Company Description/Overview
Products/Services Offered
Market Analysis
Marketing and Sales Strategies
Operations and Management
Financial Plan
Appendices
A business plan has eight essential components .
The executive summary opens your business plan, but it’s the section you’ll write last . It summarizes the key points and highlights the most important aspects of your plan. Often investors and lenders will only read the executive summary; if it doesn’t capture their interest they’ll stop reading, so it’s important to make it as compelling as possible.
The components should include:
Remember that if you’re seeking capital, the executive summary could make or break your venture. Take your time and make sure it illustrates how your business is unique in the market and why you’ll succeed.
The executive summary should be no more than two pages long, so it’s important to capture the reader’s interest from the start.
In this section, you’ll detail your full company history, such as how you came up with the idea for your business and any milestones or achievements.
You’ll also include your mission and vision statements. A mission statement explains what you’d like your business to achieve, its driving force, while a vision statement lays out your long-term plan in terms of growth.
A mission statement might be “Our company aims to make life easier for business owners with intuitive payroll software”, while a vision statement could be “Our objective is to become the go-to comprehensive HR software provider for companies around the globe.”
In this section, you’ll want to list your objectives – specific short-term goals. Examples might include “complete initial product development by ‘date’” or “hire two qualified sales people” or “launch the first version of the product”.
It’s best to divide this section into subsections – company history, mission and vision, and objectives.
Here you’ll go into detail about what you’re offering, how it solves a problem in the market, and how it’s unique. Don’t be afraid to share information that is proprietary – investors and lenders are not out to steal your ideas.
Also specify how your product is developed or sourced. Are you manufacturing it or does it require technical development? Are you purchasing a product from a manufacturer or wholesaler?
You’ll also want to specify how you’ll sell your product or service. Will it be a subscription service or a one-time purchase? What is your target pricing? On what channels do you plan to sell your product or service, such as online or by direct sales in a store?
Basically, you’re describing what you’re going to sell and how you’ll make money.
The market analysis is where you’re going to spend most of your time because it involves a lot of research. You should divide it into four sections.
Research and describe exactly what’s happening in your industry, such as growth rate, market size, and current trends. Where is the industry predicted to be in 10 years? Provide links to your sources.
Detail your company’s place in the market. Will your product fit a certain niche? Is there a sub-industry your company will fit into? How will you keep up with industry changes?
Now you’ll dig into your competition. Detail your main competitors and how they differentiate themselves in the market. For example, one competitor may advertise convenience while another touts superior quality. Also highlight your competitors’ weaknesses.
Next, explain how you’ll stand out. Detail your competitive advantages and how you’ll sustain them. This section is extremely important and will be a focus for investors and lenders.
Here you’ll describe your target market and whether it’s different from your competitors’. For example, maybe you have a younger demographic in mind?
You’ll need to know more about your target market than demographics, though. You’ll want to explain the needs and wants of your ideal customers, how your offering solves their problem, and why they will choose your company.
You should also lay out where you’ll find them, where to place your marketing and where to sell your products. Learning this kind of detail requires going to the source – your potential customers. You can do online surveys or even in-person focus groups.
Your goal will be to uncover as much about these people as possible. When you start selling, you’ll want to keep learning about your customers. You may end up selling to a different target market than you originally thought, which could lead to a marketing shift.
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and it’s one of the more common and helpful business planning tools.
First describe all the specific strengths of your company, such as the quality of your product or some unique feature, such as the experience of your management team. Talk about the elements that will make your company successful.
Next, acknowledge and explore possible weaknesses. You can’t say “none”, because no company is perfect, especially at the start. Maybe you lack funds or face a massive competitor. Whatever it is, detail how you will surmount this hurdle.
Next, talk about the opportunities your company has in the market. Perhaps you’re going to target an underserved segment, or have a technology plan that will help you surge past the competition.
Finally, examine potential threats. It could be a competitor that might try to replicate your product or rapidly advancing technology in your industry. Again, discuss your plans to handle such threats if they come to pass.
Now it’s time to explain how you’re going to find potential customers and convert them into paying customers.
When you did your target market analysis, you should have learned a lot about your potential customers, including where to find them. This should help you determine where to advertise.
Maybe you found that your target customers favor TikTok over Instagram and decided to spend more marketing dollars on TikTok. Detail all the marketing channels you plan to use and why.
Your target market analysis should also have given you information about what kind of message will resonate with your target customers. You should understand their needs and wants and how your product solves their problem, then convey that in your marketing.
Start by creating a value proposition, which should be no more than two sentences long and answer the following questions:
An example might be “Payroll software that will handle all the payroll needs of small business owners, making life easier for less.”
Whatever your value proposition, it should be at the heart of all of your marketing.
Your sales strategy is a vision to persuade customers to buy, including where you’ll sell and how. For example, you may plan to sell only on your own website, or you may sell from both a physical location and online.
