Planning is essential if you want to deliver effective marketing that drives real business growth. Without a clear plan, your activity will lack focus, and you’ll be more likely to engage in ‘random acts of marketing’ with little business value.
Our research has found that marketing planning is a constant challenge for UK SME leaders. They often struggle to know what a proper marketing plan should look like - or what distinguishes a good plan from a bad one.
We caught up with two of our Marketing Directors, Ian Webb and Anna Hutton-North, to discuss why people struggle with marketing planning and how to do it right.
Why UK SMEs struggle with marketing planning
The main challenge SMEs face is they often don’t have a well-defined business plan, which makes creating a marketing plan nearly impossible. If the business doesn’t know what it wants to do, how can marketing help it get there?
“Something I often see is that they have a revenue goal but little else,” Ian told us. “When you first meet the MD or the CEO, they go, 'I’m at six million and I want to be at ten million within 18 months.' But there’s no plan for how to get there. And that lack of a business plan is the first challenge.
“For instance, I recently worked with a firm whose MD wanted to grow from £20 million to £25 million in under two years. The marketing team was tasked with driving leads to achieve this,” Ian told us.
But there was an issue: the business didn’t have the capacity to take on more clients. The team was already working flat out at 100% capacity. “They had a target and a marketing plan, but the plan didn’t take into account the reality of their business at that time. Even if they got the leads, they couldn’t take on the work. In this case, the answer was to increase prices, which would enable them to increase revenue without increasing capacity on more work.”
By drilling into the business plan and analysing the reality of the business at that point in time, Ian was able to find a better marketing solution that would increase revenue without taking on more work.
Base your decisions on data - not hunches
Effective planning starts with a solid business plan. Once that’s in place, the next step is analysing internal and external data so you can make informed decisions about the right direction of travel.
“I was working recently with a property management company that were eager to expand internationally and wanted help to do this.” Anna took them through a process of market analysis and planning. This process highlighted that there was still ample room to expand domestically before needing to look overseas.
“Using data we were able to map out where we will need to recruit, where we need to build relationships with clients, and where we need to ramp up our marketing activities. This approach gives us a clear path for the next 24 months in the UK,” Anna told us.
In this case, the analysis also uncovered a massive opportunity that the client had overlooked.
“Sometimes the data you need is already there, but it’s buried,” she noted. “This client, for example, had a database of over 40,000 contacts they hadn’t engaged in years. They didn’t need new leads overseas—they needed to unlock the potential within their own reach.”
By re-engaging these lapsed contacts to target domestic opportunities, the company was able to grow much more cost-effectively than the original plan of overseas expansion.
Ian echoed the importance of aligning the business and marketing plans, citing his experience with a client. “The managing partner wanted more revenue, but when we broke down the numbers, it became clear they had limited ways to scale,” he explained.
“We mapped out each possible growth lever, from raising prices to adjusting sales volumes, to see what would have the most impact.” This exercise led the firm to focus on repositioning itself in the market to appear more professional, which would unlock a higher price point.
Focus on outcomes, not activity
A marketing plan shouldn’t be a list of activities. It should focus on the outcomes you’re looking to deliver.
“What’s often missing in these plans is a clear link to the outcomes they’re trying to drive,” Ian told us. “I see all the time these huge lists of activity. And I’ll ask, ‘Where’s this actually taking you? What are you hoping to achieve with it?’”
By shifting the focus from activities to outcomes, you’re switching from tactics (what shall we do?) to strategy (what do we want to achieve?).
“When you ask clients what they actually want to see happen,” Anna said, “They often struggle to articulate it. They’re clear about the actions, but not about the destination. So I usually go back and say, ‘OK, let’s get specific about what success really looks like here and work backwards from there.”
People often approach planning by starting from today and peering into the future. It can be more beneficial to do the opposite: start with the destination and then work backwards, detailing all the things you’d need to do to arrive at your goal.
Keep your plan simple
Your marketing plan doesn’t need to be long-winded or complex. Anna advocates for simplicity: “It doesn’t have to be a 100-page document. A clear, one-page visual map can often make the plan accessible and understandable for the entire team.”
For one client, she created a straightforward diagram that outlined their goals, target customers, and strategic milestones. “It made it easy to see the whole journey and align each department’s actions with the company’s goals,” Anna explained.
Ian agreed with the power of clarity and simplicity in planning, particularly for alignment across teams. He shared a similar approach he took with a client: “They had a stack of PowerPoint slides from their previous marketing director, full of detail, but no one could really see how it all fit together. I boiled it down to six slides—showing the key strategic goals and steps to get there. And with just that outline, the board was able to see exactly how marketing aligned with the business strategy.”
Ian emphasiszed the importance of keeping plans concise, so everyone can see where they’re headed and how they contribute. “Often, it’s the visual simplicity that brings people on board," he noted. "I’ve found that starting with a one-page sketch or a simple flowchart helps get buy-in from everyone on the team. Once you’ve got that, you can develop the details.”
A good marketing plan requires deep expertise
Many business owners feel overwhelmed by the complexities of marketing planning, especially when it comes to aligning your plan with long-term goals. Our directors can bring decades of experience to guide you through this process.
“The key skill of a Marketing Director is to build trust,” Ian explained. “Once we have that, we can work together to map out a plan that aligns with your business goals.” By building on trust and insight, our directors can help simplify complex challenges and give you a practical roadmap to grow your business.
Anna added, “We’re here to make marketing work for your specific needs, whether that’s through creative approaches, strategic realignment, or simply bringing clarity to complex goals.”
If you’re ready to take a strategic approach to marketing planning, our part-time Marketing Directors can provide the expertise and support you need to make it happen.
