business plan e marketing plan riassunto

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Come creare un business plan: esempio pratico (2024)

Pubblicato: 21/09/2023, 11:18 am

Revisione di

Perché creare un business plan?

Business plan: esempio in 6 punti, 1. mission o vision, 2. offerta e proposta di valore, 3. pubblico di riferimento e potenziali clienti, 4. flussi di ricavi, canali di vendita e di marketing, 5. organizzazione, fornitori e gestione delle attività, per concludere.

Un business plan è un documento utilizzato per definire obiettivi e strategie che consentano a un’attività di raggiungere il successo. Nell’articolo che segue forniremo un semplice esempio di business plan, che copre le indicazioni essenziali per l’avvio di una piccola impresa o di un’attività in proprio: se hai intenzione di dare vita a un progetto imprenditoriale, questo esempio può rappresentare un punto di partenza per sviluppare una pianificazione più completa.

La creazione del business plan è un processo essenziale per comprendere meglio costi, incarichi, opportunità di guadagno e quali modelli di business siano più remunerativi. Non sono solo gli imprenditori alle prime armi a dover sviluppare un business plan: si tratta di un’operazione preziosa per chiunque gestisca un’attività. Un business plan può essere strutturato secondo diversi gradi di complessità, dai più basilari ai piani più dettagliati, comprensivi di ricerche di mercato, costi e previsioni sui ricavi. Che tu sia un imprenditore in proprio o abbia lanciato una startup in cerca di finanziamenti, creare un business plan ben strutturato è un passo fondamentale per avviare un’impresa .

Un business plan completo dovrebbe comprendere sei elementi chiave, illustrati in questo esempio. Il livello di approfondimento richiesto dipende principalmente dalla scelta di avviare una piccola impresa o di ricorrere a un finanziamento da parte di un investitore. Le imprese finanziate da investitori, infatti, richiedono ricerche di mercato più approfondite e dettagli operativi e finanziari a sostegno del progetto.

Inizia il tuo business plan con un resoconto conciso che racchiuda la tua idea. Questa sezione deve rispondere in modo sintetico a cinque domande fondamentali. Le risposte saranno approfondite nelle sezioni successive del nostro esempio di business plan.

• Di cosa si occupa la tua azienda? Vendi prodotti, servizi, informazioni o un insieme di queste cose?
• Dove si svolge l’attività? La tua attività si svolge online, in negozio, tramite dispositivi mobili o in un luogo o ambiente specifico?
• A chi si rivolge la tua attività? Qual è il mercato di riferimento della tua azienda e che caratteristiche ha il tuo cliente ideale?
• Perché i potenziali clienti dovrebbero considerarla? Cosa dovrebbe spingere i tuoi clienti ideali a notare la tua attività?
• In che modo i tuoi prodotti e/o servizi si distinguono da quelli della concorrenza? Cosa dovrebbe spingere i tuoi clienti ideali a scegliere la tua attività rispetto a quella di un concorrente?

Se hai difficoltà a fornire risposte a queste domande nella sintesi del tuo business plan, non preoccuparti. Man mano che lavorerai al piano, è molto probabile che scoprirai possibili risposte a queste domande, identificando nuove opportunità per la tua idea di business.

In questa sezione del business plan, dovrai illustrare la tua offerta commerciale. È inoltre il momento di definire la tua proposta di valore, spiegando perché la tua attività potrebbe risultare preziosa per dei potenziali clienti.

Lavorando a questa parte, potresti scoprire nuove opportunità di mercato che inizialmente non avevi considerato. Per esempio, una startup specializzata in prodotti senza glutine e chetogenici potrebbe ampliare la propria proposta di valore preparando dolci personalizzati per occasioni speciali adatti a diverse preferenze alimentari.

In questa sezione identificherai il tuo pubblico di riferimento, parlando dei problemi e delle esigenze specifiche a cui il tuo prodotto o servizio può fornire risposte. Questa fase è fondamentale per sviluppare una strategia di marketing e un’offerta di prodotti.

Per farlo in modo efficace, individua un problema che il tuo target si trova ad affrontare. Per esempio, la startup specializzata in cibi senza glutine e chetogenici può rivolgersi a persone attente alla salute e alla ricerca di questi prodotti. Tuttavia, è essenziale accertarsi di rivolgersi a una base di clienti sufficientemente ampia da poter sostenere l’attività, il che potrebbe significare che dovrai offrire una varietà di prodotti da forno tradizionali insieme quelli più particolari.

La nostra economia è trainata dalle tecnologie informatiche e grazie a internet oggi le startup possono contare su molte opportunità di guadagno e raggiungere un pubblico di riferimento sempre più variegato. In questo contesto, i flussi di ricavi e i canali di vendita divengono anche strumenti di marketing: la presente sezione è dedicata a tutti questi aspetti.

Flussi di ricavi

I flussi di ricavi corrispondono ai molti modi in cui è possibile generare guadagni con la propria attività. Nel tuo business plan, elenca le fonti di entrate al momento del lancio e indica eventuali idee che consentano di ampliare l’attività in futuro.

Ad esempio, il business plan della startup specializzata in prodotti gluten free potrebbe contemplare i seguenti flussi di ricavi:

• Vendita di prodotti: online, in negozi pop-up, all’ingrosso e (in futuro) in negozio
• Ricavi derivanti da campagne di affiliazione: monetizzazione dei post contenenti link di affiliazione pubblicati all’interno di un blog e/o sui profili social
• Entrate derivanti dalle inserzioni pubblicitarie: annunci pubblicitari sul sito web
• Vendite di ebook: (in futuro) pubblicazione di ebook di ricette di dessert senza glutine e compatibili con la dieta chetogenica
• Ricavi ottenuti grazie ai video: (in futuro) monetizzazione di un canale YouTube con video informativi sulla realizzazione di dessert senza glutine e chetogenici
• Webinar e corsi online: (in futuro) monetizzazione di webinar orientati al coaching e corsi online dedicati a consigli e tecniche di cottura
• Contenuti riservati ai soci: (in futuro) monetizzazione di una sezione del sito web riservata ai soci e dedicata a contenuti speciali a integrazione dei webinar e dei corsi online
• Franchising: (in futuro) vendere l’idea di aprire forni specializzati nella realizzazione di questi prodotti di nicchia a imprenditori di franchising.

Canali di vendita

I canali di vendita consentono di generare flussi di ricavi. Questa sezione risponde anche alla domanda “dove si svolge l’attività?” contenuta nel secondo punto della vision del progetto.

Ad esempio, nel business plan della startup specializzata in prodotti senza glutine potrebbero essere indicati i seguenti canali di vendita:

• POS: un sistema di vendita per dispositivi mobili come Shopify o Square POS per la gestione delle vendite in mobilità in contesti quali mercati, eventi e fiere
• Piattaforma ecommerce: un negozio online come Shopify , Square o WooCommerce per le vendite al dettaglio online e gli ordini di vendita all’ingrosso
• Canali social: post e pin con pulsanti per l’acquisto su Facebook , Instagram o Pinterest, che consentano di vendere online attraverso i propri profili
• Negozio: una sede fisica, quando l’attività sarà cresciuta al punto di consentirti di gestire un negozio.

