Quarterly Marketing Plan for General Contracting

Locate the current year’s approved marketing strategy and objectives/KPIs sheet in your shared folder. Confirm you’re looking at the final, signed-off version (not an earlier draft). Keep it open for reference throughout planning.

Read through the annual objectives, key focus sectors, and major initiatives. Note which goals are already on track and which are lagging based on the most recent performance reports. Highlight areas where a stronger quarterly push is needed.

Check in with leadership and Business Development (or review recent ops/Business Development meeting notes) to understand any changes since the annual plan: major wins, losses, staffing changes, or shifts in target sectors. Capture anything that should influence the next 90 days of marketing.

List known constraints (e.g., big pursuits, heavy operations workload, vacations) and opportunities (e.g., local industry events, known RFQs, client budgeting cycles) that will affect what marketing can do this quarter. Be realistic about available time and attention.

Create a short written summary of what the quarter needs to accomplish in light of annual goals and current business context. Save it in the quarterly planning folder and use it as a reference as you design the plan.

Obtain the latest backlog/forecast reports from operations or finance showing awarded projects, start dates, and major milestones. Note which sectors and clients are driving most of the work and where gaps may appear in coming months.

In your CRM or pipeline tracker, review active and likely opportunities by sector, client, and stage. Identify critical pursuits that will need marketing support (presentations, materials, case studies) during the upcoming quarter.

Meet briefly with marketing team members and Business Development to understand their expected load from proposals and interviews. Ask about vacations, big pursuits, or other known demands that could reduce capacity for campaigns and brand work.

Based on backlog and pipeline, mark sectors or client types where you need more visibility or early-stage conversations. Also note areas where work is already strong and marketing can play a lighter role this quarter.

Write a short section in your quarterly planning notes summarizing capacity assumptions and where marketing needs to support pipeline the most. This becomes a guardrail when prioritizing initiatives.

Using the annual plan and your pipeline/backlog review, list the sectors and client types that could be important this quarter (e.g., medical office owners, industrial developers, property managers, higher-ed facilities). Include both “growth” and “protect” segments.

Within those sectors, name specific clients and pursuits that matter most in the next 90 days. Examples: “XYZ Health System ambulatory program,” “ABC Developer’s next spec warehouse,” or “repeat TI program for DEF Property Management.”

For each segment/client, assess how much impact marketing could realistically have this quarter and whether timing aligns with your planning window. Prioritize those where marketing support could meaningfully influence relationship strength or pursuit success.

Select a small set of segments and accounts as primary focus for the quarter. These will drive decisions about campaigns, content, and Business Development enablement. Mark other items as secondary to keep the plan manageable.

Document your chosen segments and accounts clearly (who, why they matter, what timeframe). Share this with Business Development and operations for validation during the alignment step.

Look at current performance against annual KPIs (e.g., inbound RFQs, shortlist rate, Business Development meetings, web leads). Identify which KPIs are lagging and could benefit from a stronger quarterly push.

Write specific quarterly objectives tied to both annual goals and your chosen focus segments. Example: “Schedule 8 meetings with target healthcare contacts,” “Generate 10 new website inquiries for interiors work,” or “Improve CRM data completeness for top 50 accounts.”

For each objective, choose KPIs that can be measured within 90 days (e.g., number of meetings held, new leads, email responses, event attendees). Set numeric targets that are challenging but realistic given past performance.

Check your draft targets against available team capacity and upcoming workload. Adjust objectives that would require more work than the team can reasonably deliver alongside proposals and interviews.

Create a simple “Quarterly Marketing Objectives & KPIs” sheet and save it in the quarterly folder. You’ll refer back to this during plan execution and mid-quarter reviews.

Review the annual initiatives list and highlight items that logically belong in this quarter based on timing, events, and focus sectors. Add any new ideas that have emerged from recent opportunities or Business Development requests.

For each candidate, quickly rate expected impact on quarterly objectives (high/medium/low) and required effort (high/medium/low). Consider both internal hours and external spend when scoring effort.

Choose a set of initiatives that collectively support your quarterly objectives and focus segments, within realistic capacity. Mark these as “Quarterly Priority Initiatives.” Move others to a backlog list for future quarters.

For each chosen initiative, write 2–3 bullet points describing scope and intended outcome (e.g., “two client visits + follow-up content,” “refresh 4 healthcare project profiles,” “host small roundtable with X owners”). This prevents scope creep later.

