Advertising Methods in Your Small Business Plan
A Home Business Article Contributed by Jenni Mckinney
Getting Your Small Business Plan up to Par
You should begin your small business plan with a cover page that details your name, address, and contact information. Then you should have a table of contents page. After that, you should have section one, which is an executive summary. Basically, this is a condensed version of your entire small business plan, and can range from a few paragraphs to a few pages. Next is section two, which is your business description.
This should detail the type of business you have structured (sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, etc.), a biography of each of the founding members to include their pertinent skills and work history, and finally a brief summary of the history of your business (if applicable). How did the idea for the business come about? How was the business started? How has it grown? Next is section three, which should detail the offerings of the business: what goods or services will it offer?
How will they be priced? To whom will they be marketed? How will you make a profit?
Section Four of Your Small Business Plan
The fourth section of your small business plan should provide detailed marketing information. You will need to conduct some marketing research to get your feet wet. Since marketing research agents charge very expensive fees for their services, you may want to consider doing your own limited research just to get started.
You can go door-to-door taking surveys about what the community likes and dislikes most about businesses similar to yours; you can go through the yellow pages of your local phone book and see how other similar businesses market their products or services; and you can visit your local library to get detailed information on trends, statistics, and future market predictions.
After you have gathered a significant amount of information, you should summarize your findings in section four of your business plan, and include how you think your business will best meet the standards currently set by the competition.
Advertising Strategies for Your Small Business Plan
Once you have identified your target audience for the goods or services you have provided, and you know how you will create them and what they will cost, you are ready to plan some ways to get this information disseminated to the general public so your small business can start turning a profit.
Some popular and effective advertising strategies include sponsoring an event in your community that can get your small business some publicity in the local newspaper; write articles and columns in industry newspapers, newsletters, and magazines, thereby establishing yourself as an expert in your field while at the same time getting some respected publicity; tap the unlimited potential of word-of-mouth advertising, offering discounts or coupons to satisfied customers who refer others to your business; pass out your business cards wherever you go, and give out two or three per person instead of just one; attend tradeshows, fairs, and seminars to get the word out about your new small business.
Once you've decided which advertising strategies to follow, detail each on in your small business plan along with the costs associated with it, and then follow up afterwards to summarize the effectiveness of each type of campaign.