Di seguito elenchiamo ulteriori canali che possono fungere da fonti di reddito:

• Ricavi derivanti da campagne di affiliazione: sezione blog sul sito di ecommerce e partner affiliati
• Entrate derivanti dalle inserzioni pubblicitarie: annunci pubblicitari sul sito di ecommerce
• Vendite di ebook: vendite di ebook su Amazon tramite Kindle Direct Publishing
• Ricavi ottenuti grazie ai video: canale YouTube con monetizzazione degli annunci pubblicitari
• Webinar e corsi online: piattaforme dedicate a corsi online e webinar che consentano di gestire la creazione di account per gli iscritti e il caricamento e la riproduzione di contenuti registrati
• Contenuti riservati ai soci: contenuti protetti da password tramite applicazioni per la creazione di community di utenti iscritti come MemberPress.

Canali di marketing

Spesso i canali di marketing e di vendita utilizzati dalle imprese presentano forti sovrapposizioni. I video e le piattaforme online come i social media, i siti web o i blog fungono sia da strumenti di marketing che da fonti di ricavi, risultando particolarmente utili per le startup e le imprese di piccole dimensioni.

Ad ogni modo, i canali pubblicitari tradizionali come la radio, la TV, le comunicazioni dirette per posta e la carta stampata hanno mantenuto il proprio valore per molte attività e, pertanto, devono essere presi in considerazione al momento della creazione di un piano di marketing e di un budget all’interno di un business plan.

In questa sezione del nostro esempio di business plan spieghiamo come indicare la struttura, le modalità di gestione dell’azienda ed eventuali certificazioni o permessi necessari per l’avvio dell’impresa.

La startup specializzata in prodotti senza glutine potrebbe elencare alcuni punti simili ai seguenti:

• Struttura aziendale: definizione dell’organizzazione dell’attività
• Permessi e certificazioni: licenza per il trattamento degli alimenti e per la produzione alimentare artigianale. In alternativa, affitto di una cucina commerciale in possesso dei requisiti necessari
• Ruoli e responsabilità: imprenditore in proprio, tutti i ruoli e le responsabilità sono in capo al titolare
• Attività quotidiane: procurarsi gli ingredienti e cucinare tre giorni a settimana per rispondere agli ordini. Riservare del tempo agli eventi di settore, ai mercati e agli ordini dei partner all’ingrosso, se necessario. Spedire a giorni alterni gli ordini effettuati online. Aggiornare il sito web e creare post social, sul blog e contenenti link di affiliazione nei giorni in cui non vengono effettuate le spedizioni.

L’ultimo passaggio nella stesura del business plan consiste nell’elencare i costi previsti per l’avvio e la gestione dell’attività, oltre che i ricavi attesi. Grazie a strumenti gratuiti come Square e alle opportunità di marketing offerte dai social media, è possibile lanciare una startup a costi molto contenuti.

In molti casi, il costo della merce, della spedizione e dell’imballaggio, delle autorizzazioni e licenze, e della stampa dei biglietti da visita sono le uniche spese da sostenere.

Sviluppare al meglio il business plan della propria attività è un passaggio fondamentale per chi si appresta a lanciare un’impresa, ma è altrettanto importante che la fase di pianificazione non si trasformi in un ostacolo per l’avvio dell’attività.

Tieni presente, inoltre, che un business plan non è mai un documento destinato ad assumere valore definitivo. I mercati, il pubblico e le tecnologie sono in costante evoluzione, così come gli obiettivi aziendali e le strategie sviluppate per raggiungerli. Considera il tuo business plan, quindi, come un documento dinamico, soggetto a revisioni periodiche, da ampliare e modificare in risposta alle opportunità di mercato e alla crescita della tua attività.

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Krista Fabregas è una professionista esperta nell'ambito dell'ecommerce e della redazione di contenuti online. Vanta oltre vent'anni di esperienza pratica, che mette al servizio di chi desidera lanciare e far crescere società di successo nel settore tecnologico. Tra le sue competenze rientrano l'avvio e lo sviluppo di attività di ecommerce, operazioni e logistica per le PMI, piattaforme per la creazione di siti web, sistemi di pagamento, marketing multicanale e redditi da attività collaterali e programmi di affiliazione. Krista ha conseguito la laurea in Lettere presso la University of Texas di Austin e ha ricoperto posizioni apicali presso la NASA, un'azienda Fortune 100 e diverse startup digitali.

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Cos'è il Business Plan, come farlo e a cosa serve

• Tempo lettura 4
• Valutazione: (22)

Definizione di Business plan

Business plan cos’è

Il documento che permette a un’idea imprenditoriale di prendere vita è il business plan, una guida che contiene i riferimenti utili per la pianificazione e la gestione aziendale e che presenta l’azienda a potenziali finanziatori e investitori. Attraverso il business plan è possibile esaminare i fattori di successo dell’ idea imprenditoriale nel lungo periodo e valutarla sulla base di una vera e propria analisi di fattibilità. Non va considerato uno strumento assoluto e statico, ma come un vademecum che si adatta ai cambiamenti che possono avvenire all’interno e all’esterno dell’azienda. In esso è possibile identificare:

• una parte descrittiva (qualitativa) che contiene un’approfondita descrizione del progetto imprenditoriale con l’analisi di caratteristiche e prodotti, del mercato all’interno del quale si andrebbe a sviluppare e delle risorse necessarie per la sua realizzazione. In questa parte, inoltre, si effettua uno studio della fattibilità dell’idea imprenditoriale in relazione all’ambiente esterno e a quello interno per comprendere in che modo l’azienda riuscirà a ottenere dei vantaggi competitivi rispetto ad altre;
• una parte numerica (quantitativa) a carattere previsionale e con al suo interno proiezioni economiche e finanziarie relative alla business idea. In questa parte si espone l’idea in numeri e si tiene conto del piano degli affari, degli investimenti, di quello economico, dei flussi finanziari, dei finanziamenti e della situazione patrimoniale.

La definizione e la struttura di un business plan, seppur simile nei suoi tratti fondamentali, differisce in base allo scopo per cui viene redatto. Fra i documenti presenti che compongono un modello di business plan si possono individuare:

• la descrizione del progetto imprenditoriale;
• la descrizione del prodotto/servizio;
• la storia dell’azienda e della sua struttura organizzativa;
• il prospetto degli aspetti amministrativi;
• il piano di vendite e la struttura finanziaria;
• il piano di degli investimenti;
• l’analisi del know how e prospetto delle risorse umane necessarie;
• l’analisi del ciclo produttivo;
• le previsioni patrimoniali, economiche e finanziarie.

Le funzioni del business plan

Il business plan è un moderno strumento di simulazione a medio-lungo termine delle dinamiche aziendali che in generale assolve a due principali funzioni. La prima è quella di razionalizzare l’ idea imprenditoriale alla luce dei fattori di successo e delle lacune presenti. Una volta decretata la fattibilità dell’idea imprenditoriale, gli elementi che lo compongono finiscono per delineare la strategia da seguire nelle fasi successive. La seconda funzione cui assolve il business plan è la presentazione di questa idea a terzi, in modo da valutarne l’ iniziativa economica , le sue potenzialità e i rischi a essa connessi. In questo caso funziona da supporto informativo e fa parte della documentazione da allegare alle domande di finanziamento per banche e istituti finanziari.

