Powerful business plan templates
Plan for the future, no matter what your business plans are or the size of your business with these designs and templates. whether it's just one big project or an entire organization's worth of dreams, these templates will keep you and your company on track from ideation to completion..
Put your ideas to work with simple templates for every business plan
Every successful business took a lot of planning to get there, and these templates will be cornerstones of your future success. Whether you're looking to attract new business, pitch your services or reimagine your company, with these simple, customizable templates at your fingertips you can turn complexity into something tangible. These templates can become marketing assets or simply remain internal touchpoints for your team. And as your dreams change, you'll always have this template to refer to â it's easy to change what exists on paper. If you're a small business, focusing on your niche can help you dominate in your field, and you can forge a plan to figure out exactly what that niche might be and how to target your ideal customer . When it's time to share your vision with stakeholders, craft a presentation that outlines your plan succinctly and with style. Let these templates from Microsoft Designer be your partner in business strategy for years to come.
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How to write a business plan (with template)
We all know that as a product manager youâre also the CEO of the product. While you own the product backlog, youâre also responsible for expanding the product and adding new features to increase value for users and the business. Whether you work in a start-up or are a PM in a large organization, creating a business plan is crucial before pitching in any new idea.
What is a business plan?
A business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines the problem, the solution, market outreach possibilities, potential threats, a clear goal, and a measurable return on investment with a year-on-year growth strategy.
Significance of a business plan
All product organizations have started seeing the importance of a business plan before approving a new product idea. A good business plan has numerous benefits, the most fundamental being an opportunity to think through the idea before investing time and resources.
The following are the key traits of a good business plan.
Clarity of vision
Taking the time to write down an idea can bring greater clarity to your vision. It allows you to better understand the problem at hand and reveal all possible solutions. This is because writing forces you to slow down and think everything through, resulting in a more evident thought process.
Strategic guidance
When creating a business plan, including financial projections and forecasts is useful. This helps develop a strategic plan by considering marketing strategies, launch plans, development costs, and expected return on investment. However, conducting proper research and due diligence is crucial to ensure that the predictions are as accurate as possible. This process can lead to gaining more insights, taking necessary steps beforehand, and fostering collaboration.
Risk management
A business plan is crucial as it allows you to identify potential risks beforehand. As part of creating a business plan, conducting a competitor analysis, identifying your target market, performing a SWOT analysis (focusing on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and determining your unique selling points is essential. By analyzing these factors, you can gain valuable insights into potential risks and market trends and create an effective risk management plan to ensure success.
Operational planning
While creating a business plan, it becomes essential to forecast, plan milestones, and produce a roadmap. This involves looking into the development timeline, launch plan, and marketing strategies. By doing so, you can outline an operational plan and calculate the resources required to complete the project within a specified deadline. Measuring the rollout plan and determining the appropriate launch plan is crucial.
Measurable objectives and milestones
In addition to a roadmap and milestones, itâs essential to provide critical metrics to measure success. This will help product teams clearly understand the overall roadmap and milestones and ensure that the key results are defined to determine if the product is successful.
Components of a business plan
The business plan will look different for different products depending on the business, product area, and other factors. Still, a few common elements must be a part of each business plan.
Problem statement
Defining the problem in the right way is the most crucial thing. While defining the problem, always consider backing up the claims by data. Use surveys and user testimonies to construct the problem statement in the most relatable manner:
Solution description / mission statement
When presenting a solution, itâs important to avoid using technical jargon and instead describe it in a way thatâs easy to understand for anyone, regardless of their technical background. If specific technical details need to be included, put them in an appendix for those who want to read more.
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Creating a clear mission statement outlining what you aim to achieve with your solution is also essential. Avoid using vague language and be as specific and straightforward as possible. The more specific your goal, the better.
Market analysis
This section requires a comprehensive and detailed analysis of various aspects crucial to any productâs success in the market. The four main areas addressed are product-market fit , target customers, total market share, and unique selling proposition (USP).
Product-market fit is about identifying the gap that exists in the market and how your product can bridge that gap.
Defining target customers includes understanding their demographics, behavior, preferences, and needs. Itâs also essential to identify any secondary customer base that can be targeted, which can help expand the productâs reach and appeal:
Total market share, or the total available market, refers to the overall revenue opportunity available for a product or service if 100 percent market share is achieved. It gives a clear idea of the scope of expansion for the product after launch.
Unique selling proposition (USP) is a critical aspect of any productâs success that defines why customers should choose your product over others. Itâs what sets your product apart from the competition and makes it stand out. Identifying and promoting your USP can help to differentiate your product and create a sense of confidence among sponsors.
Competitor analysis
When analyzing competitors, people tend only to consider direct competitors. However, a great product stands out by taking customers away from even indirect competitors. For example, TikTok and Reels are taking up viewership time that Netflix and other streaming services previously held. Therefore, Netflixâs competitors are not limited to other streaming services but include other platforms providing quick and engaging content:
Projection and forecast
Creating a comprehensive and effective business plan, including a detailed projection of operational costs and a sales and revenue generation forecast is crucial. You can enhance the plan by providing a summarized version of the roadmap and revenue plan and giving sponsors a quick overview of the expected development time, launch dates, and other essential details. Doing so can ensure that your business plan is constructive and comprehensive, in turn laying out a clear path to success.
This is a section of the business plan where you can finally reveal your expectations towards the sponsor or the investors. You have established a business model and the effect of your product. Now, itâs time to be clear and specific about the investment required to reach the goal, including the expected time frame.
The aim is to clearly outline the expected returns so that any potential sponsor or investor can decide whether the opportunity aligns with their goals. This is a mutually beneficial partnership; you can establish a foundation for a good relationship with transparency.
Business plan template
Hereâs a one-pager template for a business plan that suits most products:
Here you can find the full PPT template for the business plan, including all the components.
Final thoughts
A business plan is a crucial document that outlines the entire product lifecycle from inception to launch. It aims to align stakeholders, minimize uncertainties, and increase the likelihood of product success in the market. Effective business plans are those that demonstrate a compelling opportunity backed by thorough research and a clear strategy for execution and growth.
These templates can make your next pitch easier!
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Small Business Trends
How to create a business plan: examples & free template.
Whether youâre a seasoned entrepreneur or launching your very first startup, the guide will give you the insights, tools, and confidence you need to create a solid foundation for your business.
Table of Contents
How to Write a Business Plan
Executive summary.
Itâs crucial to include a clear mission statement, a brief description of your primary products or services, an overview of your target market, and key financial projections or achievements.
Our target market includes environmentally conscious consumers and businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. We project a 200% increase in revenue within the first three years of operation.
Overview and Business Objectives
Example: EcoTechâs primary objective is to become a market leader in sustainable technology products within the next five years. Our key objectives include:
Company Description
Example: EcoTech is committed to developing cutting-edge sustainable technology products that benefit both the environment and our customers. Our unique combination of innovative solutions and eco-friendly design sets us apart from the competition. We envision a future where technology and sustainability go hand in hand, leading to a greener planet.
Define Your Target Market
Market analysis.
The Market Analysis section requires thorough research and a keen understanding of the industry. It involves examining the current trends within your industry, understanding the needs and preferences of your customers, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.
Our research indicates a gap in the market for high-quality, innovative eco-friendly technology products that cater to both individual and business clients.
SWOT Analysis
Including a SWOT analysis demonstrates to stakeholders that you have a balanced and realistic understanding of your business in its operational context.
Competitive Analysis
Organization and management team.
Provide an overview of your companyâs organizational structure, including key roles and responsibilities. Introduce your management team, highlighting their expertise and experience to demonstrate that your team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.
Products and Services Offered
This section should emphasize the value you provide to customers, demonstrating that your business has a deep understanding of customer needs and is well-positioned to deliver innovative solutions that address those needs and set your company apart from competitors.
Marketing and Sales Strategy
Discuss how these marketing and sales efforts will work together to attract and retain customers, generate leads, and ultimately contribute to achieving your businessâs revenue goals.
Logistics and Operations Plan
Inventory control is another crucial aspect, where you explain strategies for inventory management to ensure efficiency and reduce wastage. The section should also describe your production processes, emphasizing scalability and adaptability to meet changing market demands.
We also prioritize efficient distribution through various channels, including online platforms and retail partners, to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner.
Financial Projections Plan
This forward-looking financial plan is crucial for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of the financial nuances of your business and are prepared to manage its financial health effectively.
Income Statement
Cash flow statement.
A cash flow statement is a crucial part of a financial business plan that shows the inflows and outflows of cash within your business. It helps you monitor your companyâs liquidity, ensuring you have enough cash on hand to cover operating expenses, pay debts, and invest in growth opportunities.
Section | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Executive Summary | Brief overview of the business plan | Overview of EcoTech and its mission |
Overview & Objectives | Outline of company's goals and strategies | Market leadership in sustainable technology |
Company Description | Detailed explanation of the company and its unique selling proposition | EcoTech's history, mission, and vision |
Target Market | Description of ideal customers and their needs | Environmentally conscious consumers and businesses |
Market Analysis | Examination of industry trends, customer needs, and competitors | Trends in eco-friendly technology market |
SWOT Analysis | Evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats | Strengths and weaknesses of EcoTech |
Competitive Analysis | In-depth analysis of competitors and their strategies | Analysis of GreenTech and EarthSolutions |
Organization & Management | Overview of the company's structure and management team | Key roles and team members at EcoTech |
Products & Services | Description of offerings and their unique features | Energy-efficient lighting solutions, solar chargers |
Marketing & Sales | Outline of marketing channels and sales strategies | Digital advertising, content marketing, influencer partnerships |
Logistics & Operations | Details about daily operations, supply chain, inventory, and quality control | Partnerships with manufacturers, quality control |
Financial Projections | Forecast of revenue, expenses, and profit for the next 3-5 years | Projected growth in revenue and net profit |
Income Statement | Summary of company's revenues and expenses over a specified period | Revenue, Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Net Income |
Cash Flow Statement | Overview of cash inflows and outflows within the business | Net Cash from Operating Activities, Investing Activities, Financing Activities |
Tips on Writing a Business Plan
4. Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from the competition. Emphasize your USP throughout your business plan to showcase your companyâs value and potential for success.
FREE Business Plan Template
To help you get started on your business plan, we have created a template that includes all the essential components discussed in the âHow to Write a Business Planâ section. This easy-to-use template will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you donât miss any critical details.
What is a Business Plan?
Why you should write a business plan.
Understanding the importance of a business plan in todayâs competitive environment is crucial for entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are five compelling reasons to write a business plan:
What are the Different Types of Business Plans?
Type of Business Plan | Purpose | Key Components | Target Audience |
---|---|---|---|
Startup Business Plan | Outlines the company's mission, objectives, target market, competition, marketing strategies, and financial projections. | Mission Statement, Company Description, Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Organizational Structure, Marketing and Sales Strategy, Financial Projections. | Entrepreneurs, Investors |
Internal Business Plan | Serves as a management tool for guiding the company's growth, evaluating its progress, and ensuring that all departments are aligned with the overall vision. | Strategies, Milestones, Deadlines, Resource Allocation. | Internal Team Members |
Strategic Business Plan | Outlines long-term goals and the steps to achieve them. | SWOT Analysis, Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Long-Term Goals. | Executives, Managers, Investors |
Feasibility Business Plan | Assesses the viability of a business idea. | Market Demand, Competition, Financial Projections, Potential Obstacles. | Entrepreneurs, Investors |
Growth Business Plan | Focuses on strategies for scaling up an existing business. | Market Analysis, New Product/Service Offerings, Financial Projections. | Business Owners, Investors |
Operational Business Plan | Outlines the company's day-to-day operations. | Processes, Procedures, Organizational Structure. | Managers, Employees |
Lean Business Plan | A simplified, agile version of a traditional plan, focusing on key elements. | Value Proposition, Customer Segments, Revenue Streams, Cost Structure. | Entrepreneurs, Startups |
One-Page Business Plan | A concise summary of your company's key objectives, strategies, and milestones. | Key Objectives, Strategies, Milestones. | Entrepreneurs, Investors, Partners |
Nonprofit Business Plan | Outlines the mission, goals, target audience, fundraising strategies, and budget allocation for nonprofit organizations. | Mission Statement, Goals, Target Audience, Fundraising Strategies, Budget. | Nonprofit Leaders, Board Members, Donors |
Franchise Business Plan | Focuses on the franchisor's requirements, as well as the franchisee's goals, strategies, and financial projections. | Franchise Agreement, Brand Standards, Marketing Efforts, Operational Procedures, Financial Projections. | Franchisors, Franchisees, Investors |
Using Business Plan Software
Upmetrics provides a simple and intuitive platform for creating a well-structured business plan. It features customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, and collaboration capabilities, allowing you to work with team members and advisors. Upmetrics also offers a library of resources to guide you through the business planning process.
Software | Key Features | User Interface | Additional Features |
---|---|---|---|
LivePlan | Over 500 sample plans, financial forecasting tools, progress tracking against KPIs | User-friendly, visually appealing | Allows creation of professional-looking business plans |
Upmetrics | Customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, collaboration capabilities | Simple and intuitive | Provides a resource library for business planning |
Bizplan | Drag-and-drop builder, modular sections, financial forecasting tools, progress tracking | Simple, visually engaging | Designed to simplify the business planning process |
Enloop | Industry-specific templates, financial forecasting tools, automatic business plan generation, unique performance score | Robust, user-friendly | Offers a free version, making it accessible for businesses on a budget |
Tarkenton GoSmallBiz | Guided business plan builder, customizable templates, financial projection tools | User-friendly | Offers CRM tools, legal document templates, and additional resources for small businesses |
Business Plan FAQs
What is a good business plan.
A good business plan is a well-researched, clear, and concise document that outlines a companyâs goals, strategies, target market, competitive advantages, and financial projections. It should be adaptable to change and provide a roadmap for achieving success.
What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?
Can i write a business plan by myself, is it possible to create a one-page business plan.
Yes, a one-page business plan is a condensed version that highlights the most essential elements, including the companyâs mission, target market, unique selling proposition, and financial goals.
How long should a business plan be?
What is a business plan outline, what are the 5 most common business plan mistakes, what questions should be asked in a business plan.
A business plan should address questions such as: What problem does the business solve? Who is the specific target market ? What is the unique selling proposition? What are the companyâs objectives? How will it achieve those objectives?
Whatâs the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?
How is business planning for a nonprofit different.
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7 Business Plan Examples to Inspire Your Own (2024)
Need support creating your business plan? Check out these business plan examples for inspiration.
Any aspiring entrepreneur researching how to start a business will likely be advised to write a business plan. But few resources provide business plan examples to really guide you through writing one of your own.
Here are some real-world and illustrative business plan examples to help you craft your business plan .
7 business plan examples: section by section
The business plan examples in this article follow this template:
- Executive summary. An introductory overview of your business.
- Company description. A more in-depth and detailed description of your business and why it exists.
- Market analysis. Research-based information about the industry and your target market.
- Products and services. What you plan to offer in exchange for money.
- Marketing plan. The promotional strategy to introduce your business to the world and drive sales.
- Logistics and operations plan. Everything that happens in the background to make your business function properly.
- Financial plan. A breakdown of your numbers to show what you need to get started as well as to prove viability of profitability.
- Executive summary
Your executive summary is a page that gives a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. Itâs easiest to save this section for last.
In this free business plan template , the executive summary is four paragraphs and takes a little over half a page:
- Company description
You might repurpose your company description elsewhere, like on your About page, social media profile pages, or other properties that require a boilerplate description of your small business.
Soap brand ORRIS has a blurb on its About page that could easily be repurposed for the company description section of its business plan.
You can also go more in-depth with your company overview and include the following sections, like in the example for Paw Print Post:
- Business structure. This section outlines how you registered your business âas an LLC , sole proprietorship, corporation, or other business type . âPaw Print Post will operate as a sole proprietorship run by the owner, Jane Matthews.â
- Nature of the business. âPaw Print Post sells unique, one-of-a-kind digitally printed cards that are customized with a petâs unique paw prints.â
- Industry. âPaw Print Post operates primarily in the pet industry and sells goods that could also be categorized as part of the greeting card industry.â
- Background information. âJane Matthews, the founder of Paw Print Post, has a long history in the pet industry and working with animals, and was recently trained as a graphic designer. Sheâs combining those two loves to capture a niche in the market: unique greeting cards customized with a petâs paw prints, without needing to resort to the traditional (and messy) options of casting your petâs prints in plaster or using pet-safe ink to have them stamp their âsignature.ââ
- Business objectives. âJane will have Paw Print Post ready to launch at the Big Important Pet Expo in Toronto to get the word out among industry players and consumers alike. After two years in business, Jane aims to drive $150,000 in annual revenue from the sale of Paw Print Postâs signature greeting cards and have expanded into two new product categories.â
- Team. âJane Matthews is the sole full-time employee of Paw Print Post but hires contractors as needed to support her workflow and fill gaps in her skill set. Notably, Paw Print Post has a standing contract for five hours a week of virtual assistant support with Virtual Assistants Pro.â
Your mission statement may also make an appearance here. Passionfruit shares its mission statement on its company website, and it would also work well in its example business plan.
- Market analysis
The market analysis consists of research about supply and demand, your target demographics, industry trends, and the competitive landscape. You might run a SWOT analysis and include that in your business plan.
Hereâs an example SWOT analysis for an online tailored-shirt business:
Youâll also want to do a competitive analysis as part of the market research component of your business plan. This will tell you who youâre up against and give you ideas on how to differentiate your brand. A broad competitive analysis might include:
- Target customers
- Unique value add or what sets their products apart
- Sales pitch
- Price points for products
- Shipping policy
- Products and services
This section of your business plan describes your offeringsâwhich products and services do you sell to your customers? Hereâs an example for Paw Print Post:
- Marketing plan
Itâs always a good idea to develop a marketing plan before you launch your business. Your marketing plan shows how youâll get the word out about your business, and itâs an essential component of your business plan as well.
The Paw Print Post focuses on four Ps: price, product, promotion, and place. However, you can take a different approach with your marketing plan. Maybe you can pull from your existing marketing strategy , or maybe you break it down by the different marketing channels. Whatever approach you take, your marketing plan should describe how you intend to promote your business and offerings to potential customers.
- Logistics and operations plan
The Paw Print Post example considered suppliers, production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory.
Financial plan
The financial plan provides a breakdown of sales, revenue, profit, expenses, and other relevant financial metrics related to funding and profiting from your business.
Ecommerce brand Natureâs Candyâs financial plan breaks down predicted revenue, expenses, and net profit in graphs.
It then dives deeper into the financials to include:
- Funding needs
- Projected profit-and-loss statement
- Projected balance sheet
- Projected cash-flow statement
You can use this financial plan spreadsheet to build your own financial statements, including income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement.
Types of business plans, and what to include for each
A one-page business plan is meant to be high level and easy to understand at a glance. Youâll want to include all of the sections, but make sure theyâre truncated and summarized:
- Executive summary: truncated
- Market analysis: summarized
- Products and services: summarized
- Marketing plan: summarized
- Logistics and operations plan: summarized
- Financials: summarized
A startup business plan is for a new business. Typically, these plans are developed and shared to secure outside funding . As such, thereâs a bigger focus on the financials, as well as on other sections that determine viability of your business ideaâmarket research, for example.
- Market analysis: in-depth
- Financials: in-depth
Your internal business plan is meant to keep your team on the same page and aligned toward the same goal.
A strategic, or growth, business plan is a bigger picture, more-long-term look at your business. As such, the forecasts tend to look further into the future, and growth and revenue goals may be higher. Essentially, you want to use all the sections you would in a normal business plan and build upon each.
- Market analysis: comprehensive outlook
- Products and services: for launch and expansion
- Marketing plan: comprehensive outlook
- Logistics and operations plan: comprehensive outlook
- Financials: comprehensive outlook
Feasibility
Your feasibility business plan is sort of a pre-business planâmany refer to it as simply a feasibility study. This plan essentially lays the groundwork and validates that itâs worth the effort to make a full business plan for your idea. As such, itâs mostly centered around research.
