The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) has many people worried about job security.
AI writing, AI images, AI videos – even if the end products are far from perfect, they still raise the question of which jobs AI could ultimately replace, even if we don’t want it to.
But if AI can create a marketing plan for me, I say, “Welcome to the team!”
A marketing plan is a fundamental part of any marketing strategy. It keeps companies organized and focused on their goals. However, with all the details to consider and capture, putting it together can be extremely time-consuming and tedious.
This is what I found out AI can help.
After years of research and putting together documents manually, I recently used AI to create a marketing plan to see what it could accomplish. Let’s break down the steps I took, how the plans turned out, and how you can replicate them.
Why use AI to create a marketing plan?
We at HubSpot probably sound like a broken record by now, but AI can help marketers work smarter, not harder.
Don’t get me wrong – plagiarism, bias, data uncertainty, and poor quality are all concerns when creating content with AI. But when it comes to planning and research? The tools can save a huge amount of time and money.
In fact, one of our recent studies found that 75% of marketers say AI and automation help them spend less time on manual tasks like research.
Like AI assistants ChatGPT, Geminiand even HubSpot’s Breeze Conduct research and optimization in real time.
The speed at which they can pull information from multiple data sources is simply unimaginable. Add in tasks like data analysis, calculations, and formatting, and it’s no wonder marketers report gaining back 12.5 hours weekly.
By using AI to create, or at least design, your marketing plan, you can spend less time and money planning and more time actually implementing it.
Now that we’re talking about spending less time planning, enough of that background information. Let’s get to the actual action.
How to create a marketing plan with AI
I tested two AI tools and approaches to create a marketing plan: a chatbot and a generator.
Below I’ll break down my process into specific steps and share my thoughts along the way, along with some tips I’ve learned along the way.
Creating a marketing plan with a chatbot
A few months ago, HubSpot’s Kieran Flanagan and CMO Kipp Bodnar used ChatGPT to create a marketing plan for the Marketing Against the Grain podcast.
I used this as a starting point.
As mentioned earlier, the quality you get from a chatbot or AI assistant like ChatGPT depends on the quality of your prompt. It’s like your creative brief.
You can’t talk to AI like a search engine with incomplete sentences and keywords.
Instead, you want to talk to him like you would another person. Give your chatbot the same detailed information you would give your intern or freelancer to complete a task.
Most of the steps described below focus on exactly this.
1. Summarize your business (e.g. your product, your company, your unique selling points).
To quote one of my favorite Bollywood films: “Who are you?”
Before the AI could develop my marketing plan, it had to know what marketing it was and who exactly my company was.
What I included: I followed Bodnar and Flanagan’s example and kept it simple, including as “head of marketing for a technology company that sells a SaaS product for sales teams.”
But that’s really the bare minimum a tool needs to know about your business to create a marketing plan. For best results, you should address the following:
- Your product/offer
- What makes it different (specific features, capabilities, etc.)
- Company mission
- Corporate values
Pro tip: You may even want to provide a SWOT analysis or competitive analysis so that the AI knows the full scope of your task. No information is too much.
For example, I borrowed this market information from Flanagan to include in my prompt:
“The market is becoming more and more crowded; There are many apps with similar functions. I also have to worry about the CRMs we integrate with developing the feature if they see it becoming more popular. This means I need to quickly scale demand and product to take advantage of the opportunity.”
2. Outline your business goals.
What is your marketing team working on? What is it trying to achieve? Document these goals so your AI tool knows what all of its suggestions need to work towards.
Use the SMART framework for goals – in other words, make sure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. This leaves less room for confusion about whether you’ve accomplished what you should.
For example, in the past I’ve seen clients try to set vague goals like “Increase my presence on TikTok.” But a SMART version might be: “Increase my TikTok followers by 30% by June.”
Do you notice the difference?
In the first case, “presence” could mean publishing more videos, gaining more followers, or even getting more views. The SMART version makes it clear that the focus is on the number of followers.
What I included: “The goal of the marketing plan is to acquire 5,000 new customers in the next 12 months.”
Pro tip: Factoring in your average conversion rates and buyer behavior can help AI better understand your sales cycle and determine which strategies are more effective for you.
For example, I added this line: “Assume the traffic-to-customer conversion rate is 5%, which means I need about 100,000 website visits.” “
3. Describe your target group.
Who is your buyer? Who does your marketing plan need to reach? The AI needs to know this information to ensure that its strategic suggestions are consistent.
You can share a complete buyer persona with your AI tool, but you’ll want to at least include the following in your prompt:
- Old
- Location
- Company, job title, industry (for B2B)
- Goals
- Personal challenges
- Pain points you solve
What I included: “Our target group is mainly sales employees of small and medium-sized companies. Their teams are usually small and have 2-4 reps total. They care about achieving their sales goals, prioritizing the right prospects, and optimizing their sales process. Our CRM offers automation and data enrichment tools to make this easier.”
4. Define your marketing budget.
This point is pretty simple: How much can your company spend on your marketing plan to achieve your goals? Defining your market budget in your prompt gives you the chatbot parameters to work with.
So, you know, it doesn’t mean running a Super Bowl commercial or recruiting Beyoncé as a celebrity ambassador.