Nello specifico dello status ( startup , azienda esistente o in espansione) che l’azienda riveste nel momento di redazione del business plan può inoltre rivestire il ruolo di:

• strumento di pianificazione e gestione d’impresa;
• strumento di verifica dello scostamento dei risultati delle business unit;
• strumento per l’analisi di attrattività e criticità;
• strumento di monitoraggio.

Il business plan nelle fasi di sviluppo aziendale. Fonte: Credit Data Research

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Il Blog di Startup Geeks » Business Plan » Sei qui

Marketing plan: cos’è, struttura ed esempi pratici (+ template)

Il Marketing Plan è un documento aggiuntivo del Business Plan che sintetizza la strategia di marketing dell’azienda o della startup.

In poche parole è il financial plan del marketing.

In questo articolo scoprirai cos’è per l’esattezza un Marketing Plan e come redigerlo. Iniziamo!

Indice dei contenuti

Cos’è un marketing plan

Il Marketing Plan o Piano di Marketing può essere definito come la sintesi della strategia di marketing di un’azienda che contiene:

• gli obiettivi aziendali;
• le azioni da mettere in atto in campo marketing per raggiungerli.

Il Marketing Plan ha quindi due funzioni principali:

• internamente , permette allo startupper di avere in un unico documento tutte le informazioni necessarie per l’implementazione della strategia ;
• esternamente , comunica agli investitori (attuali o futuri) cosa si sta facendo concretamente per raggiungere i goals e aumentare la crescita della startup.

Quali sono le fasi del marketing plan? (Struttura)

Prima di tutto vediamo da cosa è composto un Marketing Plan , quali informazioni deve contenere e quanto approfondite.

Facciamo innanzitutto un breve elenco e poi approfondiamo ciascun punto.

Ecco cosa non può mancare in un Marketing Plan:

• Ricerca di mercato, analisi swot e analisi dei competitor;
• Obiettivi strategici e operativi;
• Marketing Mix;
• Analisi di scenario.

Ricerca di mercato, analisi swot e analisi dei competitor

La prima parte del tuo Marketing plan deve analizzare in modo approfondito

• il tuo mercato di riferimento ;
• il tuo business ;
• i tuoi competitor .

Le ricerche di mercato , analisi swot e analisi dei competitor dovranno diventare i tuoi migliori amici perché è da qui che parte tutto: senza dati e statistiche non puoi andare da nessuna parte.

Immagina il marketing come una moneta formata da due lati entrambi imprescindibili, l’uno non può vivere senza l’altro: la creatività e l’analisi.

Solo a partire dai dati e le informazioni raccolte , potrai poi prendere le decisioni di marketing migliori, usando la creatività.

Obiettivi strategici ed operativi

Dopo aver fatto tutte le analisi del caso, ora puoi passare a stabilire gli obiettivi, che si possono dividere in:

• strategici , a lungo termine;
• operativi , a breve termine.

I primi definiranno quello che si vuole raggiungere da qui a 5 anni, i secondi invece daranno delle indicazioni più concrete e misurabili di risultati da realizzare nel breve periodo per poi raggiungere il traguardo finale.

Qual è il tuo mercato di riferimento? Chi sono i tuoi clienti?

In questa sezione del Marketing Plan devi indicare i gruppi di riferimento della tua startup/azienda, ovvero quei segmenti di pubblico su cui intendi focalizzarti.

Per un migliore posizionamento, puoi utilizzare le buyer personas : personaggi fittizi che rappresentano un tipico consumatore del segmento che vuoi servire.

Così facendo, puoi migliorare la tua offerta in base alle loro necessità.

Marketing mix

Bisogna poi includere nel marketing plan anche il marketing mix , ovvero l’insieme degli strumenti necessari per raggiungere gli obiettivi stabiliti.

Il marketing mix è composto dalle famose 4P : product, price, place, promotion.

• Prodotto : non riguarda solo il mero prodotto che vuoi offrire, ma comprende anche tutti gli aspetti come il packaging, l’etichetta e le gamme di prodotti. Devi capire che prodotto soddisfa i bisogni del consumatore, quali caratteristiche deve avere, come e dove verrà utilizzato, in che modo si differenzia da competitor ecc.
• Prezzo : rappresenta la quantità di denaro che i consumatori devono spendere per comprare il tuo prodotto. In questo caso dovrai analizzare qual è il valore che il prodotto ha per il consumatore, se il cliente è sensibile al prezzo e quindi quanto è disposto a pagare ecc.
• Distribuzione : la gestione dei canali di distribuzione consiste nel rendere il tuo prodotto disponibile al consumatore nel posto giusto al momento giusto, e riguarda quindi la distribuzione del prodotto al consumatore finale. Dovrai trovare i giusti canali di distribuzione per raggiungere il tuo cliente, a seconda delle sue necessità e abitudini, e capire se ti servirà della forza lavoro.
• Promozione : comprende tutte quelle attività e strumenti per comunicare, nel miglior modo possibile, il tuo prodotto al pubblico.

In ognuno di questi casi, le decisioni che prenderai dovranno essere coerenti con la strategia di marketing, il mercato di riferimento e il posizionamento del brand .

Ricordati nel marketing plan di menzionare anche il budget che hai disposizione.

Alle volte il budget è già stato definito esternamente , altre volte invece è il team marketing che decide quante risorse monetarie sono necessarie per portare avanti il piano di marketing.

Il concetto quindi è sviluppare una strategia di marketing efficace a partire dalle risorse che hai a disposizione .

I KPI (Key Performance Indicator) sono delle metriche di vario tipo, utilizzate come strumento di controllo della performance dell’azienda, per esempio in relazione ad una campagna di marketing.

Rispetto agli obiettivi che avevi stabilito, che risultati sei riuscito ad ottenere ?

A seconda del gap tra obiettivi e risultati, infatti, potrai mettere in atto delle azioni mirate a ridurre sempre più questo gap.

Oppure, se la tua startup deve ancora essere lanciata sul mercato potrebbe essere utile anche solo indicare quali KPI terrai sotto controllo.

Analisi di scenario

Quando si redige un piano di marketing è fondamentale anche prepapare un’analisi di scenario, ossia identificare degli scenari alternativi .

L’analisi di scenario è uno strumento essenziale per contrastare l’incertezza : cambiando uno o più fattori potrai creare differenti scenari e vedere così l’impatto di ciascun fattore sul risultato finale.

Ad esempio, se aumenti il prezzo del prodotto di 10 euro, qual è l’impatto sulle vendite?

In poche parole, fai alcune ipotesi più e meno ottimistiche così da essere preparato a tutti i casi possibili e individuare quali sono gli elementi che hanno un maggiore impatto sulle vendite.

Includi anche questa analisi nel tuo marketing plan per dimostrare agli investitori che hai un piano B.

Esempi e template di un piano di marketing

Ti sono chiari quali sono gli steps per fare un marketing plan ma vorresti avere a disposizione un esempio pratico per capire meglio?

Nessun problema, a questo link puoi trovare un esempio di marketing plan di un’azienda.

