Marketing Glossary / B2B Marketing Plan
How to write a B2B marketing plan
At some point in their careers, all B2B marketers play a role in either writing or providing input into a marketing plan. After all, the B2B marketing team’s success is measured by how well they can develop and execute strategies to build brand awareness, attract qualified sales leads, and convert new customers to meet their sales team’s revenue goals and objectives.
This guide explains what a B2B marketing plan is and why creating one is essential to set teams up for success. We’ll also dive deep into a B2B marketing plan example and how to develop strategies to achieve measurable results. Additionally, we’ll combine traditional approaches and innovative techniques with a downloadable B2B marketing plan template.
What is a marketing plan?
Marketing plan vs marketing strategy
A B2B marketing strategy is a high-level document outlining the “what” and “why” of the team’s long-term goals for growing the sales organization’s customer base, profits, and revenue share.
The B2B marketing strategy outlines key target customers and/or buyer personas, the brand’s biggest competitors, and the company’s current marketplace positioning. It should also cover the brand’s value proposition, voice, and key messaging – all of which can be revised based on macro-level needs and market shifts.
Parts of the strategy are often included in the B2B marketing plan. When done correctly, B2B marketing plans help marketers create demand, and establish credibility and trust with target buyers to generate new sales leads and win new customers
B2B marketing plans explain “how,” “when,” and “who” on the team will take tactical steps to achieve the marketing strategy over a set period (e.g., quarterly or annually). It is broken down by specific tactics, budgets, timelines, media channels, key performance indicators (to track and measure success), and team roles and responsibilities. The marketing plan will also be reviewed and adjusted based on new sales team targets and goals.
B2B vs B2C marketing plans
Business-to-business (B2B) behaviors are more complicated, and buying journeys are much longer than business-to-consumer (B2C) purchases (e.g., for household goods or retail). B2B buying budgets tend to be much larger than B2C purchases, as well, and can involve up to eight internal stakeholders – from junior team members to procurement specialists and senior executives within large organizations.
Therefore, B2B marketing channels and tactics will aim to attract and inform sales prospects – where and when they are researching new business solutions. It can be done online via B2B social networks, email, online trade media publications, or live-streaming events and webinars. Or offline at tradeshows, in trade magazines, and using direct mail. Key messaging might include value propositions such as “Grow your sales revenue by X% year-over-year,” or “2X your newsletter subscribers in 30 days.”
B2C marketing plans, on the other hand, tend to target individual consumers with smaller-priced items, using scarcity (e.g., “Limited-time only”) or product differentiation tactics (e.g., “Absorbs 2X more water than competitors”). B2C marketers, therefore, might promote a “Flash sale today only” message via offline channels like TV and radio ads. Or, promote “50% off” messages online through banner ads, social media, and email – directing customers to an ecommerce or retail store.
Components of a B2B marketing plan
Executive summary
The executive summary is a brief opening statement highlighting the strategies addressed in the B2B marketing plan. It includes a description of the target market, challenges in the industry and business landscape, and competitive strategies that influence the plan. The executive summary also describes the B2B marketing tactics the team will use to attract new customers and win market share from the competition, and the overall budget required to do so. A best practice is to write the executive summary after completing all other crucial B2B marketing plan elements.
Mission statement
This section includes a brief outline of the company’s mission and vision for servicing its customers and positioning the brand in the current business landscape. It is often taken from the company’s B2B marketing strategy, which we described earlier.
For example, LinkedIn’s mission statement is to: “Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce, and connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful.” The mission statement should roll into the overall marketing plan, campaign messaging, and tactics.
Marketing goals and objectives
Strategic sales revenue targets for the quarter or year will influence the B2B marketing plan objectives. Many B2B marketers use the SMART framework to define and analyze how well they are meeting their goals and objectives. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.
A sample B2B marketing team’s targets and objectives might include the following:
SWOT analysis
This section outlines key competitors and where the sales organization can improve its strategy by summarizing their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats or SWOT. This analysis is formatted as a square table with four cells — one for each of the four items to analyze.
