Over the last 10+ years, I’ve used various formats of B2B tech marketing plans to help my clients triple and even 10x their businesses.
I’m a big fan of how industry experts like April Dunford and Allan Dib have simplified complex planning documents into simple one-page canvases.
Being a visual thinker, I prefer to keep things simple too, so over the years, I have tweaked 10 of my favorite planning canvases.
I’m sharing them with you below in Google Slides format that you can use right away. You can also download the templates in PowerPoint format if you prefer.
Some of these planning canvases I have kept intact, like the Business Model Canvas, while others I have made my own. You can too.
No doubt you will recognize some of these one-pagers. Others may be new. Regardless, they’re the battle-tested tools I’ve used to guide countless tech companies toward marketing success.
No more guesswork or flying blind. These canvases give you a clear, visual framework to build a tech brand that resonates with your best-fit customers.
If you struggle with complexity like I have, grab these templates and start planning your next move forward with confidence.
Each canvas tackles a different piece of the marketing puzzle, and together, they create actionable steps towards building a comprehensive marketing roadmap for your B2B tech company and solution.
The template uses a hypothetical SaaS company as an example to provide context, but you can easily swap it out for your own product or service.
You can also use one, all, or any combination for your specific requirements.
1. Business Model Canvas
The classic canvas that helps you focus on the foundational aspects of your business, innovation, marketing, and revenue streams. Who is it for? What is it for? What value do you bring to the table? How will you make money?
2. Positioning Canvas
Based on April Dunford’s work, this canvas helps you clearly differentiate your solution from the alternatives and pinpoint the audience that cares a lot about what you offer.
3. Best-Fit Customers Canvas
Get to know your most valuable customers, their needs, why they love you, and why you love them.
4. Audience Persona Canvas
Develop a detailed audience persona for your buying team that speaks to their pain points, motivations, and desires.
5. Strategic Planning Canvas
Think big picture and set realistic marketing goals that are aligned with your business objectives.
6. Marketing Brief Canvas
Define your goals, target audience, key messages, and channels for creating marketing tactics that support your strategy. This canvas is especially helpful for the folks on your team or the team you outsource to.
7. Campaign Planning Canvas
Outline your campaign strategy, tactics, timeline, budget, and dependencies.
8. Four P’s Marketing Canvas
Another classic that helps you clearly define your product, price, place, and promotion strategies.
9. Buying Stage Canvas
Based on Avinash Kaushik’s See, Think, Do, Care methodology, this canvas helps you understand how your buyers move from awareness to advocacy and tailor your approach.
10. Sales & Marketing Canvas
Based on Allan Dibs’ book, this is a concise overview that keeps everyone on your sales and marketing teams aligned.
If you’re curious how these canvases have worked for others, check out these case studies.
They’re real-world examples where I used combinations of these planning canvases to achieve significant growth for my clients.
Too often, B2B tech companies build products without customer research, leading to all kinds of waste.
They also tend to focus solely on sales and leads, neglecting brand building, which is essential for long-term success—the reputation of your business and solution depends on it.
Using planning canvases can help address these challenges by providing a structured approach to understanding your best-fit customers and building up your brand equity.
Think of these canvases as a starting point. Experiment, adapt, and find what works best for you.
Don’t hesitate to tweak or modify these one-page plans to suit your needs. Fine-tune them to craft your own unique GTM strategy.
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Cheers!
PS: This article is also published and discussed on LinkedIn. Join the conversation!