On the other hand, you may have a sales team that will make direct sales calls to potential customers, which is more common in business-to-business sales. Sales tactics are more about how you’re going to get them to buy after they reach your sales channel.
Even when selling online, you need something on your site that’s going to get them to go from a site visitor to a paying customer. By the same token, if you’re going to have a sales team making direct sales, what message are they going to deliver that will entice a sale?
It’s best for sales tactics to focus on the customer’s pain point and what value you’re bringing to the table, rather than being aggressively promotional about the greatness of your product.
Pricing is not an exact science and should depend on several factors. First, consider how you want your product or service to be perceived in the market. If your differentiator is to be the lowest price, position your company as the “discount” option.
Think Walmart, and price your products lower than the competition. If, on the other hand, you want to be the Mercedes of the market, then you’ll position your product as the luxury option.
Of course you’ll have to back this up with superior quality, but being the luxury option allows you to command higher prices. You can, of course, fall somewhere in the middle, but the point is that pricing is a matter of perception.
How you position your product in the market compared to the competition is a big factor in determining your price. Of course, you’ll have to consider your costs, as well as competitor prices. Obviously, your prices must cover your costs and allow you to make a good profit.
Whatever pricing strategy you choose, you’ll justify it in this section of your plan.
This section is the real nuts and bolts of your business – how it operates on a day-to-day basis and who is operating it. Again, this section should be divided into subsections.
Your plan of operations should be specific , detailed and mainly logistical. Who will be doing what on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis? How will the business be managed and how will quality be assured? Be sure to detail your suppliers and how and when you’ll order raw materials.
This should also include the roles that will be filled and the various processes that will be part of everyday business operations. Just consider all the critical functions that must be handled for your business to be able to operate on an ongoing basis.
If your product involves technical development, you’ll describe your tech development plan with specific goals and milestones. The plan will also include how many people will be working on this development, and what needs to be done for goals to be met.
If your company is not a technology company, you’ll describe what technologies you plan to use to run your business or make your business more efficient. It could be process automation software, payroll software, or just laptops and tablets for your staff.
Now you’ll describe who’s running the show. It may be just you when you’re starting out, so you’ll detail what your role will be and summarize your background. You’ll also go into detail about any managers that you plan to hire and when that will occur.
Essentially, you’re explaining your management structure and detailing why your strategy will enable smooth and efficient operations.
Ideally, at some point, you’ll have an organizational structure that is a hierarchy of your staff. Describe what you envision your organizational structure to be.
Detail who you’ve hired or plan to hire and for which roles. For example, you might have a developer, two sales people, and one customer service representative.
Describe each role and what qualifications are needed to perform those roles.
Now, you’ll enter the dreaded world of finance. Many entrepreneurs struggle with this part, so you might want to engage a financial professional to help. A financial plan has five key elements.
Detail in a spreadsheet every cost you’ll incur before you open your doors. This should determine how much capital you’ll need to launch your business.
Creating financial projections, like many facets of business, is not an exact science. If your company has no history, financial projections can only be an educated guess.
First, come up with realistic sales projections. How much do you expect to sell each month? Lay out at least three years of sales projections, detailing monthly sales growth for the first year, then annually thereafter.
Calculate your monthly costs, keeping in mind that some costs will grow along with sales. Once you have your numbers projected and calculated, use them to create these three key financial statements:
You’ll need monthly projected versions of each statement for the first year, then annual projections for the following two years.
The break-even point for your business is when costs and revenue are equal. Most startups operate at a loss for a period of time before they break even and start to make a profit. Your break-even analysis will project when your break-even point will occur, and will be informed by your profit and loss statement.
Lay out the funding you’ll need, when, and where you’ll get it. You’ll also explain what those funds will be used for at various points. If you’re in a high-growth industry that can attract investors, you’ll likely need various rounds of funding to launch and grow.
KPIs measure your company’s performance and can determine success. Many entrepreneurs only focus on the bottom line, but measuring specific KPIs helps find areas of improvement. Every business has certain crucial metrics.
If you sell only online, one of your key metrics might be your visitor conversion rate. You might do an analysis to learn why just one out of ten site visitors makes a purchase. Perhaps the purchase process is too complicated or your product descriptions are vague.
Learning why your conversion rate is low gives you a chance to improve it and boost sales.
In the appendices you can attach documents such as manager resumes or other documents that support your business plan.
A marketing plan, as mentioned above, is a more detailed version of the marketing strategy section of your business plan. It includes six components.
Start by detailing your short-term marketing goals. This could be “Reach 10,000 monthly site visitors by next year’” or “Acquire 500 new customers by May”. Be sure to set clear and attainable goals so your marketing team understands its targets.
You’ll want to document exactly who you’re trying to reach with your marketing. You should’ve already done a target market analysis for your business plan, and you’ll use it here.