Add the selected initiatives, with brief scope, into your quarterly planning template. This will feed directly into the calendar and task breakdown.

Set up a simple sheet with weeks (or specific dates) across the top and rows for each initiative or major workstream. This becomes the visual framework for planning.

Based on logical timing and dependencies, place work for each initiative into particular weeks (e.g., Week 2 – draft content, Week 4 – send email, Week 8 – event). Avoid stacking high-effort work in already busy proposal weeks if you can.

For each initiative, list key tasks such as “build contact list,” “draft copy,” “design layout,” “coordinate with PM for case study details,” or “book event space.” Make sure tasks are small enough to be actionable and trackable.

Assign each task to a specific person (not a group) and give it a target completion date aligned with your weekly calendar. Enter tasks into your task/project management tool so they don’t live only on the planning sheet.

Scan the task list by person and by week to ensure no one is overloaded. Move or de-scope tasks if needed to keep the quarter realistic. Save the calendar and task plan in the quarterly folder as the working roadmap.

Invite the marketing team, Business Development lead, and a representative from operations (and anyone else who frequently partners with marketing). Share the draft quarterly plan and objectives at least a day before the meeting.

Walk through the quarterly objectives, focus segments/accounts, and the list of chosen initiatives. Explain why you chose them based on backlog, pipeline, and annual goals.

Show the high-level calendar so Business Development and ops can see when major campaigns, events, and support for pursuits are planned. Highlight weeks with heavy proposal or interview load and how marketing will handle them.

Ask directly whether anything important is missing or mis-timed from Business Development/ops’ perspective. Capture requests, concerns, and suggested changes. Distinguish between true must-have changes and nice-to-have ideas.

Summarize any changes you’ll make to objectives, initiatives, or timing. Confirm that Business Development and ops are aligned and know how they’ll be involved. Update the plan after the meeting to incorporate agreed revisions.

After the alignment meeting, update the objectives sheet, initiatives list, and calendar/task plan to reflect all approved adjustments. Double-check that tasks, owners, and dates still line up correctly.

Version the key documents (e.g., “Q2_Quarterly_Marketing_Plan_FINAL”) and store them in the quarterly folder. Limit editing permissions on final docs to prevent accidental changes.

Gather the marketing staff to walk through the final plan, focusing on who owns what and when major deliverables are due. Clarify how you’ll track progress (weekly meeting, task board, etc.).

Highlight which objectives and initiatives are non-negotiable for the quarter (e.g., support for specific key pursuits, critical content pieces). Make sure everyone understands where they should focus if conflicts arise.

Send a follow-up email summarizing the quarter’s objectives, key initiatives, and where to find the detailed plan and task list. Encourage team members to review their assigned tasks and raise questions early.

Take your quarterly objectives sheet and list each KPI alongside where its data will come from (CRM, Google Analytics, email platform, manual log, etc.). Confirm that these data sources are accessible and functioning.

Build a basic spreadsheet or dashboard with rows for each KPI and columns for weekly or monthly results. Include target values so you can visually compare actual vs. goal.

Decide whether you will use a Kanban board, project tool, or simple spreadsheet to track the status of each quarterly initiative. Set standard status labels (e.g., Not Started, In Progress, At Risk, Complete).

Before the quarter begins, test pulling data for each KPI to ensure you can get it quickly and consistently. Decide how often you’ll update (weekly or monthly) and put reminders on your calendar.

Show the marketing team where the KPI tracker and initiative board live and how they’ll be used in weekly check-ins. Make clear that these tools are for visibility and problem-solving, not blame.

Put a 45–60 minute review on the calendar around the halfway point of the quarter. Include the marketing team and Business Development lead at minimum; invite operations rep if appropriate.

Before the meeting, refresh KPI data and update the status of each initiative and major task. Note where you are ahead, on track, or behind versus plan.

In the meeting, walk through KPIs and initiatives. Ask the team to identify what’s working well and what is delayed or blocked. Document specific reasons (e.g., lack of content from PMs, more proposal work than expected).

Based on the discussion, agree on changes: de-scope or delay low-impact items, double-down on high-impact efforts, or reassign tasks to balance workload. Make sure changes are consistent with overall quarterly objectives.

Adjust the calendar, task lists, and tracking tools to reflect decisions from the review. Share a brief summary of what changed with marketing, Business Development, and anyone else affected so expectations stay aligned.