As I’ve connected with hundreds of people from around the world about transitioning to modern marketing, many tell me they struggle with getting started. I created a free (no registration required) Marketing Strategy Planning Template to serve as a guide for how to implement strategies for reaching buyers directly.
Most of the implementation challenges that people describe involve the shift from focusing on products and services to the more effective approach of focusing on buyer personas and information that helps solve buyers’ problems.
A secondary challenge people share with me is the shift in emphasis from offline marketing techniques and programs (such as direct mail, trade shows, and advertising) to reaching buyers on the web.
More than a decade ago, I created the first version of the Marketing Strategy Planning Template with my friends Toby Jenkins and Adam Franklin of Australian web strategy firm Bluewire Media. We’ve revised many times over the years, and it is now in version 12.
More than a million people have downloaded or viewed various editions of the template.