Coming from a marketing / PR background, I understand the importance of marketing plans, and consider them vital for any kind of business or independent professional. Yet as a freelancer, I can also understand the reluctance in writing a marketing plan that's too formal and detailed.
Some writers simply don't know where to start or how to plan their yearly marketing strategies. Others don't know how to write a marketing plan, and figure it's going to take too long to learn or to write it. Still others just don't care.
For those of you in the first two groups at least, I have a resource that might help you out. It's a one page marketing plan I created for my business blog a while back. Visit the link for a downloadable .pdf file you can print and use as well as instructions on what each section is for.
I created this template at first for things like individual information products I was developing, but it also works for freelance careers, websites, blogs, and small businesses. If you want to get a better handle on the marketing of your services, but don't want to go the route of writing a full-fledged marketing plan for your freelance career, I hope it helps you out.
For those of you who do already have a marketing plan in place for your freelance writing, what format, length, etc. did you go with, and why? Did you write it yourself, or did you hire a marketing pro to write your marketing plan? Do you have a favorite marketing plan template? Favorite marketing plan software other freelance writers might benefit from? I'd love to hear how other writers are planning the marketing of their work.