Set yourself up for success as a business owner
Building a good business plan serves as a roadmap you can use for your ecommerce business at launch and as you reach each of your business goals. Business plans create accountability for entrepreneurs and synergy among teams, regardless of your business model .
Kickstart your ecommerce business and set yourself up for success with an intentional business planning processâand with the sample business plans above to guide your own path.
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Business plan examples FAQ
How do i write a simple business plan, what is the best format to write a business plan, what are the 4 key elements of a business plan.
- Executive summary: A concise overview of the company's mission, goals, target audience, and financial objectives.
- Business description: A description of the company's purpose, operations, products and services, target markets, and competitive landscape.
- Market analysis: An analysis of the industry, market trends, potential customers, and competitors.
- Financial plan: A detailed description of the company's financial forecasts and strategies.
What are the 3 main points of a business plan?
- Concept: Your concept should explain the purpose of your business and provide an overall summary of what you intend to accomplish.
- Contents: Your content should include details about the products and services you provide, your target market, and your competition.
- Cashflow: Your cash flow section should include information about your expected cash inflows and outflows, such as capital investments, operating costs, and revenue projections.
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Business Plan Template for Product
- Great for beginners
- Ready-to-use, fully customizable Subcategory
- Get started in seconds
Starting a new product-based business can be both thrilling and overwhelming. As an entrepreneur or business owner, you need a solid roadmap to guide you through the entire process, from conceptualization to execution. Look no further than ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Product!
This comprehensive template empowers you to:
- Define your product's unique value proposition and competitive advantage
- Identify and analyze your target market to ensure you're reaching the right customers
- Develop effective marketing strategies to maximize product exposure and drive sales
- Create accurate financial projections to secure funding and monitor business growth
- Craft a robust business strategy that sets you up for long-term success
With ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Product, you'll have everything you need to launch and manage your product-based business with confidence. Get started today and turn your vision into a thriving reality!
Business Plan Template for Product Benefits
A business plan template for a product can provide numerous benefits to entrepreneurs or business owners, including:
- Streamlining the process of creating a comprehensive business plan
- Ensuring a clear and concise articulation of the product's value proposition
- Guiding the identification and understanding of the target market
- Helping to develop effective marketing strategies to reach and engage customers
- Facilitating the creation of realistic and accurate financial projections
- Assisting in the development of a solid business strategy for successful product launch and management
- Providing a framework for evaluating and adjusting business goals and objectives as needed
Main Elements of Product Business Plan Template
ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Product is the ultimate tool for entrepreneurs and business owners to effectively plan and manage their product-based business. Here are the main elements of this template:
- Custom Statuses: Keep track of the progress of each section of your business plan with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do.
- Custom Fields: Utilize the Reference, Approved, and Section custom fields to provide additional context to your business plan and easily categorize and filter information.
- Custom Views: Access different views such as Topics, Status, Timeline, Business Plan, and Getting Started Guide to visualize and organize your business plan in a way that suits your needs.
- Collaboration and Organization: Collaborate with your team in real-time, set due dates, assign tasks, and attach files to each section of your business plan.
- Document Creation: Use ClickUp's powerful Docs feature to write and format your business plan directly within the template, ensuring everything is in one place for easy access and editing.
How To Use Business Plan Template for Product
Are you ready to launch your new product and need a solid business plan to guide you through the process? Look no further than ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Product. Follow these five steps to create a comprehensive business plan that sets you up for success.
1. Define your product and target market
The first step in creating your business plan is to clearly define your product and identify your target market. What problem does your product solve? Who are your ideal customers? Conduct market research to gather insights and create buyer personas to guide your marketing efforts.
Use the Docs feature in ClickUp to outline your product's unique features and benefits, and create a section dedicated to your target market.
2. Analyze the competition
To stand out in the market, you need to understand your competition. Research similar products and identify their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis will help you position your product effectively and identify opportunities for differentiation.
Use the Table view in ClickUp to create a competitive analysis, listing key competitors, their products, and their unique selling propositions.
3. Develop a marketing strategy
Now that you have a clear understanding of your product and competition, it's time to develop a marketing strategy. Determine the channels and tactics you will use to reach your target market. Will you focus on digital marketing, social media, or traditional advertising? Outline your pricing strategy, distribution channels, and promotional activities.
Utilize the Calendar view in ClickUp to create a marketing timeline and schedule key milestones and campaigns.
4. Outline your financial projections
A solid business plan includes financial projections that demonstrate the viability of your product. Estimate your revenue streams, costs, and expenses. Consider factors such as production costs, marketing expenses, and pricing strategy. Create a sales forecast based on market research and industry trends.
Use custom fields in ClickUp to track and calculate financial projections, such as revenue, costs, and profit margins.
5. Set goals and milestones
To keep your business plan on track, set clear goals and milestones. Define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives. Break down your goals into smaller milestones to track progress and ensure accountability.
Use Goals in ClickUp to set and track your business plan objectives and align them with your team's tasks and projects.
By following these five steps and using ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Product, you'll have a comprehensive and actionable business plan that will guide you towards success. Start planning today and watch your product thrive in the market.
Get Started with ClickUpâs Business Plan Template for Product
Entrepreneurs and business owners can use the ClickUp Business Plan Template for Product to effectively plan and manage their product-based business.
First, hit "Add Template" to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you'd like this template applied.
Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.
Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a comprehensive business plan for your product:
- Use the Topics View to outline and organize different sections of your business plan, such as value proposition, target market, marketing strategies, and financial projections.
- The Status View will help you track the progress of each section of your business plan, with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do.
- Utilize the Timeline View to set deadlines and milestones for completing different sections of your business plan.
- The Business Plan View provides a holistic overview of your entire business plan, allowing you to easily navigate and review all sections.
- Use the Getting Started Guide View to provide step-by-step instructions and guidance for implementing your business plan.
To further customize your business plan template, you can utilize the following custom fields:
- Reference: Add references or links to external resources that support your business plan.
- Approved: Indicate whether each section of your business plan has been approved or not.
- Section: Categorize each section of your business plan based on its topic or theme.
By following these steps and utilizing the different views and custom fields, you can create a comprehensive and well-structured business plan for your product-based business.
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What is a business plan?
A business plan is a document that helps small business owners determine the viability of their business idea. Combining market research and financial analysis, a professional business plan helps startup CEOs and potential investors determine if the company can compete in the target market.
Typically, a good business plan consists of the following:
- Executive summary
- Company description
- Mission statement
- Product and services
- Marketing plan
- Operations plan
- Management organization
- Financial plan
- Conclusion & appendix
Every section involved in a business plan is designed to help startup businesses reach their target market.
A business plan asks founders and entrepreneurs to detail their business strategy in a step-by-step process that makes sense from an operational perspective. This is essential if a startup is seeking a business loan or an investment from a venture capital firm.
However, even small businesses that are already economically viable can benefit from creating a business plan, since it encourages business owners and their management teams to examine their business model and reevaluate the best ways to reach their target customers.
Should I use a business plan template?
Yes. If youâve never written one, a business plan can be challenging to write.
Creating a successful plan that you can use to grow your small business can require weeks of market analysis and financial preparation. You may spend time using Microsoft Excel or Powerpoint in order to create documentation which better supports our operational decisions.
However, almost every professional business plan is structured in the same way and most ask for the same information. Because of this, using a business plan template is advisable to save time, money, and effort.
Business plan templates for free
Rather than spending time trying to figure out how to write a business plan , use a free template as a guide to completion.
Business plan templates from PandaDoc can help you reach an effective go-to-market strategy even faster by asking you to provide all the relevant information you need when creating an effective business plan.
Grab a free template to get started!
Frequently asked questions
How many pages should my business plan be.
This depends on the kind of business plan you need to write and how you intend to use the plan that you create.
For example, a plan for a small business seeking potential investors or a business loan will need to provide income statements, cash flow statements, and a balance sheet (usually for a three-year or five-year forecast period).
These financial statements can be omitted if a small business owner isnât seeking funding and is instead planning to use their business plan as a guiding document for themselves and their management team members.
Some business plans may only run a few pages. Fully-developed business plans can be as long as 50 pages. Much of this depends on the type of business, the operational strategy, and the level of detail that goes into developing the business plan.
Who needs a business plan?
Every business should have a business plan. This is an essential guidance document for any founder or CEO.
Good business plans help a company determine the viability of its place in the market and can help the business develop better strategies for differentiating itself from its competitors.
Business planning also forces business owners to evaluate their marketing strategy, the cost of customer acquisition and retention, and how they plan to grow their business over time.
What is the best business plan template?
Business plans come in all shapes and sizes. The best business plan template for your business is one that you understand and that matches the size and legal structure of your operation.
If youâre a sole proprietor, a business plan template designed for a big corporation probably doesnât make sense. However, a business plan that helps you build an effective roadmap to grow your business while protecting your intellectual property is a good starting point.
PandaDoc offers specialized business plan templates for common industries along with tips to help you get started with business planning.
Should I hire someone to write my business plan for me?
No. Youâll find freelance writers and business strategy companies out there who are happy to write your business plan for a fee. These resources can guide you through the process, but you should write (or be heavily involved in) the creation of your business plan.
The reason for this is simple: You know the most about your business, and your business needs you to succeed.
A writer can work with you to make your business plan sound better to investors, and a consultant can help you fill in knowledge gaps â like how to conduct a SWOT analysis â and point out weaknesses in your plan. But, at the end of the day, you need to use the business plan to pitch investors and run your business.
Those ideas and guiding principles arenât something you can outsource.
Should I use business planning software?
Software isnât required when creating an effective business plan. Most business planning software is designed to help you navigate the outlining and writing process more effectively.
You donât need software to write a professional business plan, but a solid template can help you get started. Download a free template from PandaDoc today and take your business to the next level.
Get started with PandaDoc today
Business growth
Business tips
Free business plan templateâand how to write your own
I wrote my first business plan when I was six. I've learned a lot since then, and in hindsight, I can see why the investors around my family's Christmas table didn't take my space Marine cowboy ranch pitch seriously. I didn't put a lot of thought into what it would take to make the idea work, and I certainly didn't do the market research. Also, it was a space Marine cowboy ranch business.
My point is that thinking about the outcome before considering the many variables that pave the way is counterproductive. A business plan may not seem like the most critical or complicated document, but it can guide an entire organization, keeping success at the top of everyone's mind. It's the difference between a successful investor pitch and crying on Christmas.
To show you what I mean, I've put together a simple business plan template to get you started.
Table of contents:
Simple business plan template + example
After some good old-fashioned data entry, you should have a polished business plan that's ready to share. Regardless of what stage your business is in, this template is flexible enough to accommodate your needs.
What is a business plan?
A business plan is a document that clearly defines your company's goals, strategies, and operational details. It's essentially a roadmap for your team and investors. Think of it as boiling your entire business (concept, vision, dreams, and everything in between) down to one document.Â
A formal business plan will include an overview of your products or services, marketing and sales strategies, targeted markets, financial details, and even a description of what you're building.Â
Of course, business plans are unique snowflakes, so there's no one size fits all. Depending on what you're trying to doâattract investors, guide project expansion, align team membersâyour plan will look a little different. I'll dig into the different types of business plans in a bit.
What makes a business plan so important?
In its simplest form, a business plan turns your concept into a reality. In more tangible terms, it also helps you achieve necessary business goals like securing funding. You'll have a hard time finding investors if you show up to a pitch meeting with only a winning smile and a can-do attitudeâa strong business plan can show them a clear path to a return on their investment.
Investors and their judgmental silence aside, this document is critical for guiding internal decision-making, setting goals, and providing a clear direction for the business and its vision.
Key components of a business plan
Before your business partners can understand your vision, you need to make sure you do. Before you start putting your business plan together, ask yourself whether your idea is feasible, whether it's different from what's already out there, if there are any competitors, and if they're doing something unique. Also consider your prices and customer base.
You likely already know most of the answers to these questions. My Christmas pitch all those years ago could have gone differently if I'd put crayon to paper and answered these questions myself. My family couldn't follow my spur-of-the-moment speech, and neither will your team or investorsâthey need it spelled out as clearly as possible.
While no two business plans will look the same, there's a handful of key components virtually all good business plans have in common. So, if you haven't already looked through the template with the optimism that my six-year-old self lost that Christmas, here's what you can expect to find.
Title page: Impress readers with a unique presentation. This is your first opportunity to showcase your brand.Â
Table of contents: No one likes being lost in a document. A TOC can help readers navigate the various sections and get an overview of what's inside.
Executive summary: Provide an overview of the business, summarizing its mission, goals, and key highlights.
Market analysis: Include your research and data on the target market. Make sure to outline industry trends, competition, and customer demographics.
Products/services: Detail your services or products. You'll want to expand on your unique selling points and customer benefits.
Marketing and sales strategy: Outline your plans for promoting your business. If you've already identified marketing and sales channels, include those, too.
The organization: Showcase how your business will function on a structural level. Make sure to talk about your team's different positions and functions, and how it will all be managed.
Types of business plans
Let's say you have a well-established construction manufacturing business. If you're looking to expand the business into a new location, you don't want to repurpose the same simple startup business plan. You'd want to build on it (pun intended) with an expansion business plan.Â
Unlike your original business plan, which outlined your original milestones and goals, an expansion plan would include an analysis of your expansion and its development, purpose, feasibility, market, and reasoning. It would still outline your overarching goals for the business as a whole, but with additional information about the expansion and what that entails.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. For example, internal and strategic business plans serve an internal purpose. These are the types that are written for your team rather than your business partners. They're created to pin down the long-term game plan and keep team members aligned.
|
|
|
|
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| External | Internal | Internal | Internal & external | External |
| Business concept, strategy, and financial projections | Specific projects, departments, and initiatives | SWOT analysis, mission, vision, and objectives | Strategies, resources, new product lines, new markets | Market research, financial projections, and potential risks |
| - Early-stage planning
- Securing funding and investors | - Aligning team members
- Allocating resources effectively | - Defining long-term goals
- Guiding the overall strategic direction | - Outlining expansion plans and timelines
- Defining new markets and growth opportunities | - Assessing the viability of a business idea
- Determining if the business concept is worth pursuing |
Making the business plan template your own
A business idea and a feasible business plan are two very different things. Follow these steps to solidify your ideas into a clear roadmap.Â
1. Define your mission statement
2. outline a detailed company description.
Don't be shy about the details. Provide your readers with a comprehensive overview of your company, its history, founders, legal structure, location, and the concept it's all built around. You might even include photos and illustrations for an extra flair.
3. Set your business goals
4. detail your services/products, 5. analyze your target audience, 6. set milestones for marketing and sales.
Showcasing that you've identified your target audience isn't enough. You need to prove that you know how to speak to it and how to appeal to it while promoting your products and services. Some businesses set up milestones such as X amount of sales, Y number of acquired clients, or, in my case, the successful integration of Cowboy Ranch into the International Space Station.
7. Perform a financial analysis
Conduct a thorough financial analysis that includes details such as income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. Outline your financial projections and your funding requirements. This section should prove how financially feasible your business concept is.
Once you have these points outlined and fleshed out, it's only a matter of representing each and every one of them in detail, ensuring that the voice and tone of your business plan reflect your brand and embody the unique concept you want to get across.
Future-proofing your business plan
In summary: investors are not mind readers, and cowboys should stay on Earth.Â
Your business plan is the sum of your ideas, passion, vision, and the lessons you learn as your business develops. Over the years, it will likely go through a few iterations and changes, but the plan you write today will guide you through the beginning stages.Â
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Hachem Ramki
Hachem is a writer and digital marketer from Montreal. After graduating with a degree in English, Hachem spent seven years traveling around the world before moving to Canada. When he's not writing, he enjoys Basketball, Dungeons and Dragons, and playing music for friends and family.
- Sales & business development
- Small business
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Business plan template
If youâre looking for a way to start your business off on the right foot, a business plan template can help you establish the foundation for your strategy. Get started in a few clicks with Asanaâs free business plan template.
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Youâre pumpedâyou just thought of the greatest business idea ever. You want to get started, but you donât have a plan laid out. You need a loan to get your idea off the ground, and the bank wants to see an in-depth business plan. Weâre here to help.
What is a business plan template?
A business plan template is a framework that helps you solidify your ideas in an organized format. Our free business plan template walks you through how to create a new business from scratch, or re-imagine your existing business in a new market.
What components are included in a business plan template?
Our business plan template covers what an organization wants to achieve within three to five years. By using our template, youâll have a place to capture all of the major information you need in order to complete your business plan. That includes:
Company description : Information like your executive summary , your companyâs mission statement and vision, and your founderâs bio.Â
Product and services: A high-level overview of what your company provides, including core products or services. This may also include how your product is developed, any potential screenshots or prototypes of your product, and pricing plans.
Marketing plan: How you plan to bring your product into market at a high level. You can add information like a SWOT analysis , target market research, and brand positioning in this section.
Financial plan: Important financial information such as balance sheets, a break-even analysis, and your cash flow projections.Â
Management and organization information: Information on your companyâs founders, executive team, and the board of directors.
How to use our free business plan template
Using Asanaâs free business plan template is simple. Start by creating a new project with our free template. From there, add relevant information for your specific business plan in the sections provided in our template. If thereâs more information you want to include in your business plan, youâre free to add sections, custom fields, or additional tasks to make this template fit your needs.
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Goals . Goals in Asana directly connect to the work youâre doing to hit them, making it easy for team members to see what theyâre working towards. More often than not, our goals live separate from the work that goes into achieving them. By connecting your team and company goals to the work that supports them, team members have real-time insight and clarity into how their work directly contributes to your teamâand companyâsuccess. As a result, team members can make better decisions. If necessary, they can identify the projects that support the companyâs strategy and prioritize work that delivers measurable results.Â
Reporting . Reporting in Asana translates project data into visual charts and digestible graphs. By reporting on work where work lives, you can reduce duplicative work and cut down on unnecessary app switching. And, because all of your teamâs work is already in Asana, you can pull data from any project or team to get an accurate picture of whatâs happening in one place.
Milestones . Milestones represent important project checkpoints. By setting milestones throughout your project, you can let your team members and project stakeholders know how youâre pacing towards your goal. Use milestones as a chance to celebrate the little wins on the path towards the big project goal.Â
Project Overview . Project Overview is your one-stop-shop for all important project context. Give your team a birdâs-eye view of the what, why, and how of your project work. Add a project description to set the tone for how youâll work together in Asana. Then, share any important resources and contextâlike meeting details, communication channels, and project briefsâin one place.
Microsoft Teams . With the Microsoft Teams + Asana integration, you can search for and share the information you need without leaving Teams. Easily connect your Teams conversations to actionable items in Asana. Plus, create, assign, and view tasks during a Teams Meeting without needing to switch to your browser.
Slack . Turn ideas, work requests, and action items from Slack into trackable tasks and comments in Asana. Go from quick questions and action items to tasks with assignees and due dates. Easily capture work so requests and to-dos donât get lost in Slack.Â
Google Workplace . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.
Gmail . With the Asana for Gmail integration, you can create Asana tasks directly from your Gmail inbox. Any tasks you create from Gmail will automatically include the context from your email, so you never miss a beat. Need to refer to an Asana task while composing an email? Instead of opening Asana, use the Asana for Gmail add-on to simply search for that task directly from your Gmail inbox.Â
How do I create a business plan template? .css-i4fobf{-webkit-transition:-webkit-transform 200ms ease-in-out;transition:transform 200ms ease-in-out;-webkit-transform:rotateZ(0);-moz-transform:rotateZ(0);-ms-transform:rotateZ(0);transform:rotateZ(0);}
Instead of taking the time to create a business plan from scratch, start the process off with Asanaâs free template.To further customize your template, add evergreen information about your specific business, such as your business model, company name, address, mission statement, value proposition, or target audience. Adding these details to your template lets you avoid documenting this information from scratch every time you create a new business plan.
What components should I include in a business plan template?
Business plan templates typically contain five main sections: a company description, products and services, a marketing plan, basic management and organization information, and your current financial plan.
