share, sales growth, customer churn rate, customer satisfaction, and quality of products or services.

To put it simply, operational marketing is a vital part that greatly affects the performance of companies and organizations.

A marketing leader in an organization or a company is like a leader or a police chief or a school principal who is responsible for guiding and training a group of individuals.

The 4 core components of operational marketing

There are 4 specific and key elements required to achieve true operational marketing excellence. Hence, when combined, marketing organizations can move much closer to their true potential.

However, it is natural that a missing component can destroy everything in the whole system.

All organizations and companies need to use the marketing mix to carry out their operations and focus their actions on the following 4 main areas:

The 4 core components of operational marketing

More precisely, you can achieve your marketing and sales objectives with the help of these 4 elements above.

1. Product: This element involves all features related to products or services, including design, and how to use and apply, options, packaging, service, maintenance conditions, warranty, and return of products.

2. Place: This includes all strategies related to pricing and discounts, as well as payment methods.

3. Promotion: This element is related to the distribution of products in your target market , which can include distribution strategies, distribution channels , geographic coverage of products, etc.

4. Price: It is the main element in the marketing mix, which contains all communication and advertising strategies that include direct marketing, digital marketing, content marketing, communication channels, social media, etc.

In addition to the 4 key elements that determine operational marketing or the market mix, organizations, and systems all need to be familiar with the following factors and apply them in planning for operational marketing:

  • The approach of objective-driven and strategy-based planning
  • The view of a comprehensive marketing campaign plan
  • The process of measuring, refining, and optimizing
  • The relationship between all activities and meaningful results

What is the difference between marketing and operational plan?

If you want to know the difference between marketing and operational plan, you must first define marketing and operational plan and then discuss their differences.

What is a marketing plan?

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that businesses use to organize, implement, and track their marketing strategies over a specific period of time.

A marketing plan can include separate marketing strategies for different marketing and sales teams across the company, But they all work towards the same main business objectives.

The purpose of a marketing plan is to write down your tactics and strategies in an organized way and help you stay on track, think about each campaign’s mission, buyer personas, budget, tactics, etc., and measure the success of your campaigns .

What is an operational marketing plan?

Surveys indicate that the operational marketing method is somehow one of the most important steps and categories of marketing .

In this type of marketing, you, as a marketer or business owner, implement your strategies and look for answers.

Always remember that success in operational marketing without a marketing plan is an unattainable goal.

All successful businesses must proceed with a written plan and specific aims. Otherwise, they may sometimes achieve accidental success, but in the end, they have no choice but to fail.

Since today’s market is very dynamic and growing. Accordingly, the importance of having a marketing plan has increased.

What is an operational marketing plan?

Having a good operational marketing plan will help you focus on making your business attractive to your potential customers and increase the chances of a sustainable and profitable future.

On top of that, an operational marketing plan is a bridge between strategic marketing and marketing execution, helping you focus on your goals for your marketing strategy.

Marketing plan vs operational marketing plan

Marketing plan vs operational marketing plan

1. One of the main differences between the operational marketing plan and marketing plan is that the operational marketing plan focuses on short-term and medium-term actions, unlike the marketing plan whose purpose is long-term.

2. A marketing plan defines the overall strategy in a market and links customers, competitors, and what the organization is capable of achieving.

Whereas an operational marketing plan defines the marketing mix strategy that will be used in order to reach more profit in the market.

3. A marketing plan is created at the departmental level, a company, or a small organization level, while an operational marketing plan is covered in separate plans in larger companies or organizations.

4. The operational marketing plan is proposed at the level of executive management and deals with specific, limited, and objective goals.

But this is while the marketing plan is implemented at the high and macro level of the organization and determines the goals, outline, and mission of the organization.

How do you write a marketing operational plan template?

Why do you as a marketer and sales representative need a marketing operational plan template that works well?

This is because an operational plan template allows you to:

1. Coordinate your daily tasks and activities with specific goals and short and long-term time frames of your organization

2. Make creating an operational marketing plan easy and fast for you

3. Don’t miss important details of an operational marketing plan

4. Increase your marketing return on investment ( ROI ) significantly and grow your business

5. Consistently improve your marketing activities and build workflows

6. Lead the implementation of your key marketing tactics and strategies in the right direction.

Well, the good news is that we’ve provided a ready-made operational marketing plan template here for you to make the most of, which you can apply as a great roadmap to start your own operational marketing plan.

So stay with us.

To write a great marketing operational plan, you should follow these 5 main steps:

How do you write a marketing operational plan template?

Step 1: Determine the key goals and milestones of your business from marketing operation:

It is important to know that without properly defining the goals of your marketing plan, you will not be able to measure the success and progress of your business effectively.

Given that a good operational marketing plan and strategy will always have a defined vision , framework, and goals for your business, try to identify them as soon as possible.

This vision of your business and a clear view of the future will definitely allow you to design the right path for your marketing campaigns.

In addition to what has been said, knowing the goals and vision of your business can help you in the following cases:

1. Meeting the audience ’s needs

2. Managing your website traffic

3. Providing new sales opportunities

4. Getting audience insights to create a marketing strategy

5. Developing and discovering your business marketing strategy compared to competitors

6. Designing to measure your growth and progress

Generally speaking, when you want to identify your business goals, you should define them under a standard format so that they have the following 5 main characteristics:

  • Timed-bound

It is interesting to know that this model, which consists of several logical components, is called a SMART model.

Step 2: Define your target audience persona:

Even if you are a professional in your business, in the stages of prospecting , sales funnel, and the process of converting audiences into sales opportunities and finally becoming a regular customer, you may face challenges.

But with the development of your business, the range of your audience and the processes of converting them into customers will increase, and one solution is not the answer to all sales channels.

This is where you need to define the persona of your audience.

In order to reach your goals in operational marketing and after identifying the objectives and vision of your marketing plan, you should define the persona of your target audience as soon as possible.

It is worth mentioning that buyer personas are hypothetical profiles of your ideal customers based on your demographic data , online behavior, and assumptions defined based on your experience or your competitors.

Anyway, demographic information such as gender, age, job title, education, location, family, interests, etc. is one of the basic elements of defining an audience persona.

In defining your audience persona, you must consider the following:

  • Prospects’ target goals
  • How to make decisions
  • Social interactions
  • Prospects’ purchasing behavior, etc.

Of course, depending on the type and goals of your business, you can go deeper in defining the persona of your audience.

It is very important to remember that not everyone in the community can be your audience. Every business, even if it is small, has a targeted audience for itself.

Based on this, you can change your audience’s buying behavior for the benefit of your business with detailed and targeted planning.

It is interesting to know that the first step in creating your customer personas is brainstorming .

After listing your complete contact personas, identify people who have similar needs or roles.

Finally, prioritize your list of contact personas by considering their influence on the final purchase decision, their relationship to your company, and the number of your audiences.