Some organizations will do a SWOT analysis for each competitor and one for their organization. Others will just do one for the organization – comparing it to all competitors. The level of detail in the SWOT depends on the organization's size, industry size, number of competitors, and marketing budget.
Market research and target audience segments
Below are key market research insights to include in a B2B marketing plan. B2B marketers can often pull this information in from their marketing strategy document (if they already have one).
Target audience segments or buyer personas
Marketers should include critical market research and insights about their top buyer personas. Essentially, these are the ideal customer profile (ICP) of each target audience segment (e.g., procurement specialists, marketing managers, IT specialists, and CIOs).
B2B marketers can complete these profiles or personas using insights from customer surveys, in-person interviews, and third-party industry research. Then, outline:
Who target customers or segments are on a demographic level (e.g., their age range, income level, geographic region, and marital status)?
What is their role within their organization (e.g., job title, responsibilities, and decision-making power or influence)?
How satisfied are they with their existing solution (if they are a current client or a competitor’s client)? Also, how do they perceive this product compared to competitive solutions on the market?
What made them choose their or a competitor’s product and brand?
What are their biggest business challenges related to the product or service in question?
What are their specific business interests (e.g., trade organization memberships, other LinkedIn group memberships, and professional goals or career aspirations)?
What is their product purchase budget or range?
Target B2B buyer’s journey
B2B marketers can then use artificial intelligence, website analytics data, and campaign reporting metrics to illustrate the online buyer’s journey and target audience behaviors.
This is often referred to as a “customer journey map,” which is a visual representation of key steps customers take to achieve a need. It explains how and where (e.g., online and offline channels) they research solutions to help them make an informed purchase decision.
The journey map can inform B2B marketing channel selections for media plans to reach, engage, and attract prospects at every touchpoint along their journey.
Journey maps consider the nonlinear nature of today's customer decision-making process, rather than the traditional linear funnel process. It is understood that buyers, in actuality, loop back and forth between customer journey steps while:
Identifying their business challenge or need
Exploring solutions
Discovering helpful content and information
Gathering vendor requirements and consensus internally
Getting recommendations from executives and colleagues before selecting a vendor
Marketing channels and media mix strategies
Selecting a B2B marketing channel mix
The preferred channels marketers use in their plan depend on where target customers spend the most time researching products and services. B2B marketers can use the data in the previous section to inform these choices.
Keep in mind, a recent Sagefrog Marketing Mix Report reveals “37% of B2B marketers plan to invest more in digital marketing” as part of their future mix, and “34% are increasing their social media marketing” budgets.
Furthermore, a June 2023 LinkedIn and Ipsos “B2B Marketing Benchmark Study” revealed CMOs are increasing digital advertising investments in lead generation, brand awareness, demand generation, and account-based marketing (ABM). Likewise, 71% of B2B marketers will invest more in acquiring new customers than retaining existing ones.
Budget breakdown
B2B marketers can use a spreadsheet or graph to demonstrate how they’ll allocate budgets to each marketing channel in their plan. Below is a sample B2B marketing budget spreadsheet illustration.
Allocating funds across different channels
After B2B marketers select their preferred marketing channels and tactics for objectives like building brand awareness, attracting and qualifying new sales leads, and converting online customers, they should decide how much budget to allocate to each one. In general, businesses will invest roughly 10% of their overall budgets into marketing initiatives for long-term growth.
Funnel.io recommends the “70-20-10 rule” which implies that 70% of the marketing budget should go to already proven channels and methods of achieving marketing objectives. The next 20% is for channels that teams may not have tried in the past, but there is market and competitive research to suggest that they will work. The last 10% of the budget can go to experimental channels and tactics, allowing marketing teams to test out their hunches and see what might work in the future.
Measuring the ROI of each channel
Once B2B marketing plans are approved and key tactics and campaigns are running, marketers must calculate the return on investment (ROI) of each channel to adjust budgets based on their performance.
