Crafting a strategic marketing plan is crucial for any Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). This step-by-step guide, complemented by our downloadable tools, will help you create a clear and prioritized Marketing Action Plan (MAP) to guide long-range marketing efforts and inform short-term decisions.
Read time: 3 minutes
A step-by-step guide for building a strategic marketing plan for your DMO
There is no effort more important to guiding the marketing of a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) than a clear, prioritized strategic marketing plan. Proper planning will provide a clear path for staff and can be strategically communicated to stakeholders for holistic success. It also answers the way too common marketing question “where do we start?” However, what I hear most often is that organizations don’t know how to build a strategic marketing plan. My hope is that you can conquer this challenge by using this workbook as a step-by-step guide to putting a Marketing Action Plan (MAP) to work for your DMO. And that your MAP will provide a clear path to achieve the mission and goals of your DMO. Meant to guide long-range marketing efforts, a MAP should be reviewed and updated annually. Employed to inform short-range marketing decisions, a MAP should be referenced periodically throughout the year to prioritize and shape marketing efforts as new market offerings and dynamics emerge or new marketing trends present.
- First, explore how a Marketing Action Plan is structured.
- Next, download the MAP Workbook (PDF) and MAP Worksheet (Excel Spreadsheet).
- Last, download the one-page MAP Cheat Sheet (PDF) for quick reference and tips.
Together, these three tools will help you create a strategic marketing plan what will have a major impact on your destination’s marketing efforts.