Your marketing plan

Start here - our simple guide to creating an effective marketing plan, why you need one, what information you need and what it needs to cover.

Use our marketing plan template to create a detailed marketing plan to help identify key marketing activities for your small business.

Successful marketing starts with a solid understanding of your customers, finances and opportunities. Our overview of marketing planning.

From describing your market and researching customers to preparing sales forecasts and budgets, learn how to create a marketing plan.

As they keep a tight hold on their purse strings, customers are looking for better products, services and value for money. How can you tempt them?

Creating a marketing plan can be challenging. Here Sara Drawwater explains how she developed a plan that worked for her design business.

How do you decide how much to spend on marketing and what happens if your business has to make cuts? Drayton Bird looks at marketing spend.

If you have to cut costs and economise, you'll need to work out how to cut the dead wood without damaging the healthy parts of your business.

Are you losing profit without realising it? Every business has leaks where revenue can disappear. But you have to spot them before you can mend them.

Leo Scott Smith was inspired by personal circumstances to develop an intelligent personal safety device - the world's first, in fact. He tells us more.

Marketing is vital for accountants and law firms that want to bring in new business. But what are the key principles for promoting professional firms?

Sales not what they should be? Shrinking market share? Your business might even be stuck in a rut. A relaunch can help, but what does it involve?

Five steps to forming strategic marketing collaborations with other businesses - one of the most cost-effective ways to reach new audiences.

Spotting a gap in the market is only part of the battle: taking it successfully to market presents a far bigger challenge. Find out how it's done.

Partnerships and alliances are good for business. Big firms have always known this but alliances can bring significant benefits for small firms too.

Profitable marketing for small businesses means identifying gaps in the market missed by mass providers. These FAQs can help you get it right.

Being small can give you an advantage, but sometimes appearing to be larger than you are is a wiser strategy. So how can a small business look bigger?

Marketing challenges for knowledge-based businesses are different from firms selling products. Here's how to spread the word about your business.

Ways to wrong-foot the competition: 10 strategies for your marketing action plan that will help you keep ahead of the competition