Marketing Plan”

“Business/Marketing Plan”

Purpose of the Exercise:   To allow the student to develop a true/”real life” Business/Marketing Plan and “feel” the topics presented in the course.  Your Business/Marketing Plan will give you, as a student, an overview of all of the business topics you have studied in this course.

The Process

1.    Select/make up/use an original idea for a new small business or venture.

2.    Using your textbook and online resources, develop a complete Business Plan for your new small business or venture.

3.    Using the below Rubric, items will be evaluated to determine the overall grade of the “Business/Marketing Plan” such as follows:

a.     Attention to detail of each element of the Business/Marketing Plan Requirement
b.    Professional Appearance of the Business/Marketing Plan

4.    This Business/Marketing Plan MUST be at least 10 pages (including your resume, but not counting the Title Page).  THIS MUST BE IN PARAGRAPH FORM.  You have all semester to work on this and research the topics.  (Times New Roman font, double spaced)

5.     Relax and have fun with this exercise!!  Let your creativity shine through!!!

Required Outline for the Business/Marekting Plan

*** Use the examples of business plans from the internet to help determine what kind of information goes in each section.  Also refer to the internet and possibly even an accounting textbook when doing the financial information. ***

I.  Cover Page/Title Page

II.  Executive Summary (This highlights the information that will be presented in the Business/Marketing Plan.)

A.  Objectives (Goals you hope to accomplish in your business.)
1.  Year 1
2.  Year 2
3.  Year 3

B.  Mission (Your mission statement.)

C.  Keys to Success (Three things you can count on that will make your business successful.)

III.  Company Summary

A.  Company Summary (An overview of your company, the things you sell, and the services you provide.)

B.  Company Ownership (How is your company owned – sole proprietorship, partnership, etc.)

C.  Start Up Summary (Generally how much money you need and what you need it for.  Include a list of the major purchases and costs.)

IV.  Products

A.  Products (In general, what products/services will you be selling.)

B.  Products/Services Description (More specific about the products/services you will be selling.  More details included here.)

C.  Competitive Comparison (Who are you competing with and what products/services to they sell?)

D.  Technology (Describe any special technology that you will need,  i.e. software, computers, etc.)

V.  Market Analysis

A.  Market Segmentation (The different groups/types of customers that could possibly utilize your products/services.)

B.  Target Market (Specifically the one group of customers you will concentrate on.  What are their demographics? Describe your target market.)

C.  Market Trends (What trends are making this idea of yours a good idea?  Is the market growing?)

VI.  Marketing Strategy Summary

A.  Competitive Edge (What is your competitive advantage?)

B.  Product (What products/services will you sell and why you selected those products?)

C.  Price (How much are your products/services and why did you pick those prices?)

D.  Placement (How does your customer get your product/services?  Do they come to you or do you go to them and why did you pick this placement strategy?)

E.  Promotion (How will you promote your business?  What kind of advertising and why did you select that kind of advertising?)

VII.  Management Summary

A.  Organizational structure (Who is charge of who?)

VIII.  Financial Summary

A.  Breakeven Analysis  = You will need to know your customer’s average price they purchase, your total fixed costs and your variable costs. These items must be stated and show the math.  (Describe what the information tells you after you do the Breakeven Analysis.)

B.  Copy of your Balance Sheet (Show three years of numbers.  This is one page)

C.  Copy of your Income Statement (Show three years of numbers.  This is one page)

D.  Copy of your Resume