Whatever your product or service, it needs to solve a problem in the market. So, ask yourself, what problem does my business solve? Next, consider who faces that problem.
A plumbing company, for instance, solves the problem of broken pipes. Who deals with that problem? Homeowners and property owners and managers.
Depending on your business, it may not be obvious who has the problem you’re solving. If it’s not clear, do more research. Either way, knowing who faces the problem you’re solving is just the beginning. You need to know much more about your target customers.
Now, dig into your market with some online research. Do some Google and Bing searches about your target demographic, where they shop and live, what appeals to them and so on.
Next, check out your competition to see who they’re marketing to. It may help to study their marketing through the eyes of a consumer.
What need do they fill? Who would find their marketing appealing? Where do they advertise? If their ads appear on TikTok, they’re looking to attract a younger market.
This market research should give you a general profile of your target market – but that’s not enough.
To learn more about your target market, go straight to the source. The best way to learn their needs and wants, why they’d buy your product and how they’ll use it, is to ask them via a phone or email survey.
If you’ve yet to make any sales, it’s probably best to post your survey online then promote it on social media by offering a small reward, such as a gift certificate. Just make sure you ask the right questions to get the information you’re looking for.
You can also hold in-person focus groups and offer your goods at a discount for participants.
Now it’s time to build detailed profiles of your target customers. You may have found that your product will appeal to more than one group of people. These are called customer segments, and all your segments together make up your target market.
Create descriptions of each group with all the information you’re learned. These profiles should include:
Now you can use these profiles to craft a value proposition that will serve as the foundation of all your marketing. You may need to devise more than one value proposition to target different segments.
Your value propositions should be no more than two sentences long and answer the following questions:
An example might be “Payroll software that handles all the payroll needs of small business owners, making life easier for less.”
Remember that you need to align your value proposition with the wishes of your target market.
Now you’ll layout the specific marketing activities that you plan to conduct. Your target market analysis should have told you where you’re most likely to find potential customers, so if you found out that your potential customers use TikTok, you can post and run ads there.
You’ll want to only perform the marketing activities that are most likely to reach your potential customers so that you’re not wasting marketing dollars. If getting found online is important to you, focus on search engine optimization (SEO) and social media ads.
Make the activities as specific as possible, such as “Run a TikTok ad promoting ____ for three months.”
Now, determine what these activities will cost and set a budget. When you go through this process, you may find that you need to adjust your marketing to stick to the budget you can afford.
Your marketing budget needs to align with your goals. If one of your goals is to obtain 500 new customers, which will generate $10,000 in revenue, you can’t spend more than that on marketing. You have to make sure you’re getting a good return on your investment, or at least breaking even.
Now you’ll determine your key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge the success of your marketing.
If you sell only online, one of your key marketing metrics might be your visitor conversion rate. You might do an analysis to learn why just one out of ten site visitors makes a purchase.
Perhaps the purchase process is too complicated or your product descriptions are vague. The point is, learning why your conversion rate is low gives you a chance to improve it and boost sales.
Similarly, if you’re not getting enough site visitors, you may need to revisit your SEO strategies.
A business plan outlines the overall mission, objectives, and strategies of a business, encompassing aspects like operations, finances, and organizational structure.
In contrast, a marketing plan focuses specifically on strategies and tactics to promote products or services, detailing target audiences, promotional methods, and market positioning.
While the business plan provides a comprehensive view of the entire business, the marketing plan hones in on attracting and retaining customers.
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Starting a business often begins with writing a business plan , especially if you need funding . It acts as a roadmap, guiding you through each stage of launching and managing your company, and it presents a clear, compelling case to potential investors and partners. But here's the thing: not everyone finds this step intuitive. That's where a business plan outline can be incredibly helpful.
Creating a detailed business plan outline helps you organize your thoughts and ensure you cover all the key aspects of your business strategy. Plus, it might be just what you need to overcome that blank page and start typing.
Below, you'll find an easy-to-follow guide on how to craft your business plan outline, and an example to show you what it should look like.
Build your dream business with the help of a high-paying job—browse open jobs on The Muse »
Think of a business plan outline as the skeleton of your entire business plan. It gives a high-level overview of the main sections you'll need to flesh out later. It's not the final document but a crucial step in getting you there.
Simply put, it's like creating a detailed table of contents for your business plan, showing you exactly what information to include and how everything fits together. A well-structured business plan outline also helps you plan things ahead, saving time and effort.
Follow these steps to build your business plan outline and learn exactly what each section should include.
(Bear in mind that every business plan is unique, tailored to the specific needs and goals of the business. While the structure below is common, the order of sections may vary—only the executive summary will always come first.)
Imagine you have just 60 seconds to convince someone to invest in your business. That's the essence of a strong executive summary. Although it appears first on your business plan, this section is often written last because it sums up the entire plan. Think of it as your elevator pitch . This section gives a quick overview of your entire business plan, highlighting key points that grab the reader's attention.