How long should my business plan be?
Short answerâas long as you need it to be. The long answer is that your business plan should have the answers to specific questions on how your business is run, from the perspective of an investor. The goal of a business plan is to highlight your business strategy for the next three to five years. This means any important operational, financial, and strategic information should be included.Â
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Annual planning template
Set clear goals and streamline your planning processâso every level of your company is aligned on whatâs important.
Competitive analysis template
The more you know about your competitors, the better your strategy will be. Competitive analysis templates use a data-driven approach to see exactly how your business, products, and features compare to your competition.
Crisis management plan
Does your team know what to do during a crisis? Using a crisis management plan template can help keep all your employees on the same page.
SIPOC template
Use your SIPOC template to ensure that the processes outlined in your SIPOC diagrams are consistent and up to your standards.
Small business, big goals
Coming up with your business strategy can be daunting, but Asana helps businesses of all sizes track and hit their goals. See how with a free trial.
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How To Write A Business Plan (2024 Guide)
Updated: Apr 17, 2024, 11:59am
Table of Contents
Brainstorm an executive summary, create a company description, brainstorm your business goals, describe your services or products, conduct market research, create financial plans, bottom line, frequently asked questions.
Every business starts with a vision, which is distilled and communicated through a business plan. In addition to your high-level hopes and dreams, a strong business plan outlines short-term and long-term goals, budget and whatever else you might need to get started. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to write a business plan that you can stick to and help guide your operations as you get started.
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Drafting the Summary
An executive summary is an extremely important first step in your business. You have to be able to put the basic facts of your business in an elevator pitch-style sentence to grab investorsâ attention and keep their interest. This should communicate your businessâs name, what the products or services youâre selling are and what marketplace youâre entering.
Ask for Help
When drafting the executive summary, you should have a few different options. Enlist a few thought partners to review your executive summary possibilities to determine which one is best.
After you have the executive summary in place, you can work on the company description, which contains more specific information. In the description, youâll need to include your businessâs registered name , your business address and any key employees involved in the business.Â
The business description should also include the structure of your business, such as sole proprietorship , limited liability company (LLC) , partnership or corporation. This is the time to specify how much of an ownership stake everyone has in the company. Finally, include a section that outlines the history of the company and how it has evolved over time.
Wherever you are on the business journey, you return to your goals and assess where you are in meeting your in-progress targets and setting new goals to work toward.
Numbers-based Goals
Goals can cover a variety of sections of your business. Financial and profit goals are a given for when youâre establishing your business, but there are other goals to take into account as well with regard to brand awareness and growth. For example, you might want to hit a certain number of followers across social channels or raise your engagement rates.
Another goal could be to attract new investors or find grants if youâre a nonprofit business. If youâre looking to grow, youâll want to set revenue targets to make that happen as well.
Intangible Goals
Goals unrelated to traceable numbers are important as well. These can include seeing your businessâs advertisement reach the general public or receiving a terrific client review. These goals are important for the direction you take your business and the direction you want it to go in the future.
The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that youâre offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit in the current market or are providing something necessary or entirely new. If you have any patents or trademarks, this is where you can include those too.
If you have any visual aids, they should be included here as well. This would also be a good place to include pricing strategy and explain your materials.
This is the part of the business plan where you can explain your expertise and different approach in greater depth. Show how what youâre offering is vital to the market and fills an important gap.
You can also situate your business in your industry and compare it to other ones and how you have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Other than financial goals, you want to have a budget and set your planned weekly, monthly and annual spending. There are several different costs to consider, such as operational costs.
Business Operations Costs
Rent for your business is the first big cost to factor into your budget. If your business is remote, the cost that replaces rent will be the software that maintains your virtual operations.
Marketing and sales costs should be next on your list. Devoting money to making sure people know about your business is as important as making sure it functions.
Other Costs
Although you canât anticipate disasters, there are likely to be unanticipated costs that come up at some point in your businessâs existence. Itâs important to factor these possible costs into your financial plans so youâre not caught totally unaware.
Business plans are important for businesses of all sizes so that you can define where your business is and where you want it to go. Growing your business requires a vision, and giving yourself a roadmap in the form of a business plan will set you up for success.
How do I write a simple business plan?
When youâre working on a business plan, make sure you have as much information as possible so that you can simplify it to the most relevant information. A simple business plan still needs all of the parts included in this article, but you can be very clear and direct.
What are some common mistakes in a business plan?
The most common mistakes in a business plan are common writing issues like grammar errors or misspellings. Itâs important to be clear in your sentence structure and proofread your business plan before sending it to any investors or partners.
What basic items should be included in a business plan?
When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business, Â an analysis of the industryâincluding potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or servicesâhow you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.
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Julia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.
18 of My Favorite Sample Business Plans & Examples For Your Inspiration
Published: July 01, 2024
I believe that reading sample business plans is essential when writing your own.
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As you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, itâs easier for you to learn how to write a good one.
So what does a good business plan look like? And how do you write one thatâs both viable and convincing? Iâll walk you through the ideal business plan format along with some examples to help you get started.
Table of Contents
Business Plan Types
Business plan format, sample business plan: section by section, sample business plan templates, top business plan examples.
Ultimately, the format of your business plan will vary based on your goals for that plan. Iâve added this quick review of different business plan types that achieve differing goals.
For a more detailed exploration of business plan types, you can check out this post .
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1. Startups
Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas. If youâre planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business.
You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration .
2. Feasibility Studies
Feasibility business plans focus on that business's product or service. Feasibility plans are sometimes added to startup business plans. They can also be a new business plan for an already thriving organization.
3. Internal Use
You can use internal business plans to share goals, strategies, or performance updates with stakeholders. In my opinion, internal business plans are useful for alignment and building support for ambitious goals.
4. Strategic Initiatives
A strategic business plan is another business plan that's often shared internally. This plan covers long-term business objectives that might not have been included in the startup business plan.
5. Business Acquisition or Repositioning
When a business is moving forward with an acquisition or repositioning, it may need extra structure and support. These types of business plans expand on a company's acquisition or repositioning strategy.
Growth sometimes just happens as a business continues operations. But more often, a business needs to create a structure with specific targets to meet set goals for expansion. This business plan type can help a business focus on short-term growth goals and align resources with those goals.
Iâm going to focus on a startup business plan that needs to be detailed and research-backed as well as compelling enough to convince investors to offer funding. In my experience, the most comprehensive and convincing business plans contain the following sections.
Executive Summary
This all-important introduction to your business plan sets the tone and includes the company description as well as what you will be exchanging for money â whether thatâs product lines, services, or product-service hybrids.
Market Opportunity
Information about gaps in your industryâs market and how you plan to fill them, focused on demand and potential for growth.
Competitive Landscape Analysis
An overview of your competitors that includes consideration of their strengths and how youâll manage them, their weaknesses and how youâll capitalize on them, and how you can differentiate your offerings in the industry.
Target Audience
Descriptions of your ideal customers, their various problems that you can solve, and your customer acquisition strategy.
Marketing Strategy
This section details how you will market your brand to achieve specific goals, the channels and tactics youâll utilize to reach those goals, and the metrics youâll be using to measure your progress.
Key Features and Benefits
This is where youâll use plain language to emphasize the value of your product/service, how it solves the problems of your target audiences, and how youâll scale up over time.
Pricing and Revenue
This section describes your pricing strategy and plans for building revenue streams that fit your audiences while achieving your business goals.
This is the final section, communicating with investors that your business idea is worth investing in via profit/loss statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets to prove viability.
Okay, so now that we have a format established, Iâll give you more specific details about each section along with examples. Truthfully, I wish Iâd had this resource to help me flesh out those first business plans long ago.
1. Executive Summary
Iâd say the executive summary is the most important section of the entire business plan. It is essentially an overview of and introduction to your entire project.
Write this in such a way that it grabs your readers' attention and guides them through the rest of the business plan. This is important because a business plan can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.
There are two main elements Iâd recommend including in your executive summary: your company description and your products and services.
Company Description
This is the perfect space to highlight your companyâs mission statement and goals, a brief overview of your history and leadership, and your top accomplishments as a business.
Tell potential investors who you are and why what you do matters. Naturally, theyâre going to want to know who theyâre getting into business with up front. This is a great opportunity to showcase your impact.
Need some extra help firming up your business goals? Iâd recommend HubSpot Academyâs free course to help you set meaningful goals that matter most for your business.
Products and Services
Here, you will incorporate an overview of your offerings. This doesnât have to be extensive, as it is just a chance to introduce your industry and overall purpose as a business. I recommend including snippets of information about your financial projections and competitive advantage here as well.
Keep in mind that you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. The executive summary should be clear and brief, only including the most important takeaways.
Executive Summary Business Plan Examples
This example was created with HubSpotâs business plan template . What makes this executive summary good is that it tells potential investors a short story while still covering all of the most important details.
Our Mission
Mariaâs Gluten Free Bagels offers gluten-free bagels, along with various toppings, other gluten-free breakfast sandwich items, and coffee. The facility is entirely gluten free. Our team expects to catch the interest of gluten-free, celiac, or health-conscious community members who are seeking an enjoyable cafe to socialize. Due to a lack of gluten-free bagel products in the food industry currently, we expect mild competition and are confident we will be able to build a strong market position.
The Company and Management
Mariaâs Gluten Free Bagels was founded in 2010 by Maria Jones, who first began selling her gluten-free bagels online from her home, using social media to spread the word. In 2012 she bought a retail location in Hamilton, MA, which now employs four full-time employees and six part-time employees. Prior to her bagel shop, Maria was a chef in New York and has extensive experience in the food industry.
Along with Maria Jones, Gluten Free Bagel Shop has a board of advisors. The advisors are:
- Jeni King, partner at Winding Communications, Ltd.
- Henry Wilson, president of Blue Robin, LLP.
Our Product
We offer gluten-free products ranging from bagels and cream cheese to blueberry muffins, coffee, and pastries. Our customers are health-conscious, community-oriented people who enjoy gluten-free products. We will create a welcoming, warm environment with opportunities for open mic nights, poetry readings, and other community functions. We will focus on creating an environment in which someone feels comfortable meeting a friend for lunch, or working remotely.
Our Competitive Advantages
While there are other coffee shops and cafes in the North Shore region, there are none that offer purely gluten-free options. This restricts those suffering from gluten-free illnesses or simply those with a gluten-free preference. This will be our primary selling point. Additionally, our market research [see Section 3] has shown a demand for a community-oriented coffee and bagel shop in the town of Hamilton, MA.
Financial Considerations
Our sales projections for the first year are $400,000. We project a 15% growth rate over the next two years. By year three, we project 61% gross margins.
We will have four full-time employees. The salary for each employee will be $50,000.
Start-up Financing Requirements
We are seeking to raise $125,000 in startup to finance year one. The owner has invested $50,000 to meet working capital requirements, and will use a loan of $100,000 to supplement the rest.
Example 2 :
Marianne and Keith Bean have been involved with the food industry for several years. They opened their first restaurant in Antlers, Oklahoma in 1981, and their second in Hugo in 1988. Although praised for the quality of many of the items on their menu, they have attained a special notoriety for their desserts. After years of requests for their flavored whipped cream toppings, they have decided to pursue marketing these products separately from the restaurants.
Marianne and Keith Bean have developed several recipes for flavored whipped cream topping. They include chocolate, raspberry, cinnamon almond, and strawberry. These flavored dessert toppings have been used in the setting of their two restaurants over the past 18 years, and have been produced in large quantities. The estimated shelf life of the product is 21 days at refrigeration temperatures and up to six months when frozen. The Beans intend to market this product in its frozen state in 8 and 12-ounce plastic tubs. They also intend to have the products available in six ounce pressurized cans. Special attention has been given to developing an attractive label that will stress the gourmet/specialty nature of the products.
Distribution of Fancy's Foods Whipped Dream product will begin in the local southeastern Oklahoma area. The Beans have an established name and reputation in this area, and product introduction should encounter little resistance.
Financial analyses show that the company will have both a positive cash flow and profit in the first year. The expected return on equity in the first year is 10.88%
Tips for Writing Your Executive Summary
- Start with a strong introduction of your company that showcases your mission and impact, then outline the products and services you provide.
- Clearly define a problem, explain how your product solves that problem, and show why the market needs your business.
- Be sure to highlight your value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.
- Keep it concise and support ideas with data.
- Customize your summary to your audience. For example, you might emphasize finances and return on investment for venture capitalists, whereas you might emphasize community benefits and minimal environmental impact for progressive nonprofits.
For more guidance, check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary .
2. Market Opportunity
This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market. Ask and answer: Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will my product fill that gap?
To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, SOM analysis , a SWOT analysis , and perform market research on your industry to get some insights for this section. More specifically, hereâs what Iâd include.
- The size of the market
- Current or potential market share
- Trends in the industry and consumer behavior
- Where the gap is
- What caused the gap
- How you intend to fill it
Market Opportunity Business Plan Example
I like this example because it uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of that market this service hopes to capture.
Example: The market for Doggie Pause is all of the dog owners in the metropolitan area and surrounding areas of the city. We believe that this is going to be 2/3 of the population, and we have a goal of gaining a 50% market share. We have a target of a 20% yearly profit increase as the business continues.
Tips for Writing Your Market Opportunity Section
- Focus on demand and potential for growth.
- Use market research, surveys, and industry trend data to support your market forecast and projections.
- Add a review of regulation shifts, tech advances, and consumer behavior changes.
- Refer to reliable sources.
- Showcase how your business can make the most of this opportunity.
3. Competitive Landscape Analysis
Since weâre already speaking of market share, youâll also need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are. After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and youâll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another.
My favorite part of performing a competitive analysis is that it can help you uncover the following:
- Industry trends that other brands may not be utilizing.
- Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle.
- Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points.
- The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers.
Competitive Landscape Business Plan Example
I like how the competitive landscape section of this business plan shows a clear outline of who the top competitors are. It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of location. This demonstrates useful experience in the industry, helping to build trust in your ability to execute your business plan.
Competitive Environment
Currently, there are four primary competitors in the Greater Omaha Area: Pinotâs Palette Lakeside (franchise partner), Village Canvas and Cabernet, The Corky Canvas, and Twisted Vine Collective. The first three competitors are in Omaha and the fourth is located in Papillion.
Despite the competition, all locations have both public and private events. Each location has a few sold-out painting events each month. The Omaha locations are in new, popular retail locations, while the existing Papillion location is in a downtown business district.
There is an opportunity to take advantage of the environment and open a studio in a well-traveled or growing area. Pinotâs Palette La Vista will differentiate itself from its competitors by offering a premium experience in a high-growth, influential location.
Tips for Writing Your Competitive Landscape
- Complete in-depth research, then emphasize your most important findings.
- Compare your unique selling proposition (USP) to your direct and indirect competitors.
- Show a clear and realistic plan for product and brand differentiation.
- Look for specific advantages and barriers in the competitive landscape. Then, highlight how that information could impact your business.
- Outline growth opportunities from a competitive perspective.
- Add customer feedback and insights to support your competitive analysis.
4. Target Audience
Use this section to describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience? Iâd recommend building a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be clear about why you're targeting them. Here are some questions Iâd ask myself:
- What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?
- What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)
- Why are your offerings valuable to them?
Target Audience Business Plan Example
I like the example below because it uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.
The Audience
Recognize that audiences are often already aware of important issues. Outreach materials should:
- Emphasize a pollution-prevention practice
- Tell audience a little about how to prevent pollution
- Tell audience where they can obtain information about prevention.
Message Content
- Focus the content for outreach materials on cost savings, such as when and where pollution prevention is as cheap as or cheaper than traditional techniques. Include facts and figures.
- Emphasize how easy it is to do the right thing and the impacts of not engaging in pollution prevention.
- Stress benefits such as efficiency or better relations with government, for businesses not primarily concerned with public image.
Tips for Writing Your Target Audience Section
- Include details on the size and growth potential of your target audience.
- Figure out and refine the pain points for your target audience , then show why your product is a useful solution.
- Describe your targeted customer acquisition strategy in detail.
- Share anticipated challenges your business may face in acquiring customers and how you plan to address them.
- Add case studies, testimonials, and other data to support your target audience ideas.
- Remember to consider niche audiences and segments of your target audience in your business plan.
5. Marketing Strategy
Here, youâll discuss how youâll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. I think itâs helpful to have a marketing plan built out in advance to make this part of your business plan easier. Iâd suggest including these details:
- Your brand positioning vision and how you'll cultivate it.
- The goal targets you aim to achieve.
- The metrics you'll use to measure success.
- The channels and distribution tactics you'll use.
Marketing Strategy Business Plan Example
This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler. In my opinion, it works because it offers a comprehensive picture of how they plan to use digital marketing to promote the community.
Youâll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.
This business plan guide focuses less on the individual parts of a business plan, and more on the overarching goal of writing one. For that reason, itâs one of my favorites to supplement any template you choose to use. Harvard Business Reviewâs guide is instrumental for both new and seasoned business owners.
7. HubSpotâs Complete Guide to Starting a Business
23 of My Favorite Free Marketing Newsletters
The 8 Best Free Flowchart Templates [+ Examples]
What is a Business Plan? Definition, Tips, and Templates
7 Gantt Chart Examples You'll Want to Copy [+ 5 Steps to Make One]
How to Write an Executive Summary Execs Can't Ignore [+ 5 Top Examples]
20 Free & Paid Small Business Tools for Any Budget
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The Content Aggregator Guide for 2024
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2 Essential Templates For Starting Your Business
Marketing software that helps you drive revenue, save time and resources, and measure and optimize your investments â all on one easy-to-use platform
How to make a business plan
Table of Contents
How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.
A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.
A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.
But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?
This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.
What is a business plan?
A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:
Products or services
Target market
Competitors
Marketing and sales strategies
Financial plan
Management team
A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.
As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.
Business plan vs. business model canvas
A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.
A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:
Key partnerships
Key activities
Key propositions
Customer relationships
Customer segments
Key resources
Cost structure
Revenue streams
On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.
A business model shouldnât replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.
A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.
Why is a business plan important?
A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.
Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.
Helps to define the business goals and objectives
A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.
A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.
Guides decision-making
A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.
With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.
Attracts investors and secures funding
Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.
A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.
Identifies potential challenges and risks
A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:
Is there enough demand for my product or service?
Will I have enough capital to start my business?
Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?
What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?
By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.
Provides a basis for measuring success
A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:
Are we where we want to be at this point?
Did we achieve our goals?
If not, why not, and what do we need to do?
After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.
How to make a business plan step by step
The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include.
1. Create an executive summary
Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.
Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.
2. Write your company description
Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.
Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.
3. Conduct a market analysis
Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.
Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:
What does the current market look like?
Who are your competitors?
What are they offering?
What will give you a competitive advantage?
Who is your target market?
What are they looking for and why?
How will your product or service satisfy a need?
These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.
4. Describe your products and services
Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.
Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.
5. Design a marketing and sales strategy
Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:
Pricing strategy
Advertising and promotional tactics
Sales channels
The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.
6. Determine budget and financial projections
Document detailed information on your businessâ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.
Some details to include in this section are:
Startup costs
Revenue projections
Profit and loss statement
Funding you have received or plan to receive
Strategy for raising funds
7. Set the organization and management structure
Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the companyâs teams, roles, and hierarchy.
As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.
8. Make an action plan
At this point in your business plan, youâve described what youâre aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.
Types of business plans
Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.
Startup business plan
A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.
Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? Itâs pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.
Strategic business plan
A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.
The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.
Operational business plan
An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:
Organizational structure
Staffing plan
Production plan
Quality control
Inventory management
Supply chain
The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.
Growth-business plan
A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.
The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).
One-page business plan
A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. Itâs a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.
A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.
Best practices for how to make a good business plan
Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:
Use a template
A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.
Miroâs extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.
Be practical
Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.
Be specific
Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.
Be thorough with your research
Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.
Get input from others
It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.
Review and revise regularly
A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.
Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success
Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your businessâ success.
The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.
Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.