Inoltre, qui puoi scaricare tanti altri templates di diverso tipo, come ad esempio un digital marketing plan.

E con questo, abbiamo concluso l’argomento business plan e dintorni.

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Business Plan vs. Marketing Plan

Back to Business Plans

Written by: Carolyn Young

Carolyn Young is a business writer who focuses on entrepreneurial concepts and the business formation. She has over 25 years of experience in business roles, and has authored several entrepreneurship textbooks.

Edited by: David Lepeska

David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.

Published on March 3, 2023 Updated on December 11, 2023

Starting a business usually requires both a business plan and a marketing plan. The first has many components, including a marketing section, and covers all facets of the business. The second is essentially an expanded and more detailed version of the marketing section of your business plan.

Both are dynamic documents that will change over time as you learn more about your business. This guide lays out all the details of what goes into a business plan and what is in a marketing plan.

• Business Plan Components

A business plan has eight essential components .

1. Executive Summary 

The executive summary opens your business plan, but it’s the section you’ll write last . It summarizes the key points and highlights the most important aspects of your plan. Often investors and lenders will only read the executive summary; if it doesn’t capture their interest they’ll stop reading, so it’s important to make it as compelling as possible.

The components should include:

• The business opportunity – what problem are you solving in the market?
• Your idea, meaning the product or service you’re planning to offer, and why it solves the problem in the market better than other solutions.
• The history of the business so far – what have you done to this point? When you’re just getting started, this may be nothing more than coming up with the idea, choosing a business name , and forming a business entity.
• A summary of the industry, market size, your target customers, and the competition.
• A strong statement about how your company is going to stand out in the market – what will be your competitive advantage?
• A list of specific goals that you plan to achieve in the short term, such as developing your product, launching a marketing campaign, or hiring a key person. 
• A summary of your financial plan including cost and sales projections and a break-even analysis.
• A summary of your management team, their roles, and the relevant experience that they have to serve in those roles.
• Your “ask”, if applicable, meaning what you’re requesting from the investor or lender. You’ll include the amount you’d like and how it will be spent, such as “We are seeking $50,000 in seed funding to develop our beta product”. 

Remember that if you’re seeking capital, the executive summary could make or break your venture. Take your time and make sure it illustrates how your business is unique in the market and why you’ll succeed.

The executive summary should be no more than two pages long, so it’s important to capture the reader’s interest from the start. 

2. Company Description/Overview

In this section, you’ll detail your full company history, such as how you came up with the idea for your business and any milestones or achievements. 

You’ll also include your mission and vision statements. A mission statement explains what you’d like your business to achieve, its driving force, while a vision statement lays out your long-term plan in terms of growth. 

A mission statement might be “Our company aims to make life easier for business owners with intuitive payroll software”, while a vision statement could be “Our objective is to become the go-to comprehensive HR software provider for companies around the globe.”

In this section, you’ll want to list your objectives – specific short-term goals. Examples might include “complete initial product development by ‘date’” or “hire two qualified sales people” or “launch the first version of the product”. 

It’s best to divide this section into subsections – company history, mission and vision, and objectives.

3. Products or Services Offered 

Here you’ll go into detail about what you’re offering, how it solves a problem in the market, and how it’s unique. Don’t be afraid to share information that is proprietary – investors and lenders are not out to steal your ideas. 

Also specify how your product is developed or sourced. Are you manufacturing it or does it require technical development? Are you purchasing a product from a manufacturer or wholesaler? 

You’ll also want to specify how you’ll sell your product or service. Will it be a subscription service or a one-time purchase?  What is your target pricing? On what channels do you plan to sell your product or service, such as online or by direct sales in a store? 

Basically, you’re describing what you’re going to sell and how you’ll make money.

4. Market Analysis 

The market analysis is where you’re going to spend most of your time because it involves a lot of research. You should divide it into four sections.

Industry analysis 

Research and describe exactly what’s happening in your industry, such as growth rate, market size, and current trends. Where is the industry predicted to be in 10 years? Provide links to your sources. 

Detail your company’s place in the market. Will your product fit a certain niche? Is there a sub-industry your company will fit into? How will you keep up with industry changes? 

Competitor analysis 

Now you’ll dig into your competition. Detail your main competitors and how they differentiate themselves in the market. For example, one competitor may advertise convenience while another touts superior quality. Also highlight your competitors’ weaknesses.

Next, explain how you’ll stand out. Detail your competitive advantages and how you’ll sustain them. This section is extremely important and will be a focus for investors and lenders. 

Target market analysis 

Here you’ll describe your target market and whether it’s different from your competitors’.  For example, maybe you have a younger demographic in mind? 

You’ll need to know more about your target market than demographics, though. You’ll want to explain the needs and wants of your ideal customers, how your offering solves their problem, and why they will choose your company. 

You should also lay out where you’ll find them, where to place your marketing and where to sell your products. Learning this kind of detail requires going to the source – your potential customers. You can do online surveys or even in-person focus groups. 

Your goal will be to uncover as much about these people as possible. When you start selling, you’ll want to keep learning about your customers. You may end up selling to a different target market than you originally thought, which could lead to a marketing shift. 

SWOT analysis 

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and it’s one of the more common and helpful business planning tools.   

First describe all the specific strengths of your company, such as the quality of your product or some unique feature, such as the experience of your management team. Talk about the elements that will make your company successful.

Next, acknowledge and explore possible weaknesses. You can’t say “none”, because no company is perfect, especially at the start. Maybe you lack funds or face a massive competitor. Whatever it is, detail how you will surmount this hurdle. 

Next, talk about the opportunities your company has in the market. Perhaps you’re going to target an underserved segment, or have a technology plan that will help you surge past the competition. 

Finally, examine potential threats. It could be a competitor that might try to replicate your product or rapidly advancing technology in your industry. Again, discuss your plans to handle such threats if they come to pass. 

5. Marketing and Sales Strategies

Now it’s time to explain how you’re going to find potential customers and convert them into paying customers.  

Marketing and advertising plan

When you did your target market analysis, you should have learned a lot about your potential customers, including where to find them. This should help you determine where to advertise. 

Maybe you found that your target customers favor TikTok over Instagram and decided to spend more marketing dollars on TikTok. Detail all the marketing channels you plan to use and why.

Your target market analysis should also have given you information about what kind of message will resonate with your target customers. You should understand their needs and wants and how your product solves their problem, then convey that in your marketing. 

Start by creating a value proposition, which should be no more than two sentences long and answer the following questions:

• What are you offering
• Whose problem does it solve
• What problem does it solve
• What benefits does it provide
• How is it better than competitor products

An example might be “Payroll software that will handle all the payroll needs of small business owners, making life easier for less.”

Whatever your value proposition, it should be at the heart of all of your marketing.

Sales strategy and tactics 

Your sales strategy is a vision to persuade customers to buy, including where you’ll sell and how. For example, you may plan to sell only on your own website, or you may sell from both a physical location and online. 

On the other hand, you may have a sales team that will make direct sales calls to potential customers, which is more common in business-to-business sales. Sales tactics are more about how you’re going to get them to buy after they reach your sales channel. 