Keep it clear and concise. Start with a brief overview of your business, including its name and what it offers. Summarize your mission statement and objectives, and don’t forget to mention crucial aspects like financial projections and competitive advantages.
Here's where you provide detailed information about your company. Begin with the business name and location. Describe the legal structure (e.g., sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation) and ownership. If your business already exists, share a brief history.
For new ventures, explain the business's nature and the problems you aim to solve. Go into more detail about your vision and mission statements, outlining your goals and the principles guiding your business. This section helps potential investors and stakeholders grasp your company’s identity and purpose.
This section shares insights into your company’s industry. Start with a landscape analysis to give an overview of the market, including its size, growth rate, and key players.
Next, define your target market and customer demographics—age, location, income, and interests—detailing who your ideal customers are. Identify market needs and trends your business will address, and highlight customer pain points your product or service aims to solve.
Consider conducting a SWOT analysis to evaluate your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and gain a strategic view of where your business stands in the competitive landscape.
Describe how your business is structured and who runs it. Outline the organizational structure, and if helps, include a chart. Introduce the leadership team and key personnel, highlighting their qualifications and roles. If you have a board of directors, mention them and briefly explain their involvement.
Then, outline your production processes, detailing how your product or service is (or will be) created—from sourcing materials to delivery—to give a comprehensive view of your operational capabilities.
This section of your business plan outline is crucial for showing potential investors what makes your products and services unique and valuable.
Clearly describe what your business offers, emphasizing your unique selling propositions (USPs) and the benefits and features that set you apart from the competition. Talk about the product life cycle, including any plans for future updates.
If your business holds any intellectual property or proprietary technologies, detail them here to underscore your competitive advantages.
Having a fantastic product or service is just half the battle. The marketing plan section should outline how you'll reach your target market and convert them into customers.
Begin with market positioning and branding, explaining how you want your brand perceived. Detail your marketing and promotional strategies, including specific tactics to reach your target audience.
Discuss your sales strategy, focusing on how you'll convert leads into customers. Lastly, include your pricing strategy and provide a sales forecast, projecting your expected revenue over a certain period.
Here, the goal is to give a detailed overview of the physical and logistical aspects of your company. Start with the business location and facilities, describing where it operates and any significant physical assets. Detail the technology and equipment needed for daily operations.
Briefly describe your supply chain and logistics processes to illustrate how you manage inventory, procurement, and distribution. Finish it by outlining your production process and quality control measures to ensure your products or services consistently meet high standards.
Use this section of the business plan to show how your company will succeed financially. Include financial projections like income statements and cash flow statements. Specify how much capital you need and how you plan to use it, discussing funding sources.
Conduct a break-even analysis to estimate when your business will become profitable. Be transparent and address any financial risks and assumptions, outlining how you plan to mitigate them.
In this section, include any additional information that supports your business plan. This might be resumes of key personnel to highlight your team's expertise and experience, or even legal documents and agreements.
Include market research data and surveys to back up your market analysis. Add financial statements for a detailed look at your financial plan. Also, provide detailed product specifications to give a clear understanding of your products and services.
Not quite there yet? Take a look at this business plan outline example—it will make everything clear for you.
3.1 Executive Summary
3.2 Company Description
3.3 Market Research and Analysis
3.4 Organization and Management
3.5 Products and Services
3.6 Marketing Strategy
3.7 Operations Plan
3.8 Financial Plan
3.9 Appendices and Exhibits (if applicable)
Once you've done your business plan outline, it's time to fill in the gaps and craft a winning business plan. Here are some bonus tips to keep in mind:
Read this next: How to Start a Business in 8 Steps: A Comprehensive Guide from Concept to Launch
Find out how to achieve ROI and business outcomes with a documented digital marketing success plan. Get tips from Corey Morris' new book.
This excerpt is from The Digital Marketing Success Plan, the new book from SEJ VIP Contributor Corey Morris.
In what is the most distracted and disrupted era in digital marketing–especially SEO–history, we’re testing and trying things out faster than ever. While change is coming at us fast, it is critically important to still have a documented, actionable, and accountable plan for your digital marketing efforts .
In his new book, Corey Morris, details a five-step START Planning process to help brands arrive at their own digital marketing success plans to ensure ROI and business outcomes are at the heart of every effort while allowing plenty of room and agility for the rapid changes we’re experiencing in digital and search marketing.
Search Engine Journal has an exclusive feature of the first step in the START Planning process–”S for Strategy”–unpacking the four steps in this first and most critical phase.
The Strategy Phase is the most comprehensive part of the START planning process. The subsequent phases are all dependent on the work done and defined in this phase.
Strategy works through profiling, auditing, research, and goal setting. Knowing what marketing has been done in the past, where things stand currently, and—most importantly—where you want to go is critical at this juncture and overall for any digital marketing success plan.