The good news is that you can get the most of their social media pages to capture the personas of your target audience. For example, you can take a look at their LinkedIn profile to find your contacts’ details easily.

Step 3: Determine your marketing resources and budget

Another factor you need to consider when preparing a marketing plan is the marketing budget and costs.

Marketing costs are very important. They include all of the expenses that a company or an organization incurs for selling, promoting, developing, and marketing its brand.

We all know brands that have done a lot of promotions at the beginning of their business and suddenly disappeared.

Most of these companies have faced problems in calculating the cost and how to cover this cost .

When developing a good operational marketing plan, you should be able to determine the number of marketing costs and how to finance them.

As a rule of thumb, keep in mind that you can allocate between 6% and 12% of your business’s gross revenue as your marketing expenses.

Of course, it is worthwhile to remember that you can recognize other personalized strategies for your business according to the amount of profit, business goals, the volume of campaigns, and other things.

Furthermore, to accurately budget for the start of an operational marketing program, you need to have all the events in a calendar so that you can budget for the required expenses in the business.

Step 4: Define key performance indicators (KPIs):

It is important to know that any good marketing plan will explain how it can accomplish its mission. And to measure and monitor its performance, you need to determine your KPIs.

KPIs are individual metrics that measure different marketing campaign elements and help you set short-term goals in your mission and inform managers of your progress.

This step of the operational marketing planning process is one of the most challenging and significant.

That’s why by measuring performance, you can improve service quality, reduce costs, and make accurate calculations for the marketing plan progress.

Besides, defining key performance measures helps organizations ensure that resources are spent on worthwhile activities.

Hot tip: You can accurately measure the success of your marketing operations using KPIs.

Here are some examples of marketing KPIs you can rely on to measure the effectiveness of your marketing operations:

  • Cost per lead
  • Revenue per employee
  • Marketing output
  • Marketing ROI
  • Website views
  • LinkedIn CTR
  • Conversion rate

Let us explain KPIs to you with an example:

If your mission in the operational marketing plan is how to attract potential customers, you may want to measure the number of views to LinkedIn company pages and measure the amount of your LinkedIn posts’ organic views.

In this case, organic traffic is a KPI and you can boost their number over time.

Step 5: Implement the marketing tools required to start your operational marketing:

Now is the time to start all the necessary software, channels, and tools to help the marketing process.

Depending on the interests and habits of your customers, some marketing tools may be more effective than others.

It is up to you to choose the most appropriate and efficient tool for your marketing goals. There may be several.

Here are some examples of marketing tools that companies and organizations use to perform and improve their marketing activities:

  • Google Adwords
  • Google Analytics
  • LinkedIn Analytics tool
  • Chrome Extension
  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator
  • Data visualization software
  • LinkedIn profile URL CUFinder

What is an operational strategy example?

That being said, if you are looking to effectively plan for business success and reach your goals, you can use great operational strategies to improve resource management and competitive advantage.

Operational strategy is a guiding principle that is used to plan, analyze, and apply the operational marketing of an organization or a company.

Many businesses across industries take advantage of a variety of operational strategies to identify and implement cost-effective processes for distributing and promoting their products and services.

Here are several common examples of operational strategies that help businesses grow

1. Corporate strategy

2. Client-based strategy

3. Competitive strategy

4. Market absorption strategy

5. Supply chain strategy

6. Development oriented strategy

7. Cost-based strategies

8. Competency-based strategy

Examples of a corporate strategy:

Corporate strategy is the most important and key strategy for any business. This is because it includes the goals, mission, resources, vision of the company, and other things.

In order to improve innovation, deliver value to buyers, motivate employees, and attract investors, this strategy leverages portfolio & development strategies, corporate policies, and long-term objectives.

You can imagine an example of an operational plan for a software company.

The company aims to provide marketing strategies to increase its presence on LinkedIn, the largest professional networking platform.

And on this basis, this company will increase the number of contacts and customers significantly.

Since most of the referrals come from well-known and professional social media, hence, the company tries its best to invest in this area.

The basis of the operational plan implemented by the mentioned company can include the following:

  • Objectives : Attracting contacts and being active on LinkedIn social media
  • Timing : Short-term period
  • Required resources: Advertising budget, holding social media learning courses, holding webinars, etc.
  • Duties: Planning for more interaction with contacts, increasing the company’s engagement with customers on LinkedIn groups, creating content on the LinkedIn publishing platform and sharing content through LinkedIn posts , etc.

Another example of an operational strategy is auto parts retailers trying to change their manufacturing strategies by outsourcing many of their products to an automated service center.

Related Questions & Answers

Operational marketing examples.

Operational marketing refers to the day-to-day activities and tactics employed by businesses to promote their products or services and drive sales. Here are two examples of operational marketing:

  • Email Marketing : A company sends out a targeted email campaign to its customer database, featuring personalized content and offers. The email includes a clear call-to-action, such as a discount code or a limited-time promotion, to encourage recipients to make a purchase. The company tracks the email open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to measure the effectiveness of the campaign and make necessary adjustments for future emails.
  • Social Media Advertising: A clothing brand runs a paid advertising campaign on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. They carefully select their target audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors to ensure the ads reach the right people. The ads feature eye-catching visuals, compelling copy, and a strong value proposition to attract attention and generate interest. The company monitors the ad performance, analyzes metrics such as impressions, click-through rates, and conversions, and optimizes the campaign based on the results.

These examples demonstrate how operational marketing involves executing specific marketing tactics and closely monitoring their performance to achieve desired outcomes, such as increasing brand visibility, generating leads, and driving sales.

Operational marketing vs strategic marketing

Operational marketing and strategic marketing are two different aspects of a company’s overall marketing efforts.

Operational marketing focuses on the day-to-day activities and tactics involved in executing marketing campaigns and activities. It involves implementing specific marketing initiatives, such as advertising, email marketing, social media campaigns, and sales promotions. Operational marketing is concerned with the immediate tasks and actions that aim to drive sales, generate leads, and increase brand visibility. It focuses on the short-term execution of marketing plans and is typically more tactical in nature.

On the other hand, strategic marketing is a broader, long-term approach that involves the development of overarching marketing strategies and plans. Strategic marketing is concerned with setting the company’s marketing goals, defining target markets, understanding customer needs and preferences, conducting market research , and analyzing competition. It involves making strategic decisions regarding product positioning, market segmentation, brand development, and market entry strategies. Strategic marketing provides the framework for operational marketing activities and guides the overall direction and focus of the company’s marketing efforts.

In summary, operational marketing is the execution of specific marketing tactics and activities to achieve immediate goals, while strategic marketing involves the development of long-term strategies and plans to position the company in the marketplace and drive its overall marketing direction.

