Marketing Plan Template

Marketing Plan Template

[Company Name] Marketing Plan

20XX

Introduction/Goals

Start your plan off with a brief introduction including background on your company and your overall marketing goals for the year. In the introduction, you can highlight areas of your plan that you think are the most important or discuss particular opportunities, threats or market trends that will be significant in the coming year.

Competitive Analysis

Here you can state your overall observations of the competitive landscape and particular opportunities or threats within this landscape. Also mention any trends you have noticed competitors adopting. List out your top competitors.

SWOT Analysis

List out the specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within your market. If there are areas that are particularly notable that will be a prime area of focus, expand upon those areas in this introduction. You may also want to list out any environmental challenges as a separate list.

Strengths (Internal advantages, things the business is already doing well, the company’s competitive edge):

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Weaknesses (Internal inefficiencies, areas where the business is falling behind the competition or is lacking resources):

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Opportunities (External areas within the marketplace where the competition is weak and your business has potential. Use the PEST (political, economical, social, technological) analysis to cover all the bases):

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Threats (External areas where the competition is strong or there is a market trend with the potential to harm your business. Again, use the PEST analysis here):

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Target Market

In this section, give a synopsis of your buyer personas. You should discuss why these are your target buyers as well as the types of buyers you want to avoid. Remember, you can have as many buyer personas as you feel necessary.

Buying Cycle

In this section, you will discuss the buying cycle of your customers. Through your research, you should have discovered how, when, where and why they buy. This is crucial to your strategy, which you will also need to explain here. Discuss what your strategy is for converting leads through each phase of the buying cycle - awareness, consideration, decision (as coined by HubSpot).

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

This section is pretty straightforward. Explain your unique selling proposition and how you differ from the competition. You can also discuss how you will incorporate this USP into all your messaging to ensure it is communicated through your brand to the end buyer.

Brand

Discuss your brand and how it will be communicated as well as protected. Any changes or strategies you are hoping to develop around your brand should be included here. You should discuss how your brand is currently perceived in the marketplace and how you plan to ensure the brand stays strong, as well as how you plan to increase its visibility and recognition or repair a brand that has an image issue. You can also discuss PR here and how you plan to respond to any negative publicity or events.

Website

In this section, discuss how you plan to improve/optimize your current site or explain your plans for a new site, if that is your intention. You should mention why your website is so important and the role it plays in attracting and converting buyers. If you will need additional resources for your web plans list that here. You should also add how you will measure your efforts and what success will look like by listing goals around number of new web visitors, visitor to lead conversion rate, number of web leads, lead to sales conversion rate and number of website sales.

Content Marketing

In this section, discuss the important role content will play in your strategy. Explain how it will be used, who will be creating it and why it will improve search and attract buyers. You should discuss any changes from the previous year, list KPIs, explain how content will be distributed and outline your rough goals for the plan. If you will need additional resources, list those as well.

Social Media Marketing

Explain here how you will be either launching or maintaining social media channels. Include the strategies – how you will keep a consistent presence, build relationships, gain followers, get likes, etc. – and goals for each social media account, plus how you will keep your brand consistent across all accounts. Explain the role social will play in distributing content and bringing buyers back to the website.

Email Marketing

In this section, explain the role your email marketing will play. Explain your strategy, goals and KPIs along with any system changes (i.e. if you are using Exact Target but planning to switch to MailChimp). Explain the importance of measurement and testing in email marketing. You may also want to discuss how you will use personalization and segmentation and how email will be incorporated into your overall campaigns.

SEO

In this section, discuss your SEO strategy and its importance to your overall goals. You can discuss how it will be incorporated throughout your website, social media and content marketing efforts.

Measurement and KPIs

For inbound marketers, measurement is hugely important. Here, list out how and when you plan to measure your efforts, the KPIs you will use and what success ultimately looks like. Success should tie back to the business objectives and marketing goals.

Marketing Strategy and Tactics

In this section list your overarching strategy. Everything you have just written out is part of your strategy, but here you will recap it all in a brief synopsis. This is also a good place to explain how marketing and sales will work together. If you are focusing on certain tactics as a part of that strategy, list those here as well and explain each one briefly. It is often helpful to have 4 or 5 main tactical initiatives to focus on, which will help you reach the goals you listed out in the beginning of this plan. Examples: re-vamp the blog, build a microsite and improve SEO.

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Design a Salary Slip for Employees

Every year there is appraisal season in all companies and employees are rewarded for their hard work and good performances. Some people switch jobs for change in work profiles and higher pay packages. In either case you must pay attention to the compensation structure being offered. A higher package does not always mean that employee take-home salary will increase by the same margin.
If your current or prospective employer lets you decide the compensation structure, here are some tricks to make you pay more tax-efficient. Pay less taxes and take home more salary.

Salary Structure includes various components like:

1. Fixed Salary: This includes basic, DA, HRA, conveyance allowances, city compensatory allowance, special allowances etc.
2. Variable Salary: It includes performance based incentive, sale based incentive and profit based bonus.
3. Reimbursements: It includes reimbursement of conveyance, medical, telephone, etc.
4. Contributions: It includes the benefits offered by the company like Provident Fund, ESI, Statutory Bonus, etc.

Salary Structure on the basis of level of employee

1. Salary structure for a junior-level employee: Employees at the junior levels need a higher take-home salary. They try to add more fixed allowances in the salary structures such as food coupons, conveyance and telephone etc. These allowances are fixed and payable monthly to the employee. However, employees get taxed on these to a certain extent.
2. Salary structure for a senior-level employee: Here, the employee anyway comes in a higher tax bracket. The concern here is not only to maintain a higher take-home salary but also to reduce one’s tax burden. Hence, there is a need to add more benefits in the salary structures of employees at senior levels.