The strategy phase has four steps, the first of which is profile. This could be considered a simple step, as we’re just gathering information and definitions.
However, it could also be misinterpreted, and it is challenging because it requires an expert to ask the right questions. That includes detailing the team involved in the effort and defining the product (services) we must sell, the brand, and the target audiences.
In short, we’re putting the details on the table about who we are, our resources, and our capabilities. We are identifying what we’re selling, what value it has, how we deliver it, and the pricing model. We also must know what our brand is in terms of positioning, differentiation, and equity that it holds.
And, as important as anything, we must know who our target audience personas are, their customer behaviors, and the funnels or journeys they take to buy.
Anyone can ramble off some demographics or targets. But, as companies grow, having a mutually agreed understanding of what the business sells, who it sells to, and the money it costs to do so is extremely hard.
I say all of this in hopes that you don’t get stuck here on some of the hard details, and also knowing that if it is easy, you might want to challenge some things and see if you can go deeper and ensure that you truly have the agreement and buy-in that you seem to.
The second step in the strategy phase is audit. We need to know what we’ve done in the past and are currently doing so we have a full picture of what has worked, what hasn’t, and why. Audits are important at this juncture, and this step might be one of the most time-consuming in the entire digital marketing success plan development journey.
As you obtain or create documentation of historical activities, you’ll need access to all the past and present networks and platforms. Then, you can deep dive into audits , including technical paid search , technical SEO , content SEO , web systems, email marketing systems , and more, based on what has been done in the past and what is available for you at this juncture.
The third step in the strategy phase is research. So far, the focus has been on who we are and what we’ve done leading up to where we currently stand with our efforts. This phase is where we get perspectives beyond our own data and understanding.
This is where we seek out internal perspectives from marketing, sales, ops, product, and other relevant teams and stakeholders—as well as from our customers or clients. Additionally, we’re doing external research to learn new insights or validate what we think when it comes to competitors, target audiences, and what the future opportunity forecasts or models out for us.
The final step in strategy is goals. With a thorough picture of who we are, where we stand, and what opportunities are out there for us, we can workshop to arrive at a realistic set of goals . Maybe we came into the process with our own goals, or maybe at this point, we’re starting from scratch.
Regardless, this step is critical to the rest of the process and arriving at a plan that can drive success. This is where we look at business goals and how marketing can affect them and ensure we set proper expectations before we move the strategy from ideas to action.
A high-end roofing manufacturing company came to us with a unique problem. Marcy, their marketing manager, had a lot of past success with SEO, their website and email marketing, and extensive campaigns driving traffic to their websites for homeowners and contractors alike–fueling their sales operations.
Marcy had gone through several different agencies over the past few years. She had varying experiences with them, had a great one for a while, and then had a couple that didn’t value or know as much about SEO. She didn’t realize that, at the time, it was a line item to some of those agencies. It was getting done, and rankings and traffic were fine. Nothing was sticking out of the ordinary.
One day, Marcy noticed a problem in Google Analytics. Traffic is starting to drop overall. She dives in and, as she is very familiar with the reports and channels and diagnoses this as an SEO problem within a minute. SEO traffic is dropping, but she can’t tell why.
The agency says everything looks good on their end. Marcy can’t find any errors on the site. However, there’s this mysterious drop where she can see they’re not where they used to be in the Google rankings. Subsequent drops in traffic, conversions, and form submissions going through to their sales team validate it.
She remembered her work with me a few years prior at a different agency and reached out. She thought of me as someone she could trust to fix any SEO problem, which I take as high praise. I was at a conference in Silicon Valley, getting ready to take the stage to speak about SEO troubleshooting.
And so that was the ironic part of it to me. I gave my speech and immediately after had a longer conversation with Marcy over the phone. I could dive in and see the same things she saw, and I knew that we needed to do a full audit very quickly and understand what was going on.
I brought the rest of my team back home into the challenge. Within two days, we had diagnosed two very acute issues that were hidden and that most people wouldn’t see. We wouldn’t have found them unless we had gone through our analysis auditing process to get that deep.
We presented those findings to Marcy and her CEO, who both knew how big of a negative impact this would have on their business if they didn’t get this corrected.
We presented three options. One was to fix the issues technically within their current site. Still, being forward-thinking and ROI-driven, we didn’t want just to offer to patch the holes and wait for the next problem to come. So, we presented two other plans. They included a midrange plan and a long-range plan to build a new website and not only fix the issues but also strategically amplify some other things.
They opted to invest in the new website, and that turned into an ongoing relationship with us to monitor and amplify their SEO and take it to new heights, not just reclaiming what they had lost but making new ground. And I’m excited that we saw that all the way through. It played out exactly as we had projected and was validated by growth for them.