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How to Write a Business Plan: Beginner’s Guide (& Templates)
Written by: Chloe West
Thinking about starting a business? One of the first steps youâll need to take is to write a business plan. A business plan can help guide you through your financial planning, marketing strategy, unique selling point and more.
Making sure you start your new business off on the right foot is key, and weâre here to help. Weâve put together this guide to help you write your first business plan. Or, you can skip the guide and dive right into a business plan template .
Ready to get started?
Hereâs a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit business plan templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
8-Step Process for Writing a Business Plan
What is a business plan, why is a business plan important, step #1: write your executive summary, step #2: put together your company description, step #3: conduct your market analysis, step #4: research your competition, step #5: outline your products or services, step #6: summarize your financial plan, step #7: determine your marketing strategy, step #8: showcase your organizational chart, 14 business plan templates to help you get started.
A business plan is a document that helps potential new business owners flesh out their business idea and put together a birdâs eye view of their business. Writing a business plan is an essential step in any startupâs ideation process.
Business plans help determine demographics, market analysis, competitive analysis, financial projections, new products or services, and so much more.
Each of these bits of information are important to have on hand when youâre trying to start a business or pitching investors for funds.
Hereâs an example of a business plan that you can customize to incorporate your own business information.
Weâre going to walk you through some of the most important parts of your business plan as well as how to write your own business plan in 8 easy steps.
If youâre in the beginning stages of starting a business , you might be wondering if itâs really worth your time to write out your business plan.Â
Weâre here to tell you that it is.
A business plan is important for a number of reasons, but mostly because it helps to set you up for success right from the start.
Here are four reasons to prove to you why you need to start your business off on the right foot with a plan.
Reason #1: Set Realistic Goals and Milestones
Putting together a business plan helps you to set your objectives for growth and make realistic goals while you begin your business.Â
By laying out each of the steps you need to take in order to build a successful business, youâre able to be more reasonable about what your timeline is for achieving everything as well as what your financial projections are.
The best way to set goals is using the SMART goals guidelines, outlined below.
Reason #2: Grow Your Business Faster
Having a business plan helps you be more organized and strategic, improving the overall performance of your business as you start out. In fact, one study found that businesses with a plan grow 30% faster than businesses that donât.
Doesnât that sound reason enough alone to start out your business venture with a solidified plan? We thought so too, but weâve still got two more reasons.
Reason #3: Minimize Risk
Starting a new business is uncharted territory. However, when you start with a roadmap for your journey, it makes it easier to see success and minimize the risks that come with startups.
Minimize risk and maximize profitability by documenting the most important parts of your business planning.
Reason #4: Secure Funding
And finally, our last reason that business plans are so important is that if you plan to pitch investors for funding for your new venture, theyâre almost always going to want to see a detailed business plan before deciding whether or not to invest.
You can easily create your business plan and investor pitch deck right here with Visme. Just sign up for a free account below to get started.Â
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The executive summary is a brief overview of your entire business plan, giving anyone who reads through your document a quick understanding of what theyâre going to learn about your business idea.
However, you need to remember that some of the people who are going to read your business plan donât want to or have time to read the entire thing. So your executive summary needs to incorporate all of the most important aspects of your plan.
Hereâs an example of an executive summary from a business plan template you can customize and turn into your own.
Your executive summary should include:
- Key objective(s)
- Market research
- Competitor information
- Products/services
- Value proposition
- Overview of your financial plan
- How youâre going to actually start your business
One thing to note is that you should actually write your executive summary after the rest of your business plan so that you can properly summarize everything youâve already created.
So at this point, simply leave a page blank for your executive summary so you can come back to it at the end of your business plan.
The next step is to write out a full description of your business and its core offerings. This section of your business plan should include your mission statement and objectives, along with your company history or overview.
In this section, you may also briefly describe your business formation details from a legal perspective.
Mission Statement
Donât spend too much time trying to craft this. Your mission statement is a simple âwhyâ you started this business. What are you trying to achieve? Or what does your business solve?
This can be anything from one single quote or a paragraph, but it doesnât need to be much longer than that. In fact, this could be very similar to your value proposition.
What are your goals? What do you plan to achieve in the first 90 days or one year of your business? What kind of impact do you hope to make on the market?
These are all good points to include in your objectives section so anyone reading your business plan knows upfront what you hope to achieve.
History or Overview
If youâre not launching a brand new business or if youâve previously worked on another iteration of this business, let potential investors know the history of your company.
If not, simply provide an overview of your business, sharing what it does or what it will do.
Your third step is to conduct a market analysis so you know how your business will fit into its target market. This page in your business plan is simply meant to summarize your findings. Most of your time should be spent actually doing the research.
Your market analysis needs to look at things like:
- Market size, and if itâs grown in recent years or shrinking
- The segment of the market you plan to target
- Demographics and behavior of your target audience
- The demand for your product or service
- Your competitive advantage or differentiation strategy
- The average price of your product or service
Put together a summary of your market analysis and industry research in a 1-2 page format, like we see below.
Your next step is to conduct a competitive analysis. While you likely touched on this briefly during your market analysis, now is the time to do a deep dive so that you have a good grasp on what your competitors are doing and how they are generating customers.
Start by creating a profile of all your existing competitors, or at the very least, your closest competitors â the ones who are offering very similar products or services to you, or are in a similar vicinity (if youâre opening a brick and mortar store).
Focus on their strengths and what theyâre doing really well so that you can emulate their best qualities in your own way. Then, look at their weaknesses and what your business can do better.
Take note of their current marketing strategy, including the outlets you see a presence, whether itâs on social media, you hear a radio ad, you see a TV ad, etc. You wonât always find all of their marketing channels, but see what you can find online and on their website.
After this, take a minute to identify potential competitors based on markets you might try out in the future, products or services you plan to add to your offerings, and more.
Then put together a page or two in your business plan that highlights your competitive advantage and how youâll be successful breaking into the market.
Step five is to dedicate a page to the products or services that your business plans to offer.
Put together a quick list and explanation of what each of the initial product or service offerings will be, but steer clear of industry jargon or buzzwords. This should be written in plain language so anyone reading has a full understanding of what your business will do.
You can have a simple list like we see in the sample page above, or you can dive a little deeper. Depending on your type of business, it might be a good idea to provide additional information about what each product or service entails.
The next step is to work on the financial data of your new business. What will your overhead be? How will your business make money? What are your estimated expenses and profits over the first few months to a year? The expenses should cover all the spending whether they are recurring costs or just one-time LLC filing fees .
There is so much that goes into your financial plan for a new business, so this is going to take some time to compile. Especially because this section of your business plan helps potential cofounders or investors understand if the idea is even viable.
Your financial plan should include at least five major sections:
- Sales Forecast: The first thing you want to include is a forecast or financial projection of how much you think your business can sell over the next year or so. Break this down into the different products, services or facets of your business.
- Balance Sheet: This section is essentially a statement of your companyâs financial position. It includes existing assets, liabilities and equity to demonstrate the companyâs overall financial health.
- Income Statement: Also known as a profit and loss statement (P&L), this covers your projected expenses and revenue, showcasing whether your business will be profitable or not.
- Operating Budget: A detailed outline of your businessâs income and expenses. This should showcase that your business is bringing in more than itâs spending.
- Cash Flow Statements: This tracks how much cash your business has at any given point, regardless of whether customers or clients have paid their bills or have 30-60+ days to do so.
While these are the most common financial statements, you may discover that there are other sections that you want to include or that lenders may want to see from you.
You can automate the process of looking through your documents with an OCR API , which will collect the data from all your financial statements and invoices.
The next step is coming up with a successful marketing plan so that you can actually get the word out about your business.Â
Throughout your business plan, youâve already researched your competitors and your target market, both of which are major components of a good marketing strategy. You need to know who youâre marketing to, and you want to do it better than your competition.
On this page or throughout this section of your business plan, you need to focus on your chosen marketing channels and the types of marketing content you plan to create.
Start by taking a look at the channels that your competitors are on and make sure you have a good understanding of the demographics of each channel as well. You donât want to waste time on a marketing channel that your target audience doesnât use.
Then, create a list of each of your planned marketing avenues. It might look something like:
- Social media ( Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest)
- Email newsletter
- Digital ads
Depending on the type of business youâre starting, this list could change quite a bit â and thatâs okay. There is no one-size-fits-all marketing strategy, and you need to find the one that brings in the highest number of potential customers.
Your last section will be all about your leadership and management team members. Showcasing that you have a solid team right from the start can make potential investors feel better about funding your venture.
You can easily put together an organizational chart like the one below, with the founder/CEO at the top and each of your team leaders underneath alongside the department theyâre in charge of.
Simply add an organizational chart like this as a page into your overall business plan and make sure it matches the rest of your design to create a cohesive document.
If you want to create a good business plan that sets your new business up for success and attracts new investors, itâs a good idea to start with a template.Â
Weâve got 14 options below from a variety of different industries for you to choose from. You can customize every aspect of each template to fit your business branding and design preferences.
If you're pressed for time, Visme's AI business plan generator can churn out compelling business plans in minutes. Just input a detailed prompt, choose the design, and watch the tool generate your plan in a few seconds.
Template #1: Photography Business Plan Template
This feminine and minimalistic business plan template is perfect for getting started with any kind of creative business. Utilize this template to help outline the step-by-step process of getting your new business idea up and running.
Template #2: Real Estate Business Plan Template
Looking for a more modern business plan design? This template is perfect for plainly laying out each of your business plans in an easy-to-understand format. Adjust the red accents with your businessâs colors to personalize this template.
Template #3: Nonprofit Business Plan Template
Creating a business and marketing plan for your nonprofit is still an essential step when youâre just starting out. You need to get the word out to increase donations and awareness for your cause.
Template #4: Restaurant Business Plan Template
If your business plan needs to rely heavily on showcasing photos of your products (like food), this template is perfect for you. Get potential investors salivating at the sight of your business plan, and theyâre sure to provide the capital you need.
Template #5: Fashion Business Plan Template
Serifs are in. Utilize this template with stunning serif as all the headers to create a contemporary and trendy business plan design that fits your business. Adjust the colors to match your brand and easily input your own content.
Template #6: Daycare Business Plan Template
Creating a more kid-friendly or playful business? This business plan template has bold colors and design elements that will perfectly represent your business and its mission.Â
Use the pages you need, and remove any that you donât. You can also duplicate pages and move the elements around to add even more content to your business plan.
Template #7: Consulting Business Plan Template
This classic business plan template is perfect for a consulting business that wants to use a stunning visual design to talk about its services.
Template #8: Coffee Shop Business Plan Template
Customize this coffee shop business plan template to match your own business idea. Adjust the colors to fit your brand or industry, replace photos with your own photography or stock photos that represent your business, and insert your own logo, fonts and colors throughout.
Template #9: SaaS Business Plan Template
A SaaS or service-based company also needs a solid business plan that lays out its financials, list of services, target market and more. This template is the perfect starting point.
Template #10: Small Business Plan Template
Every startup or small business needs to start out with a strong business plan in order to start off on the right foot and set yourself up for success. This template is an excellent starting point for any small business.
Template #11: Ecommerce Business Plan Template
An ecommerce business plan is ideal for planning out your pricing strategy of all of your online products, as well as the site you plan to use for setting up your store, whether WordPress, Shopify, Wix or something else.
Template #12: Startup Business Plan Template
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download Â
This is another generic business plan template for any type of startup to customize. Switch out the content, fonts and colors to match your startup branding and increase brand equity.
Template #13: One-Page Business Plan Template
Want just a quick business plan to get your idea going before you bite the bullet and map out your entire plan? This one-page template is perfect for those just starting to flesh out a new business idea.
Template #14: Salon Business Plan Template
This salon business plan template is easy on the design and utilizes a light color scheme to put more focus on the actual content. You can use the design as is or keep it as a basis for your own design elements.
Create Your Own Business Plan Today
Ready to write your business plan? Once youâve created all of the most important sections, get started with a business plan template to really wow your investors and organize your startup plan.
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About the Author
Chloe West is the content marketing manager at Visme. Her experience in digital marketing includes everything from social media, blogging, email marketing to graphic design, strategy creation and implementation, and more. During her spare time, she enjoys exploring her home city of Charleston with her son.
Free PDF Business Plan Templates and Samples
By Joe Weller | September 9, 2020
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Weâve gathered the most useful collection of business plan PDF templates and samples, including options for organizations of any size and type.
On this page, youâll find free PDF templates for a simple business plan , small business plan , startup business plan , and more.
Simple Business Plan PDF Templates
These simple business plan PDF templates are ready to use and customizable to fit the needs of any organization.
Simple Business Plan Template PDF
This template contains a traditional business plan layout to help you map out each aspect, from a company overview to sales projections and a marketing strategy. This template includes a table of contents, as well as space for financing details that startups looking for funding may need to provide.Â
Download Simple Business Plan Template - PDF
Lean Business Plan Template PDF
This scannable business plan template allows you to easily identify the most important elements of your plan. Use this template to outline key details pertaining to your business and industry, product or service offerings, target customer segments (and channels to reach them), and to identify sources of revenue. There is also space to include key performance metrics and a timeline of activities.Â
Download Lean Business Plan Template - PDF
Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template PDF
This template is designed to help you develop and implement a 90-day business plan by breaking it down into manageable chunks of time. Use the space provided to detail your main goals and deliverables for each timeframe, and then add the steps necessary to achieve your objectives. Assign task ownership and enter deadlines to ensure your plan stays on track every step of the way.
Download Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template
PDF | Smartsheet
One-Page Business Plan PDF Templates
The following single page business plan templates are designed to help you download your key ideas on paper, and can be used to create a pitch document to gain buy-in from partners, investors, and stakeholders.
One-Page Business Plan Template PDF
Use this one-page template to summarize each aspect of your business concept in a clear and concise manner. Define the who, what, why, and how of your idea, and use the space at the bottom to create a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) for your business.Â
Download One-Page Business Plan Template
If youâre looking for a specific type of analysis, check out our collection of SWOT templates .
One-Page Lean Business Plan PDF
This one-page business plan template employs the Lean management concept, and encourages you to focus on the key assumptions of your business idea. A Lean plan is not stagnant, so update it as goals and objectives change â the visual timeline at the bottom is ideal for detailing milestones.Â
Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template - PDF
One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template
Use this business plan template to identify main goals and outline the necessary activities to achieve those goals in 30, 60, and 90-day increments. Easily customize this template to fit your needs while you track the status of each task and goal to keep your business plan on target.Â
Download One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template
For additional single page plans, including an example of a one-page business plan , visit " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."
Small Business Plan PDF Templates
These business plan templates are useful for small businesses that want to map out a way to meet organizational objectives, including how to structure, operate, and expand their business.
Simple Small Business Plan Template PDF
A small business can use this template to outline each critical component of a business plan. There is space to provide details about product or service offerings, target audience, customer reach strategy, competitive advantage, and more. Plus, there is space at the bottom of the document to include a SWOT analysis. Once complete, you can use the template as a basis to build out a more elaborate plan.Â
Download Simple Small Business Plan Template
Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template PDF
This fill-in-the-blank template walks you through each section of a business plan. Build upon the fill-in-the-blank content provided in each section to add information about your company, business idea, market analysis, implementation plan, timeline of milestones, and much more.
Download Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template - PDF
One-Page Small Business Plan Template PDF
Use this one-page template to create a scannable business plan that highlights the most essential parts of your organizationâs strategy. Provide your business overview and management team details at the top, and then outline the target market, market size, competitive offerings, key objectives and success metrics, financial plan, and more.
Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business -Â PDF
Startup Business Plan PDF Templates
Startups can use these business plan templates to check the feasibility of their idea, and articulate their vision to potential investors.
Startup Business Plan Template
Use this business plan template to organize and prepare each essential component of your startup plan. Outline key details relevant to your concept and organization, including your mission and vision statement, product or services offered, pricing structure, marketing strategy, financial plan, and more.
âDownload Startup Business Plan Template
Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup
Startups can use this sample 30-60-90 day plan to establish main goals and deliverables spanning a 90-day period. Customize the sample goals, deliverables, and activities provided on this template according to the needs of your business. Then, assign task owners and set due dates to help ensure your 90-day plan stays on track.
âDownload Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup TemplateÂ
For additional resources to create your plan, visit â Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples .â
Nonprofit Business Plan PDF Templates
Use these business plan PDF templates to outline your organizationâs mission, your plan to make a positive impact in your community, and the steps you will take to achieve your nonprofitâs goals.
Nonprofit Business Plan Template PDF
Use this customizable PDF template to develop a plan that details your organizationâs purpose, objectives, and strategy. This template features a table of contents, with room to include your nonprofitâs mission and vision, key team and board members, program offerings, a market and industry analysis, promotional plan, financial plan, and more. This template also contains a visual timeline to display historic and future milestones.
Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template - PDF
One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization PDFÂ
This one-page plan serves as a good starting point for established and startup nonprofit organizations to jot down their fundamental goals and objectives. This template contains all the essential aspects of a business plan in a concise and scannable format, including the organizational overview, purpose, promotional plan, key objectives and success metrics, fundraising goals, and more.
Download One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization Template - PDF
Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF Templates
Use these fill-in-the-blank templates as a foundation for creating a comprehensive roadmap that aligns your business strategy with your marketing, sales, and financial goals.
Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF
The fill-in-the-blank template contains all the vital parts of a business plan, with sample content that you can customize to fit your needs. There is room to include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, financial statements, and more.Â
Download Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template - PDF
Lean Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF
This business plan is designed with a Lean approach that encourages you to clarify and communicate your business idea in a clear and concise manner. This single page fill-in-the-blank template includes space to provide details about your management team, the problem you're solving, the solution, target customers, cost structure, and revenue streams. Use the timeline at the bottom to produce a visual illustration of key milestones.Â
Download Fill-In-the-Blank Lean Business Plan Template - PDF
For additional resources, take a look at " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."
Sample Business Plan PDF Templates
These sample business plan PDF templates can help you to develop an organized, thorough, and professional business plan.
Business Plan SampleÂ
This business plan example demonstrates a plan for a fictional food truck company. The sample includes all of the elements in a traditional business plan, which makes it a useful starting point for developing a plan specific to your business needs.
Download Basic Business Plan Sample - PDF
Sample Business Plan Outline Template
Use this sample outline as a starting point for your business plan. Shorten or expand the outline depending on your organizationâs needs, and use it to develop a table of contents for your finalized plan.
Download Sample Business Plan Outline Template - PDF
Sample Business Financial Plan Template
Use this sample template to develop the financial portion of your business plan. The template provides space to include a financial overview, key assumptions, financial indicators, and business ratios. Complete the break-even analysis and add your financial statements to help prove the viability of your organizationâs business plan.
Download Business Financial Plan Template
PDF Â | Smartsheet
For more free, downloadable templates for all aspects of your business, check out â Free Business Templates for Organizations of All Sizes .â
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6 Free Business Plan Templates for Product Managers
Editor's note: Guided templates are now available in all Aha! Notebooks plans. (Templates are also available in Aha! Roadmaps , Aha! Ideas , and Aha! Develop .) Each template was created by product development experts, is fully customizable, and ready to use right now.
Lightweight business plans are not just for startups. These tools can be just as valuable for product managers at big companies with established products. Because even if you are not capturing plans to develop and build your companyâs first offering, you still need to make a business case for the opportunity you are pursuing.
Rather than build out a business plan from scratch â start with a template that will help you quickly communicate what is most important.
A business plan can serve many purposes depending on your goals. You can use it to define the key elements of a new product you are developing. Or if you are at a mature company, it can be used to summarize your strategy for a new market opportunity.
Our team at Aha! knows how important it is to choose the right plan that serves your goals. That is why we include so many different types of business planning tools in our product roadmapping software â including a comprehensive business model builder based on our 20+ years of experience building breakthrough products and software companies.
But what if your company is not yet ready to sign up for Aha! or does not have access to these kinds of tools? You still need to organize your thinking, define your assumptions, and share your plans. So we created six business plan templates for you to download at no cost .
