3 April

Business Plans

Marketing

Business Plan Title Page Executive Summary Industry Analysis Customer Analysis Competitor Analysis Company and Product Description Marketing Plan Development & Operations Plans Team Critical Risks Financial Plan

Title Page

Company name and logo Tagline

Just Do It! Others that have survived?

Contact Date (Controls)

Executive Summary

Write it last Tell the story Excite the reader Elaborate your tag line

Industry Analysis

3 Ms Market demand Market size Market analysis

What’s hot? What’s not? What is happening in the market in general

Is it a growing? Local market conditions

Customer Analysis

Who is your customer? The more specific the better

How does this customer behave?

Competitor Analysis

Who are they? How do you position yourself?

BROAD view of your competitors Related businesses Businesses or behaviors that eliminate your

market Free alternatives …

Company and Product Description

(Company) How you are organized What you have accomplished

Product or service description Customer value proposition What differentiates it from others? Growth plan

How do you start? Where do you grow from here?

Marketing Plan

Target Market and Product Strategy Service Strategy Pricing Strategy Distribution Strategy Advertising and Promotion Sales Strategy

Marketing

Marketing vs. sales Marketing: advertising, promotions Public relations and publicity Sales

Focus groups

Target Market & Product Strategy

Dimensions on which you need to sell What dimensions do people buying a car

consider? What dimensions will your customer deliver?

Relate to your competitors Are you more focused or more general? Are you going for atmosphere or bare bones?

Justification of your assessment

Service Strategy

Physical product Warranty

Software Upgrades

Customer support

Pricing Strategy

Two models Cost-plus

Much harder to evaluate Market-demand

Look at current market and determine where you should fall (above, average or below)

Goal is not to lose money

Distribution Strategy

Options Mail Trucking Delivery Pick-up

Consider Weight Fragility Set up Where your customers are

Advertising and Promotion

How will you reach your target group? Advertising

Television Radio Newspapers Magazines Internet

Grass Roots Flyers Press Publicity

Sales Strategy

Who will sell for you? Dedicated sales force Other stores Internet

Sales and Marketing Forecasts Comparable – derive from competitors Build up – based on what you expect to sell, profit

per unit, sales per day, …

Development & Operations Plans

Development What needs to be done before you’re “in

business” Operations

Ongoing activity Cash flow: it’s possible to fail even with sales Outsourcing: control your competitive advantage

Operations Plan

Ongoing activity Cash flow

It’s possible to fail even with sales What you will do yourself and what will you

outsource Control your competitive advantage

Team: Company

As important as the idea If your life depended on a particular piece of

software, what would you want to know about it? Writer “highly intelligent and possessed by an

extremely rigorous, almost fanatical desire to make their program work the way it should.”

Bollinger (2001) Compensation

Team: Advisory Board

Mentoring Formal or informal

Real board of directors Personal board of directors

People with different skills People with influence Co-opt people that you need

Critical Risks

Creates credibility Include

Critical assumptions Factors that need to happen for success

Typical risks Market Competitors Development cost Operating expenses Financing