The company eventually sold for a record amount and won awards from our peers for that work. The moral of the story is not just to accept the status quo but to realize that not all professionals who have SEO in their title have an equal set of skills. Auditing is an important tool in getting to the root cause, not just for fixing an immediate problem but even more critically for long-term success.
Jamaal found us through Google. He was the director of admissions and marketing for a high-end retirement facility that serves as a continuing care community. They had everything: independent living, dining in chef-inspired restaurants, activities, a pub, and anything that active senior living would want through the continuum of care, including assisted living and skilled nursing.
They have an excellent reputation in their city and are well known; however, that’s with the community at large. They needed help to reach their target audience, who could be potential residents or adult child influencers in their lives—the next generation down.
When something happens, and it’s time to look for this type of living situation, the people at that important step are less aware and less prepared for the conversations they must have with their loved ones in a critical phase of life. These people were supposed to be moving into research and action toward admission.
Also, while it was a wealthy, high-end property, it was nonprofit, very benevolent, and gave back so much. The margins were tight, and there wasn’t a large marketing budget, but they knew they needed to do something.
Jamaal’s challenge when he came to us was, “I know you can do everything. I know I probably need all the things under the digital marketing umbrella. I even need a new website, but I don’t have the budget.”
We said, “That’s not a problem. We start small with many of our clients and find the areas where we can have the greatest ROI and impact. Then, we build from there and create budgets, opening up dollars for investment in other opportunities.”
So, we came into the situation, and we analyzed their audience. They had a wealth of data. They knew their business inside and out, and it was fantastic for us to see that. Still, they needed help understanding digital marketing and couldn’t connect the dots.
They had talked to three or four other providers who gave them high-ticket products or service offerings and didn’t want to work with them to find the right solution or where they should get the most bang for their buck.
We returned to them and recommended, “You should start with SEO.”
Jamaal laughed because he said that was the opposite recommendation that several of the other agencies had made. They had said, “No, you should start with $100,000 a month in Google Ads.”
I said, “You should start on SEO at a fraction of that,” even though we knew the challenges were there with being unable to build a new website. We’d have to navigate their antiquated website and optimize what they had.
We knew that telling the story, getting the content right, and even optimizing a lousy website would get us further along in the long-term journey of driving new leads to the website. We knew we only needed a handful of people to find the site to understand what they did at the right moment, get the right story, and come through the doors and experience this wonderful place.
After building momentum, one lead at a time, we could start talking about a new website, activate additional marketing channels, and layer in aspects of the digital marketing success plan to see success in the long term.
Ultimately, they grew as a business and their marketing investment grew respectively. Eventually, they were acquired by a large hospital system, where everyone could flourish and get the mission and the word out.
The moral of the story is it’s always better to do something rather than nothing.
But if you’re on a limited budget, understand that the obvious answers or the expensive ones aren’t necessarily the best ones. Be willing to dig into the data, do the hard work, and see the opportunity to create new budgets.
By seeing small successes, one at a time, you can build toward bigger things.
To learn more about why digital marketing planning is so important, Corey’s START Planning process, and how to implement which he details in the full book (including more real stories and “how to” sections for each phase of the process), download the book now on Amazon .
For a limited time through July 17, the Kindle version is only 99 cents.
You can also find out more information and free resources at https://thedmsp.com
More resources:
Featured Image: nuruddean/Shutterstock
Corey is the owner and President/CEO of Voltage. He has spent nearly 20 years working in strategic and leadership roles ...
Conquer your day with daily search marketing news.
Are you overwhelmed by all the choices for your marketing your business in the new year? Not sure where your time is best spent? Are you following what everyone else is doing and hope it works for you too?
A well-executed marketing plan will help you:
Instructor: Patty Ross
Patty Ross has well over 20 years experience in marketing and has been in the online space since 1998 where she developed an e-commerce program for a gourmet gift company into a million dollar business. She has marketing coaching and full service clients in financial, legal, education, health and beauty, wine, motorsports, e-commerce, coaching, landscape design, CBD/cannabis, restaurants, transportation and logistics, political activism, non profits and more. Golden State Marketing and her other business, California Wine Marketing, were founded in 2006.
Patty enjoys speaking on various marketing topics to help business owners understand the importance of marketing their brand online and offline.
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Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
How To Start A Business Plan: A Step-By-Step Guide
Creating a business plan is a critical first step for any entrepreneur. Knowing how to start a business plan will help you create a roadmap, guiding your business from startup to growth and beyond. Whether you're looking for investment, trying to set clear goals, or simply organizing your thoughts, a solid business plan can make all the difference.
1. executive summary.
What It Is: This section summarizes your business plan as a whole and outlines your company profile and goals.
What to Include:
Tip: Keep it concise. Although it's the first section, it's often best to write it last, after you’ve detailed everything else.
What It Is: This section provides detailed information about your company, including who you are, what you do, and what markets you serve.