Along with SWOT templates and roadmap templates , these latest templates are designed to be quick and easy to use to help you with your strategic planning. The templates are fully customizable so you can adapt them to your unique situation and download in both spreadsheet and presentation file format.
Think about your most pressing need and who you will be sharing this information with. Because whether you are using a purpose-built tool or a static template for your planning, you want to choose the view that will work best for your audience.
Here are six scenarios where a business plan template can help:
Lay the foundation
Define the problem, understand the customer, survey the market, analyze the product, plan your marketing.
Often the most useful thing for a broad audience is to represent the foundational elements of your plan in a simple layout. In those cases, you want to present the fundamentals like key messaging, customer pain points, and future opportunities in a single view. This makes it easy for stakeholders from all across the company to understand the business model and provide their input.
Sometimes you want that single view, but you also want to center the conversation around the main problems the customer is trying to solve. The ideal template will direct your audienceâs attention to the top customer challenges and succinctly capture how your product addresses each one.
Generally, you will not target your product at a single customer segment but several. Building a profile and business plan for each one is a lot easier when you start with a good template â one that lets you define both the set of customers and your approach to serving them. You can then compare and contrast the plans for each segment and decide which customers you are best positioned to deliver a superior product experience to.
You want to make strategic decisions. For that, you need to see the competitive landscape . You do not want to react to every competitor move, but you do need to know what alternatives customers have to your product. Start with a template that summarizes the market and outside threats â both existing and potential.
Just as you need to understand the market, you also have to be realistic about your productâs place in it. A business plan that conducts a strategic analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats can illuminate what your product is doing well and where it can do better.
In order to successfully market a product, many teams focus on the 10Ps: product, price, people, process, promotion, programs, place, physical environment, partners, and positioning. The right template allows you to answer the key questions about each of these elements. Then, together, the team can develop and execute a winning go-to-market strategy.
The right template can help you make your product plans easily understandable for your key stakeholders.
It helps you zero in on what is most relevant and present it in a visually accessible and logical layout. When others can grasp the information and provide their insights, it makes your plan that much stronger.
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Additional resources
Business plan templates
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What is a business roadmap?
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550+ Business Plan Examples to Launch Your Business
Need help writing your business plan? Explore over 550 industry-specific business plan examples for inspiration.
Find your business plan example
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View all sample business plans
Example business plan format
Before you start exploring our library of business plan examples, it's worth taking the time to understand the traditional business plan format . You'll find that the business plan samples in this library and most investor-approved business plans will include the following sections:
Executive summary
The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your business plan and is ideally only one to two pages. You should also plan to write this section last after you've written your full business plan.
Your executive summary should include a summary of the problem you are solving, a description of your product or service, an overview of your target market, a brief description of your team, a summary of your financials, and your funding requirements (if you are raising money).
Products & services
The products & services chapter of your business plan is where the real meat of your plan lives. It includes information about the problem that you're solving, your solution, and any traction that proves that it truly meets the need you identified.
This is your chance to explain why you're in business and that people care about what you offer. It needs to go beyond a simple product or service description and get to the heart of why your business works and benefits your customers.
Market analysis
Conducting a market analysis ensures that you fully understand the market that you're entering and who you'll be selling to. This section is where you will showcase all of the information about your potential customers. You'll cover your target market as well as information about the growth of your market and your industry. Focus on outlining why the market you're entering is viable and creating a realistic persona for your ideal customer base.
Competition
Part of defining your opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage may be. To do this effectively you need to get to know your competitors just as well as your target customers. Every business will have competition, if you don't then you're either in a very young industry or there's a good reason no one is pursuing this specific venture.
To succeed, you want to be sure you know who your competitors are, how they operate, necessary financial benchmarks, and how your business will be positioned. Start by identifying who your competitors are or will be during your market research. Then leverage competitive analysis tools like the competitive matrix and positioning map to solidify where your business stands in relation to the competition.
Marketing & sales
The marketing and sales plan section of your business plan details how you plan to reach your target market segments. You'll address how you plan on selling to those target markets, what your pricing plan is, and what types of activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success.
The operations section in our business plan examples covers the day-to-day workflows for your business to deliver your product or service. What's included here fully depends on the type of business. Typically you can expect to add details on your business location, sourcing and fulfillment, use of technology, and any partnerships or agreements that are in place.
Milestones & metrics
The milestones section is where you lay out strategic milestones to reach your business goals.
A good milestone clearly lays out the parameters of the task at hand and sets expectations for its execution. You'll want to include a description of the task, a proposed due date, who is responsible, and eventually a budget that's attached. You don't need extensive project planning in this section, just key milestones that you want to hit and when you plan to hit them.
You should also discuss key metrics, which are the numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common data points worth tracking include conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, profit, etc.
Company & team
Use this section of your business plan to describe your current team and who you need to hire. If you intend to pursue funding, you'll need to highlight the relevant experience of your team members. Basically, this is where you prove that this is the right team to successfully start and grow the business. You will also need to provide a quick overview of your legal structure and history if you're already up and running.
Financial projections
Your financial plan should include a sales and revenue forecast, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and a balance sheet. You may not have established financials of any kind at this stage. Not to worry, rather than getting all of the details ironed out, focus on making projections and strategic forecasts for your business. You can always update your financial statements as you begin operations and start bringing in actual accounting data.
Now, if you intend to pitch to investors or submit a loan application, you'll also need a "use of funds" report in this business plan section. This outlines how you intend to leverage any funding for your business and how much you're looking to acquire. Like the rest of your financials, this can always be updated later on.
The appendix isn't a required element of your business plan. However, it is a useful place to add any charts, tables, definitions, legal notes, or other critical information that supports your business plan. These are often lengthier or out-of-place information that simply didn't work naturally into the structure of your plan. You'll notice that in these business plan examples, the appendix mainly includes extended financial statements.
Types of business plans explained
While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. To get the most out of your business plan, it's best to find a format that suits your needs. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.
Traditional business plan
The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used for external purposes. Typically this is the type of plan you'll need when applying for funding or pitching to investors. It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or in any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual.
Business model canvas
The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.
The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It's faster to write out and update, and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations.
One-page business plan
The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan . This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business.
By starting with a one-page plan , you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You'll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan.
Growth planning
Growth planning is more than a specific type of business plan. It's a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, forecast, review, and refine based on your performance.
It holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27 minutes . However, it's even easier to convert into a more detailed business plan thanks to how heavily it's tied to your financials. The overall goal of growth planning isn't to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the growth planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and remains stable through times of crisis.
It's faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your business plan is always up-to-date.
Download a free sample business plan template
Ready to start writing your own business plan but aren't sure where to start? Download our free business plan template that's been updated for 2024.
This simple, modern, investor-approved business plan sample is designed to make planning easy. It's a proven format that has helped over 1 million businesses write business plans for bank loans, funding pitches, business expansion, and even business sales. It includes additional instructions for how to write each section and is formatted to be SBA-lender approved. All you need to do is fill in the blanks.
How to use an example business plan to help you write your own
How do you know what elements need to be included in your business plan, especially if you've never written one before? Looking at business plan examples can help you visualize what a full, traditional plan looks like, so you know what you're aiming for before you get started. Here's how to get the most out of a business plan sample.
Choose a business plan example from a similar type of company
You don't need to find an example of a business plan that's an exact fit for your business. Your business location, target market, and even your particular product or service may not match up exactly with the business plans in our gallery. But, you don't need an exact match for it to be helpful. Instead, look for a business plan sample that's related to the type of business you're starting.
For example, if you want to start a vegetarian restaurant, a plan for a steakhouse can be a great match. While the specifics of your actual startup will differ, the elements you'd want to include in your restaurant's business plan are likely to be very similar.
Use a business plan example as a guide
Every startup and small business is unique, so you'll want to avoid copying an example of a business plan word for word. It just won't be as helpful, since each business is unique. You want your business plan to be a useful tool for starting a business âand getting funding if you need it.
One of the key benefits of writing a business plan is simply going through the process. When you sit down to write, you'll naturally think through important pieces, like your startup costs, your target market , and any market analysis or research you'll need to do to be successful.
You'll also look at where you stand among your competition (and everyone has competition), and lay out your goals and the milestones you'll need to meet. Looking at an example of a business plan's financials section can be helpful because you can see what should be included, but take them with a grain of salt. Don't assume that financial projections for a sample company will fit your own small business.
If you're looking for more resources to help you get started, our business planning guide is a good place to start. You can also download our free business plan template .
Think of business planning as a process, instead of a document
Think about business planning as something you do often , rather than a document you create once and never look at again. If you take the time to write a plan that really fits your own company, it will be a better, more useful tool to grow your business. It should also make it easier to share your vision and strategy so everyone on your team is on the same page.
Adjust your business plan regularly to use it as a business management tool
Keep in mind that businesses that use their business plan as a management tool to help run their business grow 30 percent faster than those businesses that don't. For that to be true for your company, you'll think of a part of your business planning process as tracking your actual results against your financial forecast on a regular basis.
If things are going well, your business plan will help you think about how you can re-invest in your business. If you find that you're not meeting goals, you might need to adjust your budgets or your sales forecast. Either way, tracking your progress compared to your plan can help you adjust quickly when you identify challenges and opportunitiesâit's one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your business.
Prepare to pitch your business
If you're planning to pitch your business to investors or seek out any funding, you'll need a pitch deck to accompany your business plan. A pitch deck is designed to inform people about your business. You want your pitch deck to be short and easy to follow, so it's best to keep your presentation under 20 slides.
Your pitch deck and pitch presentation are likely some of the first things that an investor will see to learn more about your company. So, you need to be informative and pique their interest. Luckily we have a round-up of real-world pitch deck examples used by successful startups that you can review and reference as you build your pitch.
For more resources, check out our full Business Pitch Guide .
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Now that you know how to use an example of a business plan to help you write a plan for your business, it's time to find the right one.
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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)
Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.
If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.
Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.
You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.
Letâs get started.
What Do You Need A Business Plan For?
Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.
1. Secure Funds
One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.
For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.
A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.
Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.
2. Monitor Business Growth
A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:
- The business goals
- Methods to achieve the goals
- Time-frame for attaining those goals
A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.
You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.
3. Measure Business Success
A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.
Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.
You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.
4. Document Your Marketing Strategies
You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.
Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.
In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:
- How do you want to reach your target audience?
- How do you plan to retain your customers?
- What is/are your pricing plans?
- What is your budget for marketing?
How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step
1. create your executive summary.
The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.
Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.
A good executive summary should do the following:
- A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
- Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
- Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
- The Team. Basic information about your companyâs leadership team and employees
- Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
- Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
- Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
- Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
- Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.
The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.
Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.
View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:
- Who is your target audience?
- What sector or industry are you in?
- What are your products and services?
- What is the future of your industry?
- Is your company scaleable?
- Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
- What is the motivation for starting your company?
- What are the next steps?
Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.
The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.
If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.
2. Add Your Company Overview
The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.
Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.
Your company overview should contain the following:
- What products and services you will provide
- Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
- What you need to run your business
- Who your target audience or customers are
- Who will service your customers
- Your companyâs purpose, mission, and vision
- Information about your companyâs founders
- Who the founders are
- Notable achievements of your company so far
When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.
If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.
- Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
- What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
- How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
- Where is the location of your business?
- What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
- How is your companyâs product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
- How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?
After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.
The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.
- Mission Statement
The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the âwhyâ. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.
Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopifyâs mission statement is âMake commerce better for everyone.â
When describing your companyâs history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your companyâs history should include the following information:
- Founding Date
- Major Milestones
- Location(s)
- Flagship Products or Services
- Number of Employees
- Executive Leadership Roles
When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your companyâs history.
Business Objectives
Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.
3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity
The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.
Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.
This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.
Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?
You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.
Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?
Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?
Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.
Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.
Market Analysis
Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.
The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.
A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.
- Market Research
To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.
- Your target marketâs needs or pain points
- The existing solutions for their pain points
- Geographic Location
- Demographics
The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.
Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.
You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.
How to Quantify Your Target Market
One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:
- Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
- Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
- Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
- Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.
What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?
Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your companyâs chances of success.
You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:
- Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
- Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
- Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
- Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
- Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
- Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
- Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
- Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesnât, and see what you can do better.
The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.
Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.
- Is your product or service of superior quality?
- What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
- Are you targeting a ânewâ market?
Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.
Competitive Analysis
In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.
Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.
Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.
The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.
Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.
When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.
Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.
- What are your successful competitors doing?
- Why is what they are doing working?
- Can your business do it better?
- What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
- What are they not doing well?
- Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
- How good is your competitorsâ customer service?
- Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
- What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
- What marketing strategies are they using?
- What kind of press coverage do they get?
- What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?
If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitorsâ research. Check their âAbout Usâ page for more information.
If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.
Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.
The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.
Direct vs Indirect Competition
You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.
There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.
If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.
In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.
For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.
There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.
Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition
There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.
1. Cost Leadership
A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.
A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.
2. Product Differentiation
Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.
Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.
3. Market Segmentation
As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.
If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling menâs clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.
4. Define Your Business and Management Structure
The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.
Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.
If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.
Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leaderâs unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.
The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each othersâ involvement in the company.
Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.
Management Team
The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.
Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.
A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.
Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.
Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.
If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.
Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team
- Who are the key leaders?
- What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
- Do your key leaders have industry experience?
- What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
- What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
- What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?
Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section
1. Avoid Adding âGhostâ Names to Your Management Team
There is always that temptation to include a âghostâ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.
Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.
2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles
Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the companyâs growth and financial goals.
While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.
Organizational Chart
Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business planâs appendix.
If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.
An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.
You can use the organizational chart to show your companyâs internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.
5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering
In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.
Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.
The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.
If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase âFor more detail, visit the addendum Page #.â
Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:
- A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
- The pricing model for your product or service.
- Your businessâ sales and distribution strategy.
- The ideal customers that want your product or service.
- The benefits of your products and services.
- Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
- Plans for filling the orders you receive
- If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.
What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services
In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.
When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.
- Unique features
- Translating the unique features into benefits
- The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
- Intellectual property rights or any patents
When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.
- Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
- Time between purchases
- Plans for research and development.
When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:
- The creation of new or existing products and services.
- The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
- Assembling the products
- Maintaining quality control
- Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
- The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.
Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan
1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords
The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.
A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.
2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors
When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.
If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.
For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.
3. Long or Short Products or Services Section
Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?
There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.
If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.
Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.
The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.
If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.
A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.
4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers
Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.
Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.
5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers
The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.
When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.
While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.
Your products and services section should provide the answer to the âwhatâ question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.
Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section
Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.
- Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
- What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
- What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
- Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitorsâ products and services do not currently have?
- Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
- How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
- What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
- What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
- What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
- Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
- Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
- How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?
You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your businessâs marketing and sales plan.
6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan
Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.
The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.
There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.
In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.
Outline Your Businessâ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
The sales and marketing section is where you outline your businessâs unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).
Target Market and Target Audience
Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.
Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.
Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan
Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.
Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.
Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.
Your Positioning Statement
Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.
Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?
Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market
- What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
- What are your customersâ primary needs and wants?
- Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
- How does your companyâs solution compare with other solutions in the market?
After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.
All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.
Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.
For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].
For example, letâs create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.
âFor small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.â
You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.
After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.
Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.
You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.
Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering
Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.
- Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
- Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
- Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.
Pricing Strategy
Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.
- Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
- Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitorsâ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
- Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.
After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.
As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.
There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.
Advertising
Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.
Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.
Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.
A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.
Public Relations
A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.
Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,
Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.
Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.
If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.
Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.
When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.
- Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
- What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
- How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?
Social Media
Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.
You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.
Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.
Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.
You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.
Strategic Alliances
If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.
Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.
The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.
Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.
Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan
1. Focus on Your Target Market
Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.
2. Evaluate Your Competition
One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.
You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.
These questions can help you know your competition.
- What makes your competition successful?
- What are their weaknesses?
- What are customers saying about your competition?
3. Consider Your Brand
Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.
4. Focus on Benefits
The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.
Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.
5. Focus on Differentiation
Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.
Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan
- What is your companyâs budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
- What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
- What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
- Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
- What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
- Where will you sell your products?
You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.
The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question âHow will you reach your customers?â If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.
7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request
If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question âHow much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?â
A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.
Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.
In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.
Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.
If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.
Funding Request: Debt or Equity?
When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.
Case for Equity
If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.
Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.
Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the companyâs profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.
Case for Debt
You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.
When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.
Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.
Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.
You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.
Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan
The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.
If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.
You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.
If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .
Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.
8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections
If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.
The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.
If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.
Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.
If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.
When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.
The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.
Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.
Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.
Use Graphs and Charts
The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.
Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.
Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections
Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.
You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.
What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan
The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.
A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.
Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.
1. Sales Forecast
Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.
One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.
For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.
Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.
Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.
For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.
2. Personnel Plan
The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.
However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.
The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.
3. Income Statement
The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.
Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.
The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.
- Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
- Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
- Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
- Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
- Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
- Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your businessâ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
- Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.
4. Cash Flow Statement
The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.
5. Balance Sheet
The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and ownerâs or shareholdersâ equity.
You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your companyâs liabilities from its assets.
6. Exit Strategy
The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.
You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.
Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.
Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.
Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection
Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.
You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.
Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.
- What is your sales forecast for the next year?
- When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
- What are the core expenses you need to operate?
- How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
- How will you use the loans or investments?
9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan
Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, rĂŠsumĂŠs, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.
The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.
When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.
Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.
You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.
If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.
A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.
The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.
People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.
Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan
The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:
- Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
- Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
- Additional financial documents or projections
- Articles of incorporation and status
- Backup for market research or competitive analysis
- Bank statements
- Business registries
- Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
- Copies of insurances
- Credit histories (personal or/and business)
- Deeds and permits
- Equipment leases
- Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
- Industry associations and memberships
- Images of product
- Intellectual property
- Key customer contracts
- Legal documents and other contracts
- Letters of reference
- Links to references
- Market research data
- Organizational charts
- Photographs of potential facilities
- Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
- Purchase orders
- Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
- State and federal identification numbers or codes
- Trademarks or patentsâ registrations
Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.
Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan
To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.
1. Know Your Audience
When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.
The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.
Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.
- A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
- A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
- A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.
2. Get Inspiration from People
Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.
To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.
When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.
3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic
Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.
The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.
In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.
The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.
To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.
4. Keep it Simple and Short
When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.
One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.
Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.
You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages canât convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.
To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.
5. Make an Outline and Follow Through
A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.
For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.
To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.
This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Product or service description
- Target audience
- Market size
- Competition analysis
- Financial projections
Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.
6. Ask a Professional to Proofread
When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.
You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.
In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.
Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.
Business Plan Examples and Templates Thatâll Save You Tons of Time
1. hubspot's one-page business plan.
The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.
Hubspotâs one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:
- Business opportunity
- Company description
- Industry analysis
- Target market
- Implementation timeline
- Marketing plan
- Financial summary
- Funding required
2. Bplanâs Free Business Plan Template
Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.
The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.
3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template
HubSpotâs downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.
The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.
There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.
4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute
My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.
The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.
- The Business Profile
- The Vision and the People
- Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
- Organization
- Licenses and Permits
- Business Insurance
- Communication Tools
- Acquisitions
- Location and Leasing
- Accounting and Cash Flow
- Opening and Marketing
- Managing Employees
- Expanding and Handling Problems
There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.
5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups
Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.
The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.
There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.
The ârefining the planâ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Scoreâs business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.
6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage
The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .
There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.
7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template
The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.
There are five sections in the two SBAâs free business plan templates.
- Executive Summary
- Company Description
- Service Line
- Marketing and Sales
8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan
The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.
There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.
9. PandaDocâs Free Business Plan Template
The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.
There are 11 sections in PandaDocâs free business plan template.
- Executive summary
- Business description
- Products and services
- Operations plan
- Management organization
- Financial plan
- Conclusion / Call to action
- Confidentiality statement
You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)
PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.
10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT
InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.
Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.
Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan
A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.
Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.
Business Model Canvas (BMC)
The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.
The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.
Segments of the Business Model Canvas
The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.
- Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
- Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
- The Productâs Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
- Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
- Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
- Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
- Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
- Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
- Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?
Lean Canvas
The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.
Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:
- Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
- Solution: The solutions to each problem.
- Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
- Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.
Startup Pitch Deck
While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.
Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.
Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.
Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.
Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.
- Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
- Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
- Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
- Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
- Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
- Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
- Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
- Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
- Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
- Traction Slide: This validates the companyâs business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
- Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
- Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.
It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.
Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.
Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan
- Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
- Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
- Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
- Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.
Business Plan FAQ
Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time. They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.
Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans. A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.
A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs. Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.
The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.
A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.
Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.
Exlore Further
- 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
- 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
- 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
- How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)
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Martin luenendonk.
Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.
This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.
7 ultimate templates for every stage of the product development process
This post is also available in: German
What is product development?
Product development is the driving force of any product-driven company. From conception, to design and ultimately execution, a great new product helps you stay one step ahead of the competition, capture new markets and drive profits.
However, new product development is not a simple process. With multiple stakeholders involved throughout the process, it can quickly get messy. Following a clear, systematic approach will help maintain control and efficiency, creating less friction along the way.
To help you structure your ideas and create a clear, strategic overview, we’ve created templates for each step of the new product development process.
What is an example of new product development?
Apple inventing the iPhone is an example of new product development. Nikeâs new Go FlyEase shoes that can be put on without using your hands is another example of new product development.
What are the 7 stages of product development?
To help you navigate this complexity, it helps to break the product development process up into seven stages. The seven stages are:
- Concept/Ideate – Generate new ideas
- Feasibility study and design planning – Making the right choices
- Design & development – Building the visionÂ
- Testing & verification – Prototype, iterate, rinse, repeatÂ
- Validation & produce collateral, validate against customer needs
- Manufacture/launch – Building your product
- Continuous improvement – Feedback and review
7 free Product Development templatesÂ
To help you navigate each stage, our free templates will help you focus on the big picture, visually organize your ideas and work collaboratively with your team. They are perfect for teams following Agile methodologies , or models such as Waterfall or the Stage-gate process .
And of course, as they are all available on our collaborative online whiteboard, they are suitable for remote or distributed teams.
So letâs take a look at the seven product development stages and corresponding templates.
1. Concept/Ideate – Generate new ideasÂ
The product development process begins with extensive ideation brainstorming sessions . This stage involves all stakeholders and participants engaging in â Blue sky thinking â- brainstorming without limits! The objective of this stage is to spark inspiration.Â
Given the sheer volume of ideas generated, it is important to have the right tools to facilitate this. The  Crazy 8s template is an excellent technique to produce a wide range of diverse ideas from the whole team. Give each team member eight minutes to sketch out eight ideas on a Crazy Eights template.
T he frenzy that follows can produce some pretty wild, unfiltered ideas, and one of them might just be your new product. Simply click on the image below to use the template now.
Use template
2. Feasibility study and design planning – Making the right choices
After extensive brainstorming and idea generation, product managers look for actionable insights that can translate into products and features. This stage in the product development process is perhaps most critical to the productâs long-term success.Â
The sheer volume of ideas generated can be overwhelming for product managers, so how do you choose the right product that matches the set goals?
This simple Priority Matrix template helps prioritize from within a list of possible product ideas and organizes them in a convenient matrix. Prioritize products with greater product/market fit and shelve low-priority ideas with this simple yet powerful tool.
Simply click on the image below to use the template now.
3. Design & development – Building the visionÂ
Envisioning the purpose of a product, the intention behind creating it and how customers will use it prior to building it will ensure everyone starts off in the right direction.Â
The Product Vision Board is a simple template that focuses on five key components of the desired product: The overarching vision for the product, the Target Audience , why their needs, the key functions of the product and how it achieves the business goals.Â
By completing this before, you get too far down the process, you will ensure you are designing a product with customers in mind. Simply click on the image below to use the template now.
4. Testing & verification – Prototype, iterate, rinse, repeatÂ
Now itâs time to put your hard work to the test. Take the prototype to your customers and collect their feedback to identify any possible issues or roadblocks. Whether itâs a new website, or a new piece of technology, itâs important to show, not tell.Â
By putting it to the test in, you can gather real feedback. Donât be afraid of feedback, both positive and negative, will help you continually refine your product.Â
A useful template to compile the feedback of each test phase is the Retrospective canvas . It prompts you to answer: What went well? What was bad? Further ideas? Possible actions?
5. Validation & collateral production
User panels help you better understand product-market fit and make last-minute tweaks to the product. A customer journey map not only captures feedback during test panels, but also helps you garner a deeper understanding of your customerâs motivations, needs and pain points.Â
Use this opportunity to understand preferred touchpoints and refine the go-to-market strategy for the product launch. Simply click on the image below to use the template now.
6. Manufacture/Launch – Building your product
Now that all stakeholders are aligned on the project milestones and responsibilities have been assigned, itâs time to get down to business! It falls to the Product Manager to ensure all deliverables adhere to projected timelines.Â
The sheer number of moving parts in this stage can make it a project management nightmare. The Product Management Canvas is a product managerâs best friend. Designed to act as a checklist when undertaking product planning, but itâs also the perfect tool to capture the current state of an evolving product, especially when multiple departments are involved.
Use template now
7. Continuous improvement – Feedback and reviewÂ
While weâve outlined the important stages in the product development process, the process itself is by no means linear. Constant user feedback and analysis of usage data should feed into the development at every stage. This is especially true post-launch. Once the product has been launched, it is time to revisit the process and understand opportunities for future optimization.Â
While it is important to recognize and acknowledge what went right, it is equally important to understand and analyze what went wrong.Â
The Lessons Learned template is one of our most popular retrospective templates to capture feedback. It promotes positivity as it places equal emphasis on documenting the failures as well as the wins, so they can be replicated for future projects. Alternatively, check out one of our other popular retrospective templates here .
The templates outlined are extremely useful in the product development process as a means of organizing, prioritizing and presenting complex information. Feel free to explore our entire template library to see what other templates can help you, or read some of our recent articles:
- 11 best retrospective templates for sprint & project retrospectives
- 15 brainstorming techniques & templates for 2023
- 3 collaborative product roadmap templates that drive agile principles
- 9 virtual icebreaker games for remote teams & meetings
Conceptboard is an online-whiteboard that helps you collaborate visually and seamlessly with your team, regardless of location. Discover how to simplify your product development workstream on a daily basis using Conceptboard here .Â
Give Conceptboard a try by signing up for a free 30 day trial now.
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11 Comments . Leave new
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The more we read the more we learn and blogs are the most efficient ways in todayâs time to enhance your learning. They are short and yet provide brief details on the topic. Amazing blog written.
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Well Explained blog
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What an invaluable resource for product development teams! These templates are a game-changer at every stage of the process. Thanks for sharing these ultimate tools that streamline and elevate product development. Let’s create exceptional products together!
Glad you found the templates helpful! Collaboration makes exceptional products happenâhappy innovating! đ
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Product Marketing Business Plan Design
I. executive summary.
This Product Marketing Business Plan outlines the strategic approach for marketing [Your Company Name]âs latest product. This plan focuses on key aspects such as product positioning, target audience identification, and promotional tactics that will drive the product's success in the market. The financial forecasts and marketing budget have been meticulously planned to ensure the effective allocation of resources while maximizing Return on Investment (ROI).
In terms of financials, the projected marketing budget for this product is set at $500,000 for the first year, with an expected revenue of $2,000,000, providing a solid foundation for profitability. The marketing efforts will be spread across various channels including digital, print, and direct marketing, ensuring a well-rounded and comprehensive outreach.
The implementation plan will span over a 12-month period, beginning in January 2051, with a focus on mitigating potential risks such as market competition and economic downturns. A detailed risk and mitigation strategy will ensure the plan's resilience, ultimately guiding the product to market dominance.
II. Product Positioning
A. market analysis.
The following table provides an overview of the competitive landscape within which [Your Company Name]âs product will be positioned. Competitors include established brands as well as emerging market entrants.
No. | Competitor Name | Market Share | Key Strengths |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kinford Co. | 25% | Strong brand recognition and loyal customer base |
2 | Lynx Dynamics | 20% | Innovative product features and competitive pricing |
3 | Happy Cozy | 15% | Extensive distribution network and aggressive marketing |
Kinford Co. dominates the market with a strong brand and customer loyalty, which suggests that breaking into the market will require significant branding efforts. Lynx Dynamics's innovation in product features implies a need for continuous product development to remain competitive. Meanwhile, Happy Cozy's distribution strength highlights the importance of building a robust distribution network to ensure widespread product availability.
Understanding the competitive landscape is crucial for positioning [Your Company Name]âs product effectively. By leveraging the weaknesses of these competitors, such as their pricing models or gaps in innovation, [Your Company Name] can carve out a unique market position that resonates with the target audience.
B. Product Differentiation
Unique Selling Proposition (USP): The productâs unique selling proposition will focus on delivering exceptional value through advanced features and superior customer service. This differentiation will be communicated clearly in all marketing materials.
Brand Messaging: The brand messaging will emphasize innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction, aligning with the needs and preferences of the target audience.
Product Features: Highlight the top three features that distinguish the product from competitors, ensuring they align with the identified market needs.
Customer Experience: The emphasis will be placed on creating a seamless and enjoyable customer experience, from the initial purchase to after-sales support.
Clearly defining and communicating the productâs unique features and benefits is essential for differentiation in a crowded market. By focusing on what sets the product apart, [Your Company Name] can attract and retain customers who are seeking these specific attributes.
III. Target Audience
A. demographic analysis.
Age Group: The primary target audience consists of individuals aged 25-45, who are likely to be early adopters of new products and technologies.
Income Level: Targeting middle to high-income earners who have the purchasing power to invest in premium products.
Geographical Location: Focus on urban areas with a high concentration of the target demographic, ensuring efficient resource allocation.
By identifying and understanding the demographic characteristics of the target audience, [Your Company Name] can tailor marketing messages and strategies to resonate with potential customers, increasing the likelihood of successful product adoption.
B. Psychographic Analysis
Lifestyle: Target individuals who value convenience, innovation, and high-quality products, and who are willing to pay a premium for these attributes.
Buying Behavior: Focus on consumers who are likely to engage in research before making a purchase and who value brand reputation and product reviews.
Motivations: Appeal to the emotional and practical needs of the target audience, ensuring that the productâs features and benefits align with their motivations.
Understanding the psychographics of the target audience allows [Your Company Name] to craft marketing strategies that speak directly to the desires and needs of potential customers, fostering stronger connections and brand loyalty.
IV. Promotional Tactics
A. digital marketing.
Social Media Campaigns: Utilize platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to reach a broad audience with targeted ads and engaging content.
Email Marketing: Implement personalized email campaigns to nurture leads and convert them into loyal customers.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimize the company website and product pages to rank higher in search engine results, driving organic traffic.
Digital marketing provides an efficient and cost-effective way to reach a large audience. By leveraging the power of social media, email marketing, and SEO, [Your Company Name] can increase brand visibility and drive sales.
B. Traditional Marketing
Print Advertising: Place ads in relevant industry magazines and newspapers to reach an audience that prefers traditional media.
Direct Mail Campaigns: Send personalized direct mail to potential customers, offering special promotions and product information.
Event Sponsorship: Sponsor industry events to increase brand exposure and establish credibility within the market.
While digital marketing is essential, traditional marketing tactics remain valuable for reaching specific segments of the target audience. Combining both approaches will ensure comprehensive market coverage.
C. Sales Promotions
Discount Offers: Introduce limited-time discounts to create a sense of urgency and encourage purchases.
Loyalty Programs: Develop a customer loyalty program that rewards repeat purchases and fosters long-term relationships.
Bundling Strategies: Offer product bundles at a discounted price to increase the average transaction value and enhance customer satisfaction.
Referral Programs: Implement a referral program that incentivizes existing customers to bring in new business, expanding the customer base.
Sales promotions are effective tools for driving short-term sales and building long-term customer relationships. By strategically planning promotions, [Your Company Name] can boost sales while maintaining profitability.
V. Product Distribution Strategy
A. distribution channels.
Online Channels: Leverage e-commerce platforms and the companyâs website to reach a global audience with ease.
Retail Partnerships: Establish partnerships with key retailers to ensure product availability in high-traffic stores.
Direct Sales: Implement a direct sales strategy to connect with customers through personalized interactions and build stronger relationships.
Wholesale Distribution: Engage with wholesalers to distribute the product in bulk, expanding market reach.
A well-rounded distribution strategy that includes both online and offline channels is crucial for maximizing product reach. By balancing these channels, [Your Company Name] can ensure that the product is available wherever customers prefer to shop.
B. Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Inventory Management: Implement robust inventory management practices to avoid stockouts and overstock situations.
Shipping and Delivery: Partner with reliable logistics providers to ensure timely and efficient product delivery.
Supplier Relationships: Maintain strong relationships with suppliers to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality materials and products.
Effective logistics and supply chain management are critical for maintaining customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. By optimizing these areas, [Your Company Name] can deliver products quickly and reliably, enhancing the overall customer experience.
VI. Marketing Budget
A. budget allocation.
Digital Marketing: Allocate $200,000 for digital marketing activities, including social media, email campaigns, and SEO.
Traditional Marketing: Set aside $150,000 for traditional marketing efforts such as print advertising, direct mail, and event sponsorships.
Sales Promotions: Budget $100,000 for sales promotions, including discounts, loyalty programs, and referral incentives.
Miscellaneous Expenses: Reserve $50,000 for unexpected marketing expenses that may arise during the campaign.
Proper budget allocation is essential for the successful execution of the marketing plan. By distributing the budget across various channels, [Your Company Name] can ensure a well-rounded approach that maximizes reach and impact.
B. Financial Projections
The following chart and table present the financial projections for the marketing budget and expected revenue:
No. | Item | Budget | Expected Revenue |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Digital Marketing | $200,000 | $800,000 |
2 | Traditional Marketing | $150,000 | $600,000 |
3 | Sales Promotions | $100,000 | $400,000 |
4 | Miscellaneous | $50,000 | $200,000 |
|
|
|
The budget allocation is expected to generate a total revenue of $2,000,000, providing a substantial return on investment. The emphasis on digital marketing reflects the growing importance of online channels in driving sales and brand awareness. Traditional marketing, while still valuable, is allocated a smaller portion of the budget to balance cost-effectiveness with reach.
These projections indicate a strong potential for the productâs success in the market. By carefully monitoring the performance of each marketing channel, [Your Company Name] can make adjustments as needed to optimize the campaignâs effectiveness and ensure the best possible outcome.
VII. Implementation Plan
A. timeline overview.
The implementation of the Product Marketing Business Plan will be carried out over a 12-month period, beginning in January 2051. The following table outlines the key milestones and activities scheduled throughout the year:
No. | Activity | Start Date | End Date | Responsible Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Market Research & Analysis | Jan 2051 | Feb 2051 | Market Research Team |
2 | Product Positioning Strategy | Feb 2051 | Mar 2051 | Product Management |
3 | Digital Marketing Launch | Mar 2051 | Ongoing | Digital Marketing |
4 | Traditional Marketing Campaign | Apr 2051 | Jun 2051 | Marketing Team |
5 | Sales Promotion Initiatives | May 2051 | Sep 2051 | Sales & Marketing |
6 | Distribution Expansion | Jul 2051 | Dec 2051 | Logistics Team |
7 | Performance Evaluation | Dec 2051 | Dec 2051 | Executive Team |
The timeline provides a clear roadmap for the execution of the marketing plan, with each activity strategically scheduled to ensure a smooth and efficient rollout. The initial focus on market research and product positioning will lay a solid foundation for the subsequent marketing efforts, ensuring that all activities are aligned with the overall strategy.
By adhering to this timeline, [Your Company Name] can ensure that each phase of the plan is executed effectively and on schedule. Regular performance evaluations will be crucial for identifying any necessary adjustments and ensuring that the marketing efforts remain on track to achieve the desired outcomes.
B. Roles and Responsibilities
Market Research Team: Responsible for gathering and analyzing market data, identifying target audience segments, and providing insights for product positioning.
Product Management Team: In charge of developing the product positioning strategy, ensuring that the product's unique selling proposition is clearly defined and communicated.
Digital Marketing Team: Tasked with executing digital marketing campaigns, including social media, SEO, and email marketing, to drive online engagement and sales.
Marketing Team: Oversees traditional marketing activities, including print advertising, direct mail campaigns, and event sponsorships, to reach a broader audience.
Sales & Marketing Team: Focuses on implementing sales promotion initiatives, such as discounts, loyalty programs, and referral incentives, to boost sales and customer retention.
Logistics Team: Manages the distribution channels and supply chain, ensuring that the product is available to customers in a timely and efficient manner.
Executive Team: Responsible for overseeing the entire marketing plan, making high-level decisions, and conducting performance evaluations to assess the effectiveness of the strategies.
Clearly defined roles and responsibilities are essential for the successful execution of the marketing plan. By assigning specific tasks to dedicated teams, [Your Company Name] can ensure that each aspect of the plan is handled with expertise and accountability.
VIII. Risk and Mitigation Strategy
A. market risks.
Competitive Pressure: The entry of new competitors or aggressive strategies by existing players could impact market share. To mitigate this risk, [Your Company Name] will focus on continuous innovation and differentiation to maintain a competitive edge.
Changing Consumer Preferences: Shifts in consumer preferences could affect product demand. To address this, the company will implement regular market research and adapt the product offering as needed.
Economic Downturn: An economic recession could reduce consumer spending, affecting sales. To mitigate this, [Your Company Name] will explore cost-effective marketing strategies and consider diversifying the product portfolio to appeal to budget-conscious consumers.
Market risks are an inherent part of any business strategy, but with proactive planning and flexibility, [Your Company Name] can navigate these challenges effectively. The focus on innovation and market adaptability will be crucial in maintaining resilience against competitive and economic pressures.
B. Operational Risks
Supply Chain Disruptions: Any disruption in the supply chain could delay product availability. To mitigate this risk, the company will establish relationships with multiple suppliers and maintain a buffer stock of key materials.
Logistics Challenges: Issues in logistics, such as shipping delays or inventory mismanagement, could impact customer satisfaction. To address this, [Your Company Name] will partner with reliable logistics providers and implement robust inventory management systems.
Technology Failures: Reliance on digital platforms for marketing and sales introduces the risk of technology failures. The company will implement backup systems and regularly update software to ensure smooth operations.
Operational risks can have a significant impact on the overall success of the marketing plan. By proactively addressing potential supply chain, logistics, and technology challenges, [Your Company Name] can minimize disruptions and ensure a seamless execution of the marketing strategy.
C. Financial Risks
Budget Overruns: The risk of exceeding the marketing budget could strain financial resources. To mitigate this, [Your Company Name] will closely monitor expenses and implement cost control measures throughout the campaign.
Revenue Shortfalls: If the product fails to generate the expected revenue, it could impact overall business performance. The company will conduct regular performance reviews and adjust the marketing strategy as needed to improve sales.
Currency Fluctuations: For international markets, fluctuations in currency exchange rates could affect profitability. [Your Company Name] will use hedging strategies to manage this risk and protect against adverse currency movements.
Financial risks require careful planning and ongoing oversight to ensure that the marketing plan remains financially viable. By monitoring expenses and revenue closely, [Your Company Name] can make timely adjustments that keep the plan on track.
IX. Conclusion and Next Steps
A. conclusion.
This Product Marketing Business Plan of [Your Company Name] outlines a comprehensive approach to launching and promoting the companyâs latest product. Through detailed market analysis, targeted audience identification, and well-planned promotional tactics, the plan aims to position the product for success in a competitive market. The careful allocation of a $500,000 marketing budget, combined with a robust implementation timeline, ensures that the product will reach its intended audience and generate the projected $2,000,000 in revenue.
Moreover, the risk and mitigation strategies discussed in this plan will help [Your Company Name] navigate potential challenges, ensuring that the marketing efforts remain resilient and adaptable. By focusing on innovation, operational efficiency, and financial prudence, [Your Company Name] is well-positioned to achieve its marketing objectives and drive long-term business growth.
B. Next Steps
The following next steps outline the immediate actions required to begin the implementation of the Product Marketing Business Plan:
Finalize Product Positioning: Complete the product positioning strategy and ensure all marketing materials align with the defined brand messaging.
