What is in a Business Plan: Marketing Plan (Part 8 of 11)

The Marketing Plan from the Startup Garage
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Time For Completion: Approximately 20-30 hours

Your Marketing Plan gives a complete picture of your marketing goals, strategies and tactics.

By answering many questions that will help your product reach your potential customers.

Some of the processes that you will go through when writing a Marketing Plan include: setting goals, creating your company’s brand, and choosing the marketing strategies that you will use to generate potential customers.

Whats in it?

A Marketing Plan contains many different parts. The first section of the Marketing Plan focuses includes sales goals, marketing goals, and creating a detailed a sales forecast that shows how you will reach your goals.

Then, you will use your research from previous sections of the plan to summarize your market position, as well as a list of your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This information is then used to create your marketing strategy.

This includes a branding strategy, a list of distribution channels, a pricing and marketing strategy, and a customer service plan. Your branding strategy includes your current and ideal customer profile, your core message, your company name, and tag line.

Why its important

You may have a great product or service, but no product sells itself. In order to be successful, you need to create a well informed strategy for how to generate potential customers and sales.

Investors will analyze this section carefully to determine several things: Are your sales and marketing goals attainable? Is your budget large enough to fund your marketing strategies? Is your sales forecast calculated realistically and conservatively?

If these attributes check out, along with the other marketing fundamentals such as branding and positioning, you stand to gain a lot of confidence from investors.

After the Marketing Plan is complete, the next step is to create an Operations Plan. Remember, you can take a look at one of our sample business plans at any time.

 

Whether you have a question about your Marketing Plan or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

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About Tyler Jensen

I work with entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investment and get out of the "Garage". I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs start companies that matter. I helped launch over 100 Companies, Non-Profits and Social Enterprises. I consider myself a serial entrepreneur, startup coach & trusted advisor. * Launching New Companies (For Profit, Non-Profit and Social Enterprise) * Expert Business Plan Writer * Extensive Network of Business Relationships focused on Launch & Rapid Growth of New Companies * Startup, Growth, Marketing, Technology, Web, Business Systems * Trusted Advisor to CEO’s & Entrepreneurs * Capital Raising Strategy Development * Startup Team Development The first company I started and sold is VAVi Sport & Social Club which grew to over 25,000 members in six years, was recognized as San Diego’s 30th fastest growing private company in 2006 by the San Diego Business Journal and 32nd fastest in 2007, and sold for over 25X the capital investment.