What to Include in the Marketing & Sales Strategies Section

When you are writing a business plan, the Marketing and Sales Strategies section should include:

• How you will promote your business
• How you will get your product or service to your customers
• The costs to promote and distribute you products or services
• How you will measure the effectiveness of the methods you plan to use.

Writing a Marketing Plan

Once you've completed the market analysis of ur business plan, you'll know more about your customers, your competition and your company. That information should make writing the Sales and Marketing Strategy section of your business plan all the easier.

Depending on how detailed your marketing plan is, you may include the marketing plan in its entirety while you are writing this section of your business plan or you may just want to include highlights of your marketing plan.

If you are writing a business plan and only including highlights of your marketing plan, you'll want to make sure that the marketing plan is complete in case an investor requests the entire document. If your marketing plan is not overly long, you may also want to include it in the Appendix when you're writing your business plan.

Why this is an Important Step in Writing a Business Plan

Those who are considering lending your small business money or investing will want to know how you intend to reach your target market and attain the market share you feel you can attain, which you've already discussed in the Market Analysis section of your business plan. Your marketing plan will help them understand that.

Essentially your marketing plan needs to discuss your marketing mix - how the 5 P's of marketing will be implemented in your small business and what roles each will play.

The 5 P's of Marketing

For years marketers referred to the 4 P's of marketing. Only recently has a 5th P been added. Whether you subscribe to the theory that there are four p's or five p's of marketing, this is essentially referred to as your "marketing mix".

Not all marketers subscribe to the theory that the 5th P - People - should be included, but the people responsible for providing service to your customers can be vital in making your small business successful.

Here are the 5 P's of marketing:

• Product – The product or service offered to the customer by your small business. The physical attributes of your products or services, what they do, how they differ from your competitors and what benefits they provide to your potential customers.
• Price – Your pricing strategies that will help you reach your target profit margin. How you will price your product or service so that the price remains competitive but allows you to make a good profit. When calculating price make sure you have included both fixed expenses and variable expenses and be sure that your price will allow you to reach your break even point within a reasonable amount of time. Also discuss if your price will be lower or higher than your competition and how you can accomplish that while maintaining both demand for your products or services and a profit.
• Place (Distribution) – Where your small business will sell its products or services and how it will get those products or services to your customers in your your target market. For example, the percentage of sales you expect through the Internet and the percentage of sales you expect through door to door selling. Additionally, what your delivery terms and costs, and how will you handle the cost of getting your products or services to your customers? When you are writing a business plan you also want to indicate if there any shipping or labeling requirements that need to be considered and how you will meet those requirements. Finally, outline how a transaction takes place and what return policies are in place.
• Promotion – What methods of promotion you will use to communicate the features and benefits of your products or services to your target customers. Will you advertise? If so, where? What percentage of advertising will be handled by each advertising vehicle? How much business do you anticipate that each form of advertising will result in? How much is this all going to cost? Also indicate if you plan to offer coupons or other incentives to get customers in the door.
• People – How your level of service and the people who will provide that service will be used in marketing your products or services to the customer. Who are the people that will be providing this service and what kind of training will they receive. Do you plan to offer any incentives to your customer service representatives and how do you plan to measure customer satisfaction?

Essentially, the 5 (or 4) P's of marketing will form the basis of your marketing plan. If you want to make your marketing plan a standalone document, you'll also want to include the information you prepared in the Market Analysis section for your business plan.

Your Sales Strategy in Writing a Business Plan

If it applies to your business, outline your sales strategy in this section when you are writing a business plan. For example, will there be a sales force? Will sales training be provided? Will your sales team be given incentives to encourage them to increase sales and meet or exceed their goals?