Marketing reports are written documents that help communicate important facets of your marketing strategy, such as your goals and objectives, marketing and promotional tactics and marketing research. Your marketing report content will vary and will be largely based on what you are trying to accomplish, but there is a general format you can follow that can help you write a successful report.
On the title page of your marketing report, list the title, date and author of the report. Your title should clearly convey the contents of your report. For example, if the goal of your marketing report is to communicate your new market research plan, your title should be something like, "2018 Market Research Plan."
The executive summary is the first section to appear on the page after your title page. This section should outline the goals of your report. Write your goals so they answer the question, "What do I want readers to be able to do after reading this report?" For example, "Clearly articulate the new marketing tactics we will be using this year" or "Describe the measurement plan for our marketing initiatives." Often it works best to write the executive summary last.
Your marketing report should also include an introduction. Your introduction should provide any necessary background information relevant to your marketing report. Then, give a high-level overview of the contents of the rest of your plan. For example, "Some of you are aware of the updated corporate marketing strategy our management team approved this month. In this report, you will learn the key components of the strategy, how we decided upon these key components and what your role will be in implementing the strategy."
The body content should describe in detail the key points you touched on in the introduction. Divide the body content into several paragraphs. Use objective data, charts and visual imagery to illustrate the key points of your marketing plan. For example, if one of your paragraphs describes how you arrived at your current marketing strategy, include charts and graphs that include any relevant market research or internal company surveys used.
The conclusion of your marketing report includes a wrap-up of all your key points. In this section, summarize the content of your marketing report, and re-iterate your objectives.
The final part of your marketing report should include your recommendations for next steps. For example, "It is recommended that we hold bi-weekly marketing strategy meetings to acclimate the marketing team to this new roll-out plan" or "It is recommended that we partner with a marketing research vendor to better understand our key customer segments."
