What is a 3 month marketing plan?

“Marketing theory and strategy is great and all, but what do I actually need to DO to market by business? I need specific steps. A checklist. Detailed instructions!”

I hear ya. While marketing strategies for small business are important, at some point you just have to step back, take action, and see how things go. That’s where putting together a 90 day marketing plan can help you move from learning about marketing for business owners to executing it. 

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan blends strategy with action by outlining the steps a business should take to promote its goods, services, and brand. 

A great marketing plan uses Customer Personas as its North Star, tailoring all activities to the target audience. It also takes into consideration the Brand Voice Guidelines established by the business, dictating the types of authentic messages that can be shared. Competitive Analysis and Target Audience Research should also be considered when developing a marketing plan to ensure that the business’ unique value propositions are addressed throughout all marketing campaigns. Customer Journeys are another important piece to the puzzle, as they outline when, where, and how your business communicates to its customers over time to spur sales, and afterwards repeat and referral business. All of these foundational elements of a marketing strategy converge to create an editorial calendar that gets into the specifics of platforms, message themes and campaigns, and frequency of posting.

What is a 3 month marketing plan?

When first launching a new marketing strategy, we suggest starting with a 3 month marketing plan. Over the span of the first 3 months, you can monitor the data coming in about how things are going and make adjustments as needed. 

For example, if you find that your social media presence has really bolstered activity to your website, you should increase the attention being focused on social media to include more reels, posts, videos, 2-way conversations, etc. On the other hand, you’ve also noticed that your emails are not converting as they should, and you decide to move from emailing weekly to every other week to see if that helps your open and click rates.

The beauty of communication is that you can experiment with what works and what doesn’t work for both your target audience and for your business. 

After the 90 day content marketing plan is complete, you can then use it as a 3 month marketing plan template to map out the next quarter’s activities. 

How do I create a 3 month marketing plan?

When developing a 3 month marketing plan, consider the following categories to add to your editorial calendar:

• A monthly or weekly content theme to anchor your messages across all platforms. All other activities should roll up under this theme.
• Blog titles and publish dates
• Newsletter topics and send dates
• Special Dates To Note, such as Product and Campaign Launches
• Ad Campaigns (Live Dates)
• Responsible Team member for each activity
• Special Notes (Holidays to acknowledge, team anniversaries, etc.)

Here is an example of what a very simple editorial calendar, or sample marketing plan, looks like for Crafted Voice Communications.

Remember that every business’ marketing plan will look different since they are targeting different audiences. A cookie cutter marketing plan will not lead to high success.

How do you write a 30 60 90 day marketing plan?

The key to creating either a short term or long term marketing plan is to let your foundational strategy guide your decision making. 

Starting with a 1, 2, or 3 month marketing plan is helpful when you are testing the waters of what works for your business and what resonates with your customers. Once you have established a presence, you can create an annual editorial calendar that outlines your high level marketing plans and goals. Just remember that this isn’t written in stone and can be adjusted based on how things are going. 

Here are a few questions to ask yourself and tips for developing your plan:

• What platforms am I using? Ensure they are all represented in your editorial calendar.
• How often should I post/send? List the specific dates.
• Who is responsible for each marketing activity? Name them in the document beside their responsibility.
• What monthly theme makes sense for each month? Consider the market you are in, the geographic location and culture of your target audience, and what’s important to your core values.
• What topics roll up under each theme? List blog, social media post, and newsletter topic ideas.
• What big campaigns or launches are happening? Ensure they are represented.
• What else do you need to know to craft your marketing messages within each platform? List them in the special notes section.