Meaning & use
marketing plan
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Meanings
nouncountablebusiness
A written document that sets out how a company will promote and sell a product or service.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a marketing plan' or 'marketing plans'.
Patterns
- draw up a marketing plan
- a marketing plan for something
- carry out a marketing plan
The startup wrote a one-page marketing plan before its first launch.
Our marketing plan for the new app focuses on social media and student discounts.
She presented the marketing plan to the board and they approved the budget.
nounsingularbusiness
The set of actions and targets a business uses to attract customers, seen as a whole.
Grammar: Often used with 'the' when talking about the overall approach rather than one document.
Patterns
- be part of the marketing plan
- fit into the marketing plan
Free delivery is part of the marketing plan for the holiday season.
If sales stay flat, the marketing plan may need a complete rethink.
Word forms
| plural | marketing plans |
|---|
Common combinations
- draw up a marketing plan
- We drew up a marketing plan in two workshops.
- a detailed marketing plan
- Investors asked for a detailed marketing plan.
- put a marketing plan into action
- They put the marketing plan into action in March.
- a marketing plan targets customers
- The marketing plan targets young families in cities.
- review the marketing plan
- The team reviews the marketing plan every quarter.
Synonyms and how they differ
- business plan
- A business plan is wider: it covers finance, staff and operations, while a marketing plan deals mainly with customers and promotion.
- strategy
- Strategy is the general long-term thinking; a marketing plan is the practical document that spells it out.
- campaign
- A campaign is one specific push with a start and end date, whereas a marketing plan can cover many campaigns over a year.
Word family
Commonly confused: marketing plan or market plan?
marketing plan vs market plan
'Market plan' is not the usual term; English speakers say 'marketing plan' for the document about promotion.
Practice
The company ______ a marketing plan before launching the new phone.
Choose one answer.
'Drew up' means prepared or wrote a document, which fits a plan. 'Drew on' means used something as a source, 'drew in' means attracted people, and 'drew out' means made something last longer or extracted it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “marketing plan”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.