Does leaving for your destination without a roadmap in mind sound like lunacy? But that’s exactly how you’d sound if you attempted to execute a marketing campaign without a plan.   

Every marketer knows that good campaign management starts with a plan and here’s how to build a template to make it happen.

Getting Started: Build a Template or Use an Existing One

The first thing you’ll need is a marketing campaign plan template to use as a foundation. The template is invaluable as a project management tool, helping to keep your entire team organized and on task.  

Your plan should be functional with checklists and actionable tasks – avoid making it so dense that it reads like a high school history report.   

A Marketing Campaign Plan Template: The Building Blocks of Your Marketing Plan

Once you have your marketing campaign template in place, you should be able to apply it in multiple instances, whenever you’re developing a new marketing campaign plan. Most campaigns involve all the following pieces:   

• Mission 
• Marketing Goals 
• Target Audience 
• Marketing Strategy 
• Tactics  
• Timeline 
• Metrics 

Let’s break down each piece, shall we? 

Mission

What’s the purpose of your campaign? State that here.   

This will set the tone for your integrated marketing campaign templates. 

Marketing Goals

Aligned with your mission, your business goals should be the desired end-state for the campaign. What exactly do you want to achieve?   

Your campaign goals should be specific and measurable (more on that in the metrics section below). 

Target Audience

Who is your campaign meant to appeal to? The target audience section should include research about your demographic showing you understand them. You can also include information here on your ideal buyer persona.  

The knowledge of pain points will help you develop refined, on-target messaging. 

Marketing Strategy 

The next two pieces appear similar, but there’s a crucial distinction. At a high level, your marketing strategy is the sum of the methods you’ll use to execute your campaign.   

For example, if you’re looking to target Generation Z customers, one strategy you can use is to engage with them on social media platforms. 

Tactics

Whereas strategy describes how you plan to pull off your campaign on a macro level, tactics are the specific actions (both online and offline) you intend to take at a micro level to make that strategy work.  

There are many types of tactics you can cover here, including:  

• Email marketing 
• Content marketing to bolster your SEO efforts 
• Market research (case studies, white papers, etc.) 
• Ideas for lead generation 
• Development and enhancement of your various marketing channels 

Timeline

A timeline will include your schedule for getting things done, major milestones, and when you’ll finish all the great tasks you wrote about in your tactics section. It'll guide your team members’ workflow.  

Metrics

The metrics section is where you’ll define how to measure the success of your campaigns. Here, you’ll insert valuable Key Performance Indicators to gauge a campaign’s impact. For example: if you’re launching a marketing campaign to build your email list, the number of new sign-ups would be a great way to measure that. 

Other Marketing Campaign Planning Topics

There may be other sections you add depending on the type of work you’re doing, including:   

• Stakeholder outreach 
• Media plan 
• Building brand awareness

Have a chat with your team before you build the campaign marketing plan template. Get on the same page about how they plan best and what their campaigns will look like.  

The Role of Social Media in Your Marketing Campaign Plan Template

If you’re putting together a digital marketing campaign plan template, you can’t leave out social media. For each campaign, it’s a great idea to specify the platforms you plan to use. Not every campaign will use the same platforms.   

For example, if your audience is business-minded professionals, LinkedIn is a great choice.   

How Marketers Can Develop an Effective Template

Looking to develop your own marketing campaign plan template? There are a few questions to ask yourself: 

• Are there repeatable processes I can capture and summarize?  
• Have I told my team to expect this, so they’ll know how and when to use this as a tool?  
• How much time do I have to dedicate to building this template?    

While a marketing campaign template is necessary for your marketing efforts, developing one isn’t necessarily quick or easy. That’s why partnering with a marketing software team such as Welcome, a provider that has successfully developed templates in the past, can make this process a lot easier for you.  

Using the right Marketing Campaign Plan Template for your team

Not only will your marketing team thank you for an easy-to-use template, but you’ll be glad you have one as well. It makes campaign planning much more efficient.   

Looking for help building your own marketing campaign plan template?

No matter what sector or industry you’re in, our Content Marketing Platform offers a whole host of marketing solutions, including complimentary templates. Sign up today for free to get started.