Levels of marketing plan strategic and tactical

A marketing plan consists of strategic and tactical levels, each playing a distinct role in achieving marketing objectives. Here are the levels of a marketing plan:

Strategic Level: This level focuses on long-term goals and overarching strategies. It includes:

  • Market analysis and research
  • Target market identification
  • Competitive analysis
  • Positioning and differentiation
  • Marketing objectives setting
  • Marketing mix development
  • Branding and messaging strategies
  • Market entry strategies

Tactical Level: This level involves the implementation of specific actions and initiatives to support the strategic goals. It includes:

  • Advertising campaigns
  • Content creation and distribution
  • Social media marketing
  • Search engine optimization ( SEO )
  • Public relations activities
  • Sales promotions and discounts
  • Event marketing
  • Direct marketing initiatives

These levels work together in a marketing plan, with the strategic level providing the overall direction and framework, while the tactical level focuses on executing specific marketing tactics to achieve the desired outcomes.

Marketing plan steps

These steps outline the key components of a comprehensive marketing plan. Starting with a thorough analysis of the current situation, the plan progresses through defining objectives, conducting research, identifying target markets, and analyzing the competition. Then, the focus shifts to developing a value proposition, creating a marketing strategy, determining tactics, and allocating the marketing budget. The plan is implemented through an action plan, and the results are monitored, evaluated, and adjusted as needed. Finally, measuring the return on investment (ROI) helps gauge the effectiveness of the marketing efforts.

Operational marketing means a series of structured actions that are carried out to achieve the required goals or in other words to get the objectives of a marketing plan. You can measure your marketing campaigns efficiently and effectively with an operational marketing plan.

A good operational marketing plan is essential for all companies and organizations, both small and large.

But since marketing plans are often not well thought out and rarely implemented properly over the duration of a marketing plan, there is a risk of your business failing.

Unless that operational marketing plan is created intelligently, thoughtfully, and in a completely professional manner. So that it can achieve all your goals and bring you an ROI.

What is an operational plan template?

In addition to setting organizational goals and providing a framework for the organization’s tasks, an operational marketing plan template can create detailed outlines for efforts to engage employees, sales u0026amp; marketing teams, and other parts of the organization and company.

What is a good operational plan?

A good operational plan typically provides a clear and precise goal and framework for every organization or company, so that everyone from sales and marketing teams to employees is focused on achieving it.

What should an operational plan include?

An operational plan should include the following items: The clear and defined objectives and time frameworks, An overview of the executive summary, Continuous activities required to achieve goals, A process for monitoring and optimizing, Key performance indicators (KPIs) and quality standards, Resources and manpower requirements.

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Sample Ecommerce Business Plan

Growthink Ecommerce Business Plan Template

Writing a business plan is a crucial step in starting an ecommerce business. Not only does it provide structure and guidance for the future, but it also helps to create funding opportunities and attract potential investors. For aspiring ecommerce owners, having access to a sample ecommerce business plan can be especially helpful in providing direction and gaining insight into how to draft their own ecommerce business plan.

Download our Ultimate Ecommerce Business Plan Template

Having a thorough business plan in place is critical for any successful ecommerce venture. It will serve as the foundation for your operations, setting out the goals and objectives that will help guide your decisions and actions. A well-written business plan can give you clarity on realistic financial projections and help you secure financing from lenders or investors. An ecommerce business plan example can be a great resource to draw upon when creating your own plan, making sure that all the key components are included in your document.

The ecommerce business plan sample below will give you an idea of what one should look like. It is not as comprehensive and successful in raising capital for your ecommerce business as Growthink’s Ultimate Ecommerce Business Plan Template , but it can help you write an ecommerce business plan of your own.

Example – ClickCart Emporium

Table of contents, executive summary, company overview, industry analysis, customer analysis, competitive analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial plan.

Welcome to ClickCart Emporium, your new go-to ecommerce destination based in the vibrant city of Oklahoma City, OK. Our mission is to revolutionize the local ecommerce landscape by providing an unparalleled online shopping experience. With our comprehensive suite of services, we cater to a wide range of customer needs, ensuring secure payment processing, timely delivery, and a user-friendly online retail platform. Our dedication to excellence and our commitment to the Oklahoma City community drive us to serve you better, making online shopping convenient, secure, and enjoyable.

Our confidence in becoming the leading ecommerce platform in Oklahoma City is anchored in our founder’s previous success in the ecommerce industry, combined with our unwavering commitment to superior service. Since our launch on January 4, 2024, ClickCart Emporium has achieved significant milestones, including the development of a distinctive brand identity, securing an ideal operational base, and laying a strong foundation for our future growth. These accomplishments reflect our dedication to excellence and our strategic approach to becoming your preferred online shopping destination.

The Ecommerce industry in the United States, currently valued at over $600 billion, is on an exponential growth trajectory, with projections estimating its value to reach $1 trillion by 2025. This growth is driven by increased internet access, rising disposable incomes, and the proliferation of digital devices, alongside consumer preferences shifting towards online shopping for its convenience and variety. ClickCart Emporium is poised to leverage these trends, offering exceptional customer service and a diverse product range, positioning us to carve out a successful niche within this competitive and rapidly expanding market, especially in Oklahoma City, OK.

ClickCart Emporium targets a diverse customer base in Oklahoma City, focusing on busy professionals, parents, elderly shoppers, tech-savvy millennials, Gen Z, and small business owners. Our platform caters to their varying needs with a wide range of products, convenient and reliable delivery options, and an easy-to-navigate interface. By tailoring our marketing strategies, especially through social media and influencer partnerships, we aim to engage these segments effectively, ensuring a seamless and efficient online shopping experience that meets their everyday needs and preferences.

Our main competitors include Liquidfish, 1stPride, and Plenty of Pixels, each offering unique digital solutions targeting different customer segments in Oklahoma City, OK. Despite their strengths, ClickCart Emporium differentiates itself through superior customer service, an intuitive shopping platform, and leveraging cutting-edge technology to offer an expansive product range. Our focus on competitive pricing, exclusive deals, and personalized support ensures a seamless shopping experience, setting us apart as a leader in the ecommerce market.

At ClickCart Emporium, we offer an integrated suite of ecommerce services, including a user-friendly online retail platform, secure payment processing, and efficient logistics and fulfillment services, all designed to empower businesses and delight consumers. Our competitive pricing strategy and comprehensive service offerings are tailored to meet the diverse needs of our customers in Oklahoma City, OK. Our promotional strategy is multifaceted, encompassing SEO, PPC, social media marketing, email marketing, community engagement, and influencer partnerships. These efforts aim to enhance our visibility, drive traffic, and foster a strong community around our brand, ensuring ClickCart Emporium becomes a household name in the local ecommerce scene.

