What should a simple marketing plan for a service business include?
A simple marketing plan for a service business fits on one page. It names the customers you want and the area you serve, why they should choose you, the few channels you will use and what each should bring in, what you will spend, who does the work, and the date you check the results. Most of these match sections the U.S. Small Business Administration suggests, and it says a marketing plan should be maintained at least once a year.
What the SBA suggests
The SBA's guide says a marketing plan turns your strategy into action, that most plans cover a common set of topics, and to use what works best for your business. The sections it suggests include:
- Target market: your audience, described in detail.
- Competitive advantage: what gives you an edge, which it says might be "a better product, a lower price, or an excellent customer experience".
- Sales plan: how you will sell, and each step a customer takes once they decide to buy.
- Marketing and sales goals for the next year.
- Marketing action plan: the channels you will use, your pricing strategy and promotions, and the customer support after the sale.
- Budget: a complete breakdown of the plan's costs, tracked once the plan is running.
- Measure and update: compare marketing and sales costs with the revenue they generate.
A one-page version for a service business
The related answer on where to start with marketing gives the order in which to put the basics in place; this plan is the one-page record of what you have chosen.
| Line | What to write |
|---|---|
| Customer | Who hires you, and for which jobs. The related answer on finding your target customer covers this. |
| Area | The towns or neighborhoods you will travel to. |
| Why you | The reason customers pick you, in their words. The related answer on a unique selling proposition covers it. |
| Channels | Three or four, each with the inquiries and jobs it should bring in a month. |
| Budget | The money and the owner hours each channel gets. The related answer on setting a marketing budget covers how to choose them. |
| Who does what | The owner, staff and any outside help, by task. |
| Check date | A set day each month for a short look, and once a year for a full rewrite. |
Goals you can check
The SBA gives increasing sales by a certain percent as one common goal, and its example auto repair shop aims to serve at least a certain number of new customers each month. For a service business, as general advice, goals written as jobs won per month, by channel, are usually easier to check than reach or followers. To work out how many inquiries a goal needs, see the related answer on how many inquiries you need.
Keeping the plan alive
The SBA says to compare marketing and sales costs with the revenue they bring, aiming for a positive return on investment, and to be consistent in how you measure, noting that some tactics, such as print advertising or word-of-mouth campaigns, are hard to measure. In practice that means recording every inquiry with its channel (search, AI answer, social, referral, paid, email, campaign or direct) and following it to won, lost or still open. On the check date, change one thing at a time, so you can tell what made the difference. The related answer on whether your marketing is working lists the numbers worth reading.
Sources
Related answers
- Where should a small business start with marketing?
- How do you work out who your target customer is?
- What is a unique selling proposition, and does a service business need one?
- How should a small business decide how much to spend on marketing?
- How many inquiries does a small business need to hit its goals?
- How do you know if your marketing is working?
Lead generation and lead tracking
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