Why richard simmons rejected pauly shore’s idea for a biopic, ufc denver results: highlights, finishes and scorecards.
Tip: Use this section to highlight your company’s strengths and what makes you unique.
What It Is: Market research demonstrates your understanding of the industry and target market.
Tip: Include data and statistics to back up your findings and show that you’ve done your homework.
What It Is: This section outlines your business’s organizational structure and management team.
Tip: Highlight the skills and experiences of your team that will help the business succeed.
What It Is: Here, you detail the products or services you offer or plan to offer.
Tip: Focus on the benefits your products or services bring to your customers.
What It Is: This section explains how you will attract and retain customers.
Tip: Ensure your marketing and sales strategies are aligned with your market research findings.
What It Is: If you’re seeking funding , this section outlines your requirements.
Tip: Be specific and realistic about how much funding you need and how it will be used.
8. Financial Projections
What It Is: Financial projections provide a forecast of your business’s financial future.
Tip: Use realistic and conservative estimates. Consider hiring a financial professional to help with this section if needed.
What It Is: The appendix includes any additional information that supports your business plan.
Tip: Only include essential information that adds value to your business plan.
Creating a business plan requires clarity and precision. First and foremost, keep your business plan clear and concise. Avoid using jargon or complex language that could make the plan difficult to read or understand. Your aim should be to communicate your ideas effectively and efficiently.
Next, be realistic in your approach. Ensure that your goals and financial projections are attainable based on your research and understanding of the market. Overly ambitious projections can undermine your credibility and potentially lead to unrealistic expectations.
It's also essential to remember that a business plan is a dynamic document. As your business grows and market conditions change, you should revisit and revise your plan regularly. This helps you stay aligned with your goals and adapt to new challenges and opportunities.
Finally, seek feedback from experienced business professionals. Having someone with business experience review your plan can provide valuable insights and help identify any potential issues or areas for improvement. Their feedback can enhance the overall quality and effectiveness of your business plan.
By following these tips, you'll be better equipped to create a robust and effective business plan that can guide your business towards success.
The bottom line is that starting a business plan may seem challenging, but with careful planning and attention to detail, you can create a comprehensive guide to steer your business toward success. Use this step-by-step guide to ensure that all essential components are covered, giving your business the best possible start.
Melissa Houston, CPA is the author of Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Profitable Business and the founder of She Means Profit . As a Business Strategist for small business owners, Melissa helps women making mid-career shifts, to launch their dream businesses, and I also guide established business owners to grow their businesses to more profitably.
The opinions expressed in this article are not intended to replace any professional or expert accounting and/or tax advice whatsoever.
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Saudi Arabia appears to be facing up to the reality of its Neom dreams.
The kingdom is set to cut billions of dollars in spending on some of its Vision 2030 megaprojects amid rumors of spiraling costs, Bloomberg reported.
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's Vision 2030 aims to transform Saudi Arabia both economically and politically by reducing its dependence on oil revenues and pivoting toward technology.
Neom, which has emerged as the plan's flashy centerpiece, is reportedly expected to be given 20% less than its target budget for the year.
Plans to launch a new airline for Neom are also on hold, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.
The decision is part of a sweeping review of Saudi's megaprojects . In June, an advisor linked to the kingdom's government told BBC News that some Vision 2030 projects were being reviewed, and some may face delays.
Related stories
Saudi Arabia has been struggling to justify the enormous cost of megaprojects like Neom.
Experts previously told Business Insider that the kingdom has failed to attract the foreign investment it hoped for and that it's unlikely to do so in the near future.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund has borne the lion's share of the financial burden, but officials have reportedly become increasingly nervous about spiraling costs.
Planners have reportedly dismissed the official $500 billion budget for Neom as unrealistically low. Some estimates have put the projected bill at as much as $1.5 trillion.
Andreas Krieg, a Gulf specialist at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London, previously told BI: "Vision 2030 consumes a lot of money, and there's a lot of inefficiencies, especially when it comes to Western consultancy firms," he said.
Construction is underway on some elements of Neom, such as The Line — twin mirrored skyscrapers designed to be 105 miles long.
Krieg previously described The Line as a " completely ludicrous megaproject " that is not sustainable due to its huge cost.
Representatives for Neom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan. A marketing plan is a strategic document that outlines marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics. A business plan is also a strategic document. But this plan covers all aspects of a company's operations, including finance, operations, and more. It can also help your business decide how to distribute ...
Marketing plan v.s business plan. While both marketing plans and business plans are crucial documents for businesses, they serve distinct purposes and have different scopes. Here's a breakdown of the key differences: Business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines all aspects of your business, including:
A marketing plan is a document that a business uses to execute a marketing strategy. It is tactical in nature, and, as later sections of this article explore, it typically includes campaign objectives, buyer personas, competitive analysis, key performance indicators, an action plan, and a method for analyzing campaign results.
