A Quick Guide to Building a Simple Marketing Plan

If you’re a small business owner, you’ve probably felt the pressure of needing a marketing plan but not having the time—or the budget—to create one. The truth is, you don’t need a 40-page strategy or a big team to get results. With a focused approach and the right priorities, you can start building momentum today.

Here’s a straightforward, step-by-step framework you can use to create your simple marketing plan.

Every strong marketing plan starts with a clear, simple brainstorming session.

Step 1: Define Your Goal

Ask yourself: What do I want to achieve in the next 3–6 months? It could be:

• Driving more foot traffic

• Getting 50 new email subscribers

• Increasing bookings by 20% The clearer your goal, the easier the rest of the plan becomes.
  

Relatable experience:When I worked with a Canadian fintech startup, we set one clear goal: increase newsletter sign-ups. Instead of spreading ourselves thin, we focused on creating lead magnets and clear sign-up CTAs. Within three months, the list grew by 23%, simply by staying focused.

Define your audience: at CoinField, we split users into investors and traders to deliver the right message to each group.

Step 2: Identify Your Audience

Think about your ideal customer:

• Who are they?

• Where do they spend time (online or offline)?

• What problems do they need solved?
  

Don’t overcomplicate this—write down three sentences that describe your customer.

Relatable experience: At CoinField, an international crypto exchange, we segmented users into investors and traders. This helped us tailor two distinct campaigns without doubling the workload—each group got the messages most relevant to them.

Focus on 2–3 channels where your audience already is.

Step 3: Choose 2–3 Channels That Work Hard

You don’t need to be everywhere. Focus where your audience already is.

• Email newsletters: still one of the highest ROI tools.

• Social media: pick one platform and do it well.

• Local presence: events, partnerships, or even a poster in the right café can outperform online ads.
  

A simple, consistent content plan beats trying to do it all.

Relatable experience: While at ICEEFT, we didn’t have a large budget. Instead of trying to advertise everywhere, we focused on email campaigns and one key social channel (Facebook). That choice alone doubled our event registrations with minimal spend.

Step 4: Create Simple, Repeatable Content

Don’t reinvent the wheel each week. Instead:

• Repurpose: turn one blog post into three social posts and an email.

• Recycle: use testimonials, reviews, or FAQs as content.

• Template: use Canva for consistent, quick visuals.
  

Relatable experience: With Sologenic, I led the launch of GoSolo TV on YouTube. We didn’t have a huge content team, so we repurposed interviews into multiple formats: blog snippets, social teasers, and newsletters. That extended the life of each piece without extra costs.

Step 5: Track One Key Metric

Pick one number that connects back to your goal.

• Want more sales? Track conversions.

• Want awareness? Track reach or foot traffic.

• Want loyalty? Track repeat customers or email open rates.
  

Relatable experience: When I led marketing for CoinField, we focused on a single metric per campaign—new user sign-ups. Tracking only that number allowed us to quickly identify which email sequences and social posts were most effective, streamlining our efforts and improving ROI without adding extra work.

The Takeaway for a Simple Marketing Plan

A marketing plan doesn’t need to be big, expensive, or complicated. With a clear goal, a simple audience profile, 2–3 effective channels, repeatable content, and one success metric, you’ll have a working plan you can stick to—and improve over time.

If you’d like help putting together a lightweight plan for your business, I’d be happy to walk you through the process. It’s something I’ve done for organizations big and small, from startups to nonprofits, and I know how to keep it practical.

Ready to simplify your marketing? Contact me here for a consultation.