To ensure ClickCart Emporium’s success, our operations focus on maintaining a user-friendly website, real-time inventory management, efficient order processing, and seamless coordination with shipping partners. We prioritize customer support across multiple channels and implement secure payment systems to enhance the shopping experience. Our operational strategy includes regular analysis of customer data and market trends, enabling us to refine our product offerings and marketing strategies continually. By focusing on these key operational processes and milestones, we aim to achieve operational excellence and sustain our growth trajectory.

Our management team combines expertise in ecommerce, digital marketing, logistics, and customer service, driving ClickCart Emporium towards achieving its mission. With a solid track record in the industry and a shared vision for innovation and excellence, our team is committed to providing the best online shopping experience in Oklahoma City, ensuring that ClickCart Emporium stands out in the competitive ecommerce landscape.

Welcome to ClickCart Emporium, a new Ecommerce venture based right here in Oklahoma City, OK. As a local ecommerce business, we noticed a gap in the market for high-quality online shopping experiences tailored to our community’s needs. Recognizing this, we set out to create an ecommerce platform that not only serves Oklahoma City but also sets the standard for what local online shopping should look like.

At ClickCart Emporium, we offer a comprehensive suite of ecommerce solutions. Our primary offering is an online retail platform designed to bring the convenience of shopping online to our local customers, providing them with a wide range of products at their fingertips. To complement this, we offer payment processing services, ensuring a seamless transaction experience. Recognizing the importance of timely delivery, we also specialize in ecommerce logistics and fulfillment. These services work in tandem to provide a smooth and enjoyable shopping experience from browsing to delivery.

Our operations are deeply rooted in Oklahoma City, OK. This strategic location allows us to stay closely connected with our community and understand the unique needs of our customers better. Serving the Oklahoma City area is not just a business decision; it’s a commitment to enriching our local economy and providing value to our neighbors.

ClickCart Emporium is poised for success for several reasons. Our founder brings valuable experience from previously running a successful ecommerce business, imparting a wealth of knowledge and industry insights that are instrumental to our operations. Moreover, our commitment to delivering superior ecommerce services positions us ahead of the competition, ensuring that we meet and exceed the expectations of our customers.

Since our inception on January 4, 2024, ClickCart Emporium has made significant strides as a Limited Liability Company. We’ve developed a unique and recognizable brand, starting with the design of our logo and the creative development of our company name. Additionally, we secured a great location that supports our logistics and fulfillment operations, laying a solid foundation for our business. These accomplishments, though early, are indicative of our dedication to building a successful and sustainable ecommerce platform for Oklahoma City.

The Ecommerce industry in the United States is currently valued at over $600 billion, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors in the country. With the rise of online shopping and the convenience it offers consumers, Ecommerce sales have been steadily increasing year over year. Experts predict that the market will continue to grow at a rapid pace, reaching over $1 trillion by 2025.

One of the key trends in the Ecommerce industry is the shift towards mobile shopping. With more and more consumers using their smartphones and tablets to make purchases online, businesses that provide a seamless mobile shopping experience are poised for success. ClickCart Emporium, being a new Ecommerce platform, can take advantage of this trend by ensuring their website is mobile-friendly and easy to navigate on all devices.

Another trend in the Ecommerce industry is the increasing demand for personalized shopping experiences. Consumers are looking for tailored product recommendations, exclusive deals, and customized shopping features. ClickCart Emporium can set itself apart from competitors by offering personalized recommendations based on customer preferences and purchase history, creating a unique and engaging shopping experience for its customers in Oklahoma City, OK.

Below is a description of our target customers and their core needs.

Target Customers

ClickCart Emporium will primarily target local residents seeking a convenient and efficient online shopping experience. This segment includes busy professionals, parents needing to juggle work and family commitments, and elderly individuals who prefer the safety and comfort of home shopping. The focus will be on offering a wide range of products tailored to their everyday needs, from groceries to household essentials.

The business will also cater to tech-savvy millennials and Gen Z consumers who are always on the lookout for the latest trends and unique products. These younger customers value fast, reliable delivery and an easy-to-navigate website or app interface. ClickCart Emporium will tailor its marketing strategies to engage this demographic through social media channels and influencer partnerships.

In addition to the above, ClickCart Emporium will target small business owners in Oklahoma City who require bulk purchases for their operations. This segment is in need of a reliable partner that can provide a variety of products at competitive prices with the convenience of scheduled deliveries. The platform will offer business accounts with features such as order tracking, purchase history, and volume discounts.

Customer Needs

ClickCart Emporium steps into the market to fulfill the growing demand for high-quality eCommerce services among residents who seek the convenience of online shopping. Customers expect a seamless shopping experience that combines ease of use with a wide selection of products. By focusing on user experience and inventory diversity, ClickCart Emporium meets these expectations head-on, ensuring that every visit to the site is both enjoyable and fruitful.

In addition to providing an extensive range of products, ClickCart Emporium understands the importance of reliable customer service and fast, accurate delivery. Shoppers value quick responses to inquiries and appreciate the peace of mind that comes with knowing their purchases will arrive on time and in perfect condition. This level of service builds trust and loyalty, encouraging repeat visits and long-term relationships with customers.

Moreover, ClickCart Emporium recognizes the significance of offering competitive prices without compromising on quality. Consumers are always on the lookout for the best deals online, and by ensuring that prices are attractive, ClickCart Emporium positions itself as a go-to destination for savvy shoppers. This approach not only satisfies the need for affordability but also reinforces the value proposition of shopping with ClickCart Emporium.

ClickCart Emporium’s competitors include the following companies:

Liquidfish specializes in offering comprehensive digital solutions including website development, digital marketing, and custom software development. Their services are tailored towards businesses looking to establish or enhance their online presence. Price points for their services vary depending on the complexity and scope of the project, making them accessible to a wide range of businesses.

While specific revenue figures are not publicly available, Liquidfish is recognized for its robust client portfolio across various sectors, indicating a healthy financial standing. The company operates primarily from its headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK, but serves clients across the United States. This broad geographic coverage is a key strength, as it allows Liquidfish to cater to a diverse client base.

Key strengths of Liquidfish include its comprehensive service offering and its ability to deliver customized digital solutions. However, its primary weakness lies in the highly competitive market of digital services, where differentiation can be challenging.

1stPride offers a range of ecommerce services, focusing on website design, online marketing, and SEO optimization. Their services are designed to help businesses improve their online sales and visibility. The company adopts a competitive pricing strategy, which makes it an attractive option for small to medium-sized businesses.

1stPride operates mainly within the Oklahoma City area, targeting local businesses aiming to expand their online footprint. Although they have a strong local presence, their geographical reach is more limited compared to other competitors. This focus on a local customer base both serves as a strength, providing personalized services, and a weakness, limiting potential market expansion.

Their key strength lies in their local market knowledge and personalized customer service. However, their limited geographical reach and the challenge of scaling their services can be seen as weaknesses.

