Get the business plan template delivered right to your inbox. Thanks for subscribing. In the meantime, start building your store with a free day trial of Shopify. Business plan template FAQ What is the purpose of a business plan? How do you write a business plan? Choose a business plan format, such as traditional or a one-page business plan. Find a business plan template. Read through a business plan sample. Fill in the sections of your business plan. How do I start my own business? Find a business idea Choose a business name Validate your product idea Write your business plan Get your finances in order Develop your product or service Pick a business structure Research licenses and government regulations Select your tools Find a business location Plan workload and team size Launch your business.
What is the best business plan template? View all posts. What Is a Subdomain [Updated for ]. A strategy pyramid is a method used by many businesses to help to achieve their strategic goals. At the top of the strategy pyramid, you have your main business strategy.
This is basically a strategic goal that you want to achieve. For example, if your plan is to grow your Web business, your tactics may be to develop a more robust and user-friendly website, build awareness of your website and develop an online customer base.
Google AdWords advertising campaigns are a good example. They would support your task of building awareness of your website. Another may be to produce new, improved images of all your products or to write better copy for all your product categories on the new website. When developing your strategy pyramid, limit yourself to three or four strategic priorities. Also known as the value proposition — the unique selling proposition USP is the aspect of your business that differentiates it from businesses similar to yours.
Although most businesses should imitate other successful businesses, they also need to provide something unique and valued by potential customers in order to succeed. The USP should address an obvious void in the marketplace that you can actually fill. What can you offer which is more competitive than what your competition offers?
Do you offer better quality? Lower prices? Better service? A safer product? Better style? This gives you a competitive edge over your competition by allowing you to sell your product at a lower price than they do. Competitive edge is an apples-to-apples comparison. Your plan and positioning should address each of these segments.
There are three popular types of marketing strategies: product differentiation, cost leadership and focus strategy. Marketing strategies are executed through positioning or the message strategy , which is used to communicate the aspects of the business you want to highlight to the target consumers. To be effective, your positioning statement should be clear and concise. Be sure to limit yourself on how many benefits you include. The pricing strategy may seem like a straightforward topic; however, it requires much thought and planning when starting a business and throughout the life of your company.
Here are some typical pricing strategies:. Your promotion and advertising strategy should target your demographics at the lowest cost per conversion. In other words, you want to pay the least amount possible to bring in one new prospect through a means that works. You might try word of mouth, for example, which is free.
On the other hand, you might try mailing postcards or brochures to prospects. This method would, therefore, outperform the other. Here are some examples of typical promotions and advertisements:. You should be specific in your promotion and advertising strategy.
Define what your keywords are, target price per click and monthly budget. Explain why this is one of your chosen strategies for advertising. Provide as much information as possible because investors will be very interested in how you plan to promote and advertise your business.
The days of businesses not having websites have passed. No matter what type of business you have, you must have a Web presence. This section should discuss what your Web presence will be and how you plan to leverage it. You should define the purpose of your site usually either informational or ecommerce. Document where your website will be hosted i. Here are some examples of other considerations for your Web presence:. Discuss it in detail. A Web presence takes a lot of work, so plan ahead in order to avoid it being neglected.
Your marketing programs should be based on the promotion and advertising strategies you outlined previously. Create a separate marketing program for each of your promotion and advertising strategies. Discuss the methodology and include the budget, person managing it and a clear set of objectives tied to a timetable for each marketing program. If you run both an online and a brick-and-mortar company, then you should address each of these separately.
You might choose to locate the kiosk in a high-traffic area of the mall and have salespersons directly approach shoppers to offer demonstrations. An example of an online business selling high-end candies may be to offer free samples when visitors subscribe to your mailing list. You can then follow up with those persons and make additional sales.
A sales forecast should be realistic, achievable and have milestones defined in both time and dollars. Include a short paragraph or two giving an overview of your sales projections along with the basis for those figures. Also, be sure to include a chart showing your monthly sales over a month period and a table showing annual forecasts for three to five years.
Managing the sales department of your company will require having a few sales programs in place. Some things to consider are sales metrics to measure effectiveness of salespeople and methodologies , payroll for your sales staff hourly or commission based , materials and resources needed by your sales team, and a budget for these materials and resources.
You may also include charts and schedules for prospect follow-up, incentives for salespersons and training requirements, schedule and budget, just to name a few. Just as your marketing department has programs to manage its initiatives, your sales department should have the same. Research and understand all legal issues pertaining to starting up and operating your organization and then document them in this section.
This may include licensing, bonding, permits, insurance, zoning, government regulations, patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc. All businesses have milestones they work toward achieving. Defining your milestones in your business plan helps to ensure you keep your business on track and that you can measure the successfulness of your business.
Everyone starts a new business expecting success, and many times dreams do come true. Questions pertaining to inventory liquidation, business closings, selling the business, compensation and severance packages for employees, etc.
In this section of the business plan, be prepared to cover the people portion of your organization. One of the keys to the success of a business is its people, and the planning of your personnel should be given great and careful consideration.
As with most small businesses, you may have one person filling multiple roles, and this is acceptable. Show each person in relation to their duties even if a single person performs more than one set of responsibilities. For each person in your management team, include a one-paragraph biography and then a paragraph that discusses what they bring to the company as far as experience, strengths, education and other skills.
Next, provide a paragraph about what their role is and the requirements of that role. Most start-ups have limited resources. This section identifies and details areas where the management team lacks skills and experience.
Identify the personnel requirements for your business along with a table showing the budget requirements for each position over the next three to five years. If your business is incorporated, identify the members of your board of directors in this section. Download one of our free business plan templates and take your company to the next level. This business plan template is a great tool for your startup to customize to reflect your strong qualifications, experienced team, and marketable business idea.
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Your potential investors are spending the most time reading one part of your business plan. Use this executive summary template to make your business idea shine. How to write a business mission statement in 5 steps. How to prepare for the 4 stages of business life cycle.
How to write a business vision statement in 8 steps. How to develop action steps from your SWOT analysis. Align your business plan with each stage of growth. How to plan for the 5 stages of small business growth. Five examples of business goals and how to set them. How to write an effective executive summary. Hello FREE. How to write a business plan for a new market Relate your novel ideal to existing products or services To help audiences or potential investors imagine the seemingly unimaginable, include visuals in your business plan.
Relate your novel ideal to existing products or services As part of your product or service description, use examples from companies that have similar features or that provide a launching point for explaining what your product does. Identify your target audience and what it needs Most business plans feature a market analysis, including potential customers, distribution channels, and a general growth strategy.
Focus on why the new market will work Business owners should still do all the typical research that goes into each section of a business plan.
This article is originally published on Nov 20, , and updated on Dec 23, Join , Subscribers.
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