Set goals from order and pipeline targets, name the markets, accounts and buyers, write the position, choose a few channels, build a 12-month calendar with owners, set a budget from the goals, and review pipeline and orders by source every month.
Keep it to a few pages that sales and leadership will read.
1. Goals tied to orders
Start from the business: the revenue and orders needed next year, by product line and market. Work back to the pipeline that requires (quotes, trials, qualified inquiries), then to what marketing must contribute. Write goals in those terms: qualified inquiries by product line, quotes from new accounts, trials started. Traffic and followers are not goals.
2. Markets, accounts and buyers
Name who you are selling to, as specifically as you can:
- Markets: the industries and regions to grow in, and those to hold.
- Target accounts: a named list for the products where a few customers matter most.
- Buyers: for each market, who specifies, who approves and who buys, such as the client's engineers, quality and procurement.
- What they check: specifications, certifications, lead times, references and price.
3. Position
Write in a few sentences why a buyer in each market should choose you: a capability, a quality record, a lead time, a location, a service. Make each claim checkable, and test it with sales and with a few customers. Every page, campaign and proposal should repeat it.
4. Channels
Choose a few channels and do them well; add one only when the last one is working. In CMI's 2027 B2B research, 65% of marketers said they faced more pressure to produce content faster, and the top trust builders were useful, practical information, industry expertise and customer stories, so plan fewer, better pieces. Common channels for manufacturers:
- Website and search: product and application pages buyers find, with an inquiry route on each.
- Content: application stories, technical guides and case studies written with your engineers.
- LinkedIn: campaigns and posts aimed at named roles and accounts.
- Email: consented follow-up and a newsletter for customers and prospects.
- Distributors and partners: sales kits, training and co-marketing.
- Shows the company attends: the online campaign before and after.
5. A 12-month calendar with owners
Turn the plan into a calendar: each month, what will be published, launched or sent, for which market, and who owns it. Put fixed dates in first (product launches, shows the company attends, budget reviews), then content, campaigns and website work around them. Assign one owner per line, inside the company or at an agency.
6. Budget built from the goals
Build the budget from what the goals require (the pages, content, campaigns and tools in the calendar) and compare it with what the orders are worth; a percentage of revenue is a poor starting point. Hold back a part for testing a new channel, and move money each quarter toward what produces pipeline.
7. Search, content and AI answers
Buyers research before they call, increasingly through AI summaries: Pew Research Center found users clicked a result link on 8% of visits with an AI summary against 15% without. Google's helpful content guidance asks for first-hand expertise and clear authorship. So plan product and application pages that answer buyer questions plainly, written with your engineers and named. Follow up with consented email under the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide in the USA and CASL in Canada, and reach named roles through LinkedIn's ad targeting.
8. The numbers to review each month
Qualified inquiries, quotes, trials and orders by source and product line; pipeline value from new accounts; cost per qualified inquiry and per order by channel; and progress on the calendar. Review with sales monthly, and revise the plan each quarter.
What we do and do not do
PromotEdge International is an international strategy, technology, marketing and design company, and our delivery team is in India. We build marketing plans through our marketing strategy consulting service and run the website, content and campaigns behind them. We do no events or printing. Manufacturing clients we have worked for include AIA Engineering and Crescent Foundry. That work was for their business in India and was delivered by our team there. Our manufacturers page describes the work. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
Facts we rely on: see our company facts for what we state about ourselves and where each fact comes from.