Develop Marketing Campaigns: Begin the development of digital and traditional marketing campaigns, focusing on content creation, ad placements, and promotional offers.
Establish Distribution Partnerships: Secure partnerships with key retailers and logistics providers to ensure a smooth distribution process.
Monitor and Adjust: Set up regular performance reviews and monitoring systems to track the effectiveness of the marketing efforts and make necessary adjustments.
By following these steps, [Your Company Name] will be able to effectively launch its product into the market, achieve its revenue targets, and build a strong foundation for future growth.
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Start » strategy, how to build a manufacturing business plan.
A manufacturing business plan can help get your new venture off the ground and running smoothly.
A manufacturing business plan outlines the goals, strategies, and operations of a manufacturing company. Use this article as a road map for your business and to help recruit investors as your operation grows.
Manufacturing business plans vary slightly compared to business plans for other types of companies. Here's what goes into a manufacturing business plan and how to create one for your venture.
Why do companies need manufacturing business plans?
Manufacturing business plans are used for the same purpose as other companies' plans. These documents help set clear goals and objectives for internal stakeholders. They provide a framework for making decisions around financing, budgeting, hiring, and procurement. Additionally, investors and lenders often require a business plan to assess the venture's potential.
Business plans are meant to be flexible, living documents that are revisited periodically as the business grows. Writing a manufacturing business plan is a good exercise in understanding what equipment will be needed, evaluating the size of the market your business is based in, and assessing your competition. These things will change over time, so make sure you adjust your plan as your company matures.
[Read more: How to Use AI Tools to Write a Business Plan ]
What goes into a manufacturing business plan?
Manufacturing plans can be very detailed, but at a minimum should include the following sections:
- An executive summary.
- A company description.
- A production plan.
- An industry analysis.
- The target market.
- Compliance.
- A financial plan.
Some manufacturing plans also include sections for marketing, management, and operations. An operations plan can include the details of how you will source materials, your design process, how you will manage production, and ways to coordinate logistics with potential buyers. Marketing sections detail how you will position your product and reach potential buyers, while management identifies the key roles for which you will hire.
[Read more: 6 Product Design Software Programs for Beginners ]
While there's a lot of overlap with a normal business plan, manufacturing companies have unique processes and constraints they need to consider and address in their plan.
Why are manufacturing business plans unique?
The production plan section should provide a detailed outline of the manufacturing process, equipment, facilities, and supply chain. It should also include operational details that are crucial to the success of the manufacturing business: quality control, inventory management, and supply chain logistics, which should be covered extensively.
Manufacturing business plans also play an outsized role in recruiting funding. Manufacturers often require significant capital investments in equipment, machinery, and facilities. The financial projections included in the plan must accurately reflect these costs to ensure adequate funding for getting off the ground.
Finally, meeting global environmental, safety, and quality regulations is no easy feat. Identifying these requirements early positions the manufacturer to be compliant, as well as to assess which supply chain partners are also able to meet these rules. A manufacturing business plan should detail supply chain management, compliance demands, and steps to streamline both of these key elements.
How to write a manufacturing business plan
The easiest way to get started is to use a template. A few outlines are available online, like this one from Katana or this one from MoreBusiness.com . Start by defining your business and answering questions such as:
- What product will the business manufacture?
- Who is the target market of ideal customers?
- What makes this product unique?
- What business structure will be used?
From there, you can work through section by section to conduct market research, develop your operations plan, prototype your product, and identify supply chain partners. Include financial projections such as your startup costs, operational costs, revenue projections, and the break-even point.
"It's important to be optimistic when starting a new business, but you also need to be realistic. This is especially true when it comes to financial projections. Don't overestimate the amount of revenue you will generate or underestimate the costs of goods sold," wrote Katana .
Breaking your plan down into smaller sections can make it easier to identify areas where you need outside help too. Don't be shy about asking others in the industry for advice.
COâ aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.
COâis committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business. Learn more about the benefits of small business membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, here .
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6 Best Marketing Project Plan Templates for Successful Campaign Strategy
- Updated on August 19, 2024
Marketing is a multifaceted discipline that extends far beyond traditional advertising. It is a strategic function that integrates market research, customer behavior analysis, and communication techniques to create value for both businesses and customers. At its core, marketing is about identifying and meeting customer needs, but the process involves a deep technical understanding of data, segmentation, and engagement strategies.
What is a Marketing Project Plan?
A marketing project plan is a structured outline that guides the execution of specific marketing initiatives. It details the projectâs objectives, scope, timeline, budget, and the tasks required to achieve the desired outcomes. The plan serves as a roadmap for coordinating resources, managing risks, and ensuring that all team members are aligned with the project goals. By clearly defining each step and setting measurable milestones, a marketing project plan helps to keep the project on track, optimize resource allocation, and achieve successful campaign results.
Technically speaking, marketing begins with market research, where data is gathered to understand market trends, customer preferences, and competitive landscapes. This data-driven approach allows marketers to segment their audience into specific groups based on various factors such as demographics, psychographics, and behavior. Once the audience is segmented, tailored messaging and campaigns are developed to target these segments effectively.
Marketingâs role in business outcomes is pivotal, especially when it comes to generating Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). MQLs are potential customers who have shown interest in a product or service, typically through engaging with marketing content or campaigns. The qualification of these leads is based on specific criteria, such as engagement level, fit with the target audience, and readiness to make a purchase.
The transition from MQL to Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) involves a critical handoff between marketing and sales teams. This handoff requires careful coordination, as it ensures that the leads nurtured by marketing are ready to engage with the sales team. SQLs are further evaluated by the sales team to determine their potential to convert into paying customers. This process is essential for optimizing the sales pipeline and maximizing conversion rates.
Effective marketing not only generates leads but also facilitates smooth collaboration between marketing and sales, ensuring that each lead is managed efficiently through the sales funnel. This collaboration is key to converting leads into clients, which in turn drives revenue growth for the business.
Nimble offers a suite of marketing templates designed to support these processes. These templates provide structured frameworks for tasks such as lead generation, qualification, and sales handoff, enabling teams to work efficiently and effectively. Along with the strategy and execution in Marketing, there are many workflows around Digital Marketing, managing events, performing A/B Testing and launching products, for which we have designed templates with which businesses can ensure that their marketing efforts are aligned with their overall business objectives, ultimately leading to better outcomes in terms of lead conversion and revenue generation.
6 Best Marketing Plan Templates
1. digital marketing template.
The Marketing Strategy and Deliverables template offers a comprehensive tool for structured planning, execution, and tracking of marketing activities within a centralized framework. Designed to streamline operations, this template aids in organizing all aspects of your marketing strategy, ensuring that each initiative is efficiently managed and aligned with overall business objectives. Below are the features, discussed in a detailed manner.Â
â Streamlined Marketing Roadmap: Eliminate disjointed strategies and missed deadlines with a clear, visual representation of your marketing plan. This template facilitates the definition of target audiences, the setting of strategic objectives, and the management of key deadlines. It provides a structured approach to transforming marketing concepts into actionable plans.
â Prioritization with Precision: Convert your marketing objectives into a series of prioritized tasks. The template enables a clear mapping of the journey from strategic planning to successful execution, allowing for the prioritization of activities based on their significance and urgency. This ensures that your team remains focused on the most impactful initiatives, thereby enhancing the efficiency of your marketing efforts.
â Real-Time Progress Monitoring: Maintain oversight of all marketing projects with real-time progress tracking. The template offers immediate visibility into ongoing initiatives, facilitating the identification of potential obstacles and ensuring that all elements of the project adhere to the established timelines. This systematic approach reduces the likelihood of unexpected issues, promoting consistent progress towards achieving your goals.
â Enhanced Collaboration and Communication: Promote effective teamwork and eliminate communication barriers with a centralized platform that serves as a command center for all marketing projects. The template consolidates all relevant project information and updates, supporting improved communication among team members and ensuring alignment throughout the execution of each campaign.
â Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage analytics to refine your marketing strategies. The template provides tools for real-time tracking and analysis of campaign results, offering insights that can be used to enhance future marketing initiatives. This data-driven approach enables the continuous optimization of marketing tactics, contributing to sustained improvements in performance.
This template is designed to provide a technical and systematic approach to managing marketing strategies, ensuring that every aspect of your marketing plan is executed with precision and effectiveness.
2. Marketing Product Launch TemplateÂ
Launching a new product or service is a critical process aimed at introducing it to the market with the goal of generating interest and driving revenue growth. The Product Launch Planning template is a comprehensive solution designed to guide you through each phase of the launch process, ensuring a methodical and well-coordinated approach. Below are the features, discussed in detailed manner.Â
â Research-Driven Strategy: Initiate your product launch with a foundation of robust market insights. This template assists in identifying target audiences, understanding their needs, and analyzing competitors. By leveraging these insights, you can develop messaging that resonates with your audience and positions your product effectively in the market.
â Product Development and Team Readiness:Â Transition seamlessly from research to product development. The template provides guidance on aligning your product features with market demands, ensuring that the final offering meets customer expectations. Additionally, it includes tools for planning sales team training and developing sales materials, equipping your team to effectively communicate the productâs value.
â Pre-Launch Buzz Generation:Â Create anticipation for your product through carefully planned pre-launch activities. The template offers sections for organizing teaser campaigns, planning sneak peeks, and strategizing social media engagement. These steps are designed to build interest and excitement, setting the stage for a successful product launch.
â Launch Event Planning:Â Plan a product launch event that aligns with your brand identity. The template provides a structured approach to event planning, covering aspects such as venue selection, audience engagement, and event execution. This ensures that your product introduction makes a strong and lasting impression on your target market.
â Post-Launch Tracking and Improvement:Â Monitor and evaluate the success of your product launch with tools for tracking performance, gathering customer feedback, and analyzing market trends. These insights enable you to make data-driven decisions that keep your product competitive and responsive to market changes.
The Product Launch Planning template offers a structured framework for managing the complexities of a product launch. By improving coordination and ensuring thorough preparation, this template helps maximize the impact of your product introduction, turning your launch into a strategic and successful campaign.
3. Event Management Template
Managing events requires meticulous planning, organization, and execution. The Event Management Template is designed as a comprehensive tool to centralize and simplify these processes, offering a unified approach to handling all aspects of event management. Below are the features, discussed in detailed manner.Â
â Unify Your Event Ecosystem:Â This template allows you to manage all event-related components, including budgets, timelines, guest lists, and vendor coordination, within a single, intuitive platform. By centralizing these elements, it provides a holistic view of your event, reducing the complexity of managing multiple tools and sources of information.
â Enhance Collaboration:Â Facilitate effective teamwork between event planners, vendors, and clients. The template ensures that all stakeholders are aligned, with real-time access to critical information. This promotes seamless communication and collaboration, reducing the risk of misalignment or information gaps.
â Maintain Control Over Deadlines:Â The template provides a clear overview of all tasks and their associated deadlines, helping you to stay on schedule and avoid any last-minute surprises. By tracking progress and deadlines, it ensures a smooth and stress-free event execution.
â Optimize Budget Management:Â Track your expenses in real time and compare them against your budget. The template offers detailed tracking tools that allow for informed decision-making, helping you to manage costs effectively and avoid budget overruns.
â Ideal For Event Planning:Â The Event Management Template is particularly suited for event planners seeking enhanced efficiency and organization, teams requiring seamless collaboration and communication, and businesses aiming to optimize their event budgets while delivering exceptional experiences.
Overall, the Event Management Template  offers a structured and technical approach to event management, helping you to orchestrate events with precision and efficiency.
4. Social Media Marketing TemplateÂ
The Social Media Marketing Template provides a structured framework designed to enhance your brand’s presence across all platforms and achieve your marketing goals. This template goes beyond a simple pre-designed structure, offering a strategic approach to maximize your social media impact. Â Below are the features, discussed in detailed manner.Â
â Cohesive Brand Voice and Vision:Â Maintain consistent messaging and visuals across all social media channels. This template helps reinforce your brand identity with every post, leading to stronger recognition and trust among your audience.
â Streamlined Workflow and Content Planning:Â Plan and schedule content more efficiently with the template’s organized structure. By simplifying these processes, it allows you to save time and resources, enabling a greater focus on strategic initiatives.
â Enhanced Social Media Performance:Â Improve your social media engagement by monitoring comments and responding promptly to inquiries. This proactive management approach helps build brand loyalty and nurtures a vibrant online community.
â Ideal for Social Media Optimization:Â The Social Media Marketing Template is designed for Product Marketers aiming to amplify brand awareness, Social Media Managers looking to streamline workflows, and Marketing Teams focused on building a strong brand reputation and fostering loyal customer relationships.
The Social Media Marketing Template  provides a systematic and technical approach to social media management, helping you transition from basic posting to strategic planning and execution, ensuring that your social media presence is both impactful and effective.
5. A/B Testing Template
Managing multiple tests and ensuring their flawless execution can be challenging. This innovative A/B testing template is designed to transform your testing process, providing you with actionable insights and greater control over your efforts. Below are the features, discussed in detailed manner.
â Efficient Test Management:Â Effectively manage a wide range of tests simultaneously. This template streamlines the planning, execution, and analysis of each test, ensuring that the process is both meticulous and efficient.
â Comparative Insights:Â Easily compare results across different tests to gain valuable perspectives. The template allows for the identification of trends, isolation of variables, and analysis of performance, helping you uncover insights that drive optimal outcomes.
â Automated Processes:Â Harness the power of automation to enhance efficiency. Automate the creation, execution, and analysis of tests, reducing the potential for human error and freeing up valuable time for your team to focus on higher-level tasks.
â Data-Driven Optimization:Â Turn testing data into actionable strategies. The template provides the tools necessary to leverage rich data insights, enabling continuous refinement of marketing campaigns and optimization of overall effectiveness.
Ideal for Professionals
This template is a valuable resource for:
â Product Managers: Facilitating data-driven decisions to optimize product features and enhance user experiences.
â Marketing Teams: Crafting high-performing marketing campaigns through insights gained from A/B testing.
â Data Analysts: Analyzing testing data in depth to uncover hidden trends and opportunities.
This template offers a systematic and technical approach to mastering the testing process, enabling you to move beyond test management to data-driven optimization.
6. Marketing Strategy Template
Managing a diverse array of marketing deliverables and strategies can be challenging. The Marketing Strategy Template offers a comprehensive solution for effective project management, data-driven decision-making, and seamless team collaboration. Below are the features, discussed in detailed manner.Â
â Precision Targeting:Â Define your target audience with precision. This template allows you to build detailed audience personas, ensuring that your marketing campaigns are tailored to engage the right segments of your market.
â Goal Setting and Deadline Tracking:Â Establish clear marketing goals and monitor progress with ease. The template serves as a centralized hub for managing deadlines, helping keep your team accountable and ensuring that milestones are met.
â Strategic Roadmapping:Â Create a structured roadmap to achieve your marketing objectives. The template helps you prioritize tasks based on their importance, enabling your team to focus on high-impact activities and streamline efforts towards success.
â Project Management Oversight:Â Track the progress of ongoing marketing initiatives effectively. The template facilitates the identification of potential roadblocks and ensures that all project components remain aligned and on schedule.
â Unified Team Communication:Â Enhance team collaboration with a central platform for sharing information and updates. This approach minimizes silos and promotes cohesive teamwork, ensuring that all members are aligned with the overall strategy.
â Data-Driven Optimization:Â Utilize real-time data to inform decision-making. The template includes tools for tracking and analyzing marketing results, providing valuable insights that can be used to optimize future initiatives and improve overall impact.
Suitable For:
â Marketing Directors: Oversee strategy, execution, and analysis with a centralized system.
â Marketing Managers: Optimize workflows, project management, and team alignment.
â Marketing Teams: Foster collaboration, gain insights, and achieve collective success.
The Marketing Strategy Template provides a systematic approach to managing marketing efforts, supporting both strategic planning and operational execution.
Holistically, The Nimble Templates for Marketing offer a comprehensive set of solutions designed to streamline and optimize various marketing functions. Each template is crafted to enhance efficiency and support data-driven decision-making.
The Marketing Strategy Template centralizes efforts for precise audience targeting, goal setting, and deadline management, while also facilitating strategic roadmapping and fostering cohesive team communication.
The Product Launch Planning Template guides the entire process from market research and product development to launch execution, helping to generate pre-launch buzz and monitor post-launch performance effectively.
In the realm of event planning, the Event Management Template consolidates budget management, timeline coordination, and vendor interactions into a single platform, ensuring smooth and successful events.
The Social Media Marketing Template supports consistent messaging, efficient content planning, and performance tracking, thereby optimizing social media engagement.
Lastly, the A/B Testing Template enhances control over testing processes and provides valuable data-driven insights for performance improvement.
Together, these templates offer a systematic approach to managing marketing activities, leading to increased organization and effectiveness across all marketing initiatives. Sign up for a Free trial  and experience these read-to-use templates firsthand.
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Sai Prasanth M K
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24 Google Docs Templates That Will Make Your Life Easier
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Work templates, health templates, home templates, travel templates, streamline your work with google docs templates.
Formatting Google documents is a time-consuming task. There are already some excellent templates available for your use. Rather than trying to create your documents manually, use these 24 time-saving templates in Google Docs.
These free Google Docs templates are split into four sections: Work, Health, Home, and Travel. So feel free to scroll to the section that's most relevant to you. On to the Google Doc templates.
1. Resumé
Formatting resumes can be a real test of patience (and design skills). You can use this professional template for that. It includes all the sections needed to help you land that dream job. Describe your career objectives, experience, education, skills, and references (you can modify these sections if necessary).
For more options, take a look at these free resources for customizable resume templates .
2. Business Letter
When it comes to any type of business letter, you want the appearance to be professional. You may be writing to a client or customer, contacting a vendor or manufacturer, or creating a cover letter to accompany your resume.
Within Google Docs, there are a number of business letter templates to choose from, and you can even password-protect your docs on Google if they contain confidential information.
3. Presentations
Often, the hardest part of creating a presentation is formatting your slides. Fortunately, Google Docs has a ton of presentation templates that do what they say on the tin and can even be edited offline. Once you've selected your template, to add another slide, right-click the second slide, and select Duplicate slide .
You can choose to show the presentation in a new window, or you can download it as a PowerPoint file or PDF (among other formats). Then, confidently open your presentation wherever you are. There are many other uses for Google Slides presentations .
4. Meeting Agenda
Keep your meetings efficient by having an agenda template in Google Docs ready to roll at a second's notice. This meeting agenda template in Google Docs includes the agenda (obviously), attendees, scribe name, minutes, action items, and next meeting items.
You can also invite other team members to add agenda items directly to the template to streamline the process further.
5. Project Timeline
If you've been tasked with creating a project timeline and have no idea where to start, then this template is a life-saver. Organize the timeline of your project with this straightforward Gantt chart.
With tasks split into different phases, and a weekly timescale, understanding the overall structure of your complex project—at a glance—is a picnic.
6. Project Tracking
Similarly, this spreadsheet offers a fast way of keeping up with which tasks are still open and complete, when they were started, who's responsible, and the task difficulty.
Using this kind of tracking spreadsheet, alongside the project timeline, offers a pretty comprehensive toolkit for keeping everyone on track.
7. Business Plan
Get straight into the nitty-gritty of fleshing out your business propositions with this template. The major sections are all there, from market analysis to financial projections, along with plenty of export options.
Whether you want to add a couple of sparklines to your document or link to full-blown graphs, this is easy to do.
8. Invoicing
If invoicing isn't yet causing a problematic bottleneck in your company, this simple template can save you the hassle of transferring your invoicing to a dedicated, more comprehensive platform. Simply complete the invoice, download it as a PDF, and email it to your client or customer.
9. Newsletter
If you use Google Docs for your business, then you’ll love this newsletter template. You can add your company details in just minutes, insert photographs, and let your clients or coworkers know what’s new.
It’s short and sweet at two pages, which is usually just enough for an informative company newsletter.
10. Brochure
A brochure may not be something you create daily, but this attractive template comes in handy when you need one. It's among several Google Docs options for work-related brochures and more on GooDocs .