The following marketing plan template opens directly in Microsoft Word, so you can edit each section as you see fit: Download your marketing plan template here. Marketing Campaign Template. Your marketing plan is a high-level view of the different marketing strategies you'll use to meet your business objectives.
You need to have a solid understanding of your target audience before integrating your marketing efforts. Example: If your target audience is executives that spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, focus your social media strategy around placing branded content on LinkedIn. 5. Differentiate with creative content.
This SMART goal guide can help you with more effective goal-setting. 3. Identify your target audience and create buyer personas. To create an effective marketing strategy, you need to understand who your ideal customers are. Take a look at your market research to understand your target audience and market landscape.
Strategy: Segmentation, Targeting and Positoning (STP) and the tactics forming the 7Ps of the marketing mix. Action: Budget, resourcing including team and tools and marketing technology (Martech) and 90-day action plans. As a marketer, every activity will fall into either an opportunity, strategy, or action.
Create your Marketing Plan with this easy-to-edit template. Edit and Download. The template above is a great example of an executive summary that highlights the key function of a business and the purpose of its marketing plan. You can also include company achievements and future plansfor your business in your summary.
Marketing plan vs. business plan. A business plan paints a bigger picture of how you plan to run your business. It includes a mission statement, products you'll launch, and market research. A marketing plan, on the other hand, is a specific document that details how you plan to achieve these wider goals through marketing.
The traditional marketing plan provides a comprehensive marketing strategy based on your business goals. This type of marketing plan involves research and analysis of the target market segments, unique selling proposition, pricing and positioning strategy, distribution and promotions strategies, and more.
A marketing plan is a core component of a business plan. It relates specifically to the marketing of a particular product or service and it describes: An overall marketing objective. A broad marketing strategy. The tactical detail related to specific marketing activities. The various costs associated with these activities.
How to Write a Sales and Marketing Plan. You've addressed what you're selling and why in the products and services section. You now have an understanding of the market and an ideal customer in mind thanks to your market analysis. Now, you need to explain how you will actually reach and sell to them. The marketing and sales section of your ...
A plan (the details of execution and the human resources, departments and software that will be involved) Reporting (what reports of progress will include and/or look like) We broke down those five functions into 10 actionable categories to help you create a marketing plan that is unique and effective for your business. 1.
Mine the research you conducted, as well as your own insights, for this information. Be brutally honest. This is the basis for your entire marketing plan, so if you lie to yourself here, your ...
At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you're going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are. Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future.
1. Research. The first step when learning how to write a marketing plan for your business plan is research. You want to look at your market as a whole, your competitors, their marketing strategies ...
Marketing Plan: A marketing plan is a business's operational document for advertising campaigns designed to reach its target market . A marketing plan pulls together all the campaigns that will be ...
Sales and distribution plan. Advertising and promotions plan. The easiest way to develop your marketing plan is to work through each of these sections, referring to the market research you completed when you were writing the previous sections of the business plan. (Note that if you are developing a marketing plan on its own, rather than as part ...
The marketing portion of a business plan addresses four main topics: product, price, promotion, and place. A business plan is a blueprint for taking an idea for a product or service and turning it into a commercially viable reality. The marketing portion of the business plan addresses four main topics:
Marketing encompasses every part of a plan to turn a prospective consumer into a happy and satisfied customer. It includes everything from market research to advertising. The goal of marketing is ...
Small business marketing today typically focuses on establishing a strong online presence, but your options aren't limited to just the web. ... That's why incorporating a marketing plan is an ...
In contrast, a marketing plan focuses specifically on strategies and tactics to promote products or services, detailing target audiences, promotional methods, and market positioning. While the business plan provides a comprehensive view of the entire business, the marketing plan hones in on attracting and retaining customers.
Starting a business often begins with writing a business plan, especially if you need funding.It acts as a roadmap, guiding you through each stage of launching and managing your company, and it presents a clear, compelling case to potential investors and partners.
In his new book, Corey Morris, details a five-step START Planning process to help brands arrive at their own digital marketing success plans to ensure ROI and business outcomes are at the heart of ...
A well-executed marketing plan will help you: Define your business with SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat) Define your target audience with buyer personas; Tools you will need to execute on your marketing plan; Measuring and Optimizing your Marketing Efforts; Define your brand with proper visuals and messaging
Here is a guide to help you get started on your business plan: 1. Executive Summary. What It Is: This section summarizes your business plan as a whole and outlines your company profile and goals.
Landing zones: Leverage best practices from the Cloud Adoption Framework and deploy landing zones to align business and technical strategies for successful cloud adoption. Resilient workloads: Manage and optimize your environment to maximize business value, cloud security, new workload migration, modernization, and reliability.
Neom, which has emerged as the plan's flashy centerpiece, is reportedly expected to be given 20% less than its target budget for the year. Advertisement Plans to launch a new airline for Neom are ...