Even when selling online, you need something on your site that’s going to get them to go from a site visitor to a paying customer. By the same token, if you’re going to have a sales team making direct sales, what message are they going to deliver that will entice a sale? 

It’s best for sales tactics to focus on the customer’s pain point and what value you’re bringing to the table, rather than being aggressively promotional about the greatness of your product.

Pricing strategy

Pricing is not an exact science and should depend on several factors. First, consider how you want your product or service to be perceived in the market. If your differentiator is to be the lowest price, position your company as the “discount” option. 

Think Walmart, and price your products lower than the competition. If, on the other hand, you want to be the Mercedes of the market, then you’ll position your product as the luxury option. 

Of course you’ll have to back this up with superior quality, but being the luxury option allows you to command higher prices. You can, of course, fall somewhere in the middle, but the point is that pricing is a matter of perception. 

How you position your product in the market compared to the competition is a big factor in determining your price. Of course, you’ll have to consider your costs, as well as competitor prices. Obviously, your prices must cover your costs and allow you to make a good profit. 

Whatever pricing strategy you choose, you’ll justify it in this section of your plan.

6. Operations and Management 

This section is the real nuts and bolts of your business – how it operates on a day-to-day basis and who is operating it. Again, this section should be divided into subsections.

Operational plan

Your plan of operations should be specific , detailed and mainly logistical. Who will be doing what on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis? How will the business be managed and how will quality be assured? Be sure to detail your suppliers and how and when you’ll order raw materials. 

This should also include the roles that will be filled and the various processes that will be part of everyday business operations. Just consider all the critical functions that must be handled for your business to be able to operate on an ongoing basis. 

Technology plan

If your product involves technical development, you’ll describe your tech development plan with specific goals and milestones. The plan will also include how many people will be working on this development, and what needs to be done for goals to be met.

If your company is not a technology company, you’ll describe what technologies you plan to use to run your business or make your business more efficient. It could be process automation software, payroll software, or just laptops and tablets for your staff. 

Management and organizational structure 

Now you’ll describe who’s running the show. It may be just you when you’re starting out, so you’ll detail what your role will be and summarize your background. You’ll also go into detail about any managers that you plan to hire and when that will occur.

Essentially, you’re explaining your management structure and detailing why your strategy will enable smooth and efficient operations. 

Ideally, at some point, you’ll have an organizational structure that is a hierarchy of your staff. Describe what you envision your organizational structure to be. 

Personnel plan 

Detail who you’ve hired or plan to hire and for which roles. For example, you might have a developer, two sales people, and one customer service representative.

Describe each role and what qualifications are needed to perform those roles. 

7. Financial Plan 

Now, you’ll enter the dreaded world of finance. Many entrepreneurs struggle with this part, so you might want to engage a financial professional to help. A financial plan has five key elements.

Startup Costs

Detail in a spreadsheet every cost you’ll incur before you open your doors. This should determine how much capital you’ll need to launch your business. 

Financial projections 

Creating financial projections, like many facets of business, is not an exact science. If your company has no history, financial projections can only be an educated guess. 

First, come up with realistic sales projections. How much do you expect to sell each month? Lay out at least three years of sales projections, detailing monthly sales growth for the first year, then annually thereafter. 

Calculate your monthly costs, keeping in mind that some costs will grow along with sales. Once you have your numbers projected and calculated, use them to create these three key financial statements: 

• Profit and Loss Statement , also known as an income statement. This shows projected revenue and lists all costs, which are then deducted to show net profit or loss. 
• Cash Flow Statement. This shows how much cash you have on hand at any given time. It will have a starting balance, projections of cash coming in, and cash going out, which will be used to calculate cash on hand at the end of the reporting period.
• Balance Sheet. This shows the net worth of the business, which is the assets of the business minus debts. Assets include equipment, cash, accounts receivables, inventory, and more. Debts include outstanding loan balances and accounts payable.

You’ll need monthly projected versions of each statement for the first year, then annual projections for the following two years.

Break-even analysis

The break-even point for your business is when costs and revenue are equal. Most startups operate at a loss for a period of time before they break even and start to make a profit. Your break-even analysis will project when your break-even point will occur, and will be informed by your profit and loss statement. 

Funding requirements and sources 

Lay out the funding you’ll need, when, and where you’ll get it. You’ll also explain what those funds will be used for at various points. If you’re in a high-growth industry that can attract investors, you’ll likely need various rounds of funding to launch and grow. 

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

KPIs measure your company’s performance and can determine success. Many entrepreneurs only focus on the bottom line, but measuring specific KPIs helps find areas of improvement. Every business has certain crucial metrics. 

If you sell only online, one of your key metrics might be your visitor conversion rate. You might do an analysis to learn why just one out of ten site visitors makes a purchase. Perhaps the purchase process is too complicated or your product descriptions are vague. 

Learning why your conversion rate is low gives you a chance to improve it and boost sales. 

8. Appendices

In the appendices you can attach documents such as manager resumes or other documents that support your business plan.

• Marketing Plan Components

A marketing plan, as mentioned above, is a more detailed version of the marketing strategy section of your business plan. It includes six components.

1. Marketing Objectives

Start by detailing your short-term marketing goals. This could be “Reach 10,000 monthly site visitors by next year’” or “Acquire 500 new customers by May”. Be sure to set clear and attainable goals so your marketing team understands its targets. 

2. Target Market

You’ll want to document exactly who you’re trying to reach with your marketing. You should’ve already done a target market analysis for your business plan, and you’ll use it here. 

What Problem Are You Solving?

Whatever your product or service, it needs to solve a problem in the market. So, ask yourself, what problem does my business solve? Next, consider who faces that problem. 

A plumbing company, for instance, solves the problem of broken pipes. Who deals with that problem?  Homeowners and property owners and managers. 

Depending on your business, it may not be obvious who has the problem you’re solving. If it’s not clear, do more research. Either way, knowing who faces the problem you’re solving is just the beginning. You need to know much more about your target customers.

Research Your Market and Competition

Now, dig into your market with some online research. Do some Google and Bing searches about your target demographic, where they shop and live, what appeals to them and so on. 

Next, check out your competition to see who they’re marketing to. It may help to study their marketing through the eyes of a consumer. 

What need do they fill? Who would find their marketing appealing? Where do they advertise? If their ads appear on TikTok, they’re looking to attract a younger market. 

This market research should give you a general profile of your target market – but that’s not enough.

Talk to Potential Customers

To learn more about your target market, go straight to the source. The best way to learn their needs and wants, why they’d buy your product and how they’ll use it, is to ask them via a phone or email survey. 

If you’ve yet to make any sales, it’s probably best to post your survey online then promote it on social media by offering a small reward, such as a gift certificate. Just make sure you ask the right questions to get the information you’re looking for. 

You can also hold in-person focus groups and offer your goods at a discount for participants. 

Create Customer Profiles

Now it’s time to build detailed profiles of your target customers. You may have found that your product will appeal to more than one group of people. These are called customer segments, and all your segments together make up your target market. 

Create descriptions of each group with all the information you’re learned. These profiles should include:

• Pain points: the problems they have that you’re solving
• Benefits your product provides
• Their interests: what do they care about?
• Buying patterns: where do they shop?
• Age, location, income level, other factual information 

3. Value Proposition

Now you can use these profiles to craft a value proposition that will serve as the foundation of all your marketing. You may need to devise more than one value proposition to target different segments.

