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A business should regularly evaluate and update its marketing plan to remain competitive, relevant, and aligned with its goals and market conditions. 

While some companies only revisit their marketing strategy annually, there are certain circumstances that warrant a more immediate or frequent review.

“I think the big sign is that what you’re doing just doesn’t seem to be working anymore,” says Cecily Doyle, President of Blueprint Agencies, a Cambridge-based marketing agency. “All of sudden, you may have this influx of customers asking, ‘Why should I chose you?’. That’s a good time to start thinking about updating your marketing plan.”

Marketing strategies must be customer centric. If there is significant feedback—positive or negative—from customers, it can indicate the need to adjust messaging, product offerings, or communication channels.

Similarly, shifts in customer behaviour, such as a preference for online shopping over in-store visits or a move toward more eco-friendly brands, could require updates to the marketing approach.

As well, one of the most important reasons to update a marketing plan is when there is a shift in the company’s goals or strategic direction. This could include entering a new market, launching a new product or service, targeting a new customer segment, or transitioning from a B2B to a B2C model (or vice versa). The marketing strategy must align with these new objectives to effectively support the business’ overall mission.

Business practices may need review

“If your business has changed and your marketing plan has not, that’s definitely a good time to start looking and updating your plan,” advises Cecily, noting the first step could begin with an audit of your existing plan to determine what is working and what is not. “This can bring forward things that aren’t necessarily apparent to you. When you start to look at your brand you may realize things like, ‘We haven’t updated our logo in six years, and it doesn’t even reflect who we are a company anymore’.”

As well, she says working with a marketing agency and providing them with as much information possible surrounding your marketing plan can also spark a review of your business practices in general.

“You’re marketing plan could be great, but if a customer comes to your business after responding to your marketing and their experience is bad, that’s not going to result in a lot of repeat business,” says Cecily, adding other issues may need to be addressed.

“Is your website up to date? Is your staff knowledgeable and friendly? Is it simple to make a purchase or do you have barriers in place? Are your customer service standards high? If they’re not, then your marketing plan might not work because people are responding to the last experience they had with you, which was not good. All these things matter.”

She says while conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is often considered, it may not be warranted.

Markets can change quickly

“But you should make sure you have an accurate vision and idea of the environment around you,” says Cecily, adding the pandemic has shown how quickly the business environment can change within a few months. “You must be aware of how it shifts in your industry all the time. After COVID a lot of businesses failed, but the market also filled with small businesses since nobody is limited by geographical constraints like they were 10 years ago.”

Since markets change quickly, so must marketing plans. Businesses should review their strategies regularly—monthly or quarterly—to evaluate effectiveness, learn from results, and make data-driven adjustments.

However, during these adjustments businesses must avoid making potential missteps the most common of which, says Cecily, is being overly ambitious, especially when it comes to utilizing an assortment of social media channels.

“Inevitably, you can get burned out and instead of doing two posts a week now you’re doing no posts a week. You’re not marketing anything,” she says. “I often tell my clients, ‘You didn’t start your business to be posting on social media’.”

Cecily also recommends that businesses not always try to emulate others and instead follow their own paths.

“You may think, ‘Down the street they did this, and it worked for them, so know I’m going to do that’. That may not work for you,” she advises. “Make sure you’re staying rooted in what is true to your business and doing the things that you are good at.”

Factors a business should consider when developing a marketing plan:

Understand the business and marketing objectives

The first step in creating a marketing plan is understanding the overall business objectives. Clearly defined, measurable goals provide direction and make it easier to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

Conduct market research

Market research is essential to understand the industry landscape, customer preferences, competitive positioning, and current market trends.

Define the target audience

Knowing your audience is critical. Creating buyer personas—detailed profiles representing ideal customers—helps tailor marketing messages and choose the right channels for communication.

Budget allocation

A detailed marketing budget outlines how much will be spent on each marketing channel and initiative. It helps prioritize activities and ensure resources are allocated efficiently. Businesses should also plan for contingencies or test campaigns to see what works best.

Implementation timeline

An actionable timeline is essential for executing the marketing plan. It should include key milestones, campaign launch dates, review periods, and deadlines. This keeps the team accountable and ensures that activities are coordinated and executed on schedule.

Metrics and key performance indicators 

To determine whether the marketing plan is successful, businesses need to track performance. Key metrics may include website traffic, conversion rates, social media engagement, lead generation, sales growth, customer retention, and return on investment (ROI). 

Review and adjust

Markets change quickly, and so must marketing plans. Businesses should review their strategies regularly—monthly or quarterly—to evaluate effectiveness, learn from results, and make data-driven adjustments.