However, the aim for all the levels of employees is more allowances, less taxes and more take home salary.

Tax Impacts of the salary components 

1. Fixed Salary is that part of the salary which is fixed and is the basis on which other components of the salary are calculated.
   1. Basic Salary: Generally, it is 40% to 50% of CTC (Cost to Company). Basic salary is fully taxable. Statutory components like PF, bonus, gratuity and other benefits like LTA are calculated based on this amount. Hence increase or decrease in basic salary may impact CTC of employee.
   2. Dearness Allowance: Very few private companies use it as salary component. It is mostly given to government employees. This component is also fully taxable.
   3. HRA- House Rent Allowance: HRA is paid to employee to meet expenses against paying rent of a home. Normally companies keep it 40% to 50% of basic salary depending upon where you live. In case you stay in metro cities then HRA will be kept 50% of basic salary and in case you stay in non-metro cities then HRA will be 40% of basic salary. It is due to the fact that HRA is non-taxable salary component and its taxability depends upon where you live.
   4. Conveyance Allowance: Conveyance allowance is paid to employee against expense to commute between office and home. Conveyance allowance is non-taxable up to Rs 1600/- per month
   5. Special Allowance: This allowance component is mainly used to adjust rest of the amount which is to be given to an employee. It is fully taxable allowance.
2. Variable Salary: As the name implies variable salary varies depending upon the performance of an employee. Now a days, many companies are keeping this as part of their employee CTC. Earlier, only employees related to sales or profit making department used to have variable component in their salary but now even employee from support functions like HR, admin, QA, Training etc have variable components in their salary. Companies are not willing to pay more fixed but open to pay higher variable pay as variable is related to sales and profitability of organization. Company has no problem in paying money to employees if the company is making profits. This is the reason that fixed salary is decreasing and variable pay percentage is increasing day by day.
3. Other Allowances / Reimbursement: These are also taxable but can get tax deductions upon actual bills. This component is added to both junior- and senior-level employees’ salary structures, as it gives tax-free income and helps increase the net salary. Reimbursement is paid to employees against expenses made and bills submitted. Examples of reimbursement or allowances are;
   1. Medical Reimbursement: Medical reimbursement non-taxable up to 15000 per annum. Company may pay it monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually. Employees need to submit medical bills in support of medical expenses. Medical expenses bills for spouse, child and dependent parents are also acceptable.
   2. LTA – Leave Travel Allowance: Leave Travel Allowance or Leave Travel Concession (LTC) is paid for travel cost incurred by employee on travel. Every company has its own rule to decide on amount of LTA to be given to an employee. A company may prefer to keep it equal to monthly basic salary of employee or make it fixed depending upon grade and native place of employee. It is a non-taxable income to the extent bills of travel are submitted but there are some rules which should be kept in mind while taking benefit of LTA for tax.
   3. Training Reimbursement: It is provided to employee for expense incurred on professional training related to their job profile. Each employee needs to provide bills for same.
   4. Mobile/ Telephone Reimbursement: Mobile reimbursement is paid to employees against expense incurred for use of mobile / telephone for official purpose. Employees need to submit bill for same. Employer can fix an amount for such reimbursement. Such amount should be logical and linked with employee’s profile
   5. Books and Periodicals: This is paid to employee to reimburse expense made on purchase of books and periodicals related to their job profile. It is non-taxable if bills are submitted.
   6. Children Education Allowance: It is exempted from tax up to Rs 100 per month per child for two children.
   7. Children Hostel Allowance: It is paid to meet expenses for children’s hostel allowance. It is exempted from tax up to Rs 300 per month per child for two children.
   8. Uniform Allowance: It is fully exempted from income tax on actuals. Employee has to produce bills to claim the same. This allowance is given to meet the expenditure on the purchase and maintenance of office uniform or office formal wear worn while performing office duties. Generally all offices have dress code i.e. employee should be smartly dressed in formals. In this case, according to dress code of the office, an employee can claim uniform reimbursement for formal clothes purchased for office wear.
   9. Daily Allowance:If your normal place of duty is not fixed and you have to travel to different places, your employer can include daily allowance to meet ordinary daily charges incurred, if you are absent from normal place of duty. Reimbursement received is fully exempt from income tax against actual bills. It can be granted either on tour or period of journey in connection with transfer.
   10. Tour Allowance:Though there is no formal name for this but any allowance granted to meet the cost of travel on tour or being transferred from one place to another is called tour allowance. Reimbursement is fully exempted from income tax against actual expenditure incurred. It also includes cost towards moving your belongings to another city.
   11. Food coupons or Meal Pass: It is given to employees for meals during working hours. Rs 50/- per meal up to 2 meals per day is tax free.
4. Contributions: Contribution means contribution made by employer for employee’s long term saving schemes or social benefits scheme as per statutory compliance.
   1. Employee Provident Fund: It is the contribution made by employer (12% of Basic salary) against EPF. It is statutory obligation on part of the employer. Employee gets benefit of PF deduction (12% of basic) at his part under Section 80C of income tax.
   2. ESIC (Employee State Insurance Corporation): Employer needs to deposit 4.75% of gross salary of employee in case employee’s gross salary is less than 15000. Hence employer keeps it as part of Employee CTC.
   3. Statutory Bonus: It is statutory bonus which is paid to employees whose basic has been raised from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 21,000. Accordingly, the calculation ceiling has also been raised from Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 7,000. Even if the salary of the employee is more than Rs. 7,000, the bonus should be calculated on Rs. 7,000 only. Employer keeps it as part of CTC and is fully taxable.

Through intelligent tax planning, employees can also save tax by making investments that are tax deductible. Depending on the job profile and nature of job, one can discuss the things with his/her employer to include above mentioned allowances in their salary structure. It can help to reduce their tax outflow.

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