UPDATED Jan 11, 2011: See How to Develop an Online Marketing Strategy Using the 7-Sentence Marketing Plan.

Based on Guerrilla Consulting’s 7 Sentence Marketing Plan, I have been thinking about how the 7 Sentences can be modified for online marketing plans.

Free download Sample Marketing Plan & Roadmap from includes the 7-Sentence Marketing Plan.

At the BookNet Canada session “Defining Success: Accountable Online Marketing for Book Publishing”, I was asked about how I start creating an online marketing plan and if I think about the tools first.

I always have the tools in mind (Twitter, Facebook, Delicious), but I start with the 7 Sentence Plan, which really is about the business goals.

1. The purpose of the marketing plan is [specific, measurable goal here].

2. The target audience is [Who does this campaign need to reach? Where are they online?].

3. The niche in the marketplace is [What’s special about this book, how is it different, what are its benefits, competitive advantages?].

4. My identity is [Who and how are we representing ourselves online? Is the author blogging and commenting and the publicist doing the research? Is the publicist representing the author and the house? Are we using our Facebook profile, website, blog?].

5. Our tactics and strategies are [list here the tools, based on what’s going to work best for the target audience].

6. We will devote [percentage or amount of time, people, money] to this project.

7. We are measuring [specific, measurable goals here] and we understand the value of our goal conversions to be [enter values here].

Couple of competitive tools I mentioned:
* MarketLeap.com
* Compete.com
* Google Insights Search