When You're Ready To Take The Leap
Ingredients For Success |
| Success has many fathers, as the saying goes and a successful Business Plan has many components, from its conception and construction through to its implementation. In addition to a competitive new idea, product or service and a disciplined approach, such plans are aided by energy, inspiration, focus, insight, support, guidance, leadership, funding, timing and a measure of good fortune. There are many models for a successful Business Plan and this site does not set out to offer yet another. But we have observed from our experience that successful companies, including start-ups, and presumably their Business Plans have several common elements. Here are just three of the many needed success ingredients. |
| A Sound Strategy We believe a successful strategy begins by framing a business idea within the context of its market. Develop a factual and up-to-date knowledge of your intended market and competitive environment and combine it with a thorough understanding of your customer needs and how your product or service meets them. This provides a context for defining key components and tactics in your Business Plan – your overall marketing approach, best markets and customers, product or brand positioning, optimal pricing, sales projections and timing, product acceptance, communications and operational infrastructure needs. A solid basis in fact helps you not only create a sound strategy but a realistic Business Plan that your investors can have confidence in. Here are some ingredients and tools we have found helpful in Strategic Planning. |
| An Insightful Marketing Plan The Marketing Plan is a critical element of the Business Plan. It articulates how to successfully connect your company, idea, brand, product or service with your customer. It should start with an in-depth understanding of the customer and desired customer behaviors by using qualitative and quantitative research. Search for insights from the data, not just numbers. Insightful analyses can help build an optimal configuration of your product, service or brand offering, and to craft messages which can ensure success. The Marketing Plan will directly impact the public face of your company. It includes the Sales Plan as well as a plan for communicating with the company’s various constituents. It is often a good place to restate the company’s mission and its values as these form a foundation for the Business Plan itself. Here are some ingredients and tools to use in creating an insightful Marketing Plan. |
| A Plan For Your Company or Product's Persona How and where you talk about your company or product is a frequently overlooked or minimized element of many Marketing Plans, often with negative results for both sales and investor support alike. Marketing communications (or ‘advertising’) can be expensive, even when employing lower cost media like the Internet. Their use and potential is often misunderstood and they are usually under budgeted. Omissions at the start can be doubly expensive to correct later. Your Marketing Plan should include a Communications Plan, just as it does a Sales Plan. Here are some elements to consider in construction a Communications Plan. |