ROI evaluates a business's net income or profit in relation to its marketing investment. It is a simple equation. However, marketers must first collect all of the relevant data points. These data points include the net amount the company earned in profit from a financial or strategic investment, and the total investment amount.
To calculate ROI, use the following equation:
To be clear, net profit = The total sales earned minus the total amount invested.
Let’s suppose a B2B marketing team invests $50,000 in social media marketing in the first quarter of their fiscal year. If the company earns $200,000 in net profit directly from its social campaigns in the period, the ROI would be 400%, which is a significant outcome. Marketers would likely continue to invest in social media and consider allocating more budget towards it in the next three quarters – taking budgets away from underperforming ROI channels.
LinkedIn’s downloadable B2B marketing plan playbook will help teams develop a comprehensive plan and strategy to define goals, and measure KPIs. We’ll explain how to set and measure KPIs shortly.
How to develop a B2B online marketing strategy
Step 1: Select paid digital advertising initiatives
Let’s start by discussing potential digital advertising initiatives.
Lead generation (or lead gen)
Lead generation advertising aims to attract prospective customers and entice them to provide their contact information via a lead gen form or landing page. Refer to LinkedIn’s lead generation guide to learn more about this type of advertising.
Brand awareness
Brand advertising aims to build awareness of products and services, along with brand favorability and recall – so the business is top of mind when customers are in-market to make a purchase. Review LinkedIn’s brand awareness advertising guide to gain insights into brand building and awareness.
Demand generation
Demand generation works in conjunction with brand awareness campaigns to position a product or service in its marketplace and build trust and credibility with prospective buyers. It also helps to create more demand and interest in a product or service – so customers include it in their list of considerations when choosing the best solution for their business. LinkedIn’s demand generation guide outlines this type of digital advertising in more detail.
Account-based marketing (ABM)
ABM advertising helps marketers zero in on highly-valued target accounts and contacts they’d like to upsell, cross-sell, retarget, and retain or win back through personalized campaigns. It allows B2B marketers to upload spreadsheets containing the names of specific accounts and users they’d like to reach – often making campaigns more efficient and targeted than other inbound marketing efforts.
Step 2: Plan social and owned media efforts
B2B social media marketing consists of paid advertising and owned media efforts, which include storytelling and customer engagement via owned (e.g., websites and blogs) and branded social network channels.
Paid social media advertising
Paid social media ads on sites like LinkedIn can come in many formats, from text to dynamic ads and video. Sponsored content and native ads also allow marketers to promote their content on social media channels and sponsor content explicitly created for the brand. Paid advertising or sponsored media campaigns often complement owned content and social media efforts.
Social or earned media strategies
Owned social media strategies require marketers to attract leads and grow brand awareness through hosted content on video channels and branded social media channel posts. Many B2B marketers integrate public relations (PR) strategies (or earned media) with owned social media efforts to incorporate influencer and traditional media outreach that helps to boost overall engagement and brand awareness online.
These owned and earned social media efforts are also supported by a B2B content marketing strategy, which we’ll discuss next.
Step 3: Outline content marketing strategy
Content marketing is an essential inbound marketing strategy that helps B2B brands attract customers and generate new leads through earned media tactics. The goal is to generate new leads and spark prospective buyer interest by providing helpful and educational content that allows new and existing customers excel in their jobs and industry.
Below are essential content marketing types to consider.
Branded content
Branded content helps B2B marketers build brand awareness and promote a new product or service via blogs, websites, live-streaming events, videos, infographics, social media, and sponsored post ads or native ads.
Editorial content
This thought leadership content typically lives on a company blog, social company page, or video channel. It aims to educate and engage target customers in meaningful discussions around industry trends, topics, and research insights. Ebooks, webinars, and whitepapers are also considered editorial and educational in nature.
Product content
Product-focused content helps to educate customers about new product launches or best practices. It is less promotional than branded content and provides tips and tools for getting the most out of new product or service features and benefits. It also helps users maximize product use to grow their business or excel in their jobs. This content might live alongside editorial content on a blog, LinkedIn company page, or video channel.
