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90-day marketing plan and budget

We write a plan for the next quarter that says what you will spend, on which channels, who does each task and how you will judge the result. It is a defined project with a fixed scope, and it is yours to keep.

Written by Ali Sedighi, MBALast updated:

A 90-day marketing plan is a short, written document that turns "we should do more marketing" into specific decisions: what to spend, where, in what order, who is responsible and how you will know it worked. We build it with you as a defined project, and you can use it with us, with your current vendors or on your own.

What the plan contains

Every plan we write has the same seven parts, so it can be checked and handed to anyone.

  1. The goal. One sales outcome for the quarter, stated as a number: new customers, booked jobs, signed contracts or revenue from a service line.
  2. The baseline. What you spent and what you got last year or last quarter, with honest notes on what is missing.
  3. The audience. Who buys, why they buy and what they compare you against.
  4. Two or three priorities. The few moves that matter most, and an explicit list of things you will not do this quarter.
  5. The budget. Spend by channel and by month, with a reserve for whatever proves itself.
  6. Owners and dates. Every task has a name and a deadline beside it.
  7. The measures. The handful of numbers that will go on your monthly scorecard.

A worked budget example

Budgets should start from the customer, not from a percentage someone read online. Here is the method with sample numbers you can replace with your own.

Say an average new customer is worth $3,000 in gross profit over the first year, and you want 20 more new customers this quarter.

  • Affordable cost per customer. If you are willing to spend a third of first-year gross profit to win a customer, that's $1,000 each.
  • Quarter budget ceiling. 20 customers × $1,000 = $20,000 for the quarter, or about $6,700 a month.
  • Funnel check. If roughly one in four qualified enquiries becomes a customer, you need about 80 qualified enquiries, so the budget must buy enquiries at $250 or less each.
  • Split. Put most of the money into the channels with proven history, and hold back 15–20% for a test you can stop quickly if it doesn't perform.

If the maths says the goal is unaffordable, that is a useful finding. It usually points at pricing, conversion or follow-up, which marketing operations can fix, rather than at spending more.

Who it is for

The plan suits three kinds of owner:

  • those spending on marketing with no written plan, who want to know whether the money is pointed in the right direction
  • those launching something new, such as a location, a service or a move into another province
  • those who want to see how we think before agreeing to ongoing fractional CMO leadership

Timeline

A typical single-location plan takes three to four weeks from first call to final document:

  • Week 1: discovery call, access to your numbers, review of past campaigns and current vendors
  • Week 2: conversations with the people who answer enquiries and close sales
  • Week 3: draft plan and budget, reviewed with you on a call
  • Week 4: final plan, task list and scorecard template

Multi-location businesses take longer, because each location needs its own baseline.

How we measure whether the plan worked

At the end of the quarter, the plan is judged against its own goal. We compare customers won, cost per customer and spend against budget, and write down which assumptions held and which didn't. That review becomes the first page of the next plan.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Planning by channel instead of by goal. "Do more Instagram" is not a plan. Start with the sales outcome.
  • No list of what you will stop. Every new priority needs time and money taken from somewhere.
  • Budgets with no reserve. Without a test budget, you never discover a better channel.
  • A plan nobody owns. If a task has no name next to it, it won't happen.
  • Ignoring capacity. Doubling enquiries is pointless if nobody can answer the phone. Check your sales and delivery capacity first.

As proof that a well-run first quarter can move numbers, BCWide.ca reached 3× leads in 90 days. That's a result from our HVAC work, not a promise for your sector. See pricing for project rates and the guides for more on planning.

Frequently asked questions

Why 90 days rather than a full-year plan?

A quarter is long enough to collect real evidence and short enough that a wrong assumption is cheap to correct. We sketch the year at a high level, then plan the next 90 days in detail.

What does the plan cost?

It is priced as a project. Projects run $3,500 to $25,000 depending on scope, with milestone payments. Most single-location plans sit toward the lower end; multi-location or multi-brand plans take more work.

Can our existing agency carry out the plan?

Yes. The plan is written so that whoever does the work, whether that is your agency, a freelancer or an in-house person, knows exactly what is expected and by when.

What if we have never tracked marketing results?

Then the first month of the plan includes setting up basic tracking. We use whatever figures you have, even rough ones, as the starting baseline.