Plenty of Pixels specializes in website design and development, offering customizable packages to meet the needs of various businesses. Their pricing model is transparent, with clear tiers based on the complexity and features of the website, catering to both startups and established businesses. The company prides itself on its efficient project delivery and post-launch support.

Although primarily based in Oklahoma City, OK, Plenty of Pixels serves clients nationwide, leveraging digital communication tools to manage projects remotely. This allows them to tap into a larger market, despite their physical location. Their ability to serve clients across the country is a significant strength, broadening their potential customer base.

The key strengths of Plenty of Pixels include their flexible pricing model and nationwide service coverage. However, their focus on website services means they might not offer as comprehensive a digital solution set as some competitors, which could be seen as a weakness in a market that favors full-service agencies.

Competitive Advantages

At ClickCart Emporium, we pride ourselves on providing unparalleled ecommerce services that set us apart from our competition. Our secret lies in our commitment to understanding the unique needs of our customers in Oklahoma City, ensuring that we offer personalized shopping experiences tailored to their preferences. We leverage advanced technology to streamline the shopping process, making it faster, more intuitive, and user-friendly. This approach not only enhances customer satisfaction but also fosters loyalty, as shoppers know they can expect a seamless experience every time they visit our platform.

Beyond merely offering a wide range of products, we differentiate ourselves by integrating cutting-edge features such as AI-powered recommendations and real-time inventory updates, which significantly improve the shopping experience. Our customer service is second to none, providing round-the-clock support to address any queries or concerns promptly. Additionally, our logistics and delivery system is optimized for efficiency, ensuring that orders are processed and delivered faster than any other service in the area. This comprehensive approach to ecommerce positions us not just as a shopping platform, but as a reliable partner for our customers, making their online shopping journey enjoyable and hassle-free.

Our marketing plan, included below, details our products/services, pricing and promotions plan.

Products and Services

ClickCart Emporium emerges as a comprehensive solution for both businesses and consumers, offering a suite of services designed to streamline the online shopping experience. At the heart of its offerings is an online retail platform that serves as a marketplace for a wide range of products. This platform connects sellers with buyers, facilitating easy access to an array of items from the comfort of one’s home. The average selling price for products on this platform varies widely depending on the category and value of the items, but ClickCart Emporium ensures competitive pricing to attract a broad customer base.

In addition to facilitating sales through its online retail platform, ClickCart Emporium offers payment processing services. This crucial service ensures secure and efficient transactions between buyers and sellers, employing state-of-the-art encryption and security measures to protect all parties involved. The company charges a nominal fee for these services, typically a percentage of the transaction value. This fee averages around 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction, aligning with industry standards and ensuring that sellers can affordably access secure payment processing capabilities.

Understanding the importance of logistics in e-commerce, ClickCart Emporium also provides e-commerce logistics and fulfillment services. This comprehensive service covers everything from warehousing and inventory management to order fulfillment and shipping. By handling these logistical aspects, ClickCart Emporium enables sellers to focus on their products and sales, rather than the complexities of distribution. Pricing for these services is tailored to the specific needs of each seller, but businesses can expect competitive rates that reflect the efficiency and value of the logistics solutions provided.

Overall, ClickCart Emporium positions itself as a key player in the e-commerce sector by offering an integrated platform that not only connects buyers and sellers but also provides essential services like payment processing and logistics. Through competitive pricing and a commitment to quality, ClickCart Emporium aims to foster a vibrant online marketplace that meets the needs of a diverse customer base.

Promotions Plan

ClickCart Emporium embarks on an ambitious journey to captivate the hearts and wallets of customers in Oklahoma City, OK, with a blend of innovative and traditional promotional methods tailored to the digital age. Recognizing the power of online presence, the emporium will leverage online marketing as its spearhead strategy. Through this approach, ClickCart Emporium expects to build a robust digital footprint that resonates with its target audience, driving both traffic and sales.

Diving deeper into online marketing, the company will utilize social media platforms extensively. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will become arenas where ClickCart Emporium engages with its audience. Regular posts, interactive stories, and targeted ads will serve to inform, entertain, and persuade potential customers. Moreover, the emporium will harness the power of influencer marketing, partnering with local influencers in Oklahoma City to tap into their followers and gain credibility quickly.

Email marketing will also play a crucial role in ClickCart Emporium’s promotional strategy. By collecting emails from potential customers through sign-ups and promotions, the emporium will send out newsletters, exclusive offers, and updates about new products or services. This personalized approach expects to not only drive sales but also foster a sense of community among its customers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will ensure that ClickCart Emporium appears at the top of search results when potential customers look for related products or services online. By optimizing its website content with relevant keywords, the emporium expects to attract more organic traffic, thereby reducing its reliance on paid advertising in the long run.

ClickCart Emporium will not limit itself to online methods alone. Local events and sponsorships will serve as an excellent opportunity to increase brand visibility and engagement within the community. Participating in or sponsoring local events, fairs, and festivals will allow the emporium to showcase its brand and products in a more personal and interactive setting.

Loyalty programs will be introduced to reward returning customers, encouraging repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. These programs will offer discounts, special offers, and early access to new products, cultivating a loyal customer base that feels valued and appreciated.

In conclusion, ClickCart Emporium will employ a multifaceted promotional strategy that combines the reach and efficiency of online marketing with the personal touch of local engagement and customer loyalty programs. Through these efforts, the emporium expects to attract and retain customers, setting a strong foundation for growth in Oklahoma City, OK.

Our Operations Plan details:

  • The key day-to-day processes that our business performs to serve our customers
  • The key business milestones that our company expects to accomplish as we grow

Key Operational Processes

To ensure the success of ClickCart Emporium, there are several key day-to-day operational processes that we will perform.

  • Maintain a user-friendly and up-to-date website interface to ensure customers can easily browse, search for products, and complete purchases.
  • Monitor inventory levels in real-time to ensure stock availability aligns with website listings and restock products as needed to meet customer demand.
  • Process orders efficiently, from confirmation to packaging, ensuring accuracy in order fulfillment to minimize errors and returns.
  • Coordinate with shipping partners for timely delivery of products, offering customers tracking information to ensure transparency and improve customer satisfaction.
  • Offer customer support through multiple channels (e.g., chat, email, phone) to address inquiries, resolve issues, and provide assistance throughout the buying process.
  • Implement and maintain secure payment processing systems to protect customer data and ensure a smooth checkout experience.
  • Analyze website traffic and customer purchase data to understand customer preferences, improve product offerings, and tailor marketing strategies.
  • Engage in digital marketing efforts, including SEO, social media marketing, and email campaigns, to attract new customers and retain existing ones.
  • Collect and act on customer feedback to continually improve the shopping experience and address any shortcomings in products or services.
  • Conduct regular financial reviews to monitor profitability, manage expenses, and adjust pricing strategies as necessary to remain competitive.