Your value propositions should be no more than two sentences long and answer the following questions:

• How is it better than competitors’ products

An example might be “Payroll software that handles all the payroll needs of small business owners, making life easier for less.” 

Remember that you need to align your value proposition with the wishes of your target market.

4. Marketing Activities

Now you’ll layout the specific marketing activities that you plan to conduct. Your target market analysis should have told you where you’re most likely to find potential customers, so if you found out that your potential customers use TikTok, you can post and run ads there. 

You’ll want to only perform the marketing activities that are most likely to reach your potential customers so that you’re not wasting marketing dollars. If getting found online is important to you, focus on search engine optimization (SEO) and social media ads.

Make the activities as specific as possible, such as “Run a TikTok ad promoting ____ for three months.”

5. Marketing Budget

Now, determine what these activities will cost and set a budget. When you go through this process, you may find that you need to adjust your marketing to stick to the budget you can afford.

Your marketing budget needs to align with your goals. If one of your goals is to obtain 500 new customers, which will generate $10,000 in revenue, you can’t spend more than that on marketing. You have to make sure you’re getting a good return on your investment, or at least breaking even. 

Now you’ll determine your key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge the success of your marketing.

If you sell only online, one of your key marketing metrics might be your visitor conversion rate. You might do an analysis to learn why just one out of ten site visitors makes a purchase. 

Perhaps the purchase process is too complicated or your product descriptions are vague. The point is, learning why your conversion rate is low gives you a chance to improve it and boost sales. 

Similarly, if you’re not getting enough site visitors, you may need to revisit your SEO strategies. 

A business plan outlines the overall mission, objectives, and strategies of a business, encompassing aspects like operations, finances, and organizational structure.

In contrast, a marketing plan focuses specifically on strategies and tactics to promote products or services, detailing target audiences, promotional methods, and market positioning.

While the business plan provides a comprehensive view of the entire business, the marketing plan hones in on attracting and retaining customers.

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What is a Marketing Plan & How To Write One? [Easy Guide]

What is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic guide that helps businesses map out their advertising and promotional strategies to attract prospective customers and connect with their intended audience. It offers clear and detailed direction on how to achieve business objectives through targeted marketing efforts. 

Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan

Understanding the distinction between a marketing plan and a business plan is crucial for any organization aiming to navigate the complexities of strategic planning and resource allocation.

• Marketing Plan: This is a focused document dedicated to the marketing segment of an organization’s strategy. It meticulously outlines the marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics that will be employed to achieve the desired market presence and customer engagement. 
• Business Plan: A business plan has a broader scope, encompassing every facet of the company’s operations. While it includes marketing, it also delves into finance, operations, human resources, and more, providing a comprehensive overview of the entire business. 

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

Differentiating between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan is essential for implementing effective marketing operations within a business. These two elements, while closely related, serve distinct functions in the marketing process.

• Marketing Strategy: This aspect defines the overarching approach and long-term vision for a company’s engagement in the market. Each element of the marketing strategy is designed to align with the company’s top-level goals and contribute to realizing its vision statement. In essence, the marketing strategy answers the “what” and “why” behind a company’s marketing efforts, outlining what the company aims to achieve and why those goals are important.
• Marketing Plan: In contrast, the marketing plan focuses on the “how” of reaching strategic objectives. It is a practical document that outlines specific actions, timelines, and resources required to execute the marketing strategy. It details the campaigns, channels, tools, and tactics that will be used to achieve the strategic goals outlined in the marketing strategy. 

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Types of Marketing Plans

Marketing plans vary depending on their focus, scope, and objectives. Understanding the different types of plans is crucial for businesses aiming to target their marketing efforts and resources effectively. Here are some of the key types:

• Go-to-market/Product Launch: This plan is specifically designed to introduce a new product. It outlines the target audience, market entry strategy, and advertising tactics to be employed.
• Social Media : A social media plan is tailored to the unique dynamics of social media platforms. It details the advertising strategies to be used on these platforms, focusing on engaging with users and leveraging specific features to maximize reach and impact.
• General Marketing Strategic Plan / Annual Marketing Plan: This comprehensive plan covers a company’s overall marketing activities for the entire year. It encompasses various marketing efforts and campaigns, outlining a cohesive strategy that supports the company’s annual goals.
• Content Marketing Plan : Focused on content creation and distribution, this plan outlines the strategies, campaigns, and tactics for using content to achieve business objectives. It details how different types of content (blog posts, videos, infographics) will be used to attract and engage the target audience.
• SEO Marketing Plan: Dedicated to search engine optimization, this plan outlines the strategies and actions to improve a website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It focuses on keyword research, content optimization, link building, and other tactics to drive organic traffic to the website.

Benefits of a Marketing Plan

Having a structured plan is invaluable. It acts as a strategic roadmap, guiding businesses toward achieving their goals through well-organized and monitored marketing activities. 

Here are five important benefits of creating a marketing plan:

• Goal Setting: It allows your business to define clear marketing objectives and set measurable targets. This facilitates focused efforts toward lead generation, sales increase, market share expansion, brand awareness, and customer acquisition.
• Strategic Direction: The plan provides a detailed outline of your promotional strategy, helping identify the target audience, their preferences, and the best methods to reach and engage them effectively.
• Competitive Advantage: A plan helps you articulate and leverage your unique selling proposition (USP), ensuring you stand out in the market and secure a competitive edge.
• Consistency and Integration: The plan fosters consistency and integration in marketing efforts, ensuring a unified brand message and customer experience across all marketing channels and touchpoints,
• Long-term Sustainability: A comprehensive plan not only focuses on immediate goals but also lays the groundwork for sustained growth and adaptability to market evolution, customer demands, and emerging trends.

How To Write a Marketing Plan

• Create a mission statement

The foundation of any effective marketing plan begins with a clear and concise mission statement. This crucial step sets the stage for all subsequent planning by articulating the core purpose and direction of your company’s marketing efforts. A mission statement serves as a compass, guiding your marketing strategies and ensuring they align with your organization’s broader goals.

Developing a mission statement is more than just a formality; it’s a strategic exercise that clarifies your marketing vision and sets a purposeful path for your team. With a compelling mission statement in place, you can craft a plan that resonates with your audience and drives your business toward its long-term objectives.

• Set your goals/KPIs

Establishing clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) is a pivotal step in crafting a marketing plan that aligns with your company’s value proposition and ensures measurable success. This stage involves setting financial and non-financial objectives to guide your marketing efforts and evaluate their effectiveness.

Marketers who set specific goals are significantly more likely to report success. By defining financial and non-financial objectives, you create a comprehensive framework for guiding your marketing strategies. This dual focus not only drives economic value but also fosters qualitative improvements in your marketing efforts, ensuring a balanced approach to achieving your company’s vision.

• Identify Your Target Market

Pinpointing your target market is a crucial step in any marketing plan. Understanding who your product or service is for and why forms the backbone of your marketing efforts and influences decisions on marketing channels, content creation, and overall outreach strategies.