Talent content
Many businesses create blogs, videos, social media posts, and web pages to attract top talent to a company and convince them why they are the best career choice. It typically has its own place on a company website or social media profile.
Performance-based content
The content types described above can be prioritized as performance-based content, which is heavily tracked and optimized to drive high traffic volumes to the website or blog via SEO and paid ads. The goal is to attract new sales leads, conversions, or new buyer acquisitions.
B2B marketers will typically use a mix of all five types of content to engage with new and existing customers, promote new products and services, and to drive traffic, leads, and conversions via their earned online media channel mix.
Step 4: Integrate content with search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is essential to a B2B marketing strategy supported by content marketing, social media, and other digital marketing tactics. Most B2B organizations rely heavily on organic search engine traffic to drive new visitors, leads, and sales through their websites.
Step 5: Nurture leads and retain customers with email marketing
Finally, many B2B marketers invest heavily in email marketing to nurture sales leads through the funnel and increase online conversions through newsletters and promotional emails. Some will even use email Message Ads on sites like LinkedIn for lead generation, raising brand awareness, and upselling or cross-selling to existing customers.
With the help of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, B2B marketers can personalize those messages using real-time, first-party data and insights about their ideal customer personas. This relationship intelligence tool lets them send unlimited InMail messages to as many prospects as possible.
Executing, tracking, and optimizing B2B marketing plans
Step 1: Set KPIs and review performance metrics
B2B marketers typically define key performance indicators (KPIs) for their campaigns and strategies that support the marketing objectives outlined in the plan. They will then track their targeted KPIs for each digital marketing strategy or initiative.
B2B marketers often use the SMART method, mentioned earlier, for developing KPIs. Essentially, it is important that KPIs are easy to understand, track, and attain in a specified time period. These metrics should also align with the sales team’s KPIs, goals, and objectives, making them relevant for the overall organization.
Possible B2B marketing KPIs for various marketing objectives and strategies might include the following:
- Helping to boost overall company sales revenue and/or the return on investment (ROI) by X% quarterly or annually.
- Attracting and growing marketing-qualified sales leads X% quarterly or annually.
- Boosting website conversion rates (CVR) (e.g., for ecommerce sales, software subscriptions and downloads, or enewsletter signups) by X% quarterly or annually.
- Increasing year-over-year brand awareness and favorability metrics by X% quarterly or annually.
Marketers can also go more granular and set KPIs for each channel or tactic. Those KPIs might involve the following:
- Boosting social media engagement and positive customer sentiment by X% quarterly or annually.
- Increasing email open rates and click-throughs to the website by X% quarterly or annually.
- Growing sales revenue or leads through digital advertising channels by X% quarterly or annually.
- Lowering customer acquisition costs (CAC) by X% annually or quarterly.
B2B marketers can set up and track each digital channel’s performance for KPI metrics using web analytics, email marketing software, and ad campaign monitoring tools like LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Refer to LinkedIn’s definitions page to review standard digital ad performance metrics to track and monitor. Also, consider using 3rd party tracking platforms, such as Moat. LinkedIn’s guide helps marketers learn more about third-party ad tracking.
Step 2: Analyze content marketing and social media ad engagement
To determine success, B2B marketers running sponsored content or paid ad campaigns on social networks should measure target audience engagement (e.g., likes, shares, and comments), indicating positive audience reactions. Review LinkedIn’s engagement tracking overview page to learn about social media ad success metrics, including what to measure when a targeted campaign goes viral.
Step 3: Optimize marketing channel strategies for better results
Marketers can install an Insight Tag to track sponsored content, LinkedIn Message Ads, and other digital ad leads and conversions on their websites. They can also use demographic reporting to track their audience segments at the account, campaign group, campaign, and ad level in LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Marketers can optimize campaigns based on critical audiences that resonated with lead generation or conversion-based ads.
Additionally, B2B marketers can run test campaigns to see which ad formats or creatives generated the highest results, building on past results to optimize future campaigns.