ClickCart Emporium expects to complete the following milestones in the coming months in order to ensure its success:

  • Secure a reliable supply chain: Establish agreements with suppliers and distributors to ensure a steady supply of products. This not only assures product availability but also helps in negotiating better terms and prices, reducing the cost of goods sold.
  • Develop and launch the ecommerce platform: This involves finalizing the website design, ensuring user-friendly navigation, and implementing secure payment gateways. A smooth, secure, and convenient shopping experience is crucial for customer retention and acquisition.
  • Implement an initial marketing strategy: This should include a mix of digital marketing tactics such as SEO, social media marketing, and email campaigns to build brand awareness and drive traffic to the new ecommerce platform.
  • Establish customer service protocols: Develop a robust customer service framework that includes clear return policies, a responsive support team, and a feedback system. Excellent customer service not only enhances customer satisfaction but also builds trust and loyalty.
  • Launch our ecommerce business: Officially open the online store for business. This involves ensuring all operational, logistical, and marketing systems are in place and functioning correctly to handle orders and customer inquiries.
  • Monitor and optimize operations: After launch, closely monitor all aspects of the business from website performance, order fulfillment efficiency, to customer feedback. Use this data to make informed decisions on operational improvements and optimizations.
  • Expand product offerings: Based on initial customer feedback and sales data, gradually introduce new products or variations to meet demand and attract a wider audience. This helps in keeping the product catalog fresh and engaging for return customers.
  • Get to $15,000/month in revenue: Achieve this financial milestone through a combination of increasing traffic to the website, improving conversion rates, and expanding the customer base. It signifies a stable demand for the products and a growing business.
  • Build partnerships and collaborations: Establish partnerships with complementary brands or platforms to expand reach and tap into new customer segments. Collaborations can also open up opportunities for exclusive products or marketing campaigns.
  • Implement a customer loyalty program: To encourage repeat business and foster a loyal customer base, introduce a loyalty program that rewards customers for their purchases, referrals, or engagement with the brand.

ClickCart Emporium management team, which includes the following members, has the experience and expertise to successfully execute on our business plan:

Lily Young, CEO

Lily Young brings a wealth of experience to ClickCart Emporium, having previously led an ecommerce business to notable success. Her entrepreneurial spirit and deep understanding of digital marketplaces equip her with the unique insights needed to navigate the complex landscape of online retail. Lily’s leadership style is characterized by a focus on innovation, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. Her track record of building cohesive teams and fostering a culture of excellence makes her an invaluable asset to ClickCart Emporium. Under Lily’s guidance, the company is poised to achieve its goals and make a lasting impact in the ecommerce arena.

ClickCart Emporium’s financial strategy is designed to support our growth objectives, ensuring we have the necessary resources to expand our operations, enhance our service offerings, and achieve our goal of becoming the leading ecommerce platform in Oklahoma City. Our plan outlines the investment needed to fuel our strategic initiatives, focusing on technology upgrades, marketing efforts, and operational efficiencies to drive revenue growth and profitability.

Financial Statements

Balance sheet.

[insert balance sheet]

Income Statement

[insert income statement]

Cash Flow Statement

[insert cash flow statement]

Ecommerce Business Plan Example PDF

Download our Ecommerce Business Plan PDF here. This is a free ecommerce business plan example to help you get started on your own ecommerce plan.  

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With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

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Erin Pennings

How to Create a Website Marketing Plan that Drives and Converts Traffic

In today’s world, your website is the backbone of your entire marketing plan, or it should be . In fact, done right, your website marketing plan can be one of the most effective inbound marketing strategies you use.

Let me explain. While lots of people think of their sites as simple online brochures, the reality is that your website can be a dynamic 24/7 salesperson that goes beyond proving your legitimacy. What’s more, your website can serve as a hub for all of your marketing and sales efforts. 

I often tell people “Your website should back up everything you do.” 

And this holds true whether you are your company or you have a team with dozens of people. It follows then, that creating a website marketing plan is all about finding a way to drive traffic to your website—a website that’s written and designed with conversion in mind.

Because a gorgeous website alone won’t convert visitors—you also need copy that speaks directly to your audience and what they need or want most when they need your services. And, once you have that, the biggest challenge is getting the traffic , getting people to your site so you can guide them toward the next step in working with you (or buying from you).

But how do you do that?

How do you create a website marketing plan that helps you build buzz once you have a site so you can start capitalizing on your website launch?

Gosh, I’m glad you asked. 

Understanding the Role of Your Website in Inbound Marketing

Before we get too far into website marketing plans, I want to make sure we’re on the same page as far as the role your website plays in your marketing strategy and your business as a whole.

The first thing anyone does when considering working with a business? We Google them. So if you don’t have a website, they automatically question your authenticity and legitimacy. 

When I speak to audiences about website strategy, I always say that your website should do four things:

  • Give you legitimacy — the act of having a website shows people you’re the real deal.
  • Builds credibility — while related to legitimacy, a good website takes it a step further, allowing you to highlight what you can do for your audience.
  • Builds confidence — this is more for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs, but it holds true for b2b audiences. If you have a bad website, you don’t want to send people to it, or maybe you apologize for it. On the other hand, if your site is great, you’ll send people there confidently, knowing it will back up whatever you’re saying.
  • Backs you up — in addition to giving you a solid place to host your content (social media is fickle), it backs up everything you’re putting out into the world by unifying your efforts. And, with the push away from third-party data, it gives you a place to collect your own data and information about the people who are visiting your site.

So let’s take this a step further — your website is where you make first impressions and set the stage for the customer experience and long-lasting relationships. While social media, email, and SEO-optimized content are often important factors in your marketing strategy, the rest of your site has to back up, not just the sales and marketing process, but also the rest of your customer journey.

So that might be getting deeper than we need to on the role of your website, but it sets the stage for why a solid website marketing plan is so crucial to your overall strategy.

With that in mind, I also want to make sure we dive into your website roadmap. 

For more insights on this, consider reading “So you’ve created a website, now what?” 

Understanding the Elements of a Website Roadmap

When I start a website copy project , we usually start with brand messaging . But I also create a copy deck that serves as a website roadmap — outlining the core goals of every page and identifying some important messaging points, and giving me a central place to link all of the copy I’m writing..

In creating that document, I’m also thinking through how visitors will interact with the website and the role every page plays. For some projects, I also create a detailed timeline that defines responsibilities, deliverables, and ballpark timelines every step of the way.

Key things to consider during the brand messaging, website roadmap, and copy deck development process:

Objective: 

Why are we creating this copy? Why now? What are our goals? What actions do we want visitors to take?

Target Audience: 

Who are we writing this to? What are their problems? What is the stage of awareness?

Brand Voice: 

How does our word choice and tone affect that audience? Is there a voice disconnect between how we show up now and how we want to show up? (P.S. I have a WHOLE brand voice-finding process that we go through to define this.)