A key outcome of market research is the development of buyer personas. These semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers are crafted based on real data and insights about your existing clientele. Buyer personas detail your target market’s characteristics, needs, and motivations, offering a detailed profile that guides your marketing strategies.

• Conduct Competitive Analysis

Conducting a competitive analysis is integral to crafting a robust marketing plan. This process involves identifying your main competitors, understanding their strategies, and evaluating how your business can establish a distinctive and superior position in your niche. Through this analysis, you’ll gain insights into the competitive landscape, helping you to leverage your own strengths and identify areas for improvement.

Understanding both the internal and external factors that influence your market positioning is crucial. They include:

• Internal factors: Examine what could impact your competitive advantage, such as your team’s expertise, proprietary technology, or customer service practices.
• External factors: Look beyond your immediate competitive environment to broader market conditions that could affect your position. This includes economic trends, regulatory changes, and technological advancements.
• Economic considerations: Assess how the current economic climate might influence consumer purchasing behavior and, consequently, your market strategy.
• Sociological trends: Understand shifting societal values, lifestyles, and consumer behaviors and how they offer new market opportunities.
• Industry trends: Keep an eye on overarching trends within your industry, including emerging technologies, shifts in consumer preferences, and new regulatory frameworks.
• Set Your Budget

Your marketing budget is the planned amount of money you’ll spend to achieve your marketing goal. Knowing the financial resources you have available for marketing activities allows you to craft a plan that maximizes impact while maintaining fiscal responsibility. This financial foresight prevents overspending and ensures that every dollar spent contributes to achieving your marketing objectives.

This overview should include all sources of funding and any constraints or stipulations attached to them. Having a comprehensive understanding of your financial resources sets the groundwork for all subsequent planning and decision-making.

• Execute your Plan

Execution involves the detailed scheduling of marketing activities, assigning responsibilities to team members, and setting deadlines that align with the marketing plan’s timelines. It’s about bringing the plan to life through a series of coordinated efforts, from launching advertising campaigns to engaging with customers on social media platforms. This phase is where the theoretical aspects of the plan, such as target audience engagement and brand messaging, are put into practice through concrete actions like content creation, digital marketing, and promotional events.

In conclusion, a well-crafted marketing plan is the linchpin of successful marketing efforts, offering a strategic blueprint that guides businesses through the intricate landscape of market engagement and customer interaction. From the initial stages of understanding the marketing plan’s scope and its relationship with the overarching business strategy to the detailed planning and execution of marketing activities, each step is vital in steering an organization toward its desired market position.

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How to Write an Executive Summary for a Marketing Plan

Table of Contents

A marketing plan is essential when you are launching a new business or product. This plan guides your marketing activities, which can include building brand awareness, establishing your competitive advantage, growing your customer base and attracting new leads.

Marketing plans can be complex because they provide a lot of detail about your overall marketing goals and supporting activities. That’s why it’s important to also write an executive summary for your marketing plan.

What is an executive summary for a marketing plan?

As the name suggests, an executive summary provides a high-level overview of your marketing plan. Its primary purpose is to reduce complex topics and projects within your greater marketing plan to the basics and show your short-term and long-term goals. In one or two pages, it describes the key results of your marketing research and provides an overview of your brand objectives, marketing goals and related activities. 

A marketing plan executive summary is usually one or two pages that provide an overview of the marketing plan.

How to write a marketing plan executive summary

The executive summary should cover the main parts of your marketing plan, as well as information about your company and brand, your products or services, the market, and your overall direction. While the marketing plan is typically written in sections separated by subheadings, the executive summary is usually written as a series of paragraphs, with each paragraph focusing on one section of the marketing plan.

Here’s how to write your executive summary and what information you should include in each paragraph:

1. Write an introduction.

Your executive summary should begin with an introduction that briefly explains what the reader can expect. It provides valuable context and will make the subsequent points easier to understand. Concisely explain the project, the purpose of your marketing plan, and the key benefits it provides to potential customers. Keep the introduction simple, short and direct.

Example : This plan is presented for XYZ Company, which sells widgets for the IT industry. We’ve created a new widget for the healthcare industry, and our marketing plan will show that we have a unique opportunity to expand into a new market.

2. Describe your company and team.

Briefly describe your business, including its history, structure, customer base and sales figures. List the main people involved with the business, including their positions and responsibilities, their respective skills and experience, and their responsibilities with respect to achieving your marketing goals . Include relevant external service providers (e.g., accountants, marketing experts and suppliers) and your company’s name, location and contact information.

Example : XYZ Company has been around since 2010 and is based in Anaheim, California. We sell widgets for the IT industry, which are designed to increase energy efficiency and reduce operating costs.

3. Outline market factors and trends.

Describe the marketplace and industry sectors in which you sell your products and services, and the main trends that affect them. List the factors that influence the market, the innovations that are taking place, and the main drivers or players involved.

Example : There are several large companies and a few smaller specialty companies that sell similar widgets to the IT industry. Innovations in this market can cause disruptions, but only when they provide significant benefits in cost savings or efficiencies.

4. Describe products or services being marketed.

Describe your products or services and explain their key features and benefits. Outline your products’ or services’ unique selling propositions to show how they differ from or are better than competitors’ offerings.

Example : We’ve created a new widget for the healthcare industry, which is outside our current market. This new product provides healthcare companies with greater efficiencies and cost savings not currently offered by existing products. Similar products exist in other industries, but there are currently no widgets designed specifically for the healthcare industry.

5. Define your customer base and related marketing activities.

Describe the key aspects of your target audience, as well as how you identify those customers. Briefly explain where you find your target customers and how you will reach them. Outline your promotional strategy, including its main objectives and related timelines. Describe your key marketing priorities and how they relate to specific business activities (e.g., entering a new market or creating new products). Explain what methods you will use to distribute your products or services.

Example : Our target market is large healthcare companies, including hospitals, clinics and manufacturers of healthcare devices. We plan to do a marketing campaign through direct sales and social media marketing. [Learn more about how to design an email marketing campaign you can include in your marketing plan/executive summary.]

6. Define any financial plans and projections.

Clearly define key financial information related to short-term and long-term marketing activities. Provide line-by-line budget details for individual activities and related metrics to determine their success.

Example : Our marketing budget for the year is $100,000, which will be spread over the following marketing activities.

7. Summarize your overall objectives and any related strategies.

Briefly describe the project’s goals and the strategies that will be implemented to achieve those goals. Conclude with a couple of sentences that will encourage the reader to review your marketing plan.

Example : We’ve developed a marketing plan that will help us to quickly reach key stakeholders in the healthcare industry and become the main provider of widgets to this market. We will use our experience in selling to the IT industry to showcase the benefits of our widget.

Additional tips for writing an executive summary

These tips should help you create an effective executive summary of your marketing plan:

Write the executive summary last.

The executive summary is a brief overview of your marketing plan. Write the complete marketing plan before you provide a summary of that plan. Once you have all of the information for your marketing plan, you can decide what’s important enough to include in the executive summary. 

Whoever reads the executive summary should come away with a complete understanding of your marketing goals. Tell your story. Explain what your company does and why you chose to do what you do. Talk about what matters to you, the people who are helping you meet your goals, and what you want to achieve with your marketing.

Telling your brand’s story will entice readers and encourage them to read the full marketing plan.

