You’ve decided that you want to start a small business. You have the idea, but you don’t know how to get it started. What do you need? A good plan.

In this article we will look at the most important part of your business plan – the marketing plan.

Marketing Plan

If you don’t have a plan for marketing your business, then you’re doomed from the beginning. It’s that simple. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there.

A marketing plan is a tool to help you decide what to do and when to do it. It helps you keep track of your expenses, profits and losses. It tells you how much money you have coming in and how much you have going out.

What does your marketing plan look like? Here’s an example:

  • * Marketing Plan
  • * Year 1:
  • * Advertising costs $7,500
  • * Sales volume = 2,000 units
  • * Net profit = $5,000
  • * Sales per employee = 100 units

Here’s another example:

* Marketing plan

* Year 1:

Sales volume = 10,000 units

Net profit = $3,000

Sales per employee = 100 units

Total advertising costs = $25,000

Marketing Plan

The first thing you should do is write down all of your expenses. This includes advertising, office supplies, rent, utilities, salaries and anything else that you think you will spend money on.

After you’ve written down everything, you can add up your total expenses. You’ll probably see that you have some extra money left over. Now you’re ready to make your decision.

If you have more than $2,000 left over after all of your expenses, then you have enough money to get started. If not, then you’ll need to find another way to raise money.

Now you’re ready to write down your sales goals. Make sure you include all of your sales goals. You may want to break them into monthly, quarterly or yearly goals. For example, if you sell 1,000 units per month, then you can set a goal of selling 1,000 units per month.

When you’ve finished writing down your sales goals, you can move on to your marketing plan.

Markets

Markets are places where people go to buy things. They can be stores, malls, restaurants, gas stations, etc. The key to marketing is to figure out which market you want to target.

If you’re starting a home-based business, then you should probably focus on your local market. Your local market is the place where you live. So if you live in New York City, then your local market is New York City.

If you live in Chicago, then your local market is Chicago.

Once you’ve figured out which markets you want to target, then you can create a marketing plan.

The marketing plan should contain all of your advertising methods. It should also include your sales calls, direct mail, telemarketing and other methods.

It’s a good idea to create a marketing plan before you even begin your business. Once you’ve got the basics down, then you can add new methods as you go along.