Writing a business plan is vital for your company’s success as it attracts investors and business partners and should be a blueprint for business success. To create a business plan, you must go through the core eight sections and provide a comprehensive analysis of your company.
Let’s dig into our article to witness creating a business plan.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is the first section to create a business plan. The summary is like a blueprint that provides a short, optimistic, and concise overview to capture your partner’s or investors’ attention.
Business Overview
Include only five sections of information in this section. They are:
Strategy
Explain the purpose of your business and how you will achieve your goals.
Try using MOST Analysis
Mission: The purpose of your business.
Objectives: The main goals you need to accomplish to reach your mission.
Strategy: The methods you intend to use to execute your objectives.
Tactics: The specific tactics you will use to execute your strategy.
Company Information
Mention the location of your business, when it was formed, the number of founders and employees and their roles.
Highlight:
Include key milestones of your business and how your business will succeed. Also, include the financial market highlight and if you are a newbie, then provide information based on your experience or past endeavours.
Product/Service
Describe your product or service and the demand for it.
This section allows you to provide a general description of your product or service and highlight how it will stand out in the market.
- State the current status of your product or service and provide a realistic picture of your product’s development.
- Include the product development research and the future plan for your product.
- State if you have a patent for your product or are in the patent application process.
This section includes everything from planning your product’s positioning to stating your materials’ source. So make sure your research is thorough and accurate.
Financial Information
Include your funding goal and state the names of your lenders or banks.
Future plans
State how you will extend your business or the goals you want to achieve.
This section summarises the entire business plan. So please don’t make it more than one or two pages.
Industry Overview
An industry or company overview is the third section to make a business plan. This section describes the overall nature of the industry. The industry overview provides a top-level view of the structure of your business and what your business will do to provide a specific service or product.
- Include the key points of your business for your investors or readers to get a general idea of your trade.
- Mention the nature of your industry and marketplace.
- Explain the demand for your product or service in the market.
- Show your investors how you will fit in the industry.
- State the legal structure of your business and the overview of your ownership structure, and explain the value proposition of your business.
This section provides a quick and eye-catching pitch about the purpose of your business, whom your business serves, and what you will do for your customers.
Market Analysis
The next step is to provide an in-depth analysis of your competitors, market demand and the nature of your industry. This section allows you to show your partners or investors that you have a solid understanding of the dynamics of your industry and the competition so they can have complete confidence in you.
This section allows you to show your lending partners or investors how your business will grow in the future, state the characteristics of the business, and predict the industry trends.
Market Characteristics
Mention who needs your product, the market demand for your product, and state the key demographic you are serving.
Market Size and Growth
Provide valuable information about your market size and include as much data as possible relating to your target market.
Market Pricing
State how you will estimate the price of your product and distribute it and how you will proceed with the promotional strategies.
Competitive Analysis
Include information on your top competitors, market share, weaknesses, strengths, partnerships, and others.
As this section provides an in-depth analysis, this step requires the most research and information.
Marketing Plan
Your marketing strategy comes right after the market analysis. This section includes your target market and the marketing channels and campaigns you will launch to get your business in front of your customers.
- State if your branding strategy can help your product stand out against your competitors.
- Mention if your product comes with guaranteed quality.
- Explain how you will reach your customers, manage the packaging of your product, and deal with public relations.
- Include the details of advertising strategies, selling strategies and funnel for your product or service.
Operations Plan
As part of your business plan, you need to explain how your business will operate and who will lead the business.
Organisational and ownership structure
Include the details of your shareholder, how much they own, and how they fit into the whole picture and also state your company’s legal structure.
Information on the board of directors
Mention the background details of your board of directors, potential investors and any others who can help your business to succeed.
Recruitment / Hiring
List out the key hires you to need to make in the present or the future.
Financial planning and projections:
Financial planning is the most important part of making a business plan. This section includes financial data from experience and performance.
- State the income statement, cash flow and balance sheets.
- Show receivable and payable accounts statements and documentation of debt obligations.
- Mention the projected income and capital expenditure budget.
- Include the funding needed in the future.
Let your investors know all the financial contributions and the impact it will have on the business.
Appendix:
The last section to create a business plan is the appendix. It includes all the related documents you couldn’t include in the gist of your business plan. Put all the data charts and points, footnotes and explanations of the key points of your business in the appendix.
Final Thought:
To create a business plan, you must include all the step-by-step guides for your readers so they can easily understand the key points and help you attract investors quickly and succinctly.
Reference:
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/entrepreneur-simple-business-plan-template-4126711
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281416
https://articles.bplans.com/how-to-write-a-business-plan/