Take notes.

When you’re creating your marketing plan, make note of anything that stands out. This could include interesting statistics, memorable moments, key findings about your competitors, anecdotes from leadership, ideas to support promotion and newsworthy events. Check out what your favorite brands are doing, note anything interesting you’ve read in a blog or article, or recall an interesting tool or technology that you can apply to your business. These ideas can be inspiration for an engaging executive summary.

Do your research.

Your executive summary must contain key data and findings, including an analysis of the market and your competition, as well as budgetary and financial considerations. Your full marketing plan will provide more details, but the executive summary should contain important research data to get your reader interested in your marketing plan.

Watch your language.

An executive summary is a professional document, so you should write in a professional manner. However, the language should also reflect who you are as a person and as a company.

Your executive summary tells your story. What is your style? What is your audience’s style? The tone of this document should match the tone of your marketing material and your company.

Avoid clichés and hyperbole, as they come off as inauthentic and can rub readers the wrong way. Clichés tend not to match the reality of your situation, as they can overpromise on what you can actually deliver. Is your company the best in its category among all competitors? What determines “best”? Ensure any claims you make are specific and measurable.

Remember the marketing.

Keep in mind that the purpose of your executive summary is to market your business. The summary should concisely position what you’ve written in the marketing plan in a way that compels the reader to continue. Include a brief explanation of the most important and interesting information and the key takeaways that will matter to the reader. [Learn more about effective offline marketing tactics you could potentially include in your marketing plan.] 

Keep it current.

Your marketing plan should change over time, and so should your executive summary. Include any updates to your products, services or technologies, or any significant changes in your market and competition. For example, COVID-19 forced many companies to change their marketing strategies and business practices. Your executive summary should reflect the changes your company has made to its marketing plan to deal with the changes in the market.

Treat your executive summary as a living, breathing document that is subject to changes, just like your marketing plan. Write it with the expectation that it will change over time to reflect any serious changes in your business’s market.

Importance of the executive summary in a marketing plan

A marketing plan has several benefits:

• It helps you understand the needs of your target audience.
• It enables you to market your products to meet your customers’ specific needs.
• It determines what content you should produce to support your marketing efforts.
• It describes your competitive advantage and unique selling points.

The marketing plan is your guide to marketing your business effectively. The executive summary highlights the most important goals, actions and research results of your marketing plan. It is designed to grab readers’ attention and ensure they quickly understand where your business is going and how it plans to get there.

Additional reporting by Sean Peek.

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How to Write an Effective Marketing Plan

Alan Gleeson

3 min. read

Updated October 27, 2023

A marketing plan is a core component of a business plan. It relates specifically to the marketing of a particular product or service and it describes:

• An overall marketing objective
• A broad marketing strategy
• The tactical detail related to specific marketing activities
• The various costs associated with these activities
• Those tasked with delivering these activities by name

The starting point for any marketing plan is an analysis of the strategic context, as a typical objective for most plans is promoting a good or service as effectively as possible. An assessment of the company, its environment and its customers helps to ensure that the author of the plan obtains a holistic view of the wider context. In turn this helps them to focus their energies and resources accordingly. This is particularly important given that most marketing managers will be subject to that all-too-familiar constraint—limited resources (invariably financial). In effect, a marketing plan is produced to ensure that limited resources are allocated to activities that are likely to bring the maximum return.

An assessment of the context will include analysis of both internal and external factors. There are a number of frameworks and tools designed to assist you with this:

• A SWOT analysis forces you to consider internal Strengths and Weaknesses alongside external Opportunities and Threats.
• Porter’s Five Forces is a framework designed to assist you in considering the broader competitive and environmental context.

It is also vital that you have a thorough understanding of your customers; look to whether segments exist within your broad customer group that can be profitably served utilizing specific and targeted marketing activities.

Following an analysis of broader conditions, a marketing strategy can then be put in place. This strategy needs to include financials so that all activities can be assessed in the context of their cost as a portion of the overall marketing budget. Regardless of the product or service, the objectives tend to be similar for most managers; create awareness, stimulate interest in the offering, and ultimately (profitably) convert this awareness into sales. All these factors are intertwined and, hence, the importance of effective market planning.

Using a local restaurant as an example, their marketing activities are going to be predominantly concentrated within a two to three mile radius of their restaurant, as this area is where the vast majority of their customers are likely to come from. Tactically, there is no point in such a restaurant advertising on TV (even locally) as the cost would be prohibitive in the context of their business model. They are limited in terms of capacity (number of seats) and their average cost per head so that, even if they created huge awareness and interest via TV advertising, the resultant revenues would still be unlikely to cover the cost of the specific marketing activity. On the other hand, stuffing leaflets through local letterboxes is extremely targeted and comes at low relative cost, which explains the sheer volume of fast-food fliers most of us get on a daily basis.

The reader of the plan should clearly be able to relate to the marketing initiatives in terms of the message, the target audience and the means to accessing this audience. A good marketing plan will detail specifics, i.e., a number of marketing activities, their respective costs, and the expected return on investment. Measuring return on marketing has historically been one of the greatest challenges the industry has faced. The advent of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising via the Internet has finally resulted in managers being able to track sales resulting from specific campaigns and adverts. However, this is just one means of advertising, and calculating effective ROI (return on investment) figures for other forms, such as billboards and TV, remains as elusive as ever.

In summary, a marketing plan should enable marketing managers to document their assessment of the opportunity in terms of effective allocation of limited resources. While most managers would love the luxury of a seven-figure marketing budget to spend on every conceivable advertising medium, the reality is that most need to market effectively on a pittance. A marketing plan assesses the most efficient means to attract potential customers and ultimately convert them to sales. Without a plan, a business is essentially rudderless and marketing activities are more likely to be reactive and, hence, considerably less effective.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Alan Gleeson is a CMO, consultant and entrepreneur with a background in marketing and SaaS. He currently works for Contento, a company building a Headless CMS for Tech Companies. Gleeson has experience in a variety of industries including financial services, technology, and SaaS.

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How to Write an Ecommerce Business Plan [Examples & Template]

Published: April 03, 2024

If you have a promising idea for an online e-commerce business , it’s important to create an e-commerce business plan to ensure your vision has enough stock to be profitable.

Having a business plan for your online store will help you define your target market, establish your monthly and quarterly sales goals, and increase the likelihood of long-term e-commerce success.

In this post, we’ll go over an online store business plan and how you can create one for your e-commerce startup. Let’s get started.

What is an e-commerce business plan?

An e-commerce business plan is a document that outlines your business and its goals, analyzes your industry and competitors, and identifies the resources needed to execute your plan. It also lists the e-commerce retailers you’ll use to distribute your products and the marketing strategies you’ll use to drive sales.

Whether a company operates as a startup or has years of operations and growth under its belt, an e-commerce business plan is essential for evaluating a business and determining areas of improvement.

An e-commerce business plan is essential, with increasing numbers of shoppers conducting business online. It's estimated this number has reached over 2 billion . An e-commerce business plan keeps you organized and is useful when seeking investors who need to understand your company.

So, let’s dive into some examples of e-commerce business plans and what goes into writing one using our free template .

Free Business Plan Template

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