What I recorded: “Our marketing budget is $10,000 per year. Cost-effectiveness is the top priority.” I added the second line to make it clear that while I can spend this total amount, I want to spread it across proven areas.
5. Set your schedule.
Like your budget, your schedule gives your chatbot further clues about which suggestions are plausible and which are not.
For example, if your timeline is only a month, it wouldn’t make sense to suggest focusing on SEO and blog articles as these can take months to take hold.
What I included: My “12 month” timeline was laid out in my goal and was used as a reference throughout my prompt.
6. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs).
How will you track and report your success? Some company stakeholders expect to see specific data. If so, your prompt is your chance to engage your chatbot with this expectation.
But if you don’t include them, it’s not a success or a failure.
Typically, KPIs are linked to your tactics and strategies. So if you wait to see what our marketing plan suggests for setting metrics, there’s no need to worry.
Pro tip: You can also ask the chatbot to suggest KPIs based on its suggested strategy.
What I included: I left KPIs out of my prompt so ChatGPT could focus on tactics and strategy.
7. Share examples and “extras.”
Are there any particular campaigns that you admire? How about marketing frameworks like StoryBrand or thought leaders like Ann Handley or Neil Patel?
Again, sharing these examples in your prompt with your chatbot will help it understand what you want from your marketing plan.
What I included: I added to my prompt: “I want your answers to be heavily influenced by marketing metrics:
- Seth Godin’s approach to branding
- Gary Vaynerchuk’s approach to social media marketing
- “Andy Crestodina’s approach to web and digital strategy”
You can also take the time to add what I call “extras” to your prompt.
For example, Flanagan made a point of telling ChatGPT that he didn’t want to see best practices. You can specify whether you want to include or exclude specific channels, or perhaps even global holidays.
8. Compile information in a prompt.
Once you have all the parts of steps 1 through 9, compile them in a command prompt. Make sure it is a conversation and that each sentence is short and precise.
9. Enter the prompt into a chatbot.
10. Review and refine.
Once you get your results (like mine below), you can use them as a first draft to elaborate on or ask for changes.
Flanagan asked ChatGPT to flesh out details of the proposed campaigns and tactics and make them more actionable. Remember, ChatGPT is like your intern or freelancer. Refine and clarify until the finished product meets your needs.
To be honest, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the results I got from my first request.
The answers were very similar to Flanagan and Bodnar, showing how general your results can be if you don’t provide specific details about your business.
But perhaps I could have discovered some unique gems if I had made follow requests like they did in the podcast episode.
What did I like about this AI marketing plan?
- The ideas are easy to browse through
- My examples and wishes were clearly taken into account
- The conversational nature of the chatbot made it easy to use.
What could be improved?
- The suggestions were fairly general
- Iterations are required to obtain more detailed and specific results
- Putting together the creative brief is very time-consuming
- The formatting is informal
Who is this best for?
Small to medium-sized marketing teams that need help brainstorming strategies, but don’t necessarily need anything innovative.
By the way, marketing plans aren’t the only thing ChatGPT can do with the right prompt.
Our free guide, “How to use ChatGPT at work,, discusses some of the most effective use cases and shares over 100 prompts you can use right away.
Marketing plan generator
After ChatGPT, I tried HubSpot’s AI-powered marketing plan generator.
Try our free marketing plan generator here.
Here I still needed all the information we discussed above, but this tool made the compilation process a lot easier and formatted it into a nice little document.
Instead of putting together a guide, I just had to ask a few questions. (I essentially copied and pasted the details from earlier.)
The tool then delivered a one-page document with an annual marketing plan and priority and strategy suggestions based on the goal I entered.
The document (shown in the image below) makes it easy to review the marketing plan at a glance and share it with teammates and stakeholders.
Pro tip: This AI marketing plan generator does a lot of the formal formatting for you, but the quality it delivers is only as good as the information you give it to develop.
Before using the generator, sit down and spell out the following:
- Marketing Mission Statement: This is what your marketing will focus on for the year.
- Strategy: What are you doing to achieve your goals?
- Marketing initiatives (e.g. brand awareness or building a high-quality pipeline)
- Target goals (e.g. generating 100 leads per week)
- Metrics
The tool will ask you about these things and it is better to consider them before inventing them at that moment.
What did I like about this AI marketing plan?
- Easy-to-skim one-page document
- With Form, you no longer need to know how to write a good prompt
What could be improved?
- More detailed strategy/suggestions
Who is this best suited for?
Companies that are time-poor or new to creating marketing plans and need a starting point. It’s also great for those who haven’t mastered the art of chatbot prompts. (I’m still working on that too.)
Final Verdict: Treat AI like a startup.
These are just two of the ways you can use AI to create a marketing plan. In fact, there are many other tools specifically tailored to this need. Regardless of what you choose, however, remember to treat all results as a first draft.
Artificial intelligence only knows as much about your company, your product and your target group as you tell it. It doesn’t have your team’s first-hand experience or knowledge.
So treat the results as a brainstorming tool and something you can further elaborate on.
Right now, AI can only give you a quick start; It can’t get you to the finish line.