Add your own photos, as well as an overview and key features, and wrap up with all the necessary details for your product or service. The template simplifies everything.
1. Weight and Measurement Tracking
For those who are looking to bulk up or become leaner, this fantastic spreadsheet allows you to record any positive or negative changes in body composition, from your weight loss percentage to how much further you need to go to reach your goal.
After each entry, the overall change is calculated automatically. You can use this template to track your weight loss journey with a partner, too.
2. Weight Training
This ready-to-go weight training regimen gives you specific instructions to follow throughout the week. Obviously, the overall weight of each set should be adjusted according to your needs, but as far as set workouts go, you can't go wrong.
1. Household Chores
Prevent arguments around the house by keeping track of household chores (and even offering financial incentives!). This nicely designed template keeps things simple, bold, and clear-cut, helping you always run a tight ship.
2. To-Do List
Using this Google Docs task list template, you can start working on your to-do list as soon as possible while viewing each task's due date, priority, and status.
It's basic, but it does the job, allowing you to get on with crossing things off that list rather than spending time creating it. If you want a simple Google Docs to-do list template, this is it.
3. House Moving Calculator
We all know that moving can cause a huge amount of stress. Much of that stress can come from not properly understanding how the move will affect you financially.
This home cost evaluation template lets you financially assess your new purchase, so you can more effectively weigh your options.
4. Calendars
If, for whatever reason, you'd like to have your calendar stored and managed in Google Sheets, there are a number of great templates that'll get you started in no time.
You can browse them in the gallery or open a new Google Sheet and instead of creating a calendar from scratch, select New > From template gallery . Here, you'll find a whole host of Google Sheet templates, including the current year's calendar.
Each month of these calendars is on a separate worksheet, and it's also designed for print. While the calendar will change each year, there are always new templates being added, so keep your eyes peeled.
5. Family Budget Planner
If you need to keep a closer eye on your family or personal income and expenses, this template works much like a corporate sales forecast but has been adapted for home use.
Overall, you'll know how much cash you'll have at the end of the period and can adjust the plan to reach your saving or spending goals accordingly.
There's also a personal version of the Google Docs spreadsheet (rather than aimed at families) available. Keeping track of your expenses with Google Sheets has never been easier.
6. Wedding Checklist
Weddings: another stressful life event. Help yours go more smoothly with this detailed Google Docs checklist template.
By creating a checklist in Google Docs, you ensure that you don't forget anything crucial, such as arranging childcare or transportation ahead of time.
7. Savings Calculator
This calculator quickly lets you see savings projections in different situations, the aim being to show you how this can lead to early retirement if you save carefully. Simply change the blue numbers around and see the effect on the graph.
8. Guest List
Keep track of your guest list with this handy guest list template in Google Docs. Easily add their contact details and even track who you have already sent invites to and whether they have responded.
9. Car Comparison
Struggling to compare a few different car models? Add their stats and pictures to this spreadsheet, so you can have them competing head-to-head without the need to constantly flick through different tabs to find the relevant information.
1. Vacation Planner and Checklist
Vacations should be a relaxing experience. Use and edit this Google Docs checklist template so that you can keep your packing stress-free, preventing you from arriving at your hotel only to realize you've forgotten your phone charger.
2. Travel Itinerary
If you're heading out on an extended trip or visiting multiple places during one vacation, it's best to get everything out of your head, and written down somewhere reliable.
This template allows you to see the important details of any booked transport, plus the dates of your travel, and where you'll be each day. This will make organizing outings and hotels much less arduous.
3. Road Trip Planner
Road trips have never been particularly easy to plan in detail, which makes this template awesome as it includes fields for planning the distances and costs of your travels.
You fill them in with your estimates, and the spreadsheet automatically calculates the total cost of your journey. You can add dates, destinations, activities, mileage, and more to your trip log.
Hopefully, one or more of these free Google Docs templates have your task covered. The Google Docs templates can also be downloaded and exported into formats like PDF and PowerPoint. If you need additional templates, you can browse the Google Docs template gallery.
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How to Create a Marketing Plan for Small Business? A Guide
- August 23, 2024
Table of Contents
Running a small business is no small feat. With countless tasks demanding your attention, it’s easy to overlook the importance of having a solid social media strategy . Yet, a well-crafted marketing plan for small businesses is essentialâthe strategic foundation ensures your efforts are effective and your resources are well spent.
Why is a Marketing Plan Essential for Small Businesses?
When you think about marketing, your mind might immediately jump to social media posts, flyers, or even local ads. However, these activities might not bring the results you need without a guiding plan. A marketing plan for small businesses serves as your roadmap, steering your efforts toward your goals and helping you navigate the complex landscape of customer acquisition and retention.
According to a McKinsey report in 2024, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that actively engage in strategic planning, including a well-defined marketing plan, significantly outperform those that do not. Specifically, businesses with a comprehensive marketing plan see up to a 40% increase in growth potential compared to those without such a plan. Without a clear plan, your marketing efforts can feel like trying to drive without a mapâconstantly turning but never knowing if youâre on the right track.
A marketing plan for small business clarifies your goals, identifies your target audience, and aligns your tactics with your business objectives. This alignment is critical for small businesses, where resources are often limited. Instead of spreading yourself thin across multiple channels, you focus on what truly matters, maximizing your impact.
If youâre interested in optimizing your social media presence as part of your marketing plan for small business, this blog will provide valuable insights that tie directly into your overall marketing plan.
Understanding Your Market: Research and Analysis
A deep understanding of your market is the cornerstone of any successful marketing plan for small businesses. The process starts with thorough market research and analysis, which helps you understand the environment in which you operate.
What is Market Research?
Market research involves gathering data about your industry, competitors, and customers. It comes in two forms: primary & secondary research . Primary research is data you collect through surveys, interviews, or observations. Secondary research involves analyzing existing data, like reports, studies, or statistics from credible sources. Consequently, you can get more clients for your digital marketing agency as a service provider.
Understanding your market helps you identify opportunities and threats. For example, if you discover a competitor struggling with customer satisfaction. Such mishaps might allow you to differentiate your business by emphasizing superior customer service within a marketing plan for small businesses.
Identifying Your Target Audience
Start by segmenting your audience into groups based on demographics, psychographics, and behavior. Creating customer personasâdetailed profiles of your ideal customersâcan make this process more tangible and direct in a marketing plan for small businesses.
Competitive Analysis
Another key component of your marketing plan for small businesses is understanding your competitors. A competitive analysis helps you identify your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)âthe key factor that sets your business apart. Your UVP should be a focal point of your marketing plan for small business marketing messages. This approach can help you get cost-effective marketing tips .
Setting Clear and Achievable Marketing Goals
Now that you understand your market, itâs time to set goals. Without clear goals, you wonât know if your marketing plan for small businesses is paying off.
SMART Goals Framework
The SMART framework is a popular method for setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. For example, instead of saying, âI want more customers,â a SMART goal within your marketing plan for small businesses would be: âIncrease website traffic by 20% in the next three months through targeted email campaigns.â
Aligning Goals with Business Objectives
Your marketing goals should directly support your broader business objectives. For example, if your business goal is to increase sales by 15% this year, your marketing goal within the marketing plan for small businesses could focus on lead generation or customer retention strategies that contribute to that target.
Setting short-term and long-term goals helps you stay focused and measure progress over time. Remember, your goals should be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the market, ensuring that your marketing plan for small businesses remains effective.
Crafting Your Marketing Strategy
With your goals in place, the next step in your marketing plan for small business is crafting a strategy that will help you achieve them. Utilize a social media strategy template to fulfill your marketing purpose.Â
Defining Your Brand
Your brand is more than just a logo or a tagline. Itâs the overall impression you leave on your customers. Key elements include the brand’s voice, messaging, and visual identity. Consistency across all these elements is crucial to building brand recognition and trust, and these should align with your marketing plan for small businesses.
For small businesses, a strong brand can make a significant difference. It sets the tone for all your marketing efforts and helps you stand out in a crowded market, a crucial factor in your marketing plan for small business.
Choosing the Right Marketing Channels
There are many marketing channels to choose fromâsocial media, email marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and more. However, not all channels will be right for every business, so you must carefully design a marketing plan for small businesses and select the most appropriate channels. Understanding the dynamics of social media marketing for different industries is vital for this step.
Choosing the proper channels depends on where the target audience spends their time and the content they engage with. For example, if your target audience is younger, platforms like Instagram or TikTok might be more effective than traditional advertising methods, which should be reflected in your marketing plan for small businesses.
To dive deeper into this, consider reading our blog on the best social media management tools .
Developing Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Your USP is what makes your business unique. Itâs the reason customers should choose you over your competitors. Your USP should be clear, compelling, and prominently featured in all your marketing communications as part of a marketing plan for small businesses.
Budgeting for Your Marketing Plan
No marketing plan for small businesses is complete without a budget. Budgeting ensures your marketing efforts are sustainable and aligned with your financial resources. If you are a digital marketing service provider, utilize our social media pricing calculator to provide your clients with detailed and accurate budget information. Â
Determining Your Marketing Budget
A common rule of thumb is to allocate 5-10% of your revenue to marketing. However, this can vary depending on your business goals, industry, and growth stage. For startups or businesses looking to grow aggressively, a higher percentage may be necessary within their marketing plan for small businesses.
Allocating Funds Across Channels
Once youâve determined your budget, the next step in your marketing plan for small business is to allocate it across different channels. Consider factors like the cost of each channel, the expected return on investment (ROI), and the goals youâve set. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might allocate more funds to social media advertising or influencer partnerships.
Cost-Effective Marketing Tactics
For small businesses with limited budgets, itâs important to maximize every dollar in your marketing plan for small businesses. This might involve focusing on organic growth strategies like SEO or content marketing, which require time but have lower upfront costs. Additionally, leveraging free or low-cost email marketing tools, content marketing tools , automation tools , digital marketing tools , social media marketing tools , and social media analytics tools can help stretch your budget further.
For more ideas on cost-effective marketing strategies, check out the blog on must-have marketing agency tools .
Creating a Content Plan and Calendar
Content is the fuel that powers many of your marketing channels. A well-thought-out content plan is essential for engaging your audience and driving traffic within a marketing plan for small businesses.
Content Marketing Basics
Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage your target audience . This process can include blog posts, videos, infographics, ebooks, and more. The key is to provide content that answers your audienceâs questions or solves their problems as part of your marketing plan for small business.
Planning Your Content
Start by brainstorming social media content ideas that align with your audienceâs interests and your marketing goals. For example, if youâre launching a new product. You might create a series of blog posts, videos, and social media updates highlighting its features and benefits, all coordinated within a marketing plan for small businesses.
Once you have a list of ideas, organize them into a content calendar. A content calendar helps you plan and schedule your content in advance, ensuring a consistent flow of material that keeps your audience engaged as part of your marketing plan for small business.
Content Distribution
Creating great content is just the first step. You also need a strategy for getting it in front of your audience. This might involve sharing it on social media, optimizing it for search engines, or promoting it through email marketingâall vital parts of a marketing plan for small businesses.
If you are new to the digital marketing business, you can easily target clients who find content creation overwhelming. By using the social media campaign proposal generator , you can become affluent in gaining such client accounts. Â
Implementing and Managing Your Marketing Plan
With everything in place, itâs time to put your marketing plan for small business into action.
Action Steps for Implementation
Start by breaking down your marketing plan for small business into actionable steps. Assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and ensure everyone is clear on their responsibilities. Multiple tools can help you manage projects and track progress.
Monitoring and Adjusting Your Plan
As you execute your plan, you must monitor your performance closely. Track key metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, social media engagement , and social media positioning to see if your efforts are delivering the desired results.
If something isnât working, donât be afraid to pivot. Adapting to new information is one of the strengths of a well-managed marketing plan for small businesses. Regularly reviewing and updating your plan ensures it stays aligned with your business goals.
Tools and Software for Marketing Management
Managing a marketing plan for small businesses can be complex, but the right tools can make it easier. Consider using marketing automation software to streamline your efforts. For example, RecurPost offers social media scheduling and content management features that can save you time and keep your marketing on track.
Creating a marketing plan for small businesses might seem daunting at first, but itâs one of the most important steps you can take to ensure the success of your business. Social media optimization will become easy by following the steps outlined in this guide and youâll be well on your way to achieving your business goals.
Donât wait to get started. The sooner you have a marketing plan for small businesses in place, the sooner you can begin seeing the results. Take the first step today and start crafting your marketing plan.
Ideally, you should review your marketing plan for small business quarterly to ensure it remains relevant and effective. However, major business changes or shifts in the market may require more frequent updates.
If your efforts arenât working, start by reviewing your goals and metrics. Identify any areas where performance is lagging and adjust your strategy accordingly. It might involve changing messaging, targeting a different audience segment, or reallocating your budget to more effective channels within your marketing plan for small business.
Focus on organic strategies like SEO, content marketing, and social media. These can be low-cost but highly effective if done correctly. Additionally, make the most of free tools and resources available online, which can be part of a cost-effective marketing plan for small businesses.
The best approach depends on your audience. Digital marketing offers precise targeting and tracking, often ideal for small businesses. However, traditional methods like print advertising or direct mail might still be effective if your audience is local or less tech-savvy. These should be considered within your marketing plan for small businesses.
Ruchi Dhimar is a skilled content writer with 4 years of experience. She is passionate about crafting compelling narratives, specializing in writing content for different industries.
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AI Wonât Give You a New Sustainable Advantage
- Jay B. Barney
- Martin Reeves
Generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) has the potential to radically alter how business is conducted, and there’s no doubt that it will create a lot of value. Companies have used it to identify entirely new product opportunities and business models; to automate routine decisions, freeing humans to focus on decisions that involve ethical trade-offs, empathy, or imagination; to deliver customized professional services formerly available only to the wealthy; and to develop and communicate product and other recommendations to customers faster, more cheaply, and more informatively than was possible with human-driven processes.
But, the authors ask, will companies be able to leverage gen AI to build a competitive advantage? The answer, they argue in this article, is no—unless you already have a competitive advantage that rivals cannot replicate using AI. Then the technology may serve to amplify the value you derive from that advantage.
But using it may amplify the ones you already have.
Idea in Brief
Early adopters of gen AI can eclipse rivals by using it to identify entirely new product opportunities, automate routine decisions and processes, deliver customized professional services, and communicate with customers more quickly and cheaply than was possible with human-driven processes.
The Reality
Far from being a source of advantage, even in sectors where its impact will be profound, gen AI will be more likely to erode a competitive advantage than to confer one, because its very nature makes new insights and data patterns almost immediately transparent to anyone using gen AI tools.
The Silver Lining
If you already have a competitive advantage that rivals canât replicate using gen AI, the technology may amplify the value you derive from that advantage.
History has shown that technological innovation can profoundly change how business is conducted. The steam engine in the 1700s, the electric motor in the 1800s, the personal computer in the 1970sâeach transformed many sectors of the economy, unlocking enormous value in the process. But relatively few of these and other technologies went on to become direct sources of sustained competitive advantage for the companies that deployed them, precisely because their effects were so profound and so widespread that virtually every enterprise was compelled to adopt them. Moreover, in many cases they eliminated the advantages that incumbents had enjoyed, allowing new competitors to enter previously stable markets.
- JB Jay B. Barney is a Presidential Professor of Strategic Management and the Lassonde Chair of Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. He is a coauthor, with Manoel Amorim and Carlos Júlio, of The Secret of Culture Change .
- Martin Reeves is the chairman of Boston Consulting Group’s BCG Henderson Institute. He is a coauthor, with Jack Fuller, of The Imagination Machine (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021) and a coauthor, with Bob Goodson, of Like: The Button That Changed the World (Harvard Business Review Press, April 2025).
COMMENTS
This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization your startup will take, roles and ...
ClickUp's Business Plan Template for New Products is your secret weapon for success! With this template, you can: Craft a strategic vision and roadmap for your product. Conduct in-depth market analysis to understand your target audience and competition. Create accurate financial projections to impress investors and secure funding.
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Tips on Writing a Business Plan. 1. Be clear and concise: Keep your language simple and straightforward. Avoid jargon and overly technical terms. A clear and concise business plan is easier for investors and stakeholders to understand and demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively. 2.
Our free business plan template includes seven key elements typically found in the traditional business plan format: 1. Executive summary. This is a one-page summary of your whole plan, typically written after the rest of the plan is completed. The description section of your executive summary will also cover your management team, business ...
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7 business plan examples: section by section. The business plan examples in this article follow this template: Executive summary. An introductory overview of your business. Company description. A more in-depth and detailed description of your business and why it exists. Market analysis.
Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It's also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. After completing your plan, you can ...
ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Product is the ultimate tool for entrepreneurs and business owners to effectively plan and manage their product-based business. Here are the main elements of this template: Custom Statuses: Keep track of the progress of each section of your business plan with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs ...
Start off your new real estate business on the right foot by using a real estate business plan template to ensure your goals, visions, and finances are sorted. Trucking Business Plan Template Empower your journey to success with our trucking business plan template, designed as a valuable tool to organize the essentials of your trucking business.
Making the business plan template your own. A business idea and a feasible business plan are two very different things. Follow these steps to solidify your ideas into a clear roadmap. 1. Define your mission statement. A mission statement is a way for you to tell your company's story and communicate the vision you have for it. It should reflect ...
Using Asana's free business plan template is simple. Start by creating a new project with our free template. From there, add relevant information for your specific business plan in the sections provided in our template. If there's more information you want to include in your business plan, you're free to add sections, custom fields, or ...
Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...
1. Startups. Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas. If you're planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business. You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration. 2.
On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop. ... The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing ...
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Lean Business Plan Template PDF. This scannable business plan template allows you to easily identify the most important elements of your plan. Use this template to outline key details pertaining to your business and industry, product or service offerings, target customer segments (and channels to reach them), and to identify sources of revenue.
Because whether you are using a purpose-built tool or a static template for your planning, you want to choose the view that will work best for your audience. Here are six scenarios where a business plan template can help: Lay the foundation. Define the problem. Understand the customer. Survey the market . Analyze the product. Plan your marketing
The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea. The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template.
1. Create Your Executive Summary. The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans. Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.
The seven stages are: Concept/Ideate - Generate new ideas. Feasibility study and design planning - Making the right choices. Design & development - Building the vision. Testing & verification - Prototype, iterate, rinse, repeat. Validation & produce collateral, validate against customer needs.
This Product Marketing Business Plan of [Your Company Name] outlines a comprehensive approach to launching and promoting the company's latest product. Through detailed market analysis, targeted audience identification, and well-planned promotional tactics, the plan aims to position the product for success in a competitive market.
A manufacturing business plan should detail supply chain management, compliance demands, and steps to streamline both of these key elements. How to write a manufacturing business plan. The easiest way to get started is to use a template. A few outlines are available online, like this one from Katana or this one from MoreBusiness.com. Start by ...
This template is designed to provide a technical and systematic approach to managing marketing strategies, ensuring that every aspect of your marketing plan is executed with precision and effectiveness.. 2. Marketing Product Launch Template Launching a new product or service is a critical process aimed at introducing it to the market with the goal of generating interest and driving revenue growth.
For more options, take a look at these free resources for customizable resume templates. 2. Business Letter. When it comes to any type of business letter, you want the appearance to be professional. You may be writing to a client or customer, contacting a vendor or manufacturer, or creating a cover letter to accompany your resume.
Present the topic in a bit more detail with this Feeding Content To Marketing Channels New Product Introduction Marketing Plan Ppt Layouts. Use it as a tool for discussion and navigation on Infographics, Social Media, Management, Testimonial. This template is free to edit as deemed fit for your organization. Therefore download it now.
The key is to provide content that answers your audience's questions or solves their problems as part of your marketing plan for small business. Planning Your Content. Start by brainstorming social media content ideas that align with your audience's interests and your marketing goals. For example, if you're launching a new product.
Companies have used it to identify entirely new product opportunities and business models; to automate routine decisions, freeing humans to focus on decisions that involve ethical trade-offs ...