SEO Keywords: 

While my SEO strategy focuses on writing for humans first and bots second, I partner with an exceptional SEO strategist on keyword research to ensure that we’re incorporating the correct keywords. 

Copy, Design, and Development Milestones:

How does the copy tie into your designer and developer’s timeline? What are the phases? While I define this in my proposal, laying it out in the roadmap clarifies the different touchpoints and responsibilities (and timelines) for each aspect.

How will the pages interact with each other? What are key goals and messages of every page? CTAs?

The bottom line here? A website roadmap makes sure your project has a flow and everyone involved understands the timeline and their roles.  

Beyond Design and Copy — Driving Traffic to Your Site with a Website Launch Plan

Not to gloss over the process of writing and designing your site because that’s a huge phase, but we’re totally glossing over it. ( You can read more about my process here. ) 

So let’s pretend all of that is in the rearview mirror and you’re getting ready for launch. What is your website marketing plan? How will you drive traffic your way? 

Midway through the project, I give every client my Website Launch Plan so they can use the launch of their site to build buzz and get people to it. It’s newsworthy to your business so it’s important to talk about it and use it as a tool to make your audience stand up and take notice. (It’s available to student in Whomp Whomp to Wow )

Where a developer’s launch plan focuses on the technical details they have to do, this is a website marketing plan so you’re not just launching into the void.

Because for your website to actually convert, you need people to go to the site so they can convert. And yes, a content marketing strategy is critical here, with SEO and inbound marketing tactics. We’ll get into that below.

Instead, what I want you to think about right now is how you can capitalize on the experience of launching your site so you can use THAT to build in public and build buzz. It’s sort of like online PR. Scratch that. It is online PR for your business.

So here’s what I want you to think about before you go about creating and posting content:

  • What has the experience been like?
  • Why did you decide to rebrand or update your messaging?
  • What aha moments have you had?
  • What surprised you along the way?
  • Who have you partnered with?
  • Who are your biggest cheerleaders?
  • What was your big hairy goal with the process?

Note: If you’re B2B this is still hyper-relevant. The tone of your answers will be different than if you were B2C or a personality-driven brand, but the process remains the same. I recommend gathering stakeholders to talk through this—and when I take on these types of consulting projects, I often facilitate sessions like this at the beginning of the process, once copy sign-off is complete, and once you’re in the final days of implementation, getting ready for launch.

Why do I want you to answer those questions? Let’s get into it.

Generating Buzz Around Your Launch

Creating anticipation and excitement around your website launch is one of the most important parts of actually rebranding your company and building a new site. Here’s why. If you launch into the void, you’re missing a ton of opportunity…and it might even confuse your audience when they see a whole new look and feel.

Think of it like moving locations if you’re a brick-and-mortar business. You don’t want people to end up in someone else’s business or wondering where the heck to find you now, so you pump out a ton of information—flyers, emails, ads, texts, social content, banners on your site, signs on the door of your old place.

A move is so similar to a redesign. Even if your URL is the same, you want to excite your audience…not confuse them.

So by using the launch as an anchor for your website marketing plan, you have a reason to reach out to your audience. And, you can use the answers to those questions above to create a variety of content to let them know about your big new thing. 

What Happens Post-Launch?

The short answer is “you keep going!”

Too often people talk about launching a website as the culmination of their efforts. And while the project itself may be over, launching your new site is just the beginning. While I’ve primarily focused on the buzz-building launch portion of your website marketing plan, now it’s time to talk about your ongoing marketing strategies .

But for most businesses, especially the smaller companies and startups I most frequently work with, the difference between marketing strategy and “boots on the ground” reality is huge. Because I work heavily with founders, owners, and mission-critical team members, their time is split between operations and marketing, and that means that they (we) often go into putting-out-fires mode, and priorities shift.

While I love working ahead and creating a loose 12-month marketing calendar, it’s generally not productive to spend a ton of time building out details 6-12 months in advance. Instead, by focusing on seasonal (or quarterly) plans, we can identify the efforts that are both realistic and sustainable and that build towards the 6-12 month big-picture goals without identifying a whole bunch of shiny objects.

The other aspect of this, particularly over the last 5 years, is that the market shifts rapidly, so focusing on shorter periods is both easier to bite off and more realistic.

That usually means creating one big-picture goal for every 90-day period, and identifying which efforts will get us there. Some are mission-critical, while others are more fluid and flexible and can be pushed off or eliminated if other projects, priorities, or problems arise.

Instead of getting into details here, you can read more about my approach to creating these strategies in  How to Create A 90-Day Content Strategy To Smash Your Goals  .)

So what’s included in this? It depends on your business, your customer base, their level of problem-awareness and YOU-awareness, and how you can connect with them. Generally speaking, these strategies are primarily digital, focusing on blog content, SEO, email marketing, and social media marketing. However, sometimes, it also includes paid advertising and direct mail campaigns.

Wrapping Up Your Website Marketing Plan

The long and short of it is that there are two phases to your website marketing plan:

Phase 1: Leading up to and during launch. (usually 1-2 months)

Phase 2: Your ongoing marketing plan. (ongoing)

What’s more, what you do depends heavily on your business and your audience, so there’s not really ever a one-size-fits-all plan. Instead, we focus on right-sizing your strategies and efforts to your budget and resources, which is usually a blend of internal and external (that’s me). 

Ultimately, I want you to realize that your website marketing plan, and realistically, your entire marketing strategy is not one-and-done. It’s a living, breathing entity that you adapt over time based on the market, your audience, and your ability to keep things moving. 

If you’re ready to dive into a new website and need some help figuring out how to adapt your messaging and copy, and how to market your business on a long-term basis, I’m your Girl Friday. Let’s chat.

The post How to Create a Website Marketing Plan that Drives and Converts Traffic appeared first on CopySnacks .

How to Write a Dog Grooming Business Plan + Free Sample Plan PDF

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Elon Glucklich

8 min. read

Updated February 20, 2024

Download a free one-page dog grooming sample business plan

The bond between humans and their canine companions has always been strong. But spurred by increases in dog ownership across the U.S. , household spending on pets has risen in recent years.

The $5.4 billion global pet grooming services market is projected to grow at a 7% annual rate through 2030, creating new opportunities for dog-loving entrepreneurs to turn their passion into a business opportunity.

Whether you’re starting a boutique grooming salon or a mobile grooming service—a business plan can significantly increase your chances of success.

Download a free dog grooming sample business plan and complete it as you work through this guide.

  • What should you include in a dog grooming business plan?

Here are the common sections to consider when writing your dog grooming business plan.

  • Executive summary
  • Market analysis
  • Services and products
  • Marketing and sales strategy
  • Operations plan
  • Company summary
  • Financial plan and forecasts

The details of your plan will differ based on factors like the services you offer, whether you hire full-time employees or contractors, and whether your business is based in a brick-and-mortar building or goes to clients’ homes.

