Digital marketing plan example

Use this example digital strategy structured around our RACE Planning framework to help create your own plan

How will this example digital plan help me and my business?

Smart Insights premium members using the planning templates in our Digital strategy toolkit asked us for examples of digital marketing plans to inspire them when creating their own plans based on the blank templates. So, we have created this example plan to help support the process when members create their own plans.

The example plan is a fictitious B2C retail company - Wow Accessories - an online fashion accessories site for women for which representative objectives and KPIs are given. If you work in B2B marketing, see our B2B digital marketing plan example.

It's available as a Microsoft Word download so you can edit it for your own plan if needed. Text is minimised since most managers don't have the time to read or write text. Instead it features a series of tables summarising the current situation and future strategies and actions. The example plan includes a:

One page summary table for digital strategy
Digital marketing-specific TOWs matrix summary
A summary KPI dashboard for RACE measures
A review prioritising targeting options
Actions for future investment and summary budget

Who is this example for?

The example is to support anyone creating a digital marketing plan. It is a consumer marketing plan, so will be most useful for B2C marketers. However, the structure may be useful for B2B marketers too.

How is the example plan structured?

The example is structured using objectives defined across the Smart Insights RACE Planning framework and a simplified version of PR Smith’s SOSTAC® marketing plan process. Sections broken down into smaller parts:

Opportunity – Review current business contribution of digital channels through refining dashboards and set future objectives based on an in-depth marketplace review.
Strategy – Define an overall digital channel strategy or specific strategy focused on customer acquisition (Reach), Conversion (Act and Convert) and customer retention and loyalty (long-term engagement).
Action – Details of specific tactics to implement the strategy such as planning and integrating content marketing, SEO, Social media and email marketing into marketing campaigns.

Resource Details

Authors: Annmarie Hanlon, consultant at Evonomie and Dr. Dave Chaffey
Format: Long-form 17-page example Word template and shorter, one-page strategy summary tables to amend for your business
Related resources: Word digital marketing strategy workbook structured around the Smart Insights RACE planning framework and Marketing plan examples in PR Smith’s SOSTAC® format.

About the authors

Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon is the Smart Insights expert commentator on online and offline marketing strategies for business. Annmarie is the MD of Evonomie and author of Quick Win Marketing, and co-author of Quick Win Digital Marketing. She runs social media workshops in the UK and Ireland and shares marketing tips and news in her blog, B2B Marketing. You can follow Annmarie on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.

Dr Dave Chaffey

Dave Chaffey Dave is co-CEO and co-founder of Smart Insights. He is editor of the 100 templates, e-books and courses in the digital marketing resource library created by our team of 25+ Digital Marketing experts. Our resources used by our premium members in more than 80 countries to Map, Plan and Manage their digital marketing.

For my full profile, or to connect on LinkedIn or other social networks, see the About Dave Chaffey profile page on Smart Insights. Dave is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing.