Marketing is a mess right now. Honestly, if you look at most small business owners, they’re drowning in "shoulds." You should be on TikTok. You should be running LinkedIn ads. You should be doing SEO, email nurturing, and influencer outreach. It’s exhausting. Most people end up with a 50-page marketing "strategy" that sits in a digital drawer gathering dust because it’s too bloated to actually use.
Enter the 1-Page Marketing Plan.
The concept, popularized by Allan Dib, isn't about being lazy. It’s about clarity. Most business owners are "random acts of marketing" practitioners. They try a little of this and a little of that, then wonder why the bank account isn't growing. The 1-page marketing plan forces you to look at the entire lifecycle of a customer—from the moment they've never heard of you to the moment they’re telling their friends you’re a genius—on a single sheet of paper. It’s a map. And without a map, you’re just a tourist in the world of commerce.
The Big Three: Before, During, and After
Dib breaks the marketing journey into three distinct phases. Think of it like a relationship. You don't ask someone to marry you the second you meet them at a bar; that’s weird. Yet, that’s exactly what most businesses do with their "Buy Now" buttons on the first interaction.
The "Before" Phase (Getting Interested)
In this stage, you’re dealing with "prospects." These are people who don't know you exist. Your goal here isn't to sell. It’s to get them to raise their hand. You need to identify your target market, craft your message, and figure out which media you’re going to use to reach them.
Selecting a niche is where most people fail immediately. They’re afraid of "missing out" on customers, so they try to sell to everyone. But if you're a "marketing consultant for businesses," you're a commodity. If you're a "lead generation expert for local orthodontic practices," you're a specialist. Specialists get paid more. It’s basic economics. You need to find a "PVP" index—Personal fulfillment, Value to the marketplace, and Profitability. If your niche doesn't hit all three, move on.
The "During" Phase (Getting Them to Buy)
Now they’re "leads." They’ve downloaded your PDF, or they’ve walked into your shop. They know you, and maybe they even like you. Now you have to make them trust you. This is the lead capture and lead nurturing part of the 1-page marketing plan.
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Most people are terrible at follow-up. Statistics from various sales studies, including those often cited by the Harvard Business Review, suggest that it takes five to twelve contacts before a sale happens. Most business owners quit after two. Nurturing is just providing value without asking for anything in return until the person is ready to buy. It’s "edutainment."
The "After" Phase (The Secret Sauce)
This is where the real money is made. It’s the "customers" turning into "fans."
You want to deliver a "world-class experience." Sounds cheesy, but it's true. Think about the last time a business actually surprised you by doing exactly what they said they would, plus 10%. It almost never happens. If you can increase the lifetime value of a customer and orchestrate a way for them to give you referrals, your marketing budget effectively drops to zero because your customers are doing the work for you.
Why Complexity Kills Conversion
People think they need a complex funnel with fifteen upsells and a countdown timer.
They don't.
The 1-page marketing plan works because it’s a canvas. It’s divided into nine squares.
- My Target Market: Who are they?
- My Message to My Target Market: What am I actually saying?
- The Media I Will Use to Reach My Target Market: Where am I saying it?
- My Lead Capture System: How do I get their info?
- My Lead Nurturing System: How do I stay in touch?
- My Sales Conversion Strategy: How do I get the money?
- How I Deliver a World-Class Experience: How do I wow them?
- How I Increase Customer Lifetime Value: How do I sell them more?
- How I Solicit and Orchestrate Referrals: How do I get their friends?
If you can’t answer these nine questions in a sentence or two each, you don't have a plan. You have a wish list.
The "Message" Problem
Let's talk about square number two. Most marketing messages are boring. "Quality service since 1994" is not a message. Nobody cares. People care about their own problems. You need a Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
Look at Domino’s Pizza in the early days. "Fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less or it's free." They didn't say the pizza was good. They didn't say it was organic. They solved a specific problem: "I’m hungry right now and I don't want to wait." That’s a message. Your 1-page marketing plan needs that level of clarity. What is the one thing you do that your competitors are too lazy or too scared to promise?
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Stop Being a Commodity
When you use the 1-page marketing plan, you stop competing on price. Price-based competition is a race to the bottom. There’s always someone willing to go out of business faster than you by charging a dollar less.
By focusing on the "During" and "After" phases, you create a brand. A brand is just the shortcut people use to decide whether to trust you. If your marketing plan focuses heavily on building that trust through education—writing books, hosting webinars, sending helpful emails—you become the "invited guest" rather than the "pest."
Think about it. When a salesperson calls you out of the blue, they’re a pest. When you seek out an expert because you read their article, they’re a guest. The 1-page marketing plan is designed to flip that switch.
Real-World Nuance: It’s Not a "Set and Forget" Thing
Look, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that filling out a piece of paper once will make you a millionaire by Tuesday. It won’t. The 1-page marketing plan is a living document.
The biggest mistake people make is filling it out and then never looking at it again. You have to test. Maybe your "Media" (Square 3) isn't working. Maybe your "Lead Capture" (Square 4) is attracting the wrong kind of people—people who want free stuff but never want to pay.
In the real world, your first version will probably be wrong.
That’s fine.
The point is that you have a baseline to measure against. If you have a 50-page document, you can’t tell what’s broken. If you have one page, and the "Sales Conversion" square isn't resulting in money, you know exactly where to fix the leak.
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Practical Next Steps for Your Business
Forget the fancy software for a second. Get a literal piece of paper or a blank Google Doc.
First, define your "Who." Get specific. If you’re a plumber, don't just say "homeowners." Say "homeowners in high-end zip codes with houses older than 20 years." That changes your message.
Second, create a "Lead Magnet." Give them a reason to give you an email address. "5 Things to Check Before Calling an Emergency Plumber" is a great lead magnet. It builds trust. It shows you aren't just trying to gouge them.
Third, automate your follow-up. Use a basic CRM. It doesn't have to be expensive. Just something that sends a "How are things going?" email 30 days after a job. Most of your competitors are too disorganized to do this. By simply doing it, you win.
Fourth, ask for the referral. Don't wait for them to offer. Create a system where every happy customer is asked, "Who else do you know who would appreciate this level of service?"
Fifth, review the plan every 90 days. Markets change. Algorithms change. But the fundamental psychology of how humans buy things? That hasn't changed in a thousand years. The 1-page marketing plan just puts that psychology into a format you can actually use without losing your mind.
Start with Square 1 today. Don't move to Square 2 until you can describe your perfect customer so well you could pick them out of a crowd at a stadium.
Success in marketing isn't about doing a thousand things right. It’s about doing ten things right, consistently, on a single page.