Check out our step-by-step guide to writing a full business plan for more details.

A sample dog grooming business plan outline.

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  • The 8 elements of an effective dog grooming business plan

Don’t make your dog grooming business plan longer than it needs to be . If you’re writing it for yourself, stick with a few pages and cover the aspects that will help you run your business.

But if you’re writing the plan because you’re seeking a bank loan or investment , it will likely need to be more detailed.

1. Executive summary

The executive summary is a concise overview of your dog grooming business plan. The executive summary should briefly touch on your company overview target market but shouldn’t be more than 2 pages long.

Its purpose is to highlight the mission and unique aspects of your business, whether that’s to provide superior pet care or introduce innovative grooming techniques to your market. 

2. Market analysis

What’s the opportunity that exists for your business? 

The market analysis section is a detailed assessment of the market you’re entering. In this case, you should cover current trends in the dog grooming industry, such as increasing pet ownership rates and a growing emphasis on pet care and wellness.

You must also identify your primary customer segments . Include demographics that help define who your customers are and what they want. Maybe you target pet owners in urban areas, busy professionals, or families seeking convenient and comprehensive grooming services.

Be sure to list out key competitors in your region, noting their service offerings, pricing, and market positioning. This analysis will help you identify opportunities to differentiate your business. For instance, your research might lead you to realize there are a lack of options in your area for mobile grooming services, or specialized care for anxious pets.

3. Services and products

The products and services section is where you detail the full range of grooming services and products you plan to offer. 

Consider writing them out as a list, like this example:

Basic services

  • Washing and drying
  • Hair trimming
  • Nail clipping
  • Ear cleaning.

Specialty services

  • Breed-specific grooming
  • Skin care treatments
  • Flea and tick treatments

Also, consider incorporating related products for sale, such as dog shampoos, conditioners, brushes, and other grooming tools. Whatever mix of products and services you choose to offer, connect them to your market opportunity. At its most basic, running a successful business is about identifying customer problems and providing solutions .

Detailing these services and products gives your customers a clear understanding of what your business provides and its value proposition .

4. Marketing and sales strategy

Your marketing and sales strategy turns your market research into a set of marketing strategies you can execute to attract customers. 

Through your research, you should understand how your target customers find dog grooming services — online, in print advertisements or commercials, through social media or word of mouth, etc.

Based on what you think are the most relevant marketing channels , develop strategies to make your business more visible. Strategies to consider include:

  • Advertising online or in local publications
  • Creating a website and establishing a social media presence
  • Interacting with the public at community events
  • Pursuing partnership opportunities with local pet stores

You may also want to consider discounts or special offers for repeat customers to build loyalty. 

Whatever tactics you deploy, it’s crucial to measure the impact of your marketing efforts through key performance indicators, and adjust your strategies based on what delivers value.

5. Operations plan

The operations section outlines how you will run your dog grooming business efficiently day to day. 

Whether you’re operating out of a brick-and-mortar building, a mobile van, or in clients’ homes, include details on the physical setup of your grooming salon, equipment needs, and staff requirements.

You should also discuss the process for booking appointments and managing customer relationships. Detail any software or systems you’ll use for scheduling and record-keeping. Also, outline your plan for meeting regulatory requirements and maintaining a clean, safe environment for pets.

6. Milestones

Outlining the key milestones for your business can help you determine how long it will take to meet your goals. You can keep these brief, even writing them in bullet points. Milestones for a dog grooming business could include:

  • Obtaining initial financing
  • Securing relevant permits
  • Initiating marketing efforts
  • Acquiring a certain number of clients
  • Reaching specific revenue benchmarks

Each milestone should have an estimated completion date and designated team members responsible for achieving them.

7. Company summary

Summarize the history of your business, including its legal structure and location. Also, highlight your background in pet grooming and your reasons for wanting to start a dog grooming business.

If you’re just starting out, discuss the initial startup costs required to get the business off the ground. If you’re writing your business plan to secure a bank loan, state how much funding you need, what you will use it for, and how it will benefit your grooming business.

8. Financial plan

The financial plan is where you provide a look into your dog grooming business’s financial projections, including sales , costs , and profitability .

Remember, financial forecasts are really just educated guesses created to give you a sense of how your business can be profitable over the long term. 

They’re meant to be adjusted over time as your actual financial numbers come in, helping you determine which aspects of your business are performing as expected and where you might need to adjust your strategy.

Your financial plan should include a cash flow statement , income statement , and balance sheet .

  • Tips for writing a dog grooming business plan

Understanding pet owners’ needs and how you can best serve them is vital for writing a dog grooming business plan that you can actually use to help your business grow.

As you write the plan, give some attention to these key points.

1. Consider your business structure

Choosing the right structure is pivotal. When writing the company overview section, consider factors like taxation, liability, and business growth potential to determine whether an LLC, sole proprietorship, or corporation best suits your needs. This decision will influence your operational flexibility, financial management, and legal obligations.

2. Develop a pricing strategy

Establishing a pricing strategy that balances market competitiveness with profitability is essential. As part of your market analysis, take the time to explore pricing tiers and client expectations. Offering a variety of service packages can cater to different customer needs and enhance revenue streams. Connect those packages and pricing tiers to your projected revenues and expenses as you create your financial forecasts.

3. Create an online presence

A strong online presence is non-negotiable. So, even if you plan to leverage traditional marketing channels, you will still want to have digital marketing efforts be part of your plan. 

At a minimum, invest in a professional website, optimize for local search , and engage actively on social media platforms. This visibility attracts new clients and serves as a platform for showcasing your work and customer testimonials.

4. Highlight your credentials and training

Highlighting your credentials and commitment to ongoing professional development can set your business apart. 

Regular training in new grooming techniques, customer service excellence, and pet safety reassure clients of the quality and reliability of your services. Start by mentioning the qualifications of you and your team and include any supporting documentation, like resumes or awards, in your appendix.

5. Build on success with client referrals and reviews

Encourage satisfied customers to refer others and leave positive online reviews . Word-of-mouth and digital endorsements can significantly impact your business’s reputation and trustworthiness. Consider implementing a referral program to incentivize clients to share their positive experiences.

  • Download your free dog grooming one page sample business plan

Download your dog grooming business plan sample now for free. You can also explore Bplans’ collection of over 550 sample business plans to find other examples.

Writing a business plan for your dog grooming business helps you stand out in a crowded market. It’s one of numerous reasons that a business plan increases your chance of success. 

The plan is essential for getting your business funded. But even if you don’t need a bank loan, thinking through each aspect of your business will help you make the best strategic decisions and use your limited resources effectively.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Content Author: Elon Glucklich

Elon is a marketing specialist at Palo Alto Software, working with consultants, accountants, business instructors and others who use LivePlan at